How hard do you slap?

[Chrisk-K]

I like slapping hard. But due to my relatively low action (2 mm), I often get fret buzz. I never get fret buzz when fingerpicking, though.

So, I wonder if I should slap lightly and get the desired tone. I'm curious as to how hard other bassists slap.

 

[Craig_S]

Slapping hard does nothing but tear up your bass. Learn to slap just hard enough to get a note out. It's all about your technique; not how hard you hit the string.

 

[puddin tame]

Slapping at different strengths produces different sounds. Thus that would depend on what sound i'm going for

 

[steveksux]

Slap lightly, with love. Remember it's not to punish, its to guide...

And besides, a light touch lets the thumbed notes speak better, you get lows on the low strings that way, and nice snap contrast on the top strings. Lighter generally allows faster too. Hard to stay relaxed when you're wacking away at it.

That's how I like to do it, everyone is entitled to their opinion, sounds different, so whatever you're going for tonewise, that's what you do.

Randy

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

Slapping hard does nothing but tear up your bass. Learn to slap just hard enough to get a note out. It's all about your technique; not how hard you hit the string.

Yeah, a fret job later I learned this the hard way...

Unless you just GOTTA look like Flea, just play the note don't beat up your bass!

 

[Pullman?]

I tend to be very aggressive with my slapping and popping, but more so because I enjoy the tone that it gives. It feels... Rounder? If that makes sense.

 

[MonkeyBass]

I barely touch the string. For me that's the only way to get the speed I need and relax into it.

 

[aurian4parker]

Hard enough

 

[Slax]

Used to be too hard. I've been working on it. It's still not light but it now sounds better.

I also toned down the popping to help everything sound much more even.

 

[BassistForHire]

I tend to be very aggressive with my slapping and popping, but more so because I enjoy the tone that it gives. It feels... Rounder? If that makes sense.

What kind of tone... clanking and buzzing. Ease up, let the string come through.

 

[Chris K]

Slapping, like drumming, is to make an object vibrate and ring by striking it. The longer you touch it, the more you will damp the vibration. So the question is not just how hard, but also how long, and we're talking milliseconds here.

Try to think of it as a movement away from the string. It will help.

 

[JimmyM]

i like slapping hard. larry graham recommends slapping hard. i buy into his logic. you can slap quicker if you slap lighter, but if you want it to sound big, you have to slap pretty hard. you don't want to kill the string but you want to give it a good shot. at least i do. but i don't slap fast much.

 

[KJung]

Slapping, like drumming, is to make an object vibrate and ring by striking it. The longer you touch it, the more you will damp the vibration. So the question is not just how hard, but also how long, and we're talking milliseconds here.

Try to think of it as a movement away from the string. It will help.

+1 While I am not a slap monster by any means, one thing that I've developed is the ability to keep the exact same volume and decent tone between my finger style and slap playing without touching any volume or tone knobs or EQ.

To the OP: If you are trying to be a 'slap machine gun guy' I can't help there, but if you are just trying to include basic slap style as part of your music vocabulary to use when appropriate, the best way to practice is to do simple scales up and down the neck, first fingerstyle, then thumb hits. When you can get both techniques to have the same open string muting (i.e., no ringing of open strings) and basic tone, with the same low end and volume (i.e., the primary difference just being the front end percussive attack), then you are ready to go for 90% of slap situations and you are ready to work on getting your slap versus pop volume and tone even!

IMO and IME!

 

[4-string]

I'm no slap monster either, but have used it and still use it for a couple of tunes we do.

Whatever sounds good to you. And +1 to Ken re volume and tone, there should be no reason to change eq or volume settings between fingerstyle and slap passages.

I don't slap very hard, but my fingerstyle has a very, very light touch so I usually have to dig in a little bit more there to match the slap volume wise.

 

[Devo-lution]

I would be a soft slapper... I find the sound when slapping hard incredibly annoying.

I also crave to archieve the same volume and +/- the same tone when playing slapping and when playing fingerstyle.

greetz
Kim

 

[DizzyExiled]

it varies with how late dinner is

 

[puddin tame]

it varies with how late dinner is

haha! I was waiting for someone to have the guts to post that

 

[millerfreak]

Don't know if this one is hard, but I do have to get abit of power doing it.

 

[Skitch it!]

Don't know if this one is hard, but I do have to get abit of power doing it.

+ 1 This, close, tight technique, I don't feel it's lacking any punch in any way, it just has much more control and more consistency than a bigger thumb arc movement ; )

 

[KJung]

Don't know if this one is hard, but I do have to get abit of power doing it.

That is beautiful in every way... time, tone, feel, everything. Wish I had that feel to my slapping.... really nice, and no 'tricks'... just good solid, old school slappin' and poppin'... fat and meaty sounding.