Slap and pick up cover...

[Etienned]

I am struggling with the fundamentals of slap and I have a question. My teacher is on vacation so I cannot ask him atm ...

Pick up covers are reputated to do little to nothing at all beside looks according to various researchs I did, but after watching a few Marcus Miller vids, I noticed he sometimes plays with one over his neck pick up.

I re-installed the p/u cover on my jazz bass and tried a few things.
It seems that the cover helps to guide my slapping hand and, by moving my arm close the bass body, at an angle behind the cover (near the bridge), I can mute the strings above the one I'm playing.

for example, on a 5 strings, being a right handed, with a standard tuning,
if I slap on B, my left hand mutes EADG,
if I slap E, my left hand mutes ADG, my right arm mutes B
if I slap on A, left hand mutes DG, right arm mutes BE
and so on.

Is this the right thing to do or am I going to develop some kind of bad habit/technique ?


Feel free to ask for some more clarity if it doesn't make sense, English isn't my primary language.

thanks !

[Psycho]

Originally Posted by Etienned

I am struggling with the fundamentals of slap and I have a question. My teacher is on vacation so I cannot ask him atm ...

Pick up covers are reputated to do little to nothing at all beside looks according to various researchs I did, but after watching a few Marcus Miller vids, I noticed he sometimes plays with one over his neck pick up.

I re-installed the p/u cover on my jazz bass and tried a few things.
It seems that the cover helps to guide my slapping hand and, by moving my arm close the bass body, at an angle behind the cover (near the bridge), I can mute the strings above the one I'm playing.

for example, on a 5 strings, being a right handed, with a standard tuning,
if I slap on B, my left hand mutes EADG,
if I slap E, my left hand mutes ADG, my right arm mutes B
if I slap on A, left hand mutes DG, right arm mutes BE
and so on.

Is this the right thing to do or am I going to develop some kind of bad habit/technique ?


Feel free to ask for some more clarity if it doesn't make sense, English isn't my primary language.

thanks !

I really don't slap, but that sounds like a fix to an issue I hae in normal playing.

I don't think there is bad technique, but does it prohibit you from doing anything you normally do? Or make it harder?

[Skitch it!]

Is it of any practical use to you, the cover? A lot of guys take it off for thumb anchoring on the upper edge of the pickup itself, and using the pickup as a small ramp....it's also nice to have the whole 'speaking area' of pluckdom from the bridge to the neck for tone variation too, fingerstyle moreso but some of the new(ish) slap techniques are being lightened up and used more for a 'flamenco picking' type sound and so back off from the frets for soften attack

[Mayers]

I also learn to slap on a 5 strings. But I came to the conclusion that palm muting is the best way to stay fluid with your fretting hand instead of using my thumb of the fretting hand ( take the neck like a bassball bat )

[steveksux]

I started slapping on basses without pickup covers, and a few years ago got the Marcus Miller V, which has the pickup cover you mention. I was going to take it off, it felt funny at first, but now I sort of like it. It does give you an reference point, a fixed point to give you some feedback where your slapping hand is. Encourages you to move it less, play lighter to maintain contact with the plate. So it felt odd at first, but now that I'm used to it, I like it better I think.

People do it with or without it, so your preference. No harm trying it. Might be a useful tool to help learn. Once you get the motions down in muscle memory, would be able to take it off to access the extra plucking positions. But I like the plucking sounds I get using it for a thumb anchor also, and it doesn't interfere with plucking over the bridge pickups, so I'm probably going to leave it on there.

Randy

[Etienned]

Thanks guys for the input,
I was getting headache from palm muting technique to control the lowest (pitch-wise) strings and this now feels a lot better and natural

I don't care much for the p/u as a thumb rest : I'm used to have the thumb floating when I'm playing on B or E since I mostly play with an acoustic bass. I was interested by slap and so I got a Marcus Miller V (in shoreline gold, can't tell how much I love it).

Using the p/u cover as a reference (in contrast to not having it on) gives me a smaller, more precise yet still agressive slap movement like Steveksux mentionned. Of course, the price to pay is to ''lose'' the tone produced when I play right over the neck p/u, but I still have plenty of grawwl, grawwrd, growhl & romph to choose from.

[Chrisk-K]

I have a pickup cover on my J and I use it as a right hand rest when slapping.

[Skitch it!]

Grawwl, grawwrd, growhl & romph to choose from.....then it's working for ya