Yet another slap bass thread

[rocketrichard]

Hi,

I bought Jon Liebman's Instructional Funk Bass book a few years back and never did get through very far into it. Crazy when I think of it, I really should have stuck to it but I had a problem.

I have two basses, two cheap basses - both with incredible handicaps. I have a squier p bass that would be fine but its defretted and sounds horrible slapped and this horrible ashton 5 string bass with ubernarrow string spacing, terrible electronics. Don't get me wrong though, I got what I paid for them so I'm not complaining. The neck is bowed enough for the bass to be dead in spots after about the 8th fret. :|

But this is what stuffed me up learning to slap, this horrible bass is driving me nuts. The string spacing is so narrow that in a pop situation I am tested to my limits just getting inbetween the strings to pop. There is so much ring aswell, it is a constant challenge to keep these strings muted.

My question, maybe one of many but are these narrow string spaced basses much worse in terms of muting requirements? I plan to get a btb406 sometime later on this year so hopefully by then moving onto the btb will be heaven.

I do occasionally slap my fretless and wow, the spacing makes it so much easier to get around.

Has anyone else uses Jon Liebman's book? It seems to be very good.

[Bruce Lindfield]

I do agree that wider string spacing makes the 'pop' part of slap/pop much easier - for me, I just can't slap at all on basses with narrow spacing because of this.

It's also easier to hit the wrong string when you start slapping with narrow string spacing...

P basses are also not so good for slap - so it sounds like you were doomed to failure!!

[rocketrichard]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

I do agree that wider string spacing makes the 'pop' part of slap/pop much easier - for me, I just can't slap at all on basses with narrow spacing because of this.

It's also easier to hit the wrong string when you start slapping with narrow string spacing...

P basses are also not so good for slap - so it sounds like you were doomed to failure!!

Heh, I think lots of things have changed since I last had a bash at it. Probably the most notable thing is I have decided to embrace invincibility, nothing can stop me!

More seriously though, I initially thought it was impossible. But reasonably quickly I have discovered it is possible to use this narrow bass, in all honesty I am not super accurate at the strings but my left hand (fretting) muting skills are certainly increasing. Occasionally I do grab the fretless and slap it a bit because its amazing how easy it is to be accurate after slapping that

I am still finding it hard to concieve palm muting though, I don't know that I can blame the narrow bass on that one though. Probably because palm muting gets me into trouble for popping.

[jonster]

Yes, slapping on a bass with narrow spacing is definitely more challenging. Contact me if you have any other questions or concerns. Thanks for picking up my Funk Bass book!

Jon Liebman

[Toastfuzz]

I have a fretless 4 string and fretted 6 string, so I'm right there with ya. However, a few situations made me realize that those really weren't restrictions at all.

For one, I left my fretless 4 at my friends apartment, because we always jam there. So when I'd want to play slap bass, I had no choice, and now I have fun slapping on the fretless, it has a very unique/untraditional sound. And just look at Les Claypool's 6 string fretless Rainbow bass, he slaps that thing all the time.

As for the 6, I was originally extremely disheartened when I bought it because I couldnt slap on it at all comparison to the then-fretted 4 string. Like you said, popping was super hard to accurately and quickly get your finger under the correct string. And muting was hard with 6 strings total. However at this point (maybe...5, 6 months later?) I can slap on it just as good or better than the 4 string, and have gotten muting with my fretting hand down to a science. So its all in practice, I wouldnt consider yourself "doomed from the start" by a longshot.

Except the one with the super high action. That might be impossible to slap on, or at least get a good sound out of. I've tried with friends' "punk" basses with 1/2" string height, just couldnt do it.