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Why so much hate for slap??

#341
Joe Nerve said:
I haven’t read this entire thread, but I read a lot. Everybody is defending slap and telling why they think so many people hate it - yet - I don’t see anyone here hating it :).

Can we stop it now!!!!!!

3 people might hate slap. And they only hate it cuz they can’t do it :spit:! If they could do it they wouldn’t hate it because it’s fun :)!
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There have been many threads throughout the years and the word hate comes up quite a lot. But other things like...overused, no groove and other descriptions come up as well. All negative. I just wish it would stop.
 
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#342
True story.... I went into a sam ash about 8 years ago to try out some basses. I needed a backup for live and didnt want to spend a bunch but also didnt want total garbage. I was basically there to spend about $300-600 max and was hoping to find some used models.
So it turns out they have a used soundgear thats a little bit beat up but was originally about $900 and was tagged at $400 used. So I plug in and this thing is just begging to be slapped. Low action, light gauge, new strings, active, etc.
I had paid it no mind but there was a guy in his 50's doing some thumb downstrokes about 15' left of me. I finish up with the bass and go to put it back when guy says "you're one of those that plays like the blacks, huh". I just told him he should probably get in his car and leave. Surprisingly, he did.
One of only two times i've been slap-shamed in public.
The other was by a friend that was auditioning the same gig as me. He said "I dont really care for slap" so I told him to each their own and asked, but you can play it...right? He just looked at me blankly so I asked him what if the song calls for it?
Yea, he didn't get that spot.
 
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#344
DWBass said:
Overused? Who, What and where? Recorded or video examples please! Employ it poorly? Who? Amateurs? Surely not pros who are virtuoso's at it! No groove? Hmmm......again, by who? Examples of non groove slap please?! Please make your points with examples.

I'll be honest and forthright. This site is made up of a high percentage of cats who don't fit the demographic of where slap bass would be incorporated in the music they'd play. And probably wouldn't fit anyway. Therefore, slap gets vilified constantly here. Here's the thing. I don't use pedals and I see pics of some of the pedalboards some of ya'll use and SMH! I don't make a thread about it. I see threads about some of the weird rigs some of ya'll use and SMH. I don't make a thread about it. I don't like Metal. I don't like Punk. I don't like Bluegrass. No threads and I've never seen any posted. Etc, etc., etc. Bottom line is....slap (or thumpin' & pluckin') is very dear to some of us members here and I (we) don't think it's cool for the technique to be constantly criticized. It's a legitimate technique the same as fingerstyle, pick, palm mute, flamenco and any other technique out there. C'mon guys, can we stop with the 'hate slap' rhetoric please?
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I support you with the note that slap bass in songs is not the same as slap bass in solo's. I am a big levelhead (Mark King fan), but even the British king of slap bass (All hail to MK) I enjoy the most in the songs (the groove) and not the (machinegun) solos'. And some good slap bass players shouldn't even try to do slap solo's, because they are then a totally different person and sound completely lost.. .specially without drums to back them up (George Anderson *caugh*).
 
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#345
I love slap even though I can't do it properly! I've always played fingerstyle and with a pick and honestly never really felt the need to or had to slap. I love it when bassists slap on non-conventional genres like early Cryptopsy, Suicidal Tendencies, Rage Against The Machine and Infectious Grooves. Like everything, if you do it in moderation it's great, and sometimes if you can't do it then you learn to hate it.
 
#346
tradernick said:
For sure, in most music stores on Saturday afternoon, it probably isn't musical and doesn't groove.

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Slap is musical in the same way that Yoko Ono is musical. When I say that slap isn't musical I am speaking in general, as such I can say that green snot is gross but someone will find a picture somewhere with green snot that actually looks good. I don't like to eat fat and veins but some love it. I think that dog throw up is disgusting, others may not. There are those weird bands whose singer takes a poopie on the dance floor in the middle of a song and the crowd goes wild. The top bass players in the world can get away with some slap, yes. But in most cases they are the star and the show is written around them. Marcus lightly slapping isn't too bad, but when he goes fast as he solos I personally think it's crap and totally lacking a groove.
 
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#351
Bassplyr1 said:
Walk through the NAMM show for 8 hours. Where ever there are bass amps and basses there is this incessant slapping all friggin day long. Doesn't anybody play any pretty bass lines anymore?
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Not that slap can't be pretty, but I totally get it. I don't spend much time in the bass area of stores I visit, so I don't hear it much. When I do, it's the same as the guitar wankery and songs you always hear them play.
 
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#352
I think I’ll start asking around of drummers how they feel about slapping. I’d think it would be annoying to try to lock in with a bassist edging in on their sonic turf. It’s just a hunch but unless you are dead-on with them rhymically, I think they’d rather you didn’t slap.

Besides, when you slap, all the bass goes away. Doesn’t that seem self-defeating and pointless in itself?
 
#353
saabfender said:
I think I’ll start asking around of drummers how they feel about slapping. I’d think it would be annoying to try to lock in with a bassist edging in on their sonic turf. It’s just a hunch but unless you are dead-on with them rhymically, I think they’d rather you didn’t slap.

Besides, when you slap, all the bass goes away. Doesn’t that seem self-defeating and pointless in itself?
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1) If you are slapping *with* the drums and not OVER the drums... I think they would be fine with it. I don't mean slapping the same percussion beat as the drums, but that you are approaching it in way that doesn't hijack the song/beat. Just like there is a place for guitarists to play muted/dead deads notes (it's not just bassists that do this ya know).

2) I almost said that if all the bass goes away when you slap, you are doing it wrong. That is not always true though... having said that, it depends on the role you have in the ensemble and me personally, I prefer slap when it tells a story just like any other style/instrument. Again, just like singers/drummers/guitarists that just want to show off, it doesn't do anything for me long term if it has no "soul" (not just the genre, mind you).
 
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#354
MordBass said:
I had the same issue and then revised technique. I totally know what you mean though, it seems to zap the gut of the tone. What helped me despite not fixing the issue 100% was to concentrate more on the technique of slapping "through" the string and landing my thumb on the next string. Sort of a percussive downstroke with lots of skin connecting and brushing past rather than the typical strike and release, bounce, spring back style of hitting the string straight into the fretboard and pulling away as quickly as possible.
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Interesting idea, will give it a try, though I guess you have to be careful with the contact on the next string so you only get the thump and not an actual note.
 
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#355
Swampish said:
Interesting idea, will give it a try, though I guess you have to be careful with the contact on the next string so you only get the thump and not an actual note.[/QUOT
It worked out for me. I used to slap overhand which worked for what I was doing at the time but then I moved up to a 6 string and it all sounded sloppy unless I slapped "underhand" so I wasnt hitting extra stings each time. Basically your hand should look more like youre giving a thumbs up instead of looking like youre holding a steering wheel one handed. If I slap the E string, my thumb winds up on the last portion of neck and against the A string. Its more of a strike than a slap but it really does seem to retain more bass for the note.
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#359
I don't dislike slap at all, but it's not exactly an "up to date", or "with the times" technique. I've never once been asked to slap with a band no matter what the style is, and no bands cover RHCP these days where I am. This doesn't mean I can't slap. I can, but it sounds severely dated, and not in a good way at this point.
 
#360
For me, most of the appeal for slapping is that its very easy to switch from fingerstyle (my normal approach) to slap when I need more attack/emphasis on a note. Basically, when I need to sound more like I'm using a pick...

...before you flame me, I KNOW IT DOESN'T SOUND EXACTLY THE SAME, but like I said, it's very easy to slip into slap for that, easier that trying to switch to a pick mid-song.

...for me anyway, YMMV...
 

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