Why does it different?????!!!!

HarQ_X · #1 10-29-2001, 05:51 AM

guys,
my bass teacher told me to learn about slapping alone coz he's goin to go to other city for 2 months.... he's showed me twice how to slap the E & A strings (just plain E & A), so i tried it at home it's ok for the E string, but.... the A string didn't sound as clear as the E string i don't know why but it didn't happen to my teacher am i wrong? (note : i use Ibanez Edb-500) can u guys tell me what to do with my fingers or my bass guitar thx!

Sheep Man · #2 10-29-2001, 06:38 AM

Uuuh...
Hi. Welcome to talkbass.

When you're first starting out, chances are you're not too accurate with that thumb when it comes to slapping. I know I wasn't when I first learned how to slap, but slapping the E string was easy. This is most likely due to the fact that there are no strings lower than the E on a standard 4 string, so you don't have to worry about hitting any other strings.

The problem arises when you try to slap the A string, right?
First thing you have to do is make sure you're hitting the A string and the A string only. Your thumb might brush against the E, but it should only really be hitting the A string. To compensate for this brushing against the E string, you might want to try muting it some how, either by wrapping your thumb around the neck and lightly touching the E with your thumb (Although many people here will tell you that's "wrong" or "bad", and...well, really it is, if you want to keep your wrists and arms healthy.

) My preferred method of muting the E is to bring the middle or ring finger on my fretting hand up to mute the E string. It bugs the heck out of other people trying to figure out how I do it, because they always mute the string they're slapping, too.

Anyway, like I said, you'll want to mute that E string and make sure you're only really hitting the A string.
Try and pretend that the E string isn't even there. That could help, too.

HarQ_X · #3 10-29-2001, 07:24 AM

yeah you're right! but the A string's sound doesn't as loud as E's, does it normal? or i need more power to slap the A than E? does the bass guitar have any advantage or effect?
btw thx for your advice it's really useful...

Sheep Man · #4 10-29-2001, 07:58 AM

Volume should be the same from string to string if you use the same amount of strength.

As a general rule, though, you shouldn't have to use too much strength anyway. If when you slap the A string you don't get as much volume as you do with the E, then perhaps it's more of an accuracy thing, like I said in my earlier post. However, the easiest way for anyone to help you is to hear and see you do it, so they can find out what exactly it is that's causing the difference in volume levels, if it's even related to your technique.

Unfortunately, this is where my help stops, seeing as I'm pretty new to the bass myself. I might be able to help you a little more if I could see and hear you slap the E and A strings, but that doesn't seem at all likely, unless "I" is "Hong Kong" in the location portion of your profile. So...I guess I'll have to ask, where abouts in the world are you?
Did that sound right?

Lovebown · #5 10-29-2001, 12:23 PM

Well, the A will naturally sound a little less "fat" than the E since its lighter and tuned higher, but the volume should be much more even between E and A than , say, A and D.

Make sure your bass is setup so that your bridge/relief is set even between all strings. Now, if you still don't get even volume, you're probably not doing it right... keep going at it...bounce off the string...practice getting such a clean sound as possible...

Good luck,
/lovebown

HarQ_X · #6 10-29-2001, 07:09 PM

Thx you guys! i'll try it harder then!
btw what should i do with the phat active & passive tone control if i was trying to slap? my friend said not to use the phat active control to much because it'll cause a heavy & long echo does it true?

And does the height of the string to the neck have any effect? now, the heigth is +- 8,5 mm .....

Lovebown · #7 10-30-2001, 02:50 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by HarQ_X
Thx you guys! i'll try it harder then!
btw what should i do with the phat active & passive tone control if i was trying to slap? my friend said not to use the phat active control to much because it'll cause a heavy & long echo does it true?

And does the height of the string to the neck have any effect? now, the heigth is +- 8,5 mm .....

8.5??

For slap you should probably lower it to atleast 5 mm in my opinion, personally I go for about 2,5
/lovebown

HarQ_X · #8 10-30-2001, 03:52 AM

i've tried for 4 mm and it sounds really good just as good as my training cd!! Thx a lot! but the trouble comes when i play in the 1st fret (not just a plain E or A string)..... my string is almost touch the fret's iron (i dunno what it's name , but it 's somethin that divides 1st fret, 2nd fret,and so on)........ and the sound becomes horrible