If anything I think its gotten so instyle its now to common place. just look on youtube anybody with 2 arms and a thumb is on there slappin on a bass
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Is Slapping out of style?
- Thread starter DFW_Bass
- Start date
I would say yes, it was great 30 years ago but it's a little unnecessary now.
That doesn't mean people will stop doing it, like guitarists shredding, tapping, or, well, doing anything
I've also heard examples of it done tastefully, just like I've heard good tapping, but 95% of the time it's uncalled for
That doesn't mean people will stop doing it, like guitarists shredding, tapping, or, well, doing anything
I've also heard examples of it done tastefully, just like I've heard good tapping, but 95% of the time it's uncalled for
if by saying "style" you mean "not popular", who cares? the coolest people around do things that are out of "style". and by coolest people around, i mean me.
I say in general, yes, but if you do it tastefully, I like it. I play in a Latin funk band, and it fits quite nicely here and there.
But at the same time, today's music seems to be a big mix and rehash of everything done before, even the '80s, so sometimes it seems to me that everthing is "in." Although big hair and spandex hasn't quite yet made a strong comeback.
But at the same time, today's music seems to be a big mix and rehash of everything done before, even the '80s, so sometimes it seems to me that everthing is "in." Although big hair and spandex hasn't quite yet made a strong comeback.
in rock music? I would say YES. I was listening to Incubus' first album, Fungus Amongus - and while I appreciate Dirk Lance's well thought out, but seriously overplayed slap lines, it made me think, wow - this dude is totally wanking it right now...
You've obviously never been to an emo/screamo/hardcore/metalcore/whatevercore show. It may not be technically spandex, but if it's skintight and pink tiger-striped what's the difference?
Why is it so "in style" for the old farts on this forum to bash on slapping? Seriously, I'm not even joking, every time I read a thread on slap techniques, I hear someone whining that "every time I'm in a music store I have to hear these young'ns playing slap bass." Maybe they are either
A: TESTING A BASS
or
B: Impressing the local audience
I, for one, often go to music stores with my friends (who are guitar plays.) They pick up a guitar and shred some metal licks on it, so if I pick up a bass I'm not gonna play some boring solo progression, I'm going to do the most flamboyant show-off thing I can, which usually involves "wanking" as so many have graciously called it. I don't care if the "older gigging bassists" look down on me, I look down on them for being snoody and thinking that any instrument only has one purpose.
As for my opinion, I guess slapping is out of style in modern music, but IMHO 95% of modern music sucks. So I'm gonna keep doing it. Twice as hard, hoping that a fellow TB member will be present so they can come here and whine about it. I'm the 21 year old 6'5" normal looking tool playing slap bass.
A: TESTING A BASS
or
B: Impressing the local audience
I, for one, often go to music stores with my friends (who are guitar plays.) They pick up a guitar and shred some metal licks on it, so if I pick up a bass I'm not gonna play some boring solo progression, I'm going to do the most flamboyant show-off thing I can, which usually involves "wanking" as so many have graciously called it. I don't care if the "older gigging bassists" look down on me, I look down on them for being snoody and thinking that any instrument only has one purpose.
As for my opinion, I guess slapping is out of style in modern music, but IMHO 95% of modern music sucks. So I'm gonna keep doing it. Twice as hard, hoping that a fellow TB member will be present so they can come here and whine about it. I'm the 21 year old 6'5" normal looking tool playing slap bass.
Me personally.. i started out slapping on the bass... I see a lot of bassist that can slap with no melody and don't even know how to play finger.
I don't hate slap, but i don't care for it much either, i'd rather hear the tonal range of fingerstyle playing. I think slapping has it's phases, like mohawks did, they leave and then come back.
I believe it's a time where the fingerstyle and picks are ruling more so then slapping, in the 80's & 90's was the slapping.
So my opinion would be, YES it's out of style for this moment, it's still played, but not as popular
It totally depends on the genre, IMO.
I hear virtually none of it in rock, pop, or alternative music right now. Come to think of it, I hear very little bass at all in pop music these days.
I still hear quite a bit of it on the smooth jazz stations when I happen to surf by them. And, hey, we might not like that style, but it sells a lot of records.
And, as a matter of fact, I hear an awful lot of it in radio and TV jingles.
So, to the OP...my sense is that it's out of style in the stuff you listen to, but on the whole, not at all.
I hear virtually none of it in rock, pop, or alternative music right now. Come to think of it, I hear very little bass at all in pop music these days.
I still hear quite a bit of it on the smooth jazz stations when I happen to surf by them. And, hey, we might not like that style, but it sells a lot of records.
And, as a matter of fact, I hear an awful lot of it in radio and TV jingles.
So, to the OP...my sense is that it's out of style in the stuff you listen to, but on the whole, not at all.
"Slapping" is just another feel/sound that a musician can choose to utilize or not. It certainly may have had its roots on the electric guitar or bass guitar, but now the sound roams more freely. A painter might decide not to use a shade of orange in a painting for example, but that color might well be in use by some other painter somewhere else. Some of my favorite tunes and moments in sound have used some "slapping" type sound here or there when the music calls for it. You don't even need a bass to get "Slap"...a keyboard sound or computer patch often does the trick, and if you want to go really nutter, you can assemble a collage to get the effect (by virtue of different types of sonic analysis and synthesis).
With my best effort to see out of the scope of my identification of being a bass player, "slap" has become more a timbre than a style.
DFW_Bass, do you see slapping as out of style? Which begs the question, was slapping ever in style to begin with? And what is style anyway? I am curious to hear your viewpoint.
One possibility I've entertained in trying to get to the root of this inquiry is the "full time slappers", the players that have made a brand out of different slap bass approaches. I've been burnt out by too much listening to these folks (Wooten, Dickens, Miller, etc), but I will occasionally find something fresh. Like this guy...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/video/2008/nov/10/squarepusher-session-live
With my best effort to see out of the scope of my identification of being a bass player, "slap" has become more a timbre than a style.
DFW_Bass, do you see slapping as out of style? Which begs the question, was slapping ever in style to begin with? And what is style anyway? I am curious to hear your viewpoint.
One possibility I've entertained in trying to get to the root of this inquiry is the "full time slappers", the players that have made a brand out of different slap bass approaches. I've been burnt out by too much listening to these folks (Wooten, Dickens, Miller, etc), but I will occasionally find something fresh. Like this guy...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/video/2008/nov/10/squarepusher-session-live
No.
Just like most have been saying, if tastefully done to fit the song, slap is just another technique to learn and use.
My 2 cents.
Just like most have been saying, if tastefully done to fit the song, slap is just another technique to learn and use.
My 2 cents.
I used to like the technique until people started calling it "slapping". For some reason, that term annoyed me because it sounded like too glib of a description for it. Then about ten years or so ago it prevented me from spending too much time in music stores. :scowl:
if by saying "style" you mean "not popular", who cares? the coolest people around do things that are out of "style". and by coolest people around, i mean me.
seeing this post made me think of this interview.
Latest posts
-
-
-
Post a funnier picture than the one above - Parallel Universe Edition- Latest: edmidlifecrisis
-
-