I'm looking for some tips for slapping on a fretless

MoBeach · #1 07-12-2009, 06:40 PM

Slapping for me isn't a problem as far as the technique itself goes, but I have a hard time getting that tone I want. How do you fretless slappers get that bright tone? I'm satisfied with the tone I get slapping with my thumb but my pops sound pretty dead.

I use lots of high and low end and roll off the mids just like I do when slapping with a fretted bass but I just can't seem to get the bright pops. This is on a Pedulla Pentabuzz through a GK Fusion 550.

Thanks!

nysbob · #2 07-13-2009, 10:26 AM

You're missing metal on metal.

there are a lot of folks who are quick to say there's no problem with slapping a fretless, but I'm not one of them for several reasons.

1) The smiley face EQ curve you like for slapping cuts the heart and and soul out of what make a fretless sound great - gobs of midrange.

2) Slap playing is all about attack. Fretless bass by nature has a softer attack, due to aforementioned lack of metal on metal.

3) All fretless players use their ears to microtune as there are an infinite number of bad notes on a fretless. Since slapping is all about the attack, if your intonation isn't dead on the note pops out before you can do anything about it.

These are just my observations, but they come from having been gigging a fretless for many, many years. If you're slap-happy, you're much better served with a fretted bass.

MoBeach · #3 07-13-2009, 10:55 AM

Thanks for the input, I use channel 1 for grooves, which has more midrange for that cool fretless sound, and channel 2 for slap, which has the V shaped EQ (although GK's have knobs) Maybe I'm just looking for something that isn't going to happen.

I know a Berklee grad that gets a great tone when slapping on a fretless, but he's a Berklee grad and I'm not

When I ask him what he does he says he does nothing different than what he does on a fretted bass. Which obviously is no help!

Maybe I'll save the slapping for fretted basses.

Darkstrike · #4 07-13-2009, 11:03 AM

If it wasn't a Pedulla, I'd say just install a slap plate.

jackall237 · #5 07-13-2009, 11:08 AM

If the dude graduated Berklee and can't explain a technique to you I'd ask him which Berklee he graduate from, sounds fishy...

PJSShearer · #6 07-13-2009, 04:46 PM

NYSBOB +1 - so much so that if I'm in a slap-happy mood, I'll get the Fender PJ (with frets) out instead.

Darkstrike - To try and cure this problem I installed slap plate on my Yamaha BB400 some years ago but had no success, the strings snap back against the fingerboard with a dull thud and miss the plate completely. Anyway, its made of Brass and looks cool on the end of the Fingerboard

. However, if you' ve got a slap plate to work then please let us into the secret.!!

MoBeach · #7 07-13-2009, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackall237

If the dude graduated Berklee and can't explain a technique to you I'd ask him which Berklee he graduate from, sounds fishy...

He is a Berklee Boston grad, no doubt about it. He uses an old P Bass with a Jazz neck, Roto roundwounds and Trace Elliot cabs and head. He claims he attacks the strings the same way he does a fretted bass. What else would he have to say about the subject?