Scott Hinds has a great site where you can download some free clips of him slapping (he is really good!). Just watch them over and over, and try to do it.
http://scotthinds.tripod.com/
I highly reccomend the Mark Rubin/Kevin Smith video "slapping:the ungentle art".
http://www.violinsetc.com/violinsetc...f%5Fid=Rubin01
More important than this though is how your bass is set up. slapping on full tension spiros is an uphill battle. You want your action higher than a jazzer's to be able to get your fingers under the strings, but not so high that you really have to beat it to get a click.
A lot of slap players play gut strings, but they are expensive. If your really fond of the steel sound, the best thing to do is get a solo set, and tune them down. Since you are just testing the waters, so to speak, I would get a set of Barefoot Larry's HBSS:
:
http://www.traditionmusic.com/main.html http://www.traditionmusic.com/stringsfaq.html
For $20, they sound similar to guts, and are way easy to slap. You could mix & match strings, too. Some folks (me included) will have a gut, or HBSS D&G, and a steel E&A.The name of the slapping game is low tension.
Go to
www.rockabillybass.com and look around, a lot to learn from those guys. check out the message board :
http://rockabillybass.com/phpBB/index.php
Ask a few questions; they love to help.
