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slapping without pickguard is harder???

BrandonBass

BrandonBass

May 29, 2006
2,348
33
#1
I sold my jazz pickguard cause I wanted to paste my bass w stickers, goin for the punk look. But I realise that without the pickguard, theres much more room for your index finger to pop.

This often results in me over digging and caused me to overhit and miss my pop sometimes. I can slap fine on my yamaha(w/o pickguard) with smaller distance between strings and body...

Anyone with tips for me to achieve greater popping consistency? Apart from the obvious 'just practise alot'
 
#10
It is well known that for some slap techniques, the distance between the strings and body is important. I too very much dislike the space that results in most J type instruments when the pickguard is removed.

You can work around it... but why... put it back on:D
 
#12
Yep, I'm playing my J these days, but when I pull out my G&L L-2000 which has much more room under the strings, I struggle with slap. Even playing with my fingers feels funny. The G&L used to be my primary instrument and it was fine -- I think you can adjust to anything eventually.
 
#14
I also dislike a big gap between the strings and body because of that exact reason. Although practicing to get used to a particular instrument solves the problem, "overdigging" when popping never ceases to be annoying and uncomfortable to me (that's why I created this thread so long ago). When Stuart Hamm stopped playing Kubicki basses and the Fender Urge I was released in the early 90s, he said in an interview that one of the many reasons why he was enjoying his new bass so much was the pickguard, which reduced the gap between the strings and the body and made popping more comfortable. Since Kubickis don't have a pickguard, that's why he did this with some of his old basses:

Stu.gif


(Fortunately, I have that picture hosted on my Photobucket account. I can't find it anymore, nor the aforementioned interview)
 
#15
Hey thanks guys, i wasnt expecting so many response!

Transparent pickguard = lol

Lowering my action = My strings are as low as possible without buzz

Marcus miller cant slap w/o pickguard = glad to noe im not the only one!

Slap doesnt go w punk = heard of this guy called flea? not sayin I can play him...but yeah

So I spent the whole afternoon trying to work out a way to make me slap as well on my jazz as i do with my yamaha. And believe or not, I think ive got it!!!

I figured why Im much more precise with my yamaha is the fact that I dont get any room to overdig, so only the tip of my index hooks the string when I pop. I tend to 'anchor' my pinky on the body, and when the body is at a different distance with another bass I have trouble.

My solution to this of instead of anchoring my pinky on the body I anchor my underside of my forearm on the top of the jazz body. The 'down slope' on a jazz body, if ya get wad i mean. 1 thing good with this stance is the fact that your index finger will always bounce back to its previous location, and in the case where you overdig by chance, u can use the body for leverage which makes it easier to pull out and overdug pop.

I hope this piece of information can help my fellow low end brothers! lemme me know if it worked for u :)
 

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