Does slap even matter???

PatTheAnchor · #1 01-30-2008, 05:02 PM

I'm about done with slapping. I've spent the past 2 months trying to learn how to slap, and I've borrowed countless books on slapping, the most suggested ones, and it just doesn't cut it. Everything won't come together, even the most basic steps, I just can't do. I don't know what's wrong, because everything IS wrong, and I'm just done with it. I wish I could play funky bass lines, but after hearing what Jamerson does, is it possible to be a good bass player and not even know how to slap? I will continue to try if you guys say I can do it, but seriously, I want to save myself the suffering of trying to be a funky slappin-machine when there is something more worth my time to be doing.

Please help.

Thank you,
Pat

edit: I think this is supposed to be in instruction... sorry.

Darkstrike · #2 01-30-2008, 05:06 PM

It matters as much as you make it matter, do you like the sound?
If you do persever, if you don't, why struggle?
You will suvive, with or without it.

j.a.e.r.i.p · #3 01-30-2008, 05:10 PM

I think slapping (and tapping for that matter) are awful techniques. I like seeing victor slap, and hamm tap, but i think that slap sounds obnoxious and tapping is impractical in a real scenario. I'm ok at slap because you never know when someone will ask me to slap a line if i'm at a gig, however i don't think it is at all necessary to being a complete bassist.

if you were to compare jamerson to say flea:
flea can slap sure, but even if flea mustered all of the groove in his bones it wouldn't be as funky as jamerson playing quarter notes.

Khatur · #4 01-30-2008, 05:10 PM

i know countless players that never have ventured out of one style of music much less to slapping.
You can accomplish what you want without it, but if you want it, you gotta work at it.
luckily it came naturally to me, but i still have issues with accuracy on the A.
its sucky but something you gotta work at

GuitarVader · #5 01-30-2008, 05:14 PM

Slapping doesn't matter, it's no requirement to be a great bassist. Some people just like to be obnoxious and say "If you can't slap, you can't play bass."

capnsandwich · #6 01-30-2008, 05:16 PM

There are plenty of great bassists that don't/can't slap. It's just a technique. Some people who can't slap make up for it by shredding up and down the fretboard, and some even learn where to put notes at properly and when to put them there. I think that's the important thing.

As far as learning goes, slap bass is a technique that comes from much practice. It's like learning to ride a bike. It takes a while to learn, balancing, stopping, staying straight and out of traffic, but one day you get on there and it just hits you. You're riding the bike. Slapping to me came like that. I would listen to cd's, trying to figure out what they were doing. I'd get online and go to youtube for videos. I even started an online course that cost me $50 just to learn the basics.

One day I was just sitting there playing some blues riffs and BLAMMO!!! I was slapping. It was just rudimentary at first but one thing led to another and now I'm a pretty decent slapper but I had to be patient and steadfast in my approach.

Don't give up. Keep on striving little by little. It'll hit you like a brick and you'll look back and be glad you stuck with it.

Blake Bass · #7 01-30-2008, 05:18 PM

I'm playing a country gig tonight. If I slap I'll probably be fired.
I use to practice slap all of the time and I got pretty good at it, but I soon realized that the majority of gigs I was getting rarely called for it. I think if you are a good player who doesn't slap you can still get plenty of work.

maa1982 · #8 01-30-2008, 05:19 PM

hi!

new techniques are quite frustating at first.
Nobody needs to know how to slap, you will just feel the need to learn how to with the time. And let me tell you 2 months is not time enough to learn any technique properly.

i'd say... if you like the slap sound, just go for ir... Less literature, more practice.

hope you find yourself in the quest of bass techniques...

Mariano

MammaryVest · #9 01-30-2008, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j.a.e.r.i.p

I think slapping (and tapping for that matter) are awful techniques. I like seeing victor slap, and hamm tap, but i think that slap sounds obnoxious and tapping is impractical in a real scenario. I'm ok at slap because you never know when someone will ask me to slap a line if i'm at a gig, however i don't think it is at all necessary to being a complete bassist.

if you were to compare jamerson to say flea:
flea can slap sure, but even if flea mustered all of the groove in his bones it wouldn't be as funky as jamerson playing quarter notes.

