My first shot at an instructional...

[WJGreer]

Who's this clown?

http://home.comcast.net/~will_greer/...Slap_Bass1.wmv

Comments welcome...

[DJ1]

I think all instructional files such as this are useful in someway.

Keep in mind that it is not just an opportunity to show off your chops.

If you are going to demonstrate a technique, break it right down for the learner.

Play it normal speed.
Make it incredibly slow for the beginner and to clearly outline all aspects of the notes, fingering or percussives used.
Then speed it up in a number of steps back to normal speed.

This approach tends to be the most beneficial for learning a specific chop.

[theshadow2001]

To call this an instructional might not be the most accurate discription. I would call it an overview of slap. This would work very well as an introduction to a series of videos shwoing more detailed examples of slap grooves and chops.

You use words like synchopated octave fifth etc. If you use technical words such as these you should explain what they mean. Treat your audience as though they were a bunch of idiots. Harsh as though it might sound I feel it would be a good approach to explaining everything...Synchopated means...Heres an unsynchopated groove....here's the same groove when synchopated etc.

For those who can't slap very well (like me) this video is a good source for inspiration.

Whatever way you recorded it, it plays quite smoothly on my PC which is a hard enough thing to accomplish. It looks and sounds good.

I think if you made a few more videos and concentrated on a few specifics on each one as well as the stuff mentioned above you would have a very nice series of insturctional videos.

Keep up the good work!

[WJGreer]

Thanks, guys. What thoughtful responses. I appreciate.

[WJGreer]

Originally Posted by theshadow2001

Whatever way you recorded it, it plays quite smoothly on my PC which is a hard enough thing to accomplish. It looks and sounds good.

Thanks, by the way...I actually went to very little trouble. It's just a Canon Elura 50, using the internal mic, rendered to .wmv using Windows Movie Maker with a few splices. I reduced the bitrate in order to get the file size under 10MB. It was easier than I expected it to be.

[Disco_Gee]

Pretty good. I would suggest that next time you don't wear a hat, and don't sit directly under a light. It makes it very difficult to see your face and see what your hands are doing when you are playing. Apart from that I think it was good. Nice chops too. I look forward to seeing more!

[spudmaster34]

Originally Posted by WJGreer

with a few splices..

no way! espesially not about 48 seconds into it...
but seriously, verry nice

[dannoman]

Very nice indeed....

[tZer]

I like it! Agree with most other posts here, and I like it as a starting point/overview of the technique.

My 2 cents...

Break the whole technique down and show it in bits and pieces.
-- Thumb technique
-- Popping
-- Dead tones
-- Building a line
-- Building a complete part

Then when you get into the details, I would love to see it done like so:
-- "Here is an example of a simple, octave-based slap line" (Play it, full speed and 'real' with a drum machine)

-- "Now here is what I did" ... (close up of hands, slow it down, talk it through - no need for drum machine here OR have a slow, metranome click track...)

-- Recap it and ask viewer to join you... "Let's do it again, up to speed and you play a long with me!" (Drum machine counts off 4 and away you go again! - let the part loop 4 times or so...)

Also, if you included some tabs or transcriptions (actual sheet music would be great!) via a web site, then this would be complete! Let me know if you need help with the web stuff... I do that for a living.

--tz

[WJGreer]

Originally Posted by tZer

Break the whole technique down and show it in bits and pieces.
-- Thumb technique
-- Popping
-- Dead tones
-- Building a line
-- Building a complete part

Then when you get into the details, I would love to see it done like so...

Awesome suggestions. I hope I can find the time soon to expand it thusly. Don't be surprised if, at some point, I come back with something that look a lot like what you've suggested.

Much appreciated.

[superbassman2000]

Originally Posted by theshadow2001

To call this an instructional might not be the most accurate discription. I would call it an overview of slap. This would work very well as an introduction to a series of videos shwoing more detailed examples of slap grooves and chops.

You use words like synchopated octave fifth etc. If you use technical words such as these you should explain what they mean. Treat your audience as though they were a bunch of idiots. Harsh as though it might sound I feel it would be a good approach to explaining everything...Synchopated means...Heres an unsynchopated groove....here's the same groove when synchopated etc.

For those who can't slap very well (like me) this video is a good source for inspiration.

Whatever way you recorded it, it plays quite smoothly on my PC which is a hard enough thing to accomplish. It looks and sounds good.

I think if you made a few more videos and concentrated on a few specifics on each one as well as the stuff mentioned above you would have a very nice series of insturctional videos.

Keep up the good work!

yeah, i didn't really se anything really being taught, but it was a good overwiew in what slap was, and some of the ways that slap can be applied.
of course, when you were listing off several players who use slap in non-funk context, i was waiting for fieldy!