slapping is just a different sound/technique used to colour the music. it needs to be used in the right places and combined with other techniques to present the music in an interesting fashion. but the music comes first, this percussive thump whacka whacka crap gets old fast. i learned to play melodies and interesting bass lines utilizing both fingerstyle and slap techniques ( with some finger picking and tapping in there as well ) and i feel that if you're going to slap then you should be able to play most things slap style that you can play fingerstyle and vice versa.
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Is Slapping out of style?
- Thread starter DFW_Bass
- Start date
Jim Carr
Dr. Jim
- Jan 21, 2006
- 16,223
- 7,613
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- Disclosures
- fEARful Kool-Aid dispensing liberal academic card-carrying union member Musicians Local 72-147
Not if you play Rockabilly on an upright its not!
+1
But does that count, except as a renewable, perhaps infinite energy resource?
Well, I hav eno idea what ol' Stan called it, but I know larry originally termed it "thumpin' n' pluckin'." Kinda funny watching an old video on youtube as he explains it. He never once says "slap." In it's essence, you really aren't slapping anything. It looks like your slapping the bass from a spectators point of view, but you really are thumping the strings "as to emulate the bass drum" and plucking them "to emulate the snare" as he said in the interview. It all came out of necessity because back when he first started, he wanted to play guitar, but couldn't. The didn't have a drummer and his mom was the keys. So, he started experimenting and found that doing these things would add a percussive touch to the music they were making without a drummer. He found this so cool and fun, he never went back to the guitar. Soon after, he thumped and plucked all the way to the bank.
I'm sure most of you know that... but some might not.
It seems I've found another ally!!! To hear folk call T&P 'slap' hurt my ears! But I have had to endure thru years of these magazine misinforming folk & then seeing it spread thru the ranks!! T&P is NOT slapping!!! I repeat NOT!!!! Do you call fingerstyle plectrum playing? I think not, so stop this madness!! There is a way to actually slap a bass guitar, but it DOES NOT involve striking the string with your thumb & pop'g it with your index & or middle finger ( for those really determined or adroit) Im not usually anal about much & I tend to let folk have their views but this is mine on this issue. I will probably not change many mines & get flamed for it, but so be it! Thats My Word. Son!!!
Is it going out of style? I think it is subsiding from over use just like ERB's... Hopefully the cream will rise to the top afterwards!
It seems I've found another ally!!! To hear folk call T&P 'slap' hurt my ears! But I have had to endure thru years of these magazine misinforming folk & then seeing it spread thru the ranks!! T&P is NOT slapping!!! I repeat NOT!!!! Do you call fingerstyle plectrum playing? I think not, so stop this madness!! There is a way to actually slap a bass guitar, but it DOES NOT involve striking the string with your thumb & pop'g it with your index & or middle finger ( for those really determined or adroit) Im not usually anal about much & I tend to let folk have their views but this is mine on this issue. I will probably not change many mines & get flamed for it, but so be it! Thats My Word. Son!!!
Is it going out of style? I think it is subsiding from over use just like ERB's... Hopefully the cream will rise to the top afterwards!
Yea. Sad. The guy who started teaching me bass even argued with me that it wasn't Larry. Then I showed him the vid I found and he shut up real quick. A lot of people credit it to Jeff Berlin. But even Jeff made sure to let everyone know that it was a Graham innovation. Though, I say slap a majority of the time because it's on syllable and no one gets what I'm saying when I say T&P. So, it's only for the sake of easy conversation.
Dont ask us, just ask;
Marcus
Victor
Stanley
Mark
Louis
David
Billy
Stu
Nate
Alain
John
Adam
Vail
Larry
Prince
Rhonda
Me'Shell
Maurice
Wojtek
Etc...
Marcus
Victor
Stanley
Mark
Louis
David
Billy
Stu
Nate
Alain
John
Adam
Vail
Larry
Prince
Rhonda
Me'Shell
Maurice
Wojtek
Etc...
I'm at a point where I've heard so much slap/percussive/thumb and pop/whatever you want to call it, over the years, I'm really tired of hearing it. Even the masters.
That may be part of the equation here. Younger players who haven't heard a lot of 'slap' songs yet may still think it's keen and aces and groovy and sweet and stuff. But after you've heard thousands of songs with it.. yecch.
And especially so if it's a hack player who does it to impress people. That's not music.
IMO, I'd much rather hear a tasty fingerstyle line that fits the song, the vocals, and the lead instruments like a glove. Anyday.
That may be part of the equation here. Younger players who haven't heard a lot of 'slap' songs yet may still think it's keen and aces and groovy and sweet and stuff. But after you've heard thousands of songs with it.. yecch.
And especially so if it's a hack player who does it to impress people. That's not music.
IMO, I'd much rather hear a tasty fingerstyle line that fits the song, the vocals, and the lead instruments like a glove. Anyday.
It really depends on the type of music, but I fear it is slowly going the way of the bass solo...
Slappig is cool, but its never been terribly popular with anyone other than bass players. Over the last 20 years or more, there is very little slapping on the radio etc. Its kind of a bass player thing to do, I dont think others care. Seinfeld, though, he cares.
MAKE IT STOOOOOOOOP!!!It really depends on the type of music, but I fear it is slowly going the way of the bass solo...
THE AGONYYYYYY!!!
B
brutal bassist
Guest
+ 100000, wow, thats so true. i didnt BASH it, but i didnt feel it nessesary untill i got good, now im a slapping fool and i think its the COOLEST thing about bass.
Except for the radio part and slapping is cool, none of this is true. Youtube any live show with a good slap bassist doing a solo, listen to the crowd react and YOU be the judge, try Quincy Jones "ai no corrida" live with Louis Johnson. No bass on Seinfeld, thats a keyboard.
Slapping is a cool and useful technique but it's like everything else, you have to do it with taste. The "look what I can do" people in the music stores are annoying though. I still slap some but I pepper every now and then so as not to overwhelm. Slapping will never be out of style unless you can't do it. See Steely Dan's Peg if you're interested in what I'm talking about.
After playing bass for over 22 years, I decided to make the effort to learn how to slap/pop. I just received my "Slap It!" book in the mail today.
I have been working on the technique now for about 6 days. I am hoping that I can get the groove and play something remotely interesting.
Also, I came across a Mark King video on You Tubes that showed his slapping skills. Wow!
I assume that the metal guard on his thumb is to make the popping more clear.
hah! I know this is going to get some ppl angry with me, but this guy is a perfect example of why slap/pop is cheesey imo! Just look at his bass! With LED's no less... the definition of class
