I love this approach, synth bass & slap bass in the same song. I started a Spotify playlist of songs. Got any more I can add? » Synth Bass with Slap Bass, a playlist by andyrespire on Spotify
- Lots of gospel songs on my list. Fred Hammond (solo & with Commissioned) & Tommy Sims have done this a lot. - A can’t copy/paste the list, so here’s artists/players: Fred Hammond, Commissioned, Cece Winans, Cedric/Victor Caldwell, Bruno Mars, Tommy Simms, Darwin Hobbs, Israel Houghton, Andrae Crouch, Andrew Gouché, Abe Laboriel, Koinonia, Sheila E, Prince - I’m not counting when key bass reinforces & hides behind the bass guitar. I’m counting when the key bass is distinctly different than the slap bass sound. — P.Y.T. by Michel Jackson is all synth bass w/ slap in the bridge. — Prince: I expected to find more examples than I did.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Welcome To The Pleasuredome (track) Not sure if that's what you're looking for, but it's staccato synthy and has a slap section. Two Tribes may also be worth a listen. Same album.
@RyanOh - Pleasuredome track for sure! I need to listen closer to Two Tribes @FilterFunk - YES! I know both those tracks, but didn't think of them! I know there are more great disco-funk songs I'm missing.
Here's one off my all-time favorite jazz record. To my knowledge, no streaming service offers this album as it was a sound track to a documentary. A modern (for its time) cover on the Moacir Santos tune, Nana.
Pretty sure the Scritti Politti album Cupid & Psyche 85 has some tracks with both, though I can't off the top of my head remember which tracks. Marcus Miller supplied the slap bass on that album too.
Almost everything Level 42 did post-1984 is a mix of synth and slap - sort of a signature sound for them.
Thanks, y'all! Added all these tracks to my playlist. @JimK - great picks. I love Hewett, but haven't heard much Shalamar. I bet Chaka has more tracks, I'll have to listen. Take Your Time (Do It Right) by SOS also has slap w/ some synth bass over it. @Bob_Ross - Don't Work That Hard is the only track I heard on that Scritti Politi album w/ bass. Sounds like Miller is doubling the synth line, nice approach. @cxcxcx - Always heard of Mark King in Bass Player mag, but never listened. Great stuff!
A few of my favs IMHO Brick's entire Summer Heat album is fabulous. If your interested, here's the complete play list: Summer heat full album - YouTube
Here’s some others, apologies if they’re reposts. These both feature Anthony Jackson on electric bass, backed up by synth. Due to the quality of Anthony’s parts, that’s sort of like putting frosting on a cake that already has a ton of frosting, but it works!
@cxcxcx - Thanks! I'm not hearing any slap or even fingerstyle on Borderline. I hear fingerstyle on Watcha (run at 3:11), lotsa guitar popping, but no slap bass. What am I missing? Are they literally doubling the synth verbatim? or is it Jackson's bass signal + synth FX? EDIT: Wikipedia: "a catchy synth melody provided by Fred Zarr.[7] Bass player Anthony Jackson doubled Dean Gant's synth bass to provide a solid and more complex texture.[7]" Seems so odd to verbatim double the bassline just for added texture w/o any slaps/pops coming thru the mix. But it was '83 & probably not as easy to tweak a signal as it is now. Hmph... @Wasnex - Good stuff, thanks!