who invented slapping? bill johnson or larry graham?

[Pmon]

In response, The orchestral technique known as Bartok Pizz where the player pulls the string away from the fingerboard and allows it 'snap' back down on the finger board could been seen as a precursor of the slap technique on EB. So then we get into slap 'cello, violin, havn't seen too many of those cheesy technique videos in my local music store though! So is it all Bartoks fault, Although I'm sure he heard the technique in Hungarian folk music.

Best wishes

[Aaron Saunders]

Originally Posted by ADeepShadeOfBlu

Can someone Please mention Colin Hodgekinson. Way back when, when Stanley was with Chick Corea, they were supported by a band called Back Door. Legend has it that their bass-player had perfected a strange and mystical technique involving striking the fretboard with the thumb and snapping the higher strings with the middle and index fingers. Sound familiar?. Stanley was apparently so bowled-over by this new sound, he asked Colin to so it to him ......... And the rest is history.
Back Door were the Primus of the 60's, even Les Claypole admits it!

On the upright, isn't there a song from the 1930's called "Slap That Bass" ("slap that bass, slap it till it's dizzy, slap that bass, keep the rhythm busy"). Think it's from an Astaire movie?

Slap that Bass is from Gerswhin's Crazy For You, adapted from their 1933's "Girl Crazy".

...I was in a production of it two years ago. Hands up for Custus the Cowboy! Anyway, yeah, but it's not "slapping" in that song as one might expect. The main line is a C-A#-F#-G# line where you slap all four strings against the fingerboard making a click sound (eg, slap-mute) in between each note.

[Don Higdon]

This is like trying to determine who was the first kid to wear a baseball cap sideways. Somebody did, but I don't care.

[matt macgown]

All the barn dance and country picking bass players that I ever heard in the 40s and 50s in Maine slapped heck out of their basses, regardless of whether they were in tune or not. Square dances, especially. Had to do it myself on square dance stuff. So it was a folk tradition long before they came along. There was no finger popping though, like modern slapping - it has evolved, seems to me.

[Don Higdon]

Let's not overlook the bassists in society bands that played one maraca with the pizz hand on latin tunes. I'm going way back on that.

[freemole]

marcus, that was priceless. thanks

[Steve Boisen]

He didn't invent it, but I belive the first guy to record "slap" bass was Steve Brown with the Jean Goldkette orchestra. His slap solo on "Dinah" pre-dates Bill Johnson's solos on "Bullfiddle Blues" or Wellman Braud's solo breaks on the early Duke Ellington records. Have a listen (click on the version of Dinah from 1/28/26):Click here

SteveMy webpage

[abaguer]

It's kind of a mutually exclusive question since we are dealing with two different instruments and time frames. Bill Johnson was playing at beginning of century, Larry in the Sixties and seventies (and today). My hunch is a bunch of guys were doing it like Johnson, Pops Foster etc and they might have picked it up from someone they saw. It became developed as time went on, but documentation is murky before them.

As for electric bass slapping, Larry Graham was doing it when he played with his mother in a drummer-less band and did it to keep time and add some accents. This was definitely pre Sly Stone, pre Colin Hodgkinson so he definitely did it before Stanley.