Double Bass Slapping in Bluegrass

[Slaphound]

I’ve been playing with and developing a good slap rhythm for a while now. Ive focused on Wayne Hancock’s bass performer’s styles for much of my listening. Along with Bill Black, Lee Rocker and others that employ the technique. I’ve also been playing a lot of traditional music (country, folk, Bluegrass) and I freely slap a lot during the songs. All depending on if I think a song needs it.
So I’m also about to get involved with a couple of bluegrass a few times in the coming months. Is it ok to play slap double bass with jam folks? I’d like to know going in even though I’m going in anyway. I also play some guitar and I plan on play both in these jams. Mostly bass though.

 

[JimmyM]

Some love it, some hate it. That’s something you would need to discuss on a case by case basis.

 

[james condino]

It is like a guitar player using a crybaby wah pedal: better to under use it and leave them wanting a little more than to overplay it.

 

[Slaphound]

Yea. Maybe like a bass solo thing. As they go around the circle. Idk. I just listened to the album Earl Jam with Tony Trischka. The bassist slapped some a clicked most every note baroque style.

 

[Don Hergert]

I routinely use slap in bluegrass jams, and I don't get complaints... But mine is a light slap -- sort of a tap/slap combo -- and I'm very sensitive about it, meaning I don't do it all the time. It really depends on the song, the character of the jam group, the level of players, and a number of other things that amount to a general impression about whether it's appropriate or not.

It's really the same kind of sensitivity that tells me how much other more fancy stuff I'm going to do. For example, in an open jam where playing level may be widely varied and some people might be having trouble locking the rhythm, I'll often intermittently throw in some slap just to get people to pay attention to the rhythm and it tends to work.

Bluegrass sensitivities to learn:

With banjo it's volume sensitivity
With mandolin it's backup vs solo sensitivity
With guitar it's "that same old thing" sensitivity
With Dobro it's muting vs metallic scream sensitivity
With fiddle it's distraction sensitivity
With double bass, simple vs fancy sensitivity

... And some of these sensitivities apply to some degree to every instrument.

I always try to remember, with great power comes great responsibility.

 

[Slaphound]

I routinely use slap in bluegrass jams, and I don't get complaints... But mine is a light slap -- sort of a tap/slap combo -- and I'm very sensitive about it, meaning I don't do it all the time. It really depends on the song, the character of the jam group, the level of players, and a number of other things that amount to a general impression about whether it's appropriate or not.

It's really the same kind of sensitivity that tells me how much other more fancy stuff I'm going to do. For example, in an open jam where playing level may be widely varied and some people might be having trouble locking the rhythm, I'll often intermittently throw in some slap just to get people to pay attention to the rhythm and it tends to work.

Bluegrass sensitivities to learn:

With banjo it's volume sensitivity
With mandolin it's backup vs solo sensitivity
With guitar it's "that same old thing" sensitivity
With Dobro it's muting vs metallic scream sensitivity
With fiddle it's distraction sensitivity
With double bass, simple vs fancy sensitivity

... And some of these sensitivities apply to some degree to every instrument.

I always try to remember, with great power comes great responsibility.

This will be my approach. Thank you.

 

[EdwardofHuncote]

"Son, quit beatin' 'at thang s'hard... it ain't dun nuttin' to you!" ~Hershel Sizemore

(advice dispensed to me, during a jam session, in Tommy Jordan's garage, late-Summer, 1989)

100% true story. I was crushed. I had just learned to get a good double-slap going, and here was this old geezer telling me off about it. I had no idea he was practically bluegrass royalty, much less that he was trying to help me. Some years later, I was sitting next to Hershel at Bill Monroe's Memorial Service at the Ryman. Over the years, he became quite a musical mentor to me, introduced me to half the people I know in the business. I got to play a lotta' places I never would have seen without his influence.

If there's a point to this rambling post, it's simply this; whatever you play, keep it tasteful and do not ever do anything that detracts from the music.

 

[bassgrass]

I played mandolin in a band with a guy who was otherwise a pretty good bass player but slapped/clicked all the time. I felt it infringed on the mandolin chop, like he was trying to be the bass drum and the snare too. You might want to ask a mandolin player what they think of it. Tony Trischka doesn't have a mandolin player in his Earl Jam group so that might not be an issue for him.

 

[Don Hergert]

I played mandolin in a band with a guy who was otherwise a pretty good bass player but slapped/clicked all the time. I felt it infringed on the mandolin chop, like he was trying to be the bass drum and the snare too. You might want to ask a mandolin player what they think of it. Tony Trischka doesn't have a mandolin player in his Earl Jam group so that might not be an issue for him.