You're wrong.

capnsandwich · #10 01-30-2008, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j.a.e.r.i.p

I think slapping (and tapping for that matter) are awful techniques. I like seeing victor slap, and hamm tap, but i think that slap sounds obnoxious and tapping is impractical in a real scenario. I'm ok at slap because you never know when someone will ask me to slap a line if i'm at a gig, however i don't think it is at all necessary to being a complete bassist.

if you were to compare jamerson to say flea:
flea can slap sure, but even if flea mustered all of the groove in his bones it wouldn't be as funky as jamerson playing quarter notes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MammaryVest

You're wrong.

Let's not go there guys. This thread is just a young bassist asking questions about a new-to-him technique. No use in starting an arguement thread out of a question. I can smell it coming on.

j.a.e.r.i.p · #11 01-30-2008, 05:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MammaryVest

You're wrong.

that's my opinion.
i'm sorry if you found it offensive, however both sides could be easily argued and we would get nowhere, lets not start.

dbcandle · #12 01-30-2008, 05:47 PM

I resisted learning slap for many years (er, uh, 30+)...
...I've just started, but some basic slap routines seem easy enough. Some songs just require it.

What kind of bass are you trying to slap on?
What kind of strings?
What string spacing (if not "standard" 19mm)?
How many frets?

A basic Fender with roundwounds should work fine. Many other basses work quite well (or better). I wouldn't bother with a 6-string bass with narrow spacing and flatwounds, though (trust me!).

Give this a look: http://youtube.com/watch?v=CarT_98Ys8c&feature=related

Audiophage · #13 01-30-2008, 05:48 PM

I had started learning slap in my first year of bass playing, but never found any practical use for it because I didn't really know how to get the sound that I wanted out of it. I then started getting it about 4 years later, not long before I got into upright about 2 years ago. Yadda Yadda Yadda, I'm still not very good at it, but at least I can read.

phektus · #14 01-30-2008, 06:05 PM

Get a real teacher to show you how to do it.

**Mark Wilson** · #15 01-30-2008, 06:05 PM

Does it matter?
Of course it matters.
You may never use it, but there might be that ONE life-changing event in your musical career that needs you to slap.

it's definitely better to know it, than to not know it. Even if you never use it.

knarleybass · #16 01-30-2008, 06:10 PM

I wish Anthony Jackson were here to answer that one.

Johnny Mack · #17 01-30-2008, 06:12 PM

stick with the fundamentals and you will fall into the natural feel of it over time. ive played for over 10 years and am just now trying to use a pick here and there. i never tried, because i thought i was above a certain technique, or "didnt need it". its tough, because ive never done it, but wanting to expand my style/ability, i will continue to practice it.

stratovani · #18 01-30-2008, 06:13 PM

Does it matter? Not really. Slap if you like it, don't if you don't. Reminds me of guitarists who tap vs those that don't. Do it if you like it, and don't if you don't.

Point is, it's only music, not rocket science or brain surgery. Do as you please.

rakirksey · #19 01-30-2008, 06:14 PM

I was in this exact situation a couple years back.

I was taking some bass lessons at USC as a non-major with Alphonso Johnson and he had a sub for a week. Well the sub decided that he was going to go through "slap" technique with all the students.

The axe, my only bass at the time, that I was using was my FrankenJazz. MIM Fender Jazz body, Warmoth Ebony/Maple Unlined Fretless Neck, etc. etc. with some Roto 77s on it. I had tried to slap before and it pretty much sucked and I figured ... well I can just finger-style funk until the cows come home. Either way, he gave me a couple tips and ... as said previously ... BLAMMO ... I was slapping. Now fretless has additional challenges, and I've put on Hi-Beams on my bass which are far better for slapping ... but it just took one or two little tips that are hard to get from videos sometimes to get me going.

Now I'm not double-thumping in every song, but sometimes that slap-pop just gives an little extra in funk. Especially if you want an explosive pop or a hard attack with the thumb that it is difficult to get out of the fingerstyle. So for me slapping just adds an additional dynamic.

Just keep at it and get a lesson or two. You'll get it and you'll be glad you did. Even if you don't use the tool, you'll be glad you had it in your toolbox just in case.

PatTheAnchor · #20 01-30-2008, 06:24 PM

Thanks for your thoughts guys, I suppose I'll keep working at it, because it was one of the things I have wanted to do when I started playing, so I will keep trying.

And a question about the bass: Will it affect playing if you have a higher action? Dunno how to put it, but the strings are off the fretboard by .75 cm or so... It seems pretty high to me.