NEW: How to play slap bass fast?

Soul2Squeeze · #1 07-26-2011, 03:10 PM

OK, First let me introduce myself, Hello Everyone, I have been a Bassist for about nearly 3 Years now, Started when i was young and my Main style on bass i would have to say is slap-bass. I am very fond of the site and i think it's a great if your having problems on anything so it's very helpful. Now, As you can probably tell by my username I am a HUGE Red Hot Chili Peppers (RHCP) Fan and I find playing songs from them on bass to be very enjoyable. My question, When i go to play songs like 'Higher ground', 'Police Helicopter' Etc... I find it quite hard due to the speed of it (Obviously, Not all RHCP songs are like that). I'm not boosting in anyway but I am quite a good slap-bassist for my age I just find speed to be my problem, Are there any riffs that could help me get faster and improve my speed on bass? Thanks to anyone who answers.

Kael · #2 07-26-2011, 03:13 PM

Try posting in the Technique forum. Better yet, try searching in the Technique forum. I'd imagine this has been covered there umpteen billion times... or at least more than twice.

kesslari · #3 07-26-2011, 03:15 PM

It's a cliche, but to play fast, practice slow.
Speed is a byproduct of accuracy and repetition.
Rather than learn a riff or a groove and try to play it fast (and make mistakes or play it sloppily) - play it slowly and accurately for a long while - longer than you think you need to. Let your muscles really learn how to do it correctly. Then bring in the speed, and you'll find that you can go faster, and more accurately, than you could if you had just jumped in to playing it fast.

Also - learn a variety of ways to play ghost notes - muted thumb, double thumb, muted pops, muted LH slap, etc. That helps you to find a right hand pattern that is efficient for a particular song or groove. Then practice it - you guessed it - slowly.

**peledog** · #4 07-26-2011, 03:18 PM

Get the Alexis Sklarevski DVD.

Start out slow, and work up your speed using a metronome.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

Even Flea takes 45 minutes to warm up before shows - he plays very slowly.

You can find Alexi's DVD on eBay for about $20 or so.

‪Alex Sklarevski Slap Bass Program‬&rlm; - YouTube

nickbass79 · #5 07-26-2011, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kesslari

It's a cliche, but to play fast, practice slow.
Speed is a byproduct of accuracy and repetition.
Rather than learn a riff or a groove and try to play it fast (and make mistakes or play it sloppily) - play it slowly and accurately for a long while - longer than you think you need to. Let your muscles really learn how to do it correctly. Then bring in the speed, and you'll find that you can go faster, and more accurately, than you could if you had just jumped in to playing it fast.

Also - learn a variety of ways to play ghost notes - muted thumb, double thumb, muted pops, muted LH slap, etc. That helps you to find a right hand pattern that is efficient for a particular song or groove. Then practice it - you guessed it - slowly.

kesslari, nailed it! You have to practice like a crazy man. What I did was experiment with the position of my right hand(my slap hand) to gain more range of motion and speed.

Takes time, but before you know it, you will be there

Good Luck

Soul2Squeeze · #6 07-26-2011, 03:39 PM

@Kesslari Thanks, I'm good with Muted notes and all. thanks for your reply
(And everyone's) But do any of you have a link to some Tab or Video that shows some riff that I could play very often to help me increase my speed or should I just be playing fast songs like I said 'Police Helicopter' and 'Higher ground more often and my hand will become used to the speed and with practice I could eventually play it comfortably?

zktui · #7 07-26-2011, 03:47 PM

The way I improved was by forcing myself to play songs that I found hard (well how I started slapping) and then encountered Get Up And Jump and Skinny Sweaty Man. Learnt them slowly and now I can play them faster than the actual recording (after one and a half years of practicing them)
Look for the excerpt from the Flea Master Sessions DVD on slapbass, it's on YouTube. He covers his technique and slows down those two songs to show how he plays them.

And then it is just practice practice practice!

