Teacher told me I slap wrong

[MammaryVest]

My bass teacher told me that I "slap like a rock player" and if I ever wanted to do the "fancy" stuff, I'd have to learn how to slap like Miller or Wooten. There is more to the conversation, my teacher isn't a stupid ******* or anything. I tried slapping like that, and it seems like it's more of kinda using your thumb as a pick. It's very uncomfortable to me, should I try to learn it anyway, or just stick it out my own way?

[DaemonBass]

Mayhap he means you should double-thumb? That's just the impression I got from your post (ie, the "using your thumb like a pick" part). I dunno, you CAN do that but a lot of bassists use the "traditional" slap movement such as claypool and flea (I know, I'm a name-dropper). I don't see how that method is "Wrong" tho.

[Basshole]

Slap him.

[Bassist4Life]

I think that if you're going to practice something, you should try to learn the right way.

If you are slapping with your fingers pointing at the floor, then you should change your technique (IMO).

IMO, this is poor slap technique. It works for him; and that's fine, but I wouldn't teach my students to do it this way.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=h08bwjF_dL4

I think good slap technique looks a little more like this.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=eMzXtizKcXY

Good luck with your slap lessons.
Joe

[niftydog]

I don't think I've ever seen two bassists use the exact same slapping technique.

I would say to him that you're interested in learning alternate techniques, but that ultimately you wish to develop your own style. So, a bit of give and take is all that's needed, learn from him, but don't clone his technique!

Compare the size and shape of Wootens hand and fingers against Les Claypools and you'll instantly understand why they don't use the same technique!

[Bassist4Life]

Originally Posted by niftydog

I don't think I've ever seen two bassists use the exact same slapping technique.

I would say to him that you're interested in learning alternate techniques, but that ultimately you wish to develop your own style. So, a bit of give and take is all that's needed, learn from him, but don't clone his technique!

Compare the size and shape of Wootens hand and fingers against Les Claypools and you'll instantly understand why they don't use the same technique!

Sure. I agree 100%. However, I also from the school that you need to learn the rules before you can bend/break them. I feel that poor technique can limit your ability in the future and/or make you have to re-learn. There's nothing more frustrating than that. All of this is IMO of course.

Joe

[Toneonbass]

i'm taking a class at musicdojo.com (slap 1) and I'm learnig that way. like wooten and miller. and you can do double thumps etc, with this method. If you want to play funk, learn it.. my2cents

[hyp.spec]

i know this it out of the question... but how the hell do I get LED lights on my bass?

[Bassist4Life]

Originally Posted by Basshole

Slap him.

LOL! I saw this post a couple of times, but I just got it. Nice.

Joe

[MammaryVest]

I'm interested to know why you think the "thumb down" technique is poor. I'd just like to know more about both styles to help make my decision.

[Grueber]

Originally Posted by MammaryVest

My bass teacher told me that I "slap like a rock player" and if I ever wanted to do the "fancy" stuff, I'd have to learn how to slap like Miller or Wooten. There is more to the conversation, my teacher isn't a stupid ******* or anything. I tried slapping like that, and it seems like it's more of kinda using your thumb as a pick. It's very uncomfortable to me, should I try to learn it anyway, or just stick it out my own way?

I think he is talking about double-thumping too. However it's odd that he would mention Marcus Miller because he mainly uses normal slap anyways (although he is an amazing double-thumper)

[Basshole]

Originally Posted by Bassist4Life

LOL! I saw this post a couple of times, but I just got it. Nice.

Joe

I'm here all week...

[Poop-Loops]

Originally Posted by Bassist4Life

I think good slap technique looks a little more like this.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=eMzXtizKcXY

Good luck with your slap lessons.
Joe

Holy crap! Glow in the dark inlays!?

[superjesus]

I taught myself how to slap the "wrong" way first and as i progressed and wanted to learn more technique. in order to play certain things, i had to slap the "correct" way.

but now, i do notice slight differences in how the 2 techniques sound. i prefer the correct technique for fast technically demanding passages, but for holding a sold groove, i prefer the wrong method.

just my $0.02

[Swimming Bird]

Correct is thumb parallel to the strings, wrong is perpendicular, yes?

Right or wrong, parallel is just a better way of doing it -- much more control, an easier time popping and double-popping, the possibility of up strokes, less power for more sound, and more comfort. I don't understand why you'd go the perpendicular route...

[geoffkhan]

Originally Posted by Poop-Loops

Holy crap! Glow in the dark inlays!?

Fret lights actually. I played on someone's bass at a show once that had them... I dunno, I guess they're okay, but a little too cheezy for me.

Back to slap technique, yeah, I'd consider the parallel thumb to be more 'correct' technique. You get more precision. With your thumb going down like the Flea style, everything's muddier.

[-Sam-]

I havent heard of people slapping perpendicular before but there are two types of parralell slap. The bounce. and The thumb through.
The bounce is where the thumb hits the string and...wait for it... bounces of it to come back down on the next stroke.
The thumb through is where the thumb hits the string and plucks it down striking through the string to rest on the string below it.

The bounce is typically more percussive, where as the thumb through has more pitch. The bounce is like mark king, the thumb through is like marcus miller. and vic does thumb through and then up again.

If you are doing it like either of these than you are fine, but if your doing something else i have no idea at all.

[stitchbass]

Personally I slap both ways, sometimes in my band situation a flea-esque slap downwards on the B string from time to time Ill do as its most convenient for switching between fingerstlye to a slap moment.

But most of the time, just for comfort reasons really Im slapping with my thumb point at the headstock and I can do the double-slap thing like this treating my thumb like a pick sometimes...

[MammaryVest]

Can someone describe for me in detail the parallel way, or how to do it, because when looking at a video of a pro doing it, it looks so smooth that when I try to copy them, no sound comes out

[morf]

Originally Posted by Bass_Mule

I havent heard of people slapping perpendicular before but there are two types of parralell slap. The bounce. and The thumb through.
The bounce is where the thumb hits the string and...wait for it... bounces of it to come back down on the next stroke.
The thumb through is where the thumb hits the string and plucks it down striking through the string to rest on the string below it.

The bounce is typically more percussive, where as the thumb through has more pitch. The bounce is like mark king, the thumb through is like marcus miller. and vic does thumb through and then up again.

If you are doing it like either of these than you are fine, but if your doing something else i have no idea at all.

i'd listen to this guy he knows what hes talking about

Personally, I do a thumb through when I play with lots of pull offs/hammer ons at fast speed and need tons of mutes added. For stuff like RHCP I do the bounce off thing to add more percussion to the note. Works for me. Get Slap It! and try learning some of the exercises past 25-30. You'll see that you need to thumb through most of those if you want to play them accuratly and at decent speed.