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In Defense of Slapping

#141
SactoBass said:
:bassist:

And btw, I never mean to offend anyone with my opinions. I was sincere when I said my opinion carries no weight......because it doesn't.
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It's all good. I just hope you saw my point that just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's not a valid thing.

Us slappers hear that so often it starts to become tiresome. I think the point of this thread is that there are different ways to play the bass. Slap being one of them. If people don't want to do it then don't. That doesn't mean that those of us that slap a bass aren't playing the bass correctly or something. It just means we like, to use your food analogy, a different flavor than you.
 
#143
SactoBass said:
Well, thank you good sir for your helpful suggestion. I appreciate you taking time to try and help me.

Allow me to share a perspective.

I absolutely despise peas, brussel sprouts, lima beans, and beets. I don't mean I just casually "dislike" them, I mean I find them vile, disgusting, gross, repulsive, and vomit-inducing. I've been bouncing around on this rock for 57 years, and you'd think with all of the different ways to prepare food, they would have found a way for me to like those four items. But nope. Ain't gonna happen. E-V-E-R! And just imagine someone hearing about my disposition on those food items and suggesting that I need to head on over to the store and pick up some of those food items, put them on my plate, and open my mind?

If there is anything I have learned so far in life, it's this: everyone on this planet will like and dislike different things, and have differing beliefs and opinions. I am so thankful for that, because it would be a freakish science-fiction world that I wouldn't want to live in if everyone liked the same thing or had the same opinion of everything. I therefore applaud you for liking what you like. I therefore encourage you to slap and rap to your heart's content if that is what rings your happiness bell in life.
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Nope, I'm not letting you off that easy. Here is your original quote:

SactoBass said:
The following is pure opinion on my part, so please don't get over-emotional with what I say...

I put slap in the same category as rap (and not because they rhyme). They have both provided a wonderful opportunity for people with no knowledge of music to enter the music world.

Playing actual notes (arpeggios, different modes, etc) on the fretboard requires knowledge, whereas any 15 year old can grab a bass and pound the hell out of it like a monkey in their feeble attempt to try and impress other humans. Same with rap....any 15 year old can grab a microphone and yell "yo" into it 182 times and convince himself that he is a musician, despite the fact that he has no singing talent whatsoever (unless of course he wears a baseball cap sideways, which is a skill that takes years to develop!:rolleyes:)

Knowledge of music requires work and study....two things that many humans don't want to do. So they look for the easiest, shortest, quickest (and laziest) path in their effort to try and impress other humans.

I agree with the other posters in this thread who said that when they click on a youtube vid for a review of music gear and see some wankoff spending most of the time wanking instead of actually showcasing the gear, I immediately think "what a monkey" and I exit the vid muy pronto.

Again, this is just my opinion. It carries no weight. So relax. If your opinion differs from mine, I'm happy for you.
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I have put the pertinent part in bold. Referring strictly to the bolded phrases: this is not a statement of opinion. This is a statement on your part that neither slapping nor rapping require any musical skill. That is NOT the same thing as saying you don't like it, and it is NOT comparable to lima beans. It is comparable to stating that 2+2=5, and insisting that you have the right to that "opinion".

What I'm saying, without being emotional or getting offended, is that you are empirically, objectively wrong. You don't have the slightest idea what goes into slapping or rapping, and since you don't like either one of them, I guess there's no need for you to learn. But there's a lot more to both than what you think.
 
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#147
Bassist4Eris said:
I've never heard that quote. I use a Markbass Compressore, and I swear by the thing. And because this is Talkbass, I now have to point you to this excellent site for more info: http://www.ovnilab.com/ . (While I share everyone's enthusiam, I still find it a tad funny that the first reply in any compressor thread has a link to ovnilab.... but that just shows how valuable a resource it is.)
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Thanks for the link - I'm compressor ignant and need to check this stuff out again. Currently the closest thing I have is a BBE Sonic Stomp that I stick at the end of a pedal chain to get my tone back in phase after it's been through the wringer...
 
#158
Bassist4Eris said:
Nope, I'm not letting you off that easy.

I have put the pertinent part in bold. Referring strictly to the bolded phrases: this is not a statement of opinion. This is a statement on your part that neither slapping nor rapping require any musical skill. That is NOT the same thing as saying you don't like it, and it is NOT comparable to lima beans. It is comparable to stating that 2+2=5, and insisting that you have the right to that "opinion".

What I'm saying, without being emotional or getting offended, is that you are empirically, objectively wrong. You don't have the slightest idea what goes into slapping or rapping, and since you don't like either one of them, I guess there's no need for you to learn. But there's a lot more to both than what you think.
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I respect your comment, however, please notice that I framed my entire post as being opinion, not just part of my post. That's why I started with my opening statement and ended with my closing statement that all of what I said was opinion. I made a point of doing that for a reason. I am the first person to recognize that my opinion is just that, an opinion, and it therefore carries no weight. It's insignificant. It should mean nothing to anyone else. It's just my opinion. That's all. Nothing more. And I certainly recognize that it definitely does not match the opinion of others, which I am completely fine with. It seems to me that there are some who don't like my opinion. I'm good with that. Quite good, in fact. I enjoy reading differing opinions, and I am comfortable and very accepting of others having opinions that differ from mine.
 
#159
the problem with slap is about hand anatomy. when you slap with your thumb your fingers are naturally in a place ready to pluck the strings under the string you slapped, so its very tricky to play lines in a single string, and is practically imposible to slap a high note and pluck a low note. Thats the reason why 90% of the slap lines are root note + octave or root note + 7th or 6th. So, if your main weapon is slapping you become repetitive sooner or later...
 

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