Again, I think it depends on the jam, and it also depends on technically how and how often a person slaps.

As a mandolin player, as a Dobro player and as a banjo player, I've played with double bassists who slap and really appreciated what it did for the jam; in fact one of our band's former double bassists slapped and we sure enjoyed it. And as a player of those instruments, my double bass slap technique has been designed from the ground up to be more palatable for bluegrass jams.

Lots of old-bluegrass double bassists slapped, but they didn't slap all the time. And today's bluegrass is the same in that respect -- it really depends on who you listen to.

 

[Slaphound]

Wow! What great insight from you guys. I really am grateful for this. I am starting to see that there is the feel thing going on as usual.

 

[Ed S]

... I felt it infringed on the mandolin chop, ...

I think this is key. Often you do not need to "take up space." So don't infrnge on the mando's chop. And playing up-neck can get into the guitar's tonal territory.

Not saying don't ever do it. Just pick your spots.

Generally less is more. Just as an experiment, play the simplest bassline imaginable. 1/5s, or maybe just 1s. Honestly assess what more is needed to improve the song. Often, when I'm doing something "fancy" I'l realize it is because I'm bored with a particular song, or for my own enjoyment - not in an attempt to make the song better.

Of course - other pickers indulge themselves at times. So you can as well. Just don't make a habit of it.

 

[brianrost]

Listen to Roger Bush with Country Gazette. He’s one of those players that slackens the E string to get a better slap tone but only frets notes on the A, D and G strings. He’s the first player that comes to mind when I think about bluegrass slapping.

 

[bassgrass]

As someone who has tried at one point or another to play all the bluegrass instruments (some with a lot more success than others), I've come to see bluegrass and old-time bass as a public service and an exercise in self-abnegation.

In many ways it's the most consequential instrument in an ensemble, elevating a jam or performance from mediocre to good or great, but a lot of times it seems like something more people should be competent in, so we don't have these jams with 8 guitars players or 3 banjos and no mandolins or dobros. I love playing bass in good jams but in others I feel like I'm playing it to keep the jam from devolving into chaos.

 

[BobKay]

I may be an outlier here, but 60 years of listening to, and playing bluegrass, I think slapping has one place in bluegrass, and one place only: a bass solo. Other than that it is incredibly annoying, at least to me. It distracts from all the other instruments, and especially a vocal. There is a somewhat legendary local/regional group from Ann Arbor Michigan that had a bass player who would slap at almost any time during a song - I always thought how little respect it showed for both the music and the other players.

 

[Jay Corwin]

If you have more clickity-clackity-thudding then actual note production going on, then you are most likely doing a disservice to song and ensemble in a BG context. Especially if someone else is trying to hold the opposite beats as you with a chop. Just my 2 cents.

 

[newfuture]

I played mandolin in a band with a guy who was otherwise a pretty good bass player but slapped/clicked all the time. I felt it infringed on the mandolin chop, like he was trying to be the bass drum and the snare too. You might want to ask a mandolin player what they think of it. Tony Trischka doesn't have a mandolin player in his Earl Jam group so that might not be an issue for him.

Good point. I usually reserve the click for when the mandolin can't chop and tempo is getting a little freeform. Slapping, I'm not good at so I only do it by mistake.

 

[Paul New]

Everybody likes a slap bass solo.

As for slap during the song, opinions vary, but there's a reason you don't hear it on stage much. Barely at all. Mark Schatz notably will sometimes slap a walk up to a new section of the tune or something like like.

 

[Pings Bass]

Informative thread, thanks all. I just got brought on to record with a bluegrass-adjacent Americana band, and I really don't slap at all.

I've come to see bluegrass and old-time bass as a public service and an exercise in self-abnegation.

I'm trying to go with this

Often, when I'm doing something "fancy" I'l realize it is because I'm bored with a particular song, or for my own enjoyment - not in an attempt to make the song better.

I feel so seen!

This is really a great, timely thread.

 

[Jared Houseman]

I think its annoying to do all the time. If you're slapping, do it for a reason.

Ill do a light slap during mando breaks, or if the mandolin player can't keep time. Ill do a heavier slap for solos or the end of a song to build it up.

 

[Slaphound]

This is great. It makes sense to continue the chop for the mandolin player to solo. What do you guys think if I become too expressive at the wrong time? Would I be told or scowled at. LMAO. It’s just fun thinking about jamming in a bluegrass setting. I’m definitely going with the intentions of fitting in and not sticking out but I do want to try some activity and that would include maybe a slap walk up or something like simple walk ups and downs and walking in general between chords. Eventually. And of course if I could indulge in a little slap slolo in due time, I’d find that gratifying.