**smperry** · #8 07-26-2011, 03:47 PM

moved.

Soul2Squeeze · #9 07-26-2011, 04:00 PM

stflbn · #10 07-26-2011, 04:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soul2Squeeze

But do any of you have a link to some Tab or Video that shows some riff that I could play very often to help me increase my speed or should I just be playing fast songs like I said 'Police Helicopter' and 'Higher ground more often and my hand will become used to the speed and with practice I could eventually play it comfortably?

You didn't listen to anything said above...

kesslari · #11 07-26-2011, 04:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Soul2Squeeze

(And everyone's) But do any of you have a link to some Tab or Video that shows some riff that I could play very often to help me increase my speed or should I just be playing fast songs like I said 'Police Helicopter' and 'Higher ground more often and my hand will become used to the speed and with practice I could eventually play it comfortably?

OK. I take back everything I said.
You need to improve your speed, and get used to speed.
So - speed up. Everything in your life.
Practice as fast as you can.
Eat fast. Drive fast. Walk fast. Have sex fast. Really really really fast.
All that doing stuff fast will make you a faster player.

... better?

Spaldo · #12 07-26-2011, 04:55 PM

*Yoda voice*

Go forward young one. Learn speed. Play fast. Out of your system it will go.

Only then will you discover the space between the notes.

Amen.

stingraysvt · #13 07-26-2011, 06:31 PM

If you can't rip off Higher Ground you're not really a proficient slapper. It really takes a lot of conditioning to get the form for slapping, I can't remember the interview but someone said they would sit on the couch bass unplugged and play muted left had and slap and pluck ocatves ( ie. slap the G on the E string, and pluck the G on the D string)

I remember I worked for the better part of a year just working on my right hand thumbing and plucking, there's a lot of mechanics involved with all the general slapping and popping and it just takes a longer time to establish that skill, a lot longer than it would take to learn to do anything on bass, for me, but now it's like second nature, I kinda overdid it really... I'd slap and pop on slow songs too, ones that in retrospect it wasn't called for, but keep working on it, Flea really uses his thumb a lot, he double thumbs every other note on the E string, double thumbing, was a just one of those mechanical skills you have to achieve. And it's takes a while to master

cire113 · #14 07-26-2011, 08:40 PM

Honestly ive been working on slap everyday for the past 2 weeks.. doing stuff real slow.. and its amazing how fast im progressing in just 2 weeks..

Check out the louis johnson videos on youtube they are money... also marlowedk's slap tutortials

Billnc · #15 07-26-2011, 09:40 PM

You've been playing three years, how long was Flea playing when the RHPs started recording? Perspective and work.

BritFunk · #16 07-27-2011, 01:16 PM

I'll echo some of the above sentiments with something I tell my bass students: you can't do it good fast until you can do it good slow. Years ago when I started trying the Billy Sheehan/two-handed thing for the first time (Addicted to That Rush) I thought that I would lose my mind getting the tapped parts down. I took it slow, slower than I could remember doing since I first started playing, and worked on the sections one at a time. Then I would work on them two or three at a time, paying particular attention to changing strings smoothly as I chained them together into a fluid line.

Learn the lines you're interested in and play them slowly, concentrating on clean technique and timing and paying particular attention to the sections that give you trouble. Speed them up *slowly* and over a period of time - let your muscles get used to the patterns. I get that it's kind of a drag when you have been playing for a while and are used to playing faster, but it's the very best way to get to where you want to be on the instrument in the long run.

----
Kurt

john grey · #17 07-27-2011, 03:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peledog

Start out slow, and work up your speed using a metronome.

Practice. Practice. Practice.

This has worked for me. I started pretty damn slow but as accurately as it was possible to for me to be. There would (& still are) sections that I would go over and over. I also worked on making my slap louder than my pop & finding newer ways to use that pop (pinching, etc). After a little while, even if I went slower I could hear what I needed; I didn't need to "go fast to hear the right sound".