Bleeding from slapping

[UnderwaterGuy]

Is it bleeding from where your nail meets your finger normally or is the tip of your nail hitting the flesh of your fingertip when you slap?

It might just be the way you phrased it but...maybe you just need to trim your fingernails?

[brake]

Originally Posted by Drifta

i say if playing bass makes you bleed you are definately putting your heart into it! Keep up the good work soldier.

I think this might be the single worst piece of bass related advice I've read anywhere, ever.

[EADG mx]

Originally Posted by brake

I think this might be the single worst piece of bass related advice I've read anywhere, ever.

+1

If you're hurting yourself, you're doing something wrong.

[VisualShock]

dont cut your fingernail there. get a piece of sand paper, and sand the end of your finger and your nail. it will build and maintan a calous (hard but of skin) and keep the nail the right length.

[Just J]

I used to have this problem, the strings were spaced too close. I've since changed my technique a little so I don't hit the G string with my finger.

Just take it slow and practice slapping in a way that keeps your finger clear.

[AllenBass7]

uhh how about you stop smashing your finger into the G string?????????
sound good?

[sublime0bass]

i think i read somewhere that Flea would fill in the side of his thumb with superglue when it got "hollowed out" by slapping

i also had a friend who would superglue his callouses back on should they come off mid-show

[fretman4god]

you guys are playing entirely too hard if you're bleeding. get low action, turn up, and play softer. it'll sound better.

[EADG mx]

Originally Posted by sublime0bass

i think i read somewhere that Flea would fill in the side of his thumb with superglue when it got "hollowed out" by slapping

i also had a friend who would superglue his callouses back on should they come off mid-show

If Flea jumped off a bridge...

Originally Posted by fretman4god

you guys are playing entirely too hard if you're bleeding. get low action, turn up, and play softer. it'll sound better.

[~ignited~wings~]

for me, I would bleed if my nails were too short, because the skin would lap over the nail. I need to keep my nails at opportune length, long enough that I won;t bleed, short enough that the nail isn;t hitting the string when I play fingerstyle.

[Scot]

I also had this problem in the early days of my slap playing. Maybe even more so than you. Not only would I bleed from under the nail but the tip of my index finger would hurt like hell from smacking it against the body of my bass. The solution, like already stated, is to lighten up your touch and let the motion come from rotating your wrist and not from moving your arm toward and away from the body of the bass. I found that you don't have to slap the hell out of the bass to get a good slap sound. Actually, to my ears the slap tone is better with a lighter touch. By lightening up your touch I mean only use the amount of striking force necessary to get a good sound and not more. The most important thing that helped me to see the light was focusing on balancing out the levels between my slap and fingerstyle playing, which is a whole other topic...