Fair enough. But the only one who decides what is useful or not is you, not anyone else.
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Slapping and tapping
- Thread starter Greenman72
- Start date
Fair enough. But the only one who decides what is useful or not is you, not anyone else.
The more you know, the more you know.
A person, regardless of personal endeavor or career, never hurt themselves by knowing too much.
Being open to learning theory, techniques, sound, etc is half the battle. Learning is a life long journey. A wonderful journey that can take you to cool places if you allow it. Limiting that is nothing but destructive.
Will you use everything you know all the time? Of course not. There is a time and place for everything. So you have a choice; learn and be prepared and comfortable or not and possibly loose out and stress out.
Side note: I will never understand why bassists are the kings of limiting themselves. As a group (there are exceptions) they spend more time arguing over picks, "worthless techniques", string counts and worshiping at the altar of Fender than they do learning their craft completely. This is why uneducated musicians and the general public ignores bass players. They do not understand and more importantly do not want to understand.
A person, regardless of personal endeavor or career, never hurt themselves by knowing too much.
Being open to learning theory, techniques, sound, etc is half the battle. Learning is a life long journey. A wonderful journey that can take you to cool places if you allow it. Limiting that is nothing but destructive.
Will you use everything you know all the time? Of course not. There is a time and place for everything. So you have a choice; learn and be prepared and comfortable or not and possibly loose out and stress out.
Side note: I will never understand why bassists are the kings of limiting themselves. As a group (there are exceptions) they spend more time arguing over picks, "worthless techniques", string counts and worshiping at the altar of Fender than they do learning their craft completely. This is why uneducated musicians and the general public ignores bass players. They do not understand and more importantly do not want to understand.
Not disagreeing with you, but for a guy like me (who's not, nor ever will be a professional musician, and does it just for fun), spending an inordinate amount of time to learn something that you'll never use is....well, a waste of time. (And at 46, self-employed with kids still at home, time is pretty precious.)
If I were 20 years younger and thought that this might be a career (or at least a side gig), I'd be more apt to spend time learning something.
And that's why I wanted to see what everybody's opinion was. As it stands, it seems like it's probably something I can safely skip. And if I ever "need" it, then I'll develop the skill then. I think my time (and brainpower) is better spent learning to read sheet music than learning slap & tap.
I have to fundamentally disagree with this. IME / IMHO there is a continuous cycle of development in which no single element is more important that any other. You can enter the cycle at any point and the technique or the idea can be as grand or modest as you like. So yes, technique is in the service of the music, but at the same time music can arise from technical experimentation or exploration. In that regard, 'it depends' is a perfectly valid answer which is strangely liberating - trust your own judgement.
it does bring to mind something Robert Fripp said, probably over 40 years ago now. In answer to the question "why explore and develop technique the way you do?", Robert's answer was (and I paraphrase a little) "We don't play the music - the music plays us! One has to be prepared for when the music invites you to play, and you have no idea when that might be."
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I’ve been playing bass professionally for ~45 years, and in all that time I have never *had* to Tap for a paying gig.
Or, come to think of it, for an unpaying gig either. It absolutely is NOT a requirement for a working bassist playing 99% of the musical genres on this planet.
There’s one tune in my current soul/funk band’s repertoire where I tap a passage in the intro, because I’m copping a keyboard synth bassline of fast octave 16th notes…but if I couldn’t — or didn’t want to — tap, I’d just find another way to execute that passage.
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otoh, I absolutely have *had* to Slap for some gigs. Especially in the 1980s. It was a mandatory skill during the Techno-Pop era, and it still shows up as a requirement for some cover gigs and theatre work. Handy skill to have.
So, in summary:
Tap? No
Slap? Yes
Or, come to think of it, for an unpaying gig either. It absolutely is NOT a requirement for a working bassist playing 99% of the musical genres on this planet.
There’s one tune in my current soul/funk band’s repertoire where I tap a passage in the intro, because I’m copping a keyboard synth bassline of fast octave 16th notes…but if I couldn’t — or didn’t want to — tap, I’d just find another way to execute that passage.
