Have we become too " slap happy " ???

[BuffaloBass]

Might be this is a collorary to Jauqo III-X's thread, a sub topic if you will;I cut this out of my reply to someone looking for slap artists, and I wanted to plug Doug Johns... but here's the cut/paste, unsoplicted pontification about the potential misuse/overuse of slap technique...

For the record, in my MOST humblest of opinions , we've become too "slap happy". Recently seen bassists slapping only during their solos. Which to me is weird. I'm talking like 4-8-12 bar solos here, not 1 bar , 1/2 bar riffs. ( where some slap techniques allow to you run 32nds!)

Why do I think its overdone? Well, frankly slap was a rhythmic answer to not having a drummer, and now its gone all the way to being almost a preferred method of soloing.

Buuuuuuuut, when you talk to one of the today's masters, ( like Vic W. ) they'll tell you that its the pulse that most important in the bassline / slap techniques. Be it the individual articualtions making up the paradiddles, or the pulse of the whole tune, which is not really how slap is being used. Or potentialy "misused".

Next time a pro bassist up on stage gets 4-8 bars to let it hang out, I would like to hear some old fashioned melodic "singing", rather than slap.

Am I becoming a slap nazi? Only when appropriate? Used too much in the modern mix?

[Lucas G]

i swear to god, i don't even LISTEN to music that has slap bass in it. who is slapping? what genre is this? i mean, i used to listen to rhcp and primus when i was in high school, but that was 15 years ago at least. last time i heard slap bass was when i was watching a seinfeld rerun, and that's a keyboard... and they quit making that show ten years ago.

i don't know what microcosm you are in, but it is completely different from the one i am in.

[nickbear]

i think slap is overused, a lot of bassists use it to cover up unimaginitive basslines.

dont get me wrong there are some great slap bassists and slap basslines out there but i seem to hear a lot of bad slap around.

i think its because it can make bass seem "flashy" to non bassists and i hate to say it but because bassists like flea and bands like incubus and jamiroquai and link these bands with good bass playing a lot of bassists seem to think slap has to be done to be good and get noticed..

this doesnt cover all bass players at all but at almost every local gig i go to there seems to be some slap happy bassist ruining his bands sound.

for the record i do slap a bit when needed but i dont think that i have any slap basslines in any of my current bands songs just because none of the songs need it..

i did have a couple of slap basslines when i played in a funk band but that was only when the drums were playing simple solid grooves and the slap complimented it really well.

i am with you, i would much rather hear a great melodic fingerstyle or pick solo to a slap solo.

[colorblindbass]

i agree with the OP.

[lomo]

I believe it's overused because it gets the bassist noticed and many players like that :-( more than serving the song.

[JKT]

I slap on occassion. It is another tool in my box. Another way to gets sounds. IMO I don't believe it to be anymore dated than fingerstyle. In that sense I agree with Victor in that it is just another way to hit the strings. I may slap one or two notes in a particular song if that's what I think it calls for.

I also agree with Randy Jackson when he said that he considers slap to be "a condiment rather than the entire meal."

It certainly doesn't define who is funky and who is not. I'm considered to be (and I pretty much agree) a pretty funky player. But I don't think it is because I'm an awsome slap player 'cause that is just not true.

I think if anybody is staying away from the technique or looking down their nose at it for some reason(s), then they are limiting themselves on their journey.

JKT

[Beast]

The only slap I can really listen to anymore is on "Sailing the Seas of Cheese" album, other than that, I turn whatever it is OFF.

Just like the OP I'm sick of all these "Slap Happy" bassists who think "Oh em gees i gonna get noticed with funkeh black mahn bass stufffzzz! YAYYEE SLAALPPZPZZ"




Disclaimer: There are still people who use the technique very tastefully, such as this guy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy3V2Tl4g3s

[santucci218]

i slap when i want to.

[kesslari]

Slap can be cool. Very, extremely cool.
It can lay down wicked, percussively hip grooves.
In a previous life I slapped a ton. I like to think I did it in service of the music.

