is there a way to pop faster? i want to play "my life" by operation ivy and i dont understand how their bassist can pop that fast in the intro. any tips?

use your ring and middle fingers to pop.

use your ring and middle fingers to pop.
yeah it's really hard an takes practice but try using more than 1 finger to pop

I've never heard about that band and the tune before, so I've just downloaded it to give you my opinion. To me, that intro doesn't sound like fast popping, but an alternation of thumb slap and popping. Check the second half of this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe4rujROrxk) (4:35, for instance) to see what I'm talking about.

It's a Zen thing - to go faster you must first go slower.

It's a Zen thing - to go faster you must first go slower.

+1

Yes there is.







Usually people hook their index/middle finger under the string they want to pop and pull their fingers up. This gives a very sharp attack, but also sarcrifices speed. If you want a faster speed, instead of hooking the finger under a string and pulling it up, you can try to "pop" the string by pulling it towards your lower strings.
For example, I want to pop twice on my high C string, I still use the regular popping motion in my wrist, except my popping fingers don't hook under the string but they almost bend the other way... It's hard to explain. Watch some Victor Wooten videos, it'll help a lot.

Flea Pop = Bad

htotheh, do you know of any example videos by vic that i should look for? like which songs he does it in.

No not any in particular. But just try what I said. When you pluck like the way I described, you don't actually hook and pluck, your middle finger is somewhat behind your index finger, and the farther they are apart, the more space between the two plucks, and when they are very close, it becomes a flam (like a drum flam). He talks about this in his Bass Extremes guide book and the CD. So in a sense, loosen your fingers when "plucking."