When listening to another bass player either at store, live, etc.. would you rather hear some crazy chops running up and down the neck, a crazy insane slap, or a killing groove that's in the pocket?

pocket with melody. Bass acrobatics is just noise for the sake of itself generally.

'Never lose the groove to find a note', right?

Is there any point of slapping or listening to chops that don't groove?

Voted groove. But what about a groove that is a crazy chop? :D

Insane slap makes you look like an a**hole. Seriously, why do people do it?

Insane slap makes you look like an a**hole. Seriously, why do people do it?

+1 I am so sick of hearing slap! Its like during the eighties when every guitar player you heard was finger tapping!

How about all three in one? No wait, nobody at guitar center can play like that....


(me included) =P

A little bit of all three, done tastefully.

A little bit of all three, done tastefully.

+1!!!

How about anything except insane slap? Tired of hearing nearly every bass player go slap crazy at high volumes when I am trying out a bass. I voted thundering groove.

If it's live then I'll go with the "all three done tastefully" option.

Insane slap makes you look like an a**hole. Seriously, why do people do it?

Because not everyone has the same ear for music you do? Seriously, people who bash an entire technique because some people can't do it tastefully are a**holes.

I find that when I'm checking out a bass in a shop, I give it everything I got. From simple little grooves to the "try-and-break-off-the-last-fret-from-slapping" stuff.

There is a video of me on YouTube (posted by someone else), PURPOSELY pounding an MTD 535 through a Glockenclang cab to see if it can handle it.
And it says that in the title of the video.
You can't believe the morons who posted comments about "Just groove" and crap like that.
Must have forgot to read first........

Usually I find the guys who rant the hardest about people sounding like a**holes and just general dis-like for any technique other than just simple grooves (which matter most of the time over anything else), usually are the ones who can't play that way to begin with.
"Art critics are those who can't create art"

Plus, in a music store, I'm not out to impress anyone anyway........


BUT!!!! If the ONLY thing you're doing for 30 min is pounding away like the bass insulted your mother's cooking, that gets annoying.

I'd like to walk into the shop one day and see a band smashing up the gear.

"Hmm, this P neck doesn't break as well as that Ric might..." whilst the guitarist tests each drumkit to find the least painful one to dive into.

When listening to another bass player either at store, live, etc.. would you rather hear some crazy chops running up and down the neck, a crazy insane slap, or a killing groove that's in the pocket?
So let's see...you're going to a music store this weekend and you're wondering what will impress the most amount of people in the store, right? Well, what impresses me the most is when someone goes into a music store and doesn't try to call attention to himself by turning way up and annoyi...er...impressing me with his m@d SkIllZ.

I try a bass out like I would a sound check. Play high, play low, play fast, play slow. Get a feel for the instrument and how it sounds. Do everything, because if you purchase it you'll be doing all that and a whole lot more.

'Never lose the groove to find a note', right?

Victor Wooten's book "The Music Lesson"

Boom.

Insane slap makes you look like an a**hole. Seriously, why do people do it?

As a session player, you gotta be able to do it, and do it tastefully, along with every other styles as well, a Jack of all trades so to say.

I don't slap much, but if I'm reading correctly, we're talking about INSANE slap. Anything that I'd consider insane is just noise or a feeble showoff attempt. Slap is not the problem, nor people who use it as a color or tool at his/her arsenal, but bass pyrotechnics got old a very long time ago. SMV is a great example. I feared I'd listen to a crapload of "fastest chops in town" smashing my earphones. But no I didin't. No one doubts for a second that those three guys could chop like there's no tomorrow, but they chose to do a very musical, groovy, well arranged record. That's what we like: musical stuff. Slap? hell yeah, when is done in Marcus' tasteful style. Tapping? bring it on. But make music, damn it!!! If I wanted acrobatics, I'd go to the circus.

So let's see...you're going to a music store this weekend and you're wondering what will impress the most amount of people in the store, right? Well, what impresses me the most is when someone goes into a music store and doesn't try to call attention to himself by turning way up and annoyi...er...impressing me with his m@d SkIllZ.

I hear you.
This very thing makes me take very much enjoyment from on-line shopping!

a killing groove that's in the pocket!

I don't really listen to other bass players if I don't have to, so I can't really vote here. I really couldn't care less what other people play; they're usually there to test out the instrument, and if they test it out by slapping the **** out of it, so be it.

Also, slapping is not crap. It never was and it never will be. People abuse the hell out of it but that doesn't mean it sucks. So, please stop bashing it.

Of course, actual crap slap should be dealt with swiftly.

^^^+1. Just when they are loud and obnoxious for no reason I wish they'd turn down or something.
Most of the time the guys in GC know who I am without seeing me because I use pretty much the same test songs on every bass I play, unless me and this guitar player are jamming as we do most Sat there.

When listening to another bass player either at store, live, etc.. would you rather hear some crazy chops running up and down the neck, a crazy insane slap, or a killing groove that's in the pocket?

This thread (and many others dedicated to the same debate) needs examples of each type of playing you want to discuss. Your "killing groove in the pocket" tune might be my "INSANE chops" tune. No one knows for certain what you're talking about, and everyone who's posted an opinion is simply going on their own ideas of what you mean.