Why Slap When Demonstrating Gear?

[Rabidhamster]

I’ve found the majority of people listening to review videos are more interested in hearing the players chops than an unfettered overview of the tones of the gear. Lack of flashiness probably interferes with the illusion that chops are included with purchase.

 

[BEADist]

Most of them are very One Genre Influence, and regardless of if it’s slappy or not, it makes them pretty useless.

When I am looking for a piece of gear for my 'sludge' band I do not mind if a demo is specific for that One Genre, I would actually prefer that .

If the demo has 'slap' only there is nothing wrong with the demo, I am simply at the wrong channel. This is how I look at it.

 

[MattZilla]

If the demo has 'slap' only there is nothing wrong with the demo, I am simply at the wrong channel. This is how I look at it.

My approach to sludge tone definitely involves the bass pushing more treble gank & clank into my pedals than some basses have on tap. I expeshully value hearing at least 3 seconds of slap to hear the inherent treble character exaggerated, though Mike Inez style slidepicking would be far more useful and is nearly never done by most Demo’ers.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

Music stores are a challenge for me as I am pretty confident I already know 10x more about the gear in the store than they do.
It’s always amusing when I ask a clerk a very specific, deep in the weeds question about a piece of gear and watch their eyes glaze over.

I don't think its fair. If someone has a very specific "deep in the weeds question" about a piece of gear (like basses, or bass amps) then asking the question HERE with a "deep in the weeds" kind of audience and knowledge base is really perhaps the most time and energy efficient way to get an answer to the question... IF you are earnestly asking a question because your other previous research did not provide clarity. If going to a store to see if you can "stump the salesperson" or gauge their qualifications to ascertain the privilege of selling you a piece of gear, that seems to be a silly game and there's a lot of free time required for that kind of thing. What's your time worth?

If you know what you want, buy it. Or don't. But don't play games.

Maybe people's eyes glaze over because they're not interested in who knows more about gear in general or in some esoteric or not esoteric detail. Maybe they're not interested in engaging in fundamentally competitive conversation or pissing match about who knows more.

I'm old enough to recognize I know more about certain musical things than any salesperson in the store, perhaps. And then there's new gear coming out and I also know I very little about another piece of gear. Whatever the case, I'm not there to sort out who is smarter, or more or less knowledgeable about gear than me. They don't care. I don't care. If I can learn some new gear knowledge through interest in a new product, and some nice conversation, I'm happy and thankful to do so without judgement. If whatever my reason for being in the store has nothing to do with new gear, I try to buy if the thing is in stock, and move on with my day and my life. Pissing match not required.

The best music salespeople in my experience surely don't know everything (the "weeds") about every piece of gear, major AND minor, but they're open to helping. They're open to talking with you about what you are trying to accomplish within reason, and then hopefully can make some reasonable suggestions to help you get there. That's a valuable approach whether that salesperson meeting parents for the first time who want to consider getting a guitar for their kid, or whatever very special and carefully considered item "seasoned pros" need, to the extent they can help them get it.

On a more basic level, it's a bit of rhetorical and philosophical question: Why spend time listening (or pretending to listen) to the thoughts, advice, perspectives of someone you have convinced yourself you know more than they know, no matter what the field of endeavor?

My two cents.

 

[Parzival]

I don't think its fair. If someone has a very specific "deep in the weeds question" about a piece of gear (like basses, or bass amps) then asking the question HERE with a "deep in the weeds" kind of audience and knowledge base is really perhaps the most time and energy efficient way to get an answer to the question... IF you are earnestly asking a question because your other previous research did not provide clarity. If going to a store to see if you can "stump the salesperson" or gauge their qualifications to ascertain the privilege of selling you a piece of gear, that seems to be a silly game and there's a lot of free time required for that kind of thing. What's your time worth?

If you know what you want, buy it. Or don't. But don't play games.

Maybe people's eyes glaze over because they're not interested in who knows more about gear in general or in some esoteric or not esoteric detail. Maybe they're not interested in engaging in fundamentally competitive conversation or pissing match about who knows more.

I'm old enough to recognize I know more about certain musical things than any salesperson in the store, perhaps. And then there's new gear coming out and I also know I very little about another piece of gear. Whatever the case, I'm not there to sort out who is smarter, or more or less knowledgeable about gear than me. They don't care. I don't care. If I can learn some new gear knowledge through interest in a new product, and some nice conversation, I'm happy and thankful to do so without judgement. If whatever my reason for being in the store has nothing to do with new gear, I try to buy if the thing is in stock, and move on with my day and my life. Pissing match not required.

The best music salespeople in my experience surely don't know everything (the "weeds") about every piece of gear, major AND minor, but they're open to helping. They're open to talking with you about what you are trying to accomplish within reason, and then hopefully can make some reasonable suggestions to help you get there. That's a valuable approach whether that salesperson meeting parents for the first time who want to consider getting a guitar for their kid, or whatever very special and carefully considered item "seasoned pros" need, to the extent they can help them get it.

On a more basic level, it's a bit of rhetorical and philosophical question: Why spend time listening (or pretending to listen) to the thoughts, advice, perspectives of someone you have convinced yourself you know more than they know, no matter what the field of endeavor?

My two cents.

