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In Defense of Slapping

#101
ReiPsaeg said:
Just out of curiosity, can anyone point to any recent examples of popular music that includes slap bass? It doesn't have to be the whole song, it could just be for a bridge or something. It seems like the sound has fallen out of favor in the pop world, and definitely isn't very prevalent in my local scene.
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I have posted a video of a bachata group "Aventura" that have used slap bass fills. Nobody seemed to like it, saying it was un-musical.

That song was a massive hit in the Latin community.

Someone said that TB'ers probably don't like slap because they haven't been exposed to it in music they like, I think this is a perfect example of a TB 'rock bias' - particularly classic rock.
 
#102
ReiPsaeg said:
Just out of curiosity, can anyone point to any recent examples of popular music that includes slap bass? It doesn't have to be the whole song, it could just be for a bridge or something. It seems like the sound has fallen out of favor in the pop world, and definitely isn't very prevalent in my local scene.
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"Claudia Lewis" by M83:



JMJ is one of those dudes who's always playing just the right part. Pick and flatwounds or slap and pop, he's got it covered.
 
#104
Pass the popcorn! I've traveled from the classic Beatles argument to this one.

In all these pages nobody has mentioned Steely Dan's "Peg"...a huge hit in which the songwriters said NO EFFING SLAP! and Chuck Rainey laid down a slap groove anyway- out of sight-and helped create a masterpiece.

When I was but a wee lad stumbling through a music store at 19 years old I saw the brand new cherry red Yamaha BB300s on the wall...and the sound of those strings, all bright and plinky, on that mahagany body when pulled and slapped made me wet my pants. The old white guys running the store hated hearing me trying to slap this thing, and horribly at that. The sound that they DID like was the cash register ringing when I walked out of the store with it. That instrument and another one exactly like it sent me on a loooong journey when I had no idea whatsoever that I would become a bass player.

I quickly dropped the whole slap thing...I wasn't very good at it, but what's worse is that Flea came along and turned it into this whole macho surfer punk thing and everybody around me my age was beating the hell out of their basses. I only saw one person do it tastefully, and that was Robert Sledge with his pre-Ben Folds band Toxic Popsickle, down in the Somewhere Else Tavern. I decided that slap would be better kept in his hands than mine.

That was 24 years ago. A shift to smaller and lighter necks along with a shift in attitudes towards slap in general has me playing a bit more of it. I'm still not terribly proficient at it, but I don't need to be either....just a little bit here and there as seasoning and spice in an otherwise repetitive groove is enough to garnish a little interest and a little respect. Nobody I know plays funk, so there's no fear of overkill...and that's funny to me because I don't associate slap with funk at all.

I actually tried to CL a funk band together and I only got one call: it was from another bass player wanting instruction on how to force 5-note slap riffs into his tunes. I told him that if he was having trouble doing that then maybe it's because it doesn't fit the music, and out of my whole set list of funk tunes none of them had slap bass lines.
 
#105
Sometimes slapping is great, sometimes not. I hear you about the kid in the music store slapping and hammering out pseudo-triplets, I find it as annoying as listening to a half-hour of sweep-picked Phrygian scales on guitar played through an amp with entirely too much gain dialled up.

When I started out, I was forced to play with a pick. I later learned to slap, and while I'm not Mark King, I became comfortable, if not particularly proficient, doing it. Left to my own choice, I'll play with my fingers, but since I've done all three, I'll do whatever the song requires (or the BL tells me to do). And Avvie's right above - I also might throw in a bit of slap as seasoning here and there.
 
#106
Chuck Rainey slapping on a '57 P Bass with La Bella flats IS A WHOLE DIFFERENT THING than what people try to do today. Like "Aeroplane" by the Chili Peppers for example. I love Flea to death, but the tone on that track to me is like fingernails on a chalkboard. I'd love to hear a re-mix of that track with him playing (and slapping) a Fender with old rounds or flatwounds.
 
#109
I can only take so much slap. When i was starting i thought it was cheesy (mainly cause i'd heard it in cheesy pop songs). I've come around to liking some of it sometimes. But by and large i avoid it. I mean...it is KINDA fun sometimes to play you know...once in a while i'll get down and pretend i'm in a funk band for like 5 minutes and slap it around. Then i calm down. Definitely i generally can't see myself using it in the context of my songs. But i wouldn't keep myself from doing it if i felt it was suited. But more like tasteful slapping like John Taylor. Here and there. Like you barely had time to hear it that it's gone.
 
