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The Slap Bass Welcome Center

#161
Did a really brief search and I'm just hoping someone can shead light on this for me, so sorry if it has been asked before.

When I slap I basicly have my thumb hit the strings directly - I read a couple things and is this wrong? Should I be hiting the string going DOWN rather then AT the string?

Thanks guys =).
 
#163
Okay i have something i need a bit of help with.

I've been playing for 4/5 years now and am quite decent but i am looking to raise my game ALOT in the next 1/2 years.

First thing im looking to improve big time on is my slap techinque. Now i've seemed to have fallen into a trap alot of bassists do and copying flea's technique which is good for the style he plays but then i have to change the angle of my hand to double-thump. So im trying to train my slap to be like Marcus Miller (I just mean the sort of angle he plays at).

After about a week and a half im still finding this hard, its to easy for me to go back to the way flea slaps. So anyone got any good exercises or tips for getting my technique better? Of course practice is one and practice i will i just need to know what to practice!
 
#167
Hello,
I'm new to these forums and still quite new to bass playing. The videos posted here have been really useful but I'm still having some problems with the slapping technique. I've tried hitting the strings at the base of the fretboard and further down over the pick ups, I've tired bouncing off the string and going through the string and no matter what I do I still get the same problem. I can make a good clear note when I just hit an open string but as soon as I go to make a particular note on the fretboard I either don't get a sound or just get a high pitched metal clank. I'm not muting the string and I'm not holding the string too far away from the fret so I don't see why this keeps happening. I've been trying to play the little song from "the girl bass player" on youtube, if anyone else is familiar with it, but I don't get past the first notes! () If anyone has any tips or comments then please do get back to me.
Thank you :)
 
#172
I've got the slapping and popping down, but I just am wondering about some reccomendations on how I should set my amp. I have a Fender Rumble 100 combo amp, it has a mid scoop button, 4 knobs, bass, low mid, high mid, and treble. Currently I have been playing with the mid scoop on, bass at half, low mid full, high mid half, and treble full. I think it sounds alright, but I was wondering if someone knows how to get more the bass sound Flea gets in the Red Hot Chili Peppers' cover of Higher Ground.
 
#173
learbearb244 said:
I've got the slapping and popping down, but I just am wondering about some reccomendations on how I should set my amp. I have a Fender Rumble 100 combo amp, it has a mid scoop button, 4 knobs, bass, low mid, high mid, and treble. Currently I have been playing with the mid scoop on, bass at half, low mid full, high mid half, and treble full. I think it sounds alright, but I was wondering if someone knows how to get more the bass sound Flea gets in the Red Hot Chili Peppers' cover of Higher Ground.
Click to expand...

I don't know anything about that amp but I generally don't like anything that kills low mids.. they tend to provide the oomph.

Anyway, your technique is a big part of retaining the low end. It is very important to get a quick solid downward force and then get the heck out of the way. If you don't, the string will be slightly muted and anemic sounding.

There are alot of different techniques so I would experiment with different hand positions to find something that works best for you. I use a couple of different hand positions depending on what the song requires.

Your bass also has a bit to do with it. Small fretwire and low action just haven't been able to provide me with quite as full of a tone... of course, overcoming obstacles like this can only serve to make your technique better.
 
#180
Hey guys, I´ve only played my bass for nearly 6 months, and I should tell you that I´be had a defection or whatever it´s called, a temporary paralyzation in the right side of my body, that made all my musclepower vanish, so this makes my left side alot more developed than my right side. I pluck with my right hand and it´s doing pretty fine, my fingers are just abit slow since I can´t fully control their muscles..

The point is. can you guys give me any tip or exercises I can perform to make my right hand stronger? I would really like to learn to slap but currently, my wrist is too slow, I can bring it down at an average speed, but when it comes to getting it out of the way for the vibrating string, I just can´t, I can´t control my muscles enough to quickly turn my wrist back.

So any tips of what technique would fit me best? And how I can practice this.
I would also like to know how this " slap through the string" works :)

Thanks in advance.
 

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