The slap is evading me.

rainbownorth · #1 08-14-2006, 07:24 PM

Hey guys, ive been playing for about 8 months.At the moment i pick with two fingers and im working on the third for a bit of extra speed and stamina.

Also, i think its time i started trying to slap and pop for a bit of fun. im having trouble though; i realise itll take me a while to get it right anyway, but at the moment Im having trouble even slapping an open A without hitting other strings. Poppings no big deal, but does anyone have any handy hints to get me slapping better, quicker and cleaner? Anythings handy at this point.

MagicianMan · #2 08-14-2006, 07:34 PM

Practice, practice, practice to get fluid chops for slapping and popping, try playing Higher Ground over and over again until you can do it fairly well, then look for other slapping exercises. Its hard to get a nice clean slap because muting other strings is tricky starting off and you don't have the finger experience to hit the strings hard and precisely.

Droogie25 · #3 08-14-2006, 07:37 PM

Theres a good video here:

http://www.cyberschoolofbass.com/lesson6/

to show you good slap technique.

Also, you should search these forums, lots of people ask this question.

rainbownorth · #4 08-14-2006, 09:21 PM

thanks for those, ill have a look around the site. thanks for that link droogie. Should i just continue to wing it and learn on my own or are there books that are worth getting/ people worth learning from?

fcleff · #5 08-14-2006, 09:42 PM

Find some slow funk tunes (ballads by Prince, etc.) that use slapping and learn them. They are usually in open keys and even if they aren't you can probably get around o.k. Then work your way up to faster stuff. Good timing is imperative for good slapping.

rainbownorth · #6 08-14-2006, 10:03 PM

Thanks for that fcleff, have you got any specific recommendations? I dont really know any prince, and im pretty much new to funk in general anyway.

rainbownorth · #7 08-15-2006, 11:41 PM

Whoa thanks for that video link droogie, I'd swear after seeing it my slaps cleaned up instantly. I still need to get quicker and more consistent obivously, but that video told me exactly what i needed.

vyse933 · #8 08-15-2006, 11:58 PM

if you need to slap the A cleaning you can help yourself out by muting the E string with the the base of your palm that is opposite your thumb.

Bman83 · #9 08-19-2006, 02:12 AM

I took private lessons when I first started and my teacher told me to slap an open string(i.e. E) with the joint of my thumb and follow through and rest on the next string(A) bellow. It's not that you're really using the string as a stop, it's just a way of learning to follow through. Or, for a different sound, you could hit the string with your thumb quick and pull your thumb up, essentially letting it bounce off the string. We did this very slow at first and then gradually increased speed until I was comfortable moving between strings. I would play nothing but scales slapping only. It worked for me.

LSDan · #10 08-19-2006, 02:28 AM

a quick one - try keeping your thumb as parallel as poss. to the strings when you slap, and as long as your thumb isn't too wide that should help you only hit one string at a time! ("if your fingers are too fat, mash the keypad now

")

IanStephenson · #11 08-19-2006, 04:01 AM

My slapping is pretty weak, but what I did learn that made a HUGE difference was that while it LOOKS like slapping is all about the right hand, mosst of the work is in the left hand muting.

There are some good basic hints here:
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/lessons/bass_lessons/

Ian

rainbownorth · #12 08-19-2006, 11:42 PM

Thanks for those tips guys. Ive pretty much got it down, in so far as i can slap cleanly, pretty much thanks to your advice. Has anyone got recommendations for good songs to start with for slapping? I have this suspicion that Ill get pretty tired of higher ground pretty quickly.(Although the scales idea from Bman is a good one.)