#110
I used to slap all the time. I learned all the different "rudiments"... Double thumbing, double popping, triplet rolls, etc... Back then I could play a ton of Wooten stuff, Claypool, whatever you put in front of me really.

Then I started playing for a living, and found out that stuff is almost NEVER called for when you're a sideman. I've got nothing against the technique, it just doesn't suit the kind of gigs I generally do.
 
#111
lowfreq33 said:
Then I started playing for a living, and found out that stuff is almost NEVER called for when you're a sideman. I've got nothing against the technique, it just doesn't suit the kind of gigs I generally do.
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..yup. When you're making decent coin as a sideman, you gotta keep the flashy stuff in check.
 
#113
MonkeyBass said:
Which is kinda sad.
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Not really. If you're backing a vocalist the point is to support the vocal. Not draw attention away from it. I never walk onstage with the intent to be the best bassist I can be. I want to be the best musician I can be, which means being a part of a whole. I still get to play lots of cool stuff, it's just that my perspective has changed.
 
#117
lowfreq33 said:
Not really. If you're backing a vocalist the point is to support the vocal. Not draw attention away from it. I never walk onstage with the intent to be the best bassist I can be. I want to be the best musician I can be, which means being a part of a whole. I still get to play lots of cool stuff, it's just that my perspective has changed.
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As the OP, I am perhaps going to surprise some folks here by giving this the +1. Everything must be musically appropriate.

My current band situation finds me as the primary writer for an instrumental "fusion" band. Not only does the genre allow for more flashiness than some other situations, but as the main writer, the other guys have to fit to me, not the other way around. Not the usual situation for a bass player.

But, as grateful as I am that I have such a situation as a creative outlet, I actually do crave the opportunity to play for a gifted singer-songwriter, and be as simple as I can without being simplistic. You know, the fine art of accompaniment? Players as diverse as Duck Dunn, Mike Mills, and Tina Weymouth all come to mind. Having to color within these lines is an interesting challenge to me, and while I have no intention of giving up my current situation, I have considered the possibility of looking for something on the side as well.

That said, I still say that slapping could be just as appropriate in such a situation, given the right tune.

BUT, if I were to make a full disclosure here, I will confess that it is highly unlikely that I would slap in such a situation.

That still doesn't invalidate the technique.
 
#118
Kudos to the original poster for starting such a compelling thread. I'm not a slapper, never learned and just have not heard that many songs that featured slapping that appealed to me. That said, my all time favorites are 'Forget Me Nots' by Patrice Rushen (bass: Freddy Washington), 'Peg' by Steely Dan (bass: Chuck Rainey), 'Never Too Much' by Luther Vandross (bass: Marcus Miller), and 'Starchild' by Level 42 (bass: Mark King). The Primus stuff I heard was very impressive as far as technique but I don't remember any of those songs.
 
#119
Firstly, I would like to thank the OP for posting this thread. You sir, have truly earned my gratitude and respect for having the balls to post something I have always wanted to in the past. Hats off to you, and extra kudos for keeping it informative and practical, rather than bitchy and emotional like so many of the slap-hate threads here in TB.

In my honest opinon, I see slap simply as ONE technique in vast a repertoire of skills for expressing groove. It's a technique, not a necessity. Do I like it? Of course I do, but I'm not gonna do it 100% of the time. It adds additional percussive elements into a rhythm instrument, so what's not to like? Just because (-insert famous bassist's name-) doesn't like it, must I forsake it? In my opinion, its like adding a cowbell into a drum kit. Not everybody likes it, but it sure as hell fun to some other people. I'm not gonna wound up using it on every song, but I'm gonna keep it in there and use it anyway because I sure as hell enjoy it.

At the end of the of the day its down to a case of each his own. Many players I look up to can groove and play EXTREMELY well without ever resorting to slap, but by the same token, there is a good number that can apply the technique in the most mind-blowing ways possible. The best approach I feel at the end of the day is to make the best of both worlds. Keep an open mind, and just do what you enjoy and do what you are supposed to. The bass is a tool for expressing creativity, and like so many other things, there is more than one way to express creativity.

However, I will like to emphasize that this gigantic essay is just a single 17 year old's opinion, nothing more, nothing less. Now, if you don't mind me, I shall happily be on my way to the local music store to annoy some folks with my incessant string abuse.
 

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