Slap my ABG up

[Zerozeddy]

I play one of these badboys, and have decided I want to be Jonas Hellborg and play slap on it.

I'm trying to follow these example exercises.

I'm finding it really hard work - my wrist is getting fatigued (no giggling please) and I'm struggling to get the sound right.

How much difference does my bass make to sounding "correct" with this technique? Do I need amp/compression/light strings/amazing action to play as effortlessly as others make it seem to be, or am I just lacking practice?

[slip]

There is no reason you shouldn't be able to slap on that or any other bass. Those example passages you are looking at are not the easiest lines to begin on. But if you really are too cheap to buy the whole book for $15 so you have the easier excersies as well you should at least break out the metronome and practice the examples at a slower speed than what is played in the sound sample. If you try to play at the recorded speed without first learning to feel the right hand technique your playing will always be sloppy and sound bad.

[Zerozeddy]

Originally Posted by slip

...if you really are too cheap to buy the whole book for $15...

Pah! Yes, but one would be silly to look a gift horse in the mouth and use that which is freely available.

Originally Posted by slip

...If you try to play at the recorded speed without first learning to feel the right hand technique your playing will always be sloppy and sound bad.

This would be a whole different thread of course: but I reck trying to play fairly up-to-speed will get me feeling the "truth" of the technique more quickly than being mechanical. Although there was me thinking sloppy was just the nature of my instrumental voice

But if it's no harder slapping on an ABG than any other bass, I shall persevere.

[Daveman2]

How's the action? LOW action helped out my slapping/playing ALOT.

[bassmonkeee]

Originally Posted by Zerozeddy

This would be a whole different thread of course: but I reck trying to play fairly up-to-speed will get me feeling the "truth" of the technique more quickly than being mechanical. Although there was me thinking sloppy was just the nature of my instrumental voice

Good idea. The time tested learning method of slow and deliberate was getting old, anyway....

If you are learning how to skydive, make sure you start out by jumping from a plane--I'm sure you'll get the hang of it in time.

[Richard Lindsey]

Originally Posted by Zerozeddy

I reck trying to play fairly up-to-speed will get me feeling the "truth" of the technique more quickly than being mechanical.

I think your "recking" may be a little off there. There really is a reason why people say to practice something slowly at first. They don't just say that to mess with your head, you know?

[Zerozeddy]

Originally Posted by Zerozeddy

This would be a whole different thread of course

because this is exactly what I thought would happen. [You can't have sacred cows without people disputing their sacredness.]

Anyway, irrespective of the wisdom or otherwise of my preferred and - for me - more successful learning technique, slapping my ABG is harder work than I've found it on EBGs. And it is this hypothesis I was hoping to test with my original post.