THE SLAP BASS PROGRAM WITH ALEXIS SKLAREVSKI - DVD FUNK BASS - BOOK
Get the DVD first. Then work through the book.
Yes you can slap on that bass. I like the strings a little higher for slapping. My four string has the wider string spacing and a higher string action, my six string has narrow string spacing and low string action. I can not slap on my 6 string worth a darn. Take your bass to have the frets leveled, the nut and bridge and neck adjusted, the electronics checked, and the pickup heights adjusted. Should be around 100 dollars or so. It is expensive, but worth it. Just because your bass is a cheaper bass does not mean that a good luther can't make it play better.
On a four string bass, I like to pluck the first string with my middle finger, and the second string with my index finger. I find that when I position my thumb where I want it my middle finger ends up exactly where I want it under the first string, and I find that it is easier with my shorter index finger to dive in and under the second string...between the first and second string I mean. Don't make these choices early. Do it a LOT in many different ways. You do not know which way you like until you do it a few different ways for hours and hours and hours.
If you spend hours per day sitting in a chair practicing, and only gig out here and there, you are better off adjusting your strap for standing to locate the bass exactly where it is in your lap while sitting. Put on the strap, sit down, adjust strap, stand up. I think Flea spends a lot of his playing time standing up and running around, so he is more used to a bass position different than his sitting position.
If you keep your bass lower, it will not effect your thumb slap, but it will slow down your fretting hand speed. I keep my bass higher because I fan out my fretting fingers and place my thumb on the BOTTOM THIRD of the back of the neck. You can not do this with a low hanging bass, but also, no way can you you play what I can play with a low hanging bass.
It is interesting with the advancment in bass and with more good players becoming visible to the public, playing the bass in a higher position is not as uncool as it used to be. In fact, I am starting to wonder if playing a six string bass higher will become kind of the cool thing.
There are some snobs on talkbass who do not like Flea and who think that hanging the bass lower is like a sign that someone is not serious about their music. I guess they do not remember their youth. I like Flea. I like the look of a lower hanging bass even though I don't do it. Do what you like, continue evaluating your self, your style, and your appearance on stage, be willing to change, and if Flea can do it so can you. Be young. Be happy.
The hair, the shoes, the bass, its all a part of the package. If you are in a band that fits an image, or looking to get in a band with a specific image, you gotta fit in. We are a ruthlessly tribal animal, even in this day and age. There was a thread here last year about what type of bass was best for Punk Rock, and so many people said that Punk was all about doing what you want and if you wanted to play a pink paisley bass that was cool. I disagree. The Punk tribe will outcast you as quick or quicker than any other tribe.
Remember that slapping is fun, and if the group you are with is into it you are free to do what you like, but you will get more gigs and get paid more to play in better places and with better bands by laying down simple basic fingerstyle funk/rock parts to mainstream type music. Do what you want, but realize what limits you and what expands you. Make your own choice, but be aware of the consequences.
One last thing, the meat at the base of your thumb and heal of your slapping hand are your friends to mute the strings. Listen for when this is done. And the rest of your fretting hand is your friend to "drape" accross the strings you are not playing to help them not ring. Good players do not just have good tone, they also allow only the correct strings to ring out. When I play fingerstyle, my plucking hand thumb dampens the strings above, and my fretting hand fingers dampen the strings below, and only the string I am playing is heard. There is no background garbage. People who say somone has good tone are typically not aware of how important that is to the overall sound.
.
