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What am I missing - slap sound, jazz bass

J

JamesGrant

May 14, 2025
679
1,347
#1
I think I’m a decent player - it’s my part time job, but my slap sound sucks. I’m wondering if it’s possible to get a good slap sound on my bass - Fender Jazz, low output passive pickups, low(ish) action, DR Hi-beams (a few weeks old). When the strings are brand new (less than 10hours old) they sound sort of fine for slap, but quickly lose the slap tone.
I learned Elton John’s ‘I’m still standing’ for a gig today - the timing fine, but the slap on the octave Bb sound is rubbish. I regularly perform ‘Never too much’ - Luther Vandross, my notes are all in the right place, but my slap sound is very disappointing. I’m expert at EQ and compression and that’s not the solution here. Any slappers live near me in England (south coast) where I could bring you my bass and see if it’s the bass or if I suck?
 
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#2
How does that same line sound when you play it fingerstyle? If it sounds good, than technique could be issue.
For ideal slap sound, yes you need to adjust setup and add some EQ midscoop, but in real life you can slap and pop perfectly good on a bass guitar set for fingerstyle.
Also, is slap or pop issue? IME they are two completely different things. If it's thumb slap, what is wrong with it? Is it mushy, undefined, boomy, thin?
 
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#9
Thumpin6string said:
I've been playing bass for over 50 years and still can't slap to save my life. I've done all the online lessons and even had another bass player give me pointer, but no go. It always sounds like I'm trying to punish my bass. So don't feel bad.
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Me too. Been playing more than 50 years. Tried a couple of times to learn slapping but never even liked the technique so my results weren't the best.
Personally I can do very nicely without it. Besides, how often is it actually used? Seems like the players who use it, tend to over-use it like too much spice in the Ragu.
Not really sure if I don't like slapping because I've never gotten good at it, or I've never gotten good at it because I basically don't care for it?
 
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#10
When I was gigging full-time in the 80's and playing a ton of slap, I took my strings off and washed them every day. I had a Kahler trem on my El Toro which had quick-release and I can't imagine doing this on a bass without a QR bridge. I've gone on and on about this here, but it's something I remember reading in Rufus Reid's "The Evolving Bassist". He was talking about DB strings, but one day I decided to try it on my RS 66s and the difference was astonishing. I had tried boiling them before, but the results from that process weren't even close. I always attributed the difference to the gentle scrubbing with the washcloth.

It doesnt' take a whole lot of gunk to have a profound effect on the way strings are going to perform and sound. I add "perform" because it not only improved the sound — washing them really brought Roto's bright, metallic, "piano" sound back — it also brought back the bounce. Back then I was purely a "bouncer" — didn't even know that "through-thumbing" was a thing — and bouncier strings are obviously going to make for better bouncing.

I've been called out here as obsessive for doing this every single day and they're right, I was incredibly, maybe even ridiculously obsessive about my sound, but this just made a HUGE difference in my sound and playing. When I'd be rooming with other guys in the band and they would ask: "Do you really need to do that EVERY single day? Does it really make that much difference?", I would simply slap on it for them before, then again after, and was never asked that question again. HUGE difference.

It was literally just removing them from the bass (speed winder) which took less than a minute due to the quick-release, then running them under the hottest water my hands could stand, putting some bar soap (in my experience, the sudsier the better) on a washcloth and gently scrubbing the length of each string, being very careful with the D and G so as not to accidentally "grab" too much and bend them. Then rinse and quickly dry them with a towel — maybe scrubbing the towel gently on the E and the A but just pulling through on the smaller strings — then back on the bass. Needless to say, doing it daily for years I got pretty quick, so I could do the entire process in about 10 minutes.
 
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#13
Liam Wald said:
Me too. Been playing more than 50 years. Tried a couple of times to learn slapping but never even liked the technique so my results weren't the best.
Personally I can do very nicely without it. Besides, how often is it actually used? Seems like the players who use it, tend to over-use it like too much spice in the Ragu.
Not really sure if I don't like slapping because I've never gotten good at it, or I've never gotten good at it because I basically don't care for it?
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I wish I could learn. My fingers are getting pretty mangled by arthritis, so slapping would be a way to keep playing after they get too bad. I play with my thumb sometimes, but not the best for speed.
 
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#14
FWIW (and not intended toward the OP question), I have a buddy who plays entire songs, or the vast majority of some at least, by "slapping" with his thumb - he does it with an overdrive, Muff or heavily compressed sound, and it does often make the bass sound kinda clicky (he doesn't necessarily have the technique down yet and sometimes hits the string on the pick-up - better results on his Lakland than his Musicman) - he kinda bounces onnit, mebbe, more than slaps the string to get the best results

sometimes he plays it like "touch guitar" with his middle fingertip which requires a lot of gain or compression, and an accurate touch
 
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#17
There's a guy on the Isle of Wight who might be able to help. :smug:

It might be technique but it might very well be the bass. What is it exactly about the sound that you find is lacking? Is it just the brightness? Do you kill strings quickly? Is there significant low-end dropout? Are the strings choking because of an ultra-low set-up? Maybe you're striking the string too hard with your thumb? Or maybe it is just the bass. Some basses sound good slapped and some - even some Fender Jazzes - just sound unresponsive. Posting a video would help.
 
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#18
Thumpin6string said:
I wish I could learn. My fingers are getting pretty mangled by arthritis, so slapping would be a way to keep playing after they get too bad. I play with my thumb sometimes, but not the best for speed.
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For me the other issue is that I don't want to change the set-up of my bass. My set-up is super low for speed and articulation and raising it for optimal slapping would sacrifice 99.9% of my playing to get a good slapping sound for fewer than .01% of the notes played.
 
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#20
Liam Wald said:
For me the other issue is that I don't want to change the set-up of my bass. My set-up is super low for speed and articulation and raising it for optimal slapping would sacrifice 99.9% of my playing to get a good slapping sound for fewer than .01% of the notes played.
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Interesting. Most of the killer slappers that I know use low action. They also don't slap the :poop: out of their basses. They slap with a lighter touch. Both my fretted and fretless have low action. Maybe I should tape some drumsticks to my fingers and try that.
 
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