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Is slap technique required to be a good funk player?
- Thread starter Lichtaffen
- Start date
You can be a good (or great ) funk bass player without slapping.
but you'll be a complete funk player if you slap.
understand me, nobody has to slap like marcus or vic , you just have to make your way with slapping technique enough to play some good grooves.
listen to the brothers johnson, michael jackson's off the wall, quincy jones' the dude.
In the dvd business of bass, nate east just show some good groove with slap, and he says he thinks that this technique is over used.
I agree with him.
you can have fun with the slap technique, but always the groove first.
so learn to slap, it's not that hard, and sooner or later, you'll need it.
but you'll be a complete funk player if you slap.
understand me, nobody has to slap like marcus or vic , you just have to make your way with slapping technique enough to play some good grooves.
listen to the brothers johnson, michael jackson's off the wall, quincy jones' the dude.
In the dvd business of bass, nate east just show some good groove with slap, and he says he thinks that this technique is over used.
I agree with him.
you can have fun with the slap technique, but always the groove first.
so learn to slap, it's not that hard, and sooner or later, you'll need it.
A good funk player? No.
A profitable funk player? Possibly-to-likely, depending on the situation.
A profitable funk player? Possibly-to-likely, depending on the situation.
+1 to this. You can be a good funk player without slap but if you're trying to become a versatile and well rounded player that people like to use then it would be a tool I'd have in my tool box. However, the majority of the playing you'll do, IME at least, does not require it. I've been on projects that had me play a song using fingerstyle but then they heard playing around with the song using the slap technique and then it changed the entire way the song was laid down. For example, the song on Link Removed called "Rockslide Dancing", that song was never supposed to have slap lines in it. However, I was fooling around with it before I laid it down and the producer decided he wanted that instead of the original line. It's nothing special, just a slow grooving slap line, but the producer loved it. It totally changed the entire song, maybe for the better, but if I didn't know how to utilize that technique it wouldn't be the song it is now.
Oh BTW, if you listen to that song, the ending is my idea too. I love that ending. Sorry for the shameless plug.
Just because you can slap doesn't make you funky. Check out all the funkiest funk you can find and check out how many of them have slap basslines. Probably not that many, unless you have a particular thing for the sound of slap bass. I'd say just learn as many Sly, TOP, James Brown songs as you can and just work on the slap technique alongside it just in case.
I worked on my slapping for years until I could do all the speedy Mark King, Stu Hamm stuff (still can't do the Victor double thumping) but there are very few times I've used it on gigs. It's a good thing to learn just in case you need it but don't think for one minute that slapping is going to turn you into a funk master.
You can play one note in the bar and still sound funky in the right context. Slapwise just start with basic top 40 stuff like Hot Hot Hot. I started with machine gun triplets like an idiot and it took me forever.
I worked on my slapping for years until I could do all the speedy Mark King, Stu Hamm stuff (still can't do the Victor double thumping) but there are very few times I've used it on gigs. It's a good thing to learn just in case you need it but don't think for one minute that slapping is going to turn you into a funk master.
You can play one note in the bar and still sound funky in the right context. Slapwise just start with basic top 40 stuff like Hot Hot Hot. I started with machine gun triplets like an idiot and it took me forever.
I've seen Abe beat the snot out of his bass.
He seems to do whatever he wants whenever he chooses... including slap.
I've been a fan of Mark King since the early 80's. That's not funk IMO. Neither is Stu.
There's plenty of old school funk with slap. Most of it was not of the current pyrotechnic type. It was more about space, groove and note choice than doublethumping and triplets.
Pleasure's "Glide" is a great example. Great tempo, killer interplay between the bass and drums. Funk. The bass and drums are inseperable... do to much on either and you screw up the groove. The groove... the basis of funk.
Note: I've yet to hear any drummer play Glide like Bruce Carter. Still one of the greatest, tightest bass guitar/drum grooves ever IMO.
Nice.
I'm not bashing slap/pop in any way when I say that I'd rather not learn it. It sounds really great when used sparingly, like a lot of the 70's bassist did. In the 80's it went overboard. In the 90's... okay, now the bashing begins. Kidding. I just want to be able to throw it into a groove when I feel like it without it sounding forced. Chuck Rainey seems like he's great at that. Although I like Louis Johnson, I don't want to sound anything like that. I like it when it grooves and accents, but not as a replacement for a drummer.
I'm finding the toughest part is getting a good consistent tone out of my thumb. It's finally starting to sound like something musical rather than an exercise.
I just don't want to sound like Flea. It's one of my biggest fears.
<--- I'm saying this half jokingly, so no insane posts on how great Flea is/was because I don't caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare.im the same..i love funk but slaps not my thing.a great book for fingersyle funk is muted grooves by josquin des pres.slap it is a good one for fingerstyle too!
I love slapping and popping and getting all and every sound possible out of my bass. It adds so much more interest for me and , I believe, the audience. But when it's NOT done tastefully, or sparingly, in the wrong place, or just to show off, I can't stand it. It even makes me feel like running from the building. Just be careful where and when you use it.
I've come into this thread very late on but as so people have said before ya don't need to slap to be funky.
Personally I finger style much more funky and groovy than slap.
I'd also say that if ya good with a pick you can probably groove more than you can slapping.
I'd say all the best funky tracks are usually not slapped... but I could be wrong
Personally I finger style much more funky and groovy than slap.
I'd also say that if ya good with a pick you can probably groove more than you can slapping.
I'd say all the best funky tracks are usually not slapped... but I could be wrong
JAUQO III-X
Inactive
I'd say all the best funky tracks are usually not slapped... but I could be wrong
And with all due respect you are
