slapping near the bridge?

[tradition_2kill]

i get way more bottom this way, sounds cleaner and more articulate, matches my 3 finger,steve di giorgio wannabe, groove,....quite well, though, i still find i must be rather light with my thumb or it clips my amp {swr super redhead}.which ill be trading for a kustom groove bass 1200 later this week.through my mesa powerhouse 1000 cab. this is the only position i can play in and get any kind of clarity,finger style or slap {no pop}, is this just a headroom problem? will the mesa/groove 1200 rig eliminate this? larry graham says to thump hard yet all it does is clip my amp, my action is about 1/4 from the 12th fret. why slap near the neck as opposed to the bridge?

[Baryonyx]

To answer why slapping at the neck is more popular, I think it's simply because it's more comfortable and allows for the playing of more fluid lines. It is certainly more comfy to pop there and there is the added bonus of not having to worry about the bridge getting in the way.

Guys like Stuart Hamm, Mark King and Victor Wooten wouldn't be able to do what they did if they all played at the bridge. I hope the new amp doesn't have the same clipping problems.

[ras1983]

well, the slap 'sound' is actually the string hitting the neck. thats what gives it that piano like sound.

[velvetkevorkian]

Your strings could be too low- as ras1983 says, the slap sound is from the string hitting the frets, but if the string hits the pickups it causes a nasty clicking, which could easily make your amp clip. When I started slapping I had to raise my action for just this reason.

[lemur821]

I used to have a small piece of foam covering my pole pieces to stop the string from touching them.

[Clay_Bass]

Some stuff Ive done has had some slapping at the bridge. Its cool if thats the sound you want.

[Kickin'Fruit]

You can put clear nail polish on your pickup pole pieces to stop that kind of clipping from happening.

[tradition_2kill]

well i got a new setup this week a trace elliot smx gp12 through a mackie fr 800 into the powerhouse 1000 cab what a amazing difference, i really have to try to clip the trace.

[j-bass-kreep]

Slapping near the bridge can be a cool trick , I can hit harmonics while slapping , its pretty useless for most songs but it's a nice trick to show off. Make sure you master both slapping near the neck and near the bridge.

[tradition_2kill]

ive played about 20 years of guitar, 1 year of funk/slap/tap style bass {with very little fingerstyle}. 6 months of ultra brutal death metal {with a pick}. and about3 months of fingerstyle {no job several hours per day}. i think my finger style is getting strong, but, there is still a definate difference in levels between the two. slapping near the bridge.... i move my hand less {anchored on the bridge pickup} a different sound, more lows?. and a seemless transition? maybe my fingerstyle just sucks?