hey ray, my friend steven and i jam all the time and i'm trying to figure out ways to improvise via slap with him but i can't seem to get alot of ideas, i understand the fundamentals but actually syncing up witha drummer is kind of hard, any ideas? any tips or pointers or idea swould be greately appreciated, thankx

Listen to the masters, those who have paved the way for the rest of us.

Listen to the masters, those who have paved the way for the rest of us.

+1

http://www.anthonyvitti.com/slapbasssoloing.html

Listen to the masters, those who have paved the way for the rest of us.



and whom may i ask, are the masters? so far the only slap bassist that jams in tightly with a drummer i know is flea, but he's not THAT good, and i'm looking for one on one with bass/drum slap stuff

Here are some recordings I have found of drums and slap:
"Bad Asses" Stanley Clarke, on "Toys of Men"
"Basically Taps" Stanley Clarke, on "If This Bass Could Only Talk" (It's actually a duet with tap dancer Gregory Hines. That's drumming right???)
"The Awakening" Les Claypool and Holy Mackerel on "Highball with the Devil"

Of course listen to Larry Graham with Sly and the family stone or Graham Central station. I hear a lot of Larry in what Flea does.

Marcus Miller is another great one; listen to "Never Too Much" by Luther Vandross. Marcus is very smooth on that one. Marcus' CD "Silver Rain" has a lot of cool stuff.

Here are some other players I dig: Mark White with Spin Doctors, Muzz Skillings with Living Colour, Abraham Laboriel (session and gospel work), Bernard Edwards (there is a live recording of "We Are Family" by Sister Sledge that has some very cool slap).

Of course we can't forget our own Ray Riendeau. I really like "Lotus Sutra" from the Groove Therapy Album. Alain Caron is another one. Victor Wooten ('nuff said!)