Popping without hitting the string below with your finger?

[Damani311]

It doesn't seem possible for me.

When I pop the EAD strings, there is absolutely no way for me to avoid hitting the string below it (ex. I pop the D, but the fingernail hits the G when i go to pop it). This results in a faintly audible 'click' sound when my fingernail hits the string, and adds a third 'note' to the slap + pop. This is annoying as hell. The spacing between the strings is no wider than my finger itself, and I'm already using just the very tip of my finger.

The only way I can avoid playing like this is to un'hook' my popping finger, basically impossible in it's own right and impossible to play with any speed. It's not an issue of 'i need to practice this more' it's an issue of impossibilty.

I'm wondering if I should just ignore this and hope no one ever hears it for the rest of my career, or if there is actually a solution.

Thanks

[Damani311]

[WilliamSandoval]

I have the same problem.

[smeet]

Maybe the string spacing on your bass is too narrow for you? Are your fingers very thick?

How long have you been playing? A good teacher could probably straighten out your technique. It's a bit hard to give advice without seeing you play. I will say that I have rarely if ever had this issue. Then again, I can fit the tip my index finger between the strings without touching them.

Maybe you are curving your finger too much. Try curving it just enough to "hook" the string.

[Fergie Fulton]

Originally Posted by Damani311

It doesn't seem possible for me.

When I pop the EAD strings, there is absolutely no way for me to avoid hitting the string below it (ex. I pop the D, but the fingernail hits the G when i go to pop it). This results in a faintly audible 'click' sound when my fingernail hits the string, and adds a third 'note' to the slap + pop. This is annoying as hell. The spacing between the strings is no wider than my finger itself, and I'm already using just the very tip of my finger.

The only way I can avoid playing like this is to un'hook' my popping finger, basically impossible in it's own right and impossible to play with any speed. It's not an issue of 'i need to practice this more' it's an issue of impossibilty.

I'm wondering if I should just ignore this and hope no one ever hears it for the rest of my career, or if there is actually a solution.

Thanks

Your problem is a one of technique, you need to improve your angle of attack to the strings.
If it is as you contend impossible, then it is in context to the bass you have, so buy anothor bass with better and wider string spacings.

It may not be an issue of practice more, but practice slower and practice better. If you are not practicing getting your fingers to go in-between the strings and to not contact the string below, then you are not practicing the correct thing. Again, slow and deliberate to understand what you have to do to in the technique will bring results...it always does....but maybe not as fast as you wish.

[JimmyM]

I looked up your basses in your profile...nothing wrong with them Sounds to me like you're making too much out of the fingernail hitting the adjacent string. If it's faint, it's highly unlikely you'd ever hear it in a band context. I just now noticed I also do that, and until you mentioned it here, I never once noticed it in 35 years of playing. Bass is just a noisy instrument overall, and you'll get occasional noises like that, and they'll drive you crazy but nobody can really hear them. It's what some might call "character." So don't sweat it...that's my advice.

[enricogaletta]

Well this is a kind of common problem when there are some mistake on the basic rules of the slap, basically you can defeat this problem making a good calibration of you thumb and index and middle fingers. If you check the video of my last bass clinic you can see that also if you use differents slap approach the result that you have to reach is the cleanest esecution possible. it doesn't matter what kind of hand approach you have with your hand, that's is personal, you need to be comfortable when you play, just care very good about the calibration and be patience with some specific exercices and you'll gain great results.
Please let me know if you need specific help, I'll be glad to help you.
Cheers. Enrico
YouTube
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[allexcosta]

Cut your fingernails

[AFRO]

Originally Posted by Fergie Fulton

Your problem is a one of technique, you need to improve your angle of attack to the strings.
If it is as you contend impossible, then it is in context to the bass you have, so buy anothor bass with better and wider string spacings.

It may not be an issue of practice more, but practice slower and practice better. If you are not practicing getting your fingers to go in-between the strings and to not contact the string below, then you are not practicing the correct thing. Again, slow and deliberate to understand what you have to do to in the technique will bring results...it always does....but maybe not as fast as you wish.

Without having seen/heard you to offer more sound advise; I would agree with Mr Fulton. 'Nome on slow -like 50BPM- or so and make deliberate note of your tech..when it sounds how you want it to slow, then only then add some speed gradually.

I've said in other posts since switching to my 5string, the spacing was less mms than my 4string, so I had to adjust my tech for accordingly.. yes its frustrating but be positive and work hard. it'll work its self out for ya.

I also agree with JimM, may not even be a prob in group setting..(sometimes we are our own worst critics)

Keep working at it, very slowly, (put on the turtle shell and muster throught it)

is there a particular song that you have trouble with? (or is it mainly a slap/pop tec issue?)

if its your hand size, may wanna consider a wider spaced bass next time..(I'm not sure a Luthier can re do that for ya or not, or if they can how much it would cost..)

keep plugging monn!

[smeet]

Originally Posted by AFRO

Without having seen/heard you to offer more sound advise; I would agree with Mr Fulton. 'Nome on slow -like 50BPM- or so and make deliberate note of your tech..when it sounds how you want it to slow, then only then add some speed gradually.

+1000.

I would even say first get the position and motion down with no metronome, even if it takes 5 seconds per note to get the EXACT right angle of your fingers for a slap, a pop, and a slap/pop. When you slow it down that much you may be surprised how inefficient or messy your current technique really is. Once you know what your hand should be doing, you can move on to using a metronome.

Then you should do quarter notes at that slow tempo, just doing octaves on A/G strings, E/A strings (and B/A strings if applicable). Really slow, so that every mistake is glaringly obvious and can be corrected easily. Once you can slap and pop cleanly and efficiently with quarter notes at 50bpm, it's really a "simple but tedious" matter of gradually speeding up the metronome, maybe over the course of several weeks or even months.

And then...

[JP Morin]

minimum hand movement is better when slap and pop...

also when I pop my finger doesn't go under the string at all, just the side of the finger and then move up and it's enough to make the string pop on the fingerboard... this is a more perpendicular approach and could help to clear the fingers from the other string may be...

as others said a lesson w. a good teacher would be greatful, 20$ well spent

[JimmyM]

I still think it's making a big deal out of nothing.

[smeet]

You might be right Jimmy, but IMO it's always worth trying to get your technique as clean and efficient as you can. If nothing else you won't get a nasty surprise the first time your record in a studio. It's easier to dirty up your technique as needed than it is to clean it up when you normally sound too messy.

[john grey]

I've do two things. I use both index and middle to pop (D&G) and I mute (just a fraction w/ the unused finger) - so it becomes a "non-issue".
Ed Friedland used that method of teaching. It's simple & easy to learn. It also leads into other methods of muting. There is another guy who mutes with his "knuckle" of the pop (can't remember his name) but he makes a great deal of teaching material: it's very common.
Turning down your volume helps a great deal becasue you'll hear the fingernail a well as the mute.