Perfecting Slap

[xEriatarka]

I had been slapping for a little bit, but have just started getting back into it after a year and a half and I feel as if I should start all over from the basics. Any good drills and songs that any of you would recommend? And please...no Red Hot Chili Peppers. haha

 

[Chipsonfire]

Les Claypool? Larry Graham? I have some slap bass instructional stuff on my computer at home, but I'm at work atm so I'll have to get back to you on that stuff.

 

[xEriatarka]

Les is definitely one of my biggest influences. I used to be able to play stuff like Tommy the Cat and One Better fairly well. Now I'm pretty sloppy at Tommy the Cat and absolutely suck at One Better. And the only stuff I've ever played from Larry Graham have all been from stuff that Les has done live.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[Frank Martin]

Alexis Sklarevski - here's some bass lessons on ut00b:
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Sklarevski&search_type=tag

The main thing is to use a metronome, go slow/practice thoroughly,
etc.

 

[Chipsonfire]

I have the pdf for "Slap It! Funk Studies for the Electric Bass" by Tony Oppenheim that I can email to you if you want. It looks like its about 14 pages of instruction with practices and then about 16 pages of sheet music. About 1.4 MB. Lemme know.

 

[JimmyM]

"Slap It" is a great book, and cheap enough that you should actually buy it from Tony at Invalid Link Removed.

 

[xEriatarka]

That's not so cheap for a college student. Believe me. I had a hard time deciding whether or not just to get the supporting membership here. The only reason why I decided to get it was because I thought it would help sell my bass faster. Definitely has not been the case so far. Hopefully that promotion at the Sbux will go through though!

And thank you so much for being so helpful Chips. I might just wait until I have the money...even though I don't quite do that with my music. Either way, I hope to buy an instruction booklet or maybe even afford a couple lessons to help my groove.

 

[steve66]

That's not so cheap for a college student. Believe me. I had a hard time deciding whether or not just to get the supporting membership here. The only reason why I decided to get it was because I thought it would help sell my bass faster. Definitely has not been the case so far. Hopefully that promotion at the Sbux will go through though!

And thank you so much for being so helpful Chips. I might just wait until I have the money...even though I don't quite do that with my music. Either way, I hope to buy an instruction booklet or maybe even afford a couple lessons to help my groove.

Until you have the bread, Tony has some example slap lines on his website that you can check out for free

 

[elpelotero]

there's a guy on youtube that posts videos of himself doing the slap it exercises.

 

[lamarjones]

Ed Friedlands slap dvd is great. I mean GREAT.


make sure you get the form of you right hand down, if you don't it will bite you in the end. Namely, thumb parallel to the strings and other finger knuckles should be perpindicular to facilitate pops. Reason being, what if you had to pop twice immediately on the same string? Your other fingers need to be aligned in order to do such a thing, and its not n easy thing to correct.

People will tell you all the time form is just a personal prefernce, I used to beleive that. My form sucks, and although I have some decent flow going on, that last thing I mentioned in the previous paragrahp is so difficult for me to hit cause my form sucks. Look at Marcus's right hand.

 

[rockwarnick]

there are different approaches to slap. what are you looking for? graham? flea? wooten?
i suggest learning as many as you can. im a strong believer in techniques as tools.

 

[Messiah25]

Try this one...

Invalid Link Removed

One of the best i've seen, My friend got this one and i'm about to order myself a copy.

Here is what is written there....

Ultimate Slap Bass is a complete tutorial book, covering every aspect of the slap technique from the absolute basics through to advanced techniques such as double thumbing and popping, strumming, open string hammer-ons and how to combine slapping with other techniques in a musical way. There are over 200 exercises in the book, which are also featured on two audio CD’s. The book also includes a detailed history of the slap technique, as well as biographies of all of the major contributors to the technique. Additionally, there are interviews with Marcus Miller, Stuart Hamm, Mark King, Ray Riendeau and Vail Johnson.

 

[iplaybassguitar]

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=298410

thats the slap bass welcome center...its a sticky in this forum, filled with TONS of great slap references and resources.

 

[Tony Oppenheim]

I have the pdf for "Slap It! Funk Studies for the Electric Bass" by Tony Oppenheim that I can email to you if you want. It looks like its about 14 pages of instruction with practices and then about 16 pages of sheet music. About 1.4 MB. Lemme know.

Chips,

I guess I should be flattered that people like Slap It! enough to steal it.

However, on behalf of my three, soon-to-be-college-age children, I would really appreciate it if you would stop distributing that PDF.

Thanks!

Tony

 

[Tony Oppenheim]

"Slap It" is a great book, and cheap enough that you should actually buy it from Tony at Invalid Link Removed.

Jimmy,

Thanks for the kind words, and the very intelligent suggestion!

Cheers!

Tony

 

[Kobaia]

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

check his slap series

 

[T-MOST]

there are different approaches to slap. what are you looking for? graham? flea? wooten?
i suggest learning as many as you can. im a strong believer in techniques as tools.

+1 Graham, Wooten, Miller even Flea have a different approach to slap. So there isn't just one way to do it. I would start with Graham or Louis Johnson to learn the basics. Not that their styles are basic but their styles will serve as a bridge to other styles like Miller and Wooten.


By the way I have Slap it and it is a very good source to have.