Can I play funk without slap?

[deckard]

Obvious choice is Rocco, but Gary Willis can get pretty non-slap funky, esp on some of the Tribal Tech stuff...

However I am truly shocked to find that no one has mentioned... Paul Jackson. I mean *really*, guys...

Especially with Mike Clark on drums...

 

[x-DarkerSide-x]

Funk is makin' somethin outta nuthin. Funk.. is.... makin' somethin outta nuthin. huh, say it. Funk is :snap: makin uh somethin outta nuthin.

 

[Dug2]

yes

 

[Feral Feline]

Go Slapless?! Get the funk out!

Go slabless!

Wah the funk? A DB?


Yeah, no slappin the slab, yer funkn upright.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Don't get me wrong but this thread is kind of "biased" against Bass Slap.
Les plays Bass Slap for his "country-style" duo.
Here is THE FUNK , George Duke's "Dukey Stick" with Byron Miller - Bass

NO SLAP!!!



From the same Album with the same Bass Player - Byron Miller:
Bass Slap with Double Thumb.

We Give our Love By George Duke


The same musicians playing the same kind of music - FUNK.

How difficult is to answer that question, "Can I play funk without slap?"

 

[Whousedtoplay]

Herbie Hancock - Chameleon
(The piece's signature funky bass line was played by Hancock on ARP Oddyssey.
Nathan East on bass guitar. We know how "good" Nathan's Bass Slap is, but the Funk Beat (Jazzed) is still there.




Herbie Hancock - Chameleon (Experience Montreux)
with Tal Wilkenfeld

 

[phillybass101]

There was Funk before slapping. And I'm a Slapper.

 

[Dug2]

this great thread needs this as well. good stuff from everyone

 

[FlatwoundFunk]

Go Slapless?! Get the funk out!

Go slabless!

Wah the funk? A DB?


Yeah, no slappin the slab, yer funkn upright.

Man why'd you have to do that?
It started out so good, now this going to become a slappin' debate all over again. Oh well here we go....

FF

Go Slapless?! Get the funk out!

Go slabless!

Wah the funk? A DB?


Yeah, no slappin the slab, yer funkn upright.

SORRY for my last post, I thought was in another thread that somehow I came out of. My apologies.
FF

 

[Watchootognbout]

Lets turn it around.
Is all slap Funk oriented?
Of course not!

Submitted for your approval.Dave La Rue with The Steve Morse Band.
So Yes!You can play Funk without slapping.
Just as you can slap on something other than Funk!

 

[Feral Feline]

Man why'd you have to do that?
It started out so good, now this going to become a slappin' debate all over again. Oh well here we go....

FF

SORRY for my last post, I thought was in another thread that somehow I came out of. My apologies.
FF

?

For the vinyl record, whatever the genre I like slap just fine – on slab or on upright.

The question was "Can I play funk without slap" and the answer is "Yes, Virginian, there is a Slappy Clause".
Funk isn't in the chosen technique, it's in the amazing phrasing. Now if only I could play as funky as I wannabe.

FF

 

[chrism2sych]

Going in the opposite direction.....most of the slap I play is definitely NOT funk.....my slap technique is used almost exclusively for experimental type rock. For funk I just concentrate on nailing the bejesus outta the one and keeping everything else in between very syncopated.....for the most part.

 

[jamro217]

The cool thing about back-in-the-day funk is the slapping isn't as hard as that Doug Johns/Victor Wooten double-thumb stuff. I think almost anyone can get the slap groove on Sly & The Family Stone's "Thank You (FaLettin Me Be Mice Elf Agin)", played by the inventor (or co-inventor, depending on who you ask) of thumpin', Larry Graham, given some practice and effort. Then you're on your way to a new arrow in the quiver.

Even Larry Graham is able play funky without a lot of slapping. Listen to "If You Want Me To Stay". A good example of mixing fingerstyle and thumping. The thump is used for expression only, not the typewriter effect.

 

[FlatwoundFunk]

Even Larry Graham is able play funky without a lot of slapping. Listen to "If You Want Me To Stay". A good example of mixing fingerstyle and thumping. The thump is used for expression only, not the typewriter effect.

I thought the whole song was thumped? Just with different attacks for variations. I'm not sure though. Gotta go back and listen
FF

 

[jamro217]

As many have noted here, funk is in the syncopation, not so much the snappy tone. You could conceivably slap your way through a ballad playing only quarter notes. That would be unique.

 

[Alex J]

Even Larry Graham is able play funky without a lot of slapping. Listen to "If You Want Me To Stay". A good example of mixing fingerstyle and thumping. The thump is used for expression only, not the typewriter effect.

It's Rustee Allen on bass as Larry had quit the band by that point, and he's double thumbing the entire thing! But in that old school double thumbing style, where it's essentially like using your thumb like a plectrum. No open-hammer-pluck or any of that.

You can see a tiny bit of it here.

 

[Whousedtoplay]

But in that old school double thumbing style, where it's essentially like using your thumb like a plectrum. No open-hammer-pluck or any of that.

You can see a tiny bit of it here.

The "new school" double thumbing style also incorporates the thumb as a Pick.

I'd say, that old school double thumbing style incorporates the thumb's tip (and thumb's nail?)

 

[jamro217]

It's Rustee Allen on bass as Larry had quit the band by that point, and he's double thumbing the entire thing! But in that old school double thumbing style, where it's essentially like using your thumb like a plectrum. No open-hammer-pluck or any of that.

You can see a tiny bit of it here.

I was wrong. Sorry. Thanks for the info.

 

[David Jayne]

Yes.

 

[Alex J]

The "new school" double thumbing style also incorporates the thumb as a Pick.

I'd say, that old school double thumbing style incorporates the thumb's tip (and thumb's nail?)

Oh yes, agreed. I think what I meant is there are fewer 'fireworks' - superfast triplets and the like. I don't often hear the simpler, old school way used much these days, except by Ethan Farmer. Robert Wilson from the Gap Band played the same way. So did Doug Rauch. Either way it's super funky