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otoh, I absolutely have *had* to Slap for some gigs. Especially in the 1980s. It was a mandatory skill during the Techno-Pop era, and it still shows up as a requirement for some cover gigs and theatre work. Handy skill to have.
So, in summary:
Tap? No
Slap? Yes
If you only play cover songs that is true. But if you play original songs you decide what to do yourself.
Sure, of course. But it’s a little disingenuous to say “XXX is an important skill to have if you want to play YYY” when YYY is something that you and only you have defined.
My comment was more geared towards folks looking to succeed as working bassists; pretty sure I’m not unique when I note that well over 90% of the income I’ve ever earned in my life came from playing SOMEONE ELSE’S music, not my originals.
Sure. But not everyone is a 'working' bassist and you could also be a 'working' bassist that teaches for a living. I think every pro bass player should be able to slap.
Tapping is less 'required' and more for prog or solo type players. But it is still fun to learn, even if you don't use it every day. I just see no point in limiting yourself as a player just because the general public doesn't want it. You should do what is important and fun to YOU.
I almost never tap and find it kind of awkward, but recently on a (original) pop song it came in very handy to emulate the synth bass octave jumps.
I did a LOT of slapping back in the 80s, it came easy and I was quite good at it. After several decades of never using it, I’m starting to use slap again. I’m a much better player now, but my slap is much much worse than it used to be. I don’t use it in soloing as I did back then, instead it’s a way to get different tones and textures (and some funk songs need it).
I did a LOT of slapping back in the 80s, it came easy and I was quite good at it. After several decades of never using it, I’m starting to use slap again. I’m a much better player now, but my slap is much much worse than it used to be. I don’t use it in soloing as I did back then, instead it’s a way to get different tones and textures (and some funk songs need it).
I slap all the time playing a range of music from rock, blues, and jazz. To me, it's equally as useful of a technique as playing with my fingers. Slap does not immediately equate to complicated, flashy, or showy. It is nothing more or less than another way to interface with the instrument.
A good exercise is to try and play simple basslines that you're familiar with, but slap them. Don't CHANGE the bassline to make it sound like what you imagine "slap" should sound like... just play the same notes in a different way. If need, adjust the technique to fit the sound. You can get a warmer or sharper sound out of slap by varying hand placement.
I never slap or tap because I'm very bad at it and don't practice
I would prefer to never slap /tap because I can, but choose not to
Ideally, every technique should be a choice you make,
and not a default due to inability and lack of practice
I would prefer to never slap /tap because I can, but choose not to
Ideally, every technique should be a choice you make,
and not a default due to inability and lack of practice
I also play a bit of upright country and Bluegrass. Slapping that puppy is a bit different. Old Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins stuff better have some slap. But it can be overdone. All that said, you can kinda "doghouse slap" an EGB. I can't do it fast enough to matter.
Now the boys will play a little tune for you , featuring Gunther on the bass, with der slappin' und der tappin'.
I do simple baselines with slap quite a bit , to give a part "attitude". Usually I will do this in response to how the band is approaching the song in question.
Say we're playing THE THRILL IS GONE. If we start and everyone is playing restrained, I respond in kind, playing softly with my fingertips.
If we start and the drummer is hitting hard, the B3 player is playing big chords, and the guitar is wailing, I'm going to play the exact same part slapped. This drives the tune as well as helping me cut thru the B3 player.
This can also be used for dynamics: Mellow during the lyrics, aggressive during the solos. Slap is just a spice to me really, it doesn't need to be flash.
Our slide guitar player likes the contrast between the slide's smooth dynamics and the punch/stab of slap bass, so he likes for me to throw some of that in when he's taking a lead or singing or something. It gives some punch to what he's doing.
Actually, my first experience playing slap was because, early on in my playing, I'd get blisters on my plucking fingers. Slapping with my thumb was a way to give my fingers a break. Of course I didn't develop any fluency or fluidity at this stage, it was more necessity than anything.
