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Double Bass What was I seeing?went

2strings2frets

2strings2frets

Oct 30, 2017
639
1,008
West Virginia
#1
Went to a county park today they had a bluegrass band with an UB. The bass player appeared to slap the fretboard top and bottom. Left hand maybe Ten inches from the top and right hand nearly on the bottom of the fretboard. Seated several rows back From the stage I couldn’t see her pluck the strings. Never having played a UB bass I wondered if this is how it is played or was I mistaken? Thanks
 
#2
Technique is all over the place in bluegrass. Some bluegrass players when they play open strings exaggerate bringing the left hand back down to mute the string after they've plucked the note. I'm not sure who made that a thing. I would bet that's what you took for the left hand slapping the strings.
 
#4
I've seen some amazing slappers mix left hand slap and pizz with right hand slap and pizz using both hands, for short intervals during breaks. This produces quads or sometimes even more complex slap beats. Of course you can't stop a note on the fingerboard when you're doing that so you're using open strings for any notes, but most of the time this technique is for the percussion noise anyway. It's pretty percussive and pretty theatrical for bluegrass, but it's fun to watch in the audience. I've seen it more often done by Texas Swing double bass players.
 
#5
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Don Hergert said:
I've seen some amazing slappers mix left hand slap and pizz with right hand slap and pizz using both hands, for short intervals during breaks. This produces quads or sometimes even more complex slap beats. Of course you can't stop a note on the fingerboard when you're doing that so you're using open strings for any notes, but most of the time this technique is for the percussion noise anyway. It's pretty percussive and pretty theatrical for bluegrass, but it's fun to watch in the audience. I've seen it more often done by Texas Swing double bass players.
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Thank you, what thru me was I could not see her pick. Maybe I was just too far away.
 
#8
Part of the right hand slapping action includes pulling the string. As someone else noted, the left hand action is just a muting action for open strings. There are a lot of three chord, and even some two chord, songs in Bluegrass, and depending on the key you can play all open strings on the bass. I don't slap, but I do sometimes use the left hand (my wedding ring) to give a percussive mute and clacking sound right on 2 and 4.
 
#9
turf3 said:
Part of the right hand slapping action includes pulling the string. As someone else noted, the left hand action is just a muting action for open strings. There are a lot of three chord, and even some two chord, songs in Bluegrass, and depending on the key you can play all open strings on the bass. I don't slap, but I do sometimes use the left hand (my wedding ring) to give a percussive mute and clacking sound right on 2 and 4.
Click to expand...

Funny, I always take my wedding ring off when playing, because it clacks the fingerboard. (Wife is very understanding.) Never thought of using it as percussion, but then I can always engage slap mode when called for.
 

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