hi guys i'm a bit of a bass newb still, so here's my Q on slap bass, i own a fender mim j-bass anyways i find it difficult to slap on, for example when i slap on an open string, its doable. But if i fret anything, it becomes much harder to slap (And sometimes no sound is made, only a thud of sorts) it's much harder to slap on the A string than the E string. anyways, for all you slap bassists, how do your action look? mine is pretty low right now.. and i feel that i'm not really giving the strings a chance to vibrate when i slap it anyone?
yeah you want low action. slapping is all in the wrist, a twisting motion. unless ur double thumping it's a bit different. but regular slap u gotta have ur thumb slap off the string, if it just lays down on it the strings not gonna vibrate.
sometimes u don't get a sound is what makes me think ur muting the string with your thumb or the palm part of ur thumb comes down and rests on the string,
My action was low too and I found slaping a bit difficult, raised it a bit and it sounds awesome now, but each to his own.I say experiment and see whats best for you.
Medium low action, and I would spend a few $ on a slap lesson from a pro so you dont start doing it wrong. www.musicdojo.com used to have slap lessons.
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