But as I pick up the bass again, I purposely have not started slapping again.
Here's why:

Slap is a very, very addictive technique (or more accurately, set of techniques). I found most of my practice time going into slapping. It was cool, it was fun, it was rewarding.
But looking back, I think my knowledge of the fretboard would be far more encompassing and intimate if I had spent less time slapping and more time playing with lines, melodic and harmonic, and better grokking how they fit the changes of the song.

So for now, I'm not slapping, and I like the way my re-learning curve is going.

One man's opinion, your mileage may vary.

[Lucas G]

no, really, who is slapping? what genre is still being made that has slap bass in it? are you guys just talking about music made by bass players for other bass players to listen to? i hear a lot of slap bass when i go to guitar center, but that's pretty much it. i am genuinely curious.

[NKUSigEp]

Originally Posted by BuffaloBass

Next time a pro bassist up on stage gets 4-8 bars to let it hang out, I would like to hear some old fashioned melodic "singing", rather than slap.

Am I becoming a slap nazi? Only when appropriate? Used too much in the modern mix?

Maybe it's just the part of the country you're in or the music you're listening to? I've noticed a decline in slapping and a huge push back to playing with your fingers...so quite the opposite to what you're noticing.

[JKT]

Originally Posted by Beast

: There are still people who use the technique very tastefully, such as this guy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iy3V2Tl4g3s

Yes this is what I mean. This guy is incorporating way more than just a conventional slap technique into what he is doing.

Chording, double stops, flamenco, vibrato, string bending. He is really "putting it all together" IMO. This is actually one of the first times I have ever really appreciated someone playing an ERB. (Sorry Oteil) Thanks for posting it.

JKT

[morf]

I think we have just lost taste.

When you look at Jaco's playing for example, regardless of slap in particular, every note the man plays is tasteful fits perfectly. Even when he appears to do too much his line is awesome he just had trouble fitting such a fast line/addition of notes in improvisation, but the line and notes are still as tasteful as can be.

Then again, taste is acquired so give us youngsters time to get a hang of it

[HaVIC5]

I think we have just lost taste.

That would be it.

[Lesfunk]

I don't think slapping is as ubiquitous today as it was 12-15 years ago.
Guys like like MArcus and Victor keep slapping popular

[Jazzdogg]

Confession: I'm and old-school fossil. To my ears players like Ray Brown and Jamerson epitomize bass.

I don't find slap particularly objectionable in small doses, but the EQ that most slappers employ is so far from the bass sound I have in my head that I can't help but wonder if, since so many "modern bassists" have traveled so far from the roots of bass, we shouldn't come up with new categories for them; the truest bassists out there still seem to be playing upright.

The smiley-face equalization, abundant high-frequency energy, overuse of slapping, popping, chording, etc., have become tiresome to my ears, and a great many of its proponents far too self-gratifying; if someone wants to achieve those kinds of sounds, why not play guitar or synthesizer and be done with it? - he asked rhetorically, while ducking

[xafofo]

Originally Posted by JKT

I also agree with Randy Jackson when he said that he considers slap to be "a condiment rather than the entire meal."

but the question is.. WHY?

i think playing bass with fingers is considered the "normal" way to play because that's how it's mostly been throughout the short history of electric bass. most modern music calls for a fingered sound

but what about the "normal" sound for an upright double bass? most of you would probably say that plucking is the normal sound, while bowing is secondary. that might be true for modern music, but back in the classical days it was the other way around

i think you could say there's too much slap when people are using it in ways that don't fit with the music. but if it fits and it sounds good, then who cares if it was slap or not? and if it sounds bad, then you shouldn't blame it on the technique but on the musician

i personally don't think there's too much slap, except maybe on youtube. but that's because people are trying to show off, and slap is flashier and more exciting and works better for solo bass (since it's almost like playing drums and bass at the same time)

[JAUQO III-X]

To slap or not to slap/why I hate it

[Bass Mule]

I don't like slap either. Mostly because I can't do it very well. I enjoy it when it's tastefully used by other bass players, but I just can't seem to groove very well with it. It doesn't bother me to the point that I feel I need to learn this skill, especially since I don't play music that needs it.

I've even tried slapping at jam sessions. Bleh... I'm more of a rock-kinda-guy anyways.

[martyman5000]

I like tapping and some new inventive styles but the typical slap and pop for me is boring to listen to...Some guys are really great at it and all the power to them.