(slap bass)when slapping through the string which way should my thumb be pointing

[technique freak]

hey guys if you could help me i would really appreciate it. my finger nail on my thumb points away from the bass when i play slap is this normal?.

 

[Mushroo]

Welcome to the forums!

I suggest you go on YouTube and watch videos of good slap players, to see how it is done.

I like this video:

 

[saabfender]

You can only do what your body will do. I watch some of these guy on YT and their thumb points in way mine never has and never will. You might have to go your own way on this one and figure out how to do it with the thumb you have. Once I figured out that I had stiff old white guy thumbs, I could get to work finding a way I could actually do it.

TBH, for me, it's about #4 on list of things to practice.

 

[hs123]

You can bounce off the string using the knuckle bone, or you can thumb 'down and thru' the string so the thumb kinda lands on the fretboard on the way to the string below (with thumb positioned near the end of the fretboard where it meets the body).Both techniques work and sound different, the second sounds 'cleaner', but I'm not as fast with it.

 

[technique freak]

Thanks heaps for all the help guys I really appreciate it (by the way I was slapping the way flea does but have been trying to do the way Les claypool does it through the string where it lands on the fret board/next string)

 

[ba55i5t]

I use the Les approach as I find it easier to control and can allow for techniques like double thumb.