Double Bass Slapping in Bluegrass

[Don Hergert]

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.

We're talking about tool kits here. Having a rich tool kit is great and I'd encourage anyone to get more tools, but then selecting the right tool for the right situation is the key, and sometimes learning how to do that doesn't happen right away.

Will people complain? Maybe. Some people complain about anything that doesn't fit within their narrow scope of vision. This happens with any musical genre.

What to do about complaints? Learn from them, and compare them with positive comments to determine your personal direction and goals.

Keep in mind, tastes in bluegrass are extremely regional. Travel to bluegrass events or communities 50 miles away and there may be a completely different point of view. Start with your local community first, learn. Then branch out and learn more.

 

[Bruce Calin]

I heard Mike Bub with Del McCoury's band several times years ago. As I recall he occasionally slapped at certain points during a tune and for solos. His technique was excellent and his playing was very tasteful. I believe he was using steel strings. I would like to have been able to talk to him to get some info but didn't get the chance. The way the band did the classic choreography around the microphone was also exceptional. I remember thinking, "That's how you do it!"

 

[Ben Noblit]

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.

Don's point that bluegrass is regional is dead on, you have to get a sense of who you're playing with. This can also mean regional differences in groove. You've got at least 3 other instruments playing on the off-beat where you might be wanting to slap. If you've been playing swingy stuff like Wayne the Train, your sense of where the "chick" in the boom-chicka is might be very different than a mandolin player from, say, western North Carolina, who likely will be all the way on top of the beat. Is the banjo player straight drive or bouncing some? Is everyone gonna mash the one?

My rule of thumb for "wanting to try some activity," (as a former over-slapper), is to ask myself "does this thing I wanna do make the groove tighter?" If yes, then go for it. If "no, but it won't make it worse," then I do it, ONCE, in a place where it won't stomp on anything else, and only if everything else I'm doing is perfect. Tone, drive, note length, etc. If it has the possibility of loosening the groove, even for a couple beats, I do not do it.

 

[TDAN]

In a bigger jam with fiddle/dobro/mando and maybe a couple more guitars than strictly required, it can get muddy slapping the 2 and 4 unless everyone is dead on. Kind of like having 2 bass players hitting the 1 and 3.

I think slap can be a ton of fun in BG and roots music but prefer the sound in small ensemble or as a dash of seasoning in a larger jam context.

 

[Ed S]

...I think slapping has one place in bluegrass, and one place only: a bass solo. ...

I've been working on my solos, but I've found it challenging to incorporate slapping. Just my personal limitations. And, of the many things I need to work on, slap leads is close to the bottom of the list.

However, just because the bass is taking a solo doesn't mean you just have to go crazy slapping right out of the box. Slow long notes can convey considerable emotion/tension (as well as hide my personal shortcomings as I sli-i-ide up into that high G! And then sit there once I find it! ). Just because the fiddle/mando/etc go crazy playing a ton of notes on their breaks doesn't mean the bass has to. Instead, you can approach the solo as an opportunity to do things bass can do but NONE of the other instruments can do.

A couple of places I think slap works quite well can include your standard walk up from 1 to 4 for the chorus. Not every time, but especially after the final break, cueing everyone to go to the chorus and then out.

Or other songs - I'm thinking How Mountain Girls Can Love, I find it effective at times to slap the verse, but not the chorus/breaks. Or other songs - like I'm Going Back to Old Kentucky - where the verse and chorus are identical (and only 2 chords.) Slapping one can differentiate between the 2. I sing both, so I don't have to worry about the singer being annoyed.

A lot depends on your jam/group. My string band (more oldtime than BG) just has the 3 of us, so often I'll be playing bass along w/ a cello and fiddle. With that instrumentation, I'm free to slap or not - whatever best suits the song. And I've played dances where the other pickers welcome just about any ornamentation I can bring to the 90th iteration of the 20th D tune in a row!

 

[statsc]

Then there’s this:

 

[Paul New]

I heard Mike Bub with Del McCoury's band several times years ago. As I recall he occasionally slapped at certain points during a tune and for solos. His technique was excellent and his playing was very tasteful. I believe he was using steel strings. I would like to have been able to talk to him to get some info but didn't get the chance. The way the band did the classic choreography around the microphone was also exceptional. I remember thinking, "That's how you do it!"

He plays Kays with Spirocore Weich, always. Also attaches the wire mute.

Here’s everything you want to know about Mike Bub.

 

[Don Hergert]

Aside from situation sensitivity, one thing we haven't talked about here is that some songs just don't need slap, or much slap, either based on the kind of song it is, or the arrangement being done...

For example, Kentucky Waltz wouldn't normally be a slap song, although personally I could imagine a very tasteful slow slap technique added to a few lyrical phrases. Not much though, if any. Also, a lot of the songs our bluegrass Gospel band does are probably best without slap, although a few are really great with slap.

I'm sure most of us here can think of some songs where slap probably doesn't belong, or at least not much, as well as a number of songs where slap could be very appropriate. Just another facet of this jewel of sensitivity.

 

[Ostie]

I wouldn’t rule it out, but I wouldn’t overdo it either. You know what they say about too much of a good thing.

 

[GreyBeard]

One of those "a little goes a long way" sort of things.

 

[NocoLaw]

I’m with the “only in a solo” crowd for a jam. In a band context, totally different. I feel like the reason we exist in a jam context is to keep steady rhythm and play roots. Sure, root/fifth, walk, and whatever else works and serves the song/tune - but number one job is rhythm and number two is to anchor the chord progression.

My anecdote, no Herschel Sizemore, but a good guitar player, when I first got into playing jammy, jazzy lines, said, “I really like what you’re playing there; I wish we had a drummer or another bass too.” I got the hint and straightened up. There’s a place for “cool” stuff, but I don’t think a bluegrass jam is it for us, outside of a solo, if offered.

 

[NocoLaw]

And that’s not a “bluegrass police” thing. I’ll play anything anyone wants at a jam without complaint, and I get worn out by the “if Earl didn’t…” crap. I just don’t think it works for the music in a stranger jam.

 

[bass player 53]

Interesting perspective:

https://lanceromance.org/blogs/blog/posts/6140298/history-of-slap-bass