Just started slap and pop - observations

[CharliePhillips]

I have been mainly a jazz-style player, with my head stuck in the 1950s, but using modern fretted and fretless basses. Now, at the age of 50 something I'm inspired to give slap and pop a serious try....I have what seems to be an excellent book by Chris Kringel (published by Hal Leonard) and have progressed in a short time to playing Higher Ground....Slap seemed easy, sometimes I just bounced the thumb, sometimes letting it drop to the next string, which gve me some security, and gave a good sound....Pop seems very difficult for me. I can do it OK, but it is very painful for my slightly arthritic hand. I ended up using masking tape on my index finger, three or four layers of it, and then it was fine....I also noticed the knuckles of my other fingers banging off the edge of the pick guard - it is a jazz bass without any shaping of the body. I imagine it would be better play slap and pop on an instrument where the body is cut away, or shaped so that this doesn't happen. Is this what is referred to as a 'thumb' bass?....Anyway, I really enjoyed it, but there is a long way to go. I have no problem wearing tape, as I've seen Mark King use it....Just though I'd share my experience, and apologise for this being all in one paragraph - my fault for indulging in an iPad.

 

[Skitch it!]

Remember you don't need as much force as it seems, when you have your technique formed, lighten up the style and let the amp do the work. You could also drop your action a bit for comfort on the pops. I will say, a lighter slap style is more fluid imo.

 

[CharliePhillips]

Good advice. I could certainly use lighter strings and lower the action a little.

 

[XylemBassGuitar]

A lot of basses have a "sweet spot" for slapping and popping where you can use a little less force and still get that slappy tone. Try slapping the string over the last fret or two and pop just behind (towards the bridge) that. That's the most comfortable position for me.

Remember you don't need as much force as it seems, when you have your technique formed, lighten up the style and let the amp do the work. You could also drop your action a bit for comfort on the pops. I will say, a lighter slap style is more fluid imo.

+1. Lower action will help a lot, as will a lighter technique. Back when I was first learning slap and pop I did it way too hard, especially the pop. I even caused a little fingertip bleeding once in awhile on songs that had a lot of pops. Bringing down the D and G strings will make it much less painful to get the pop sound because the string won't have to snap back as far to hit the frets.

 

[Groove Master]

I have been mainly a jazz-style player, with my head stuck in the 1950s, but using modern fretted and fretless basses. Now, at the age of 50 something I'm inspired to give slap and pop a serious try....I have what seems to be an excellent book by Chris Kringel (published by Hal Leonard) and have progressed in a short time to playing Higher Ground....Slap seemed easy, sometimes I just bounced the thumb, sometimes letting it drop to the next string, which gve me some security, and gave a good sound....Pop seems very difficult for me. I can do it OK, but it is very painful for my slightly arthritic hand. I ended up using masking tape on my index finger, three or four layers of it, and then it was fine....I also noticed the knuckles of my other fingers banging off the edge of the pick guard - it is a jazz bass without any shaping of the body. I imagine it would be better play slap and pop on an instrument where the body is cut away, or shaped so that this doesn't happen. Is this what is referred to as a 'thumb' bass?....Anyway, I really enjoyed it, but there is a long way to go. I have no problem wearing tape, as I've seen Mark King use it....Just though I'd share my experience, and apologise for this being all in one paragraph - my fault for indulging in an iPad.

I'm about to publish a book on Slap technique that should be a good help on how to practice the right stuff, the right way. But here are some tips that will help you and they might make their way in the book after all ;-)

You bring a very interesting point in your post about the bass you play. Slap is a very different technique then the finger technique. It is very physical and the position at first is very unusual, not to say uncomfortable for the whole upper body. It takes time to get used to it and to feel relax about the position of the shoulder, the right arm, the hand, and the thumb position and then the fingers that will be used to pluck as well. But the instrument you play is a big part of it , the kind of strings and the gauge also. But most important, the set-up on the bass is crucial to make it easy to play the bass with that technique. I did have some basses that were not meant to be played with the slap technique because they felt stiff first of all. But most standard basses should be fine for that.

I suggest a medium set-up that should be fine for both styles : fingers and slap with strings not too high, especially at the last fret where you should hit the string with your thumb. I suggest roundwound strings with a medium gauge like .045 to .100 or .105. A light gauge with .040 would be really easy to slap but you might break a lot of G strings at first because we tend to pull the strings way to hard at the beginning for nothing.

You have to find a position that you should feel comfortable with for a start. Even if your bass hero is using a particular thumb and hand position, you might not have the same physical attributes or shape and the position your hero is using might not be right for you. There are all kind of right hand positions that the masters are using and I'm sure that you'll find yours.

Good luck and I hope you'll learn some tips here,