Ok, wow, that was a lot. Listen, the internet and typed word does not convey feel very well. Part of that is my fault. That previous post was a lot in jest. I like a lot of the guys at the local GC and enjoy talking to them about stuff, and they give me good info sometimes. My comment was really kind of in jest regarding times in the past where a clerk that didn't really know much about much talked to me like I was stupid and I decided to get in the weeds. Game? Maybe. Who cares. I'm not mean to anyone.

Funny story since we are here. I'm sittng at GC just last Saturday. I was at the counter looking around and waiting on a return to get taken care of. This older gentleman walks in and puts a big case up on the counter and tells the clerk he is there to get a set up done. I know it is most likely a bass and love to see what gear folks have. I looked over at him and asked him, hey, whatcha got in there? He looks at me like I am about 9 years old (I'm over 50 LOL) and says, Son, that is a bass guitar. So, I got really excited and said, REALLY?!!! Wow, that sure is cool! Can I see it? He had a cool Ibanez 5-string and I checked it out and I told him that was about the coolest thing I had ever seen. It did have a really cool wood finish that was dyed maybe?
He had decided to ignore me by the time I asked about the finish.

 

[Parzival]

Since this topic is back up, I saw a vid recently demonstrating a certain pedal. Of course, it was about 98% slap. But, the issue here was, to my ears, the tone sounded really bad. I know maybe it is me, but I have never ever heard anyone going for that kind of tone. Again, maybe I'm the tone deaf knucklehead. Who knows?
But that leads me to the question and I think it is pertinent here because slap can affect this, I think. Do you ever see demo vids and think, are you trying to get folks to not buy the gear? What the heck? You are driving me away, not giving me GAS.

 

[soong]

Slapping, relatively speaking, pushes the dynamic threshold of the instrument. Just look at the waveform of a slapped bassline - this is a fact. Whether or not you like the sound is sort of irrelevant.

I'm not a huge slapper but I appreciate hearing how the preamp really translates when being pushed dynamically by the player. Sometimes this can be achieved through fingerstyle/pick of course too - its not just slap.

Particularly for modern basses, it is at the dynamic top ends of the instrument (again I mean dynamics, not register) that you get to hear the sound of the preamp/pickups and overall tonal characteristic of the bass.

Kind of like listening to a high performance vehicle - its worth hearing what it sounds like when the engine revs.

I slap in this review for this very reason. But you'll see a bunch of other styles/settings too.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

Ok, wow, that was a lot. Listen, the internet and typed word does not convey feel very well. Part of that is my fault. That previous post was a lot in jest. I like a lot of the guys at the local GC and enjoy talking to them about stuff, and they give me good info sometimes. My comment was really kind of in jest regarding times in the past where a clerk that didn't really know much about much talked to me like I was stupid and I decided to get in the weeds. Game? Maybe. Who cares. I'm not mean to anyone.

Funny story since we are here. I'm sittng at GC just last Saturday. I was at the counter looking around and waiting on a return to get taken care of. This older gentleman walks in and puts a big case up on the counter and tells the clerk he is there to get a set up done. I know it is most likely a bass and love to see what gear folks have. I looked over at him and asked him, hey, whatcha got in there? He looks at me like I am about 9 years old (I'm over 50 LOL) and says, Son, that is a bass guitar. So, I got really excited and said, REALLY?!!! Wow, that sure is cool! Can I see it? He had a cool Ibanez 5-string and I checked it out and I told him that was about the coolest thing I had ever seen. It did have a really cool wood finish that was dyed maybe?
He had decided to ignore me by the time I asked about the finish.

Ok, wow, that was a lot. Listen, the internet and typed word does not convey feel very well. Part of that is my fault. That previous post was a lot in jest. I like a lot of the guys at the local GC and enjoy talking to them about stuff, and they give me good info sometimes. My comment was really kind of in jest regarding times in the past where a clerk that didn't really know much about much talked to me like I was stupid and I decided to get in the weeds. Game? Maybe. Who cares. I'm not mean to anyone.

Funny story since we are here. I'm sittng at GC just last Saturday. I was at the counter looking around and waiting on a return to get taken care of. This older gentleman walks in and puts a big case up on the counter and tells the clerk he is there to get a set up done. I know it is most likely a bass and love to see what gear folks have. I looked over at him and asked him, hey, whatcha got in there? He looks at me like I am about 9 years old (I'm over 50 LOL) and says, Son, that is a bass guitar. So, I got really excited and said, REALLY?!!! Wow, that sure is cool! Can I see it? He had a cool Ibanez 5-string and I checked it out and I told him that was about the coolest thing I had ever seen. It did have a really cool wood finish that was dyed maybe?
He had decided to ignore me by the time I asked about the finish.

Yes, it was a "lot". I was writing to you, but also to people I've seen on forums and in real life, trying to make sure EVERYONE knows they know more than whatever salesperson or other person about whatever. Also, I've seen it AS THE SALESPERSON. And, I don't think any salesperson should talk to you or anyone else like they're stupid. In my mind, neither party, the actual/potential buyer OR seller gets a pass to be a jerk or needlessly divisive or standoffish. I wish I could recount moment by painstaking moment all the bad behavior I've seen, but you've probably seen it too.

 

[munnkyboy]

Cuz...Slappa da bass....stupid but fun...

 

[Hot Rats]

These slappers in demonstration videos have obviously never heard of talk bass. For if they had, there would far fewer of them.