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Tasteful and well done slap lines.

#41
Chris Wilke said:
For me the Master Class in tasteful slap is Chuck Rainey's Precision Bass on select parts of Steely Dan's Aja album, specifically, the Chorus on the song Aja and the Chorus on Peg. Rumor has it Chuck turned away from Donald Fagen during the session so he couldn't see him slapping, as Donald had specifically asked him not to! :)
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This is true. Chuck has talked about this a few times.
Donald and Walter had a strict "No Slap" rule.
Chuck sat behind a gobo/partition and turned his back to Donald and Walter so they couldn't see his hands.

 
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#43
Maxi Funkl said:
I also hate the term slap. I also could care less about what someone things of that form of playing. Ive been a Thumping and plucking since I've first heard Larry Graham, Bootsy, Stanley Clarke, Louis Johnson, & Mark Adams. I'll name some groups and artists, Cameo, The Reddings, Slave, The Time, Automatic Man, Pleasure, Slapbak, Mint Condition, Lakeside, Living Colour, Xavion, Earl Klugh, Bar-Kays, Mutiny, Tina Marie & Keni Burke just few of the best to ever do it some obvious some not so much.
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Same here. Hearing the thumb style is what attracted me to playing bass.
 
#50
Written, produced, and bass by Prince
Morris Day on drums
The name of the game here is muting.
According to Brown Mark, Prince was into using the thumb on his fretting hand when playing bass.
He was using his thumb to mute the E.
You can see Terry Lewis doing this in videos from the 1999 tour. You can also see The Time's current bassist Ricky "Freeze" Smith doing this as well.
 
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#52
DWBass said:
Yep. Met him at Cafe Oasis (late night open mic) in Baldwin, NY around 2008 through fellow TB member pyrohr (my big brother). Got a pic of us somewhere. I have to look for it.
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Photo of me and Barry Johnson. Taken at Cafe Oasis. They hosted a late night Sunday Jam session. Lots of pros would stop through.
 

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#54
Slap/thumbing etc is just another legit technique for bass players to learn and use as needed.

Having said that, I came up playing jazz and then rock in the late 60's and 70's (thru today). There was a point (disco driven I believe) where "slap" was everywhere, particularly in pop/disco/dance oriented music from the late 70's into the 80's, and IMO, way over done at times. I learned how to do it reasonably well (not great) because I had to in order to do the gigs I did at the time. I did appreciate some of the early masters like Boosty, Larry G and Chuck Rainey. But there was so much wankery associated with it that I still don't love much of what I hear. IMO, it can be "tasteful" but like any technique, it needs to serve the music rather than become the focus.
 
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#55
bass12 said:
Mike Neal (from Rare Essence) on bass:



Marcus Miller on bass (doubling synth):

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#1 - Loved hearing a funky bassline played on bass on the radio when this came out. Didn't know Mike was from Rare Essence.

#2 - I would not have guessed that Marcus played on their records. Interesting.
I've heard people speak highly of Green Gartside/Scritti Politti, but I admit I don't know much about him/them other than their pop smash Perfect Way.
 

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