Yo' O.G.'s, is'nt the term "Thumpin" instead of "Slappin"??

*bangs head on desk*

But yes, it's thumpin'.

 

actually its thumping (or thumbing) and plucking

 

Thump, thumb, Slap, Pop, Pluck.. It's all good!

 

Thumpin True DAt!

 

Now that I'm 40, I fear I might start being legitimately lumped in with the "O.G." crew. Guys my age always called it slapping, but all the guys who were 30 or 40 years old back when I was 20 called it thumping.

 

I'm 52. Back when the style first came on the scene, everyone I knew called it "thumpin' and poppin'".

 

From Wikipedia:

Slapping the bass is a technique used by many bands since at least the 1920s and came into popular use in the 1940s. Slap bass provides a strong downbeat when the string is plucked and a strong back beat when it slaps back onto the fingerboard of the bass. It creates a very percussive sound and adds a lot of drive that is particularly good for dance music.[1]

Slap bass was used by Western Swing and Hillbilly Boogie musicians, and became an important component of an early form of rock and roll that combined what was then called hillbilly music, and blues, a musical style now referred to as rockabilly. The technique inspired the George and Ira Gershwin song, "Slap That Bass"

 

It's thumpin. Always has been and always will be. Just like back in the day.

 

Following up on Wikipedia:

On bass guitar it usually refers to a percussive playing technique used in funk, latin, and pop, in which player hits the string with the thumb of the strumming hand near the base of the guitar's neck, often combined with snapping the strings usually with the index or middle finger of the same hand, (the latter more specifically called "popping", i.e. "slapping and popping"). Some bassists use other fingers of the strumming hand to achieve this sound, such as bassist Abraham Laboriel, Sr., who conversely uses his thumb to pop the strings, and his other four fingers to slap the strings. The invention of slap is generally credited to funk bassist Larry Graham of Sly & the Family Stone. Graham has stated in several interviews that he was trying to emulate the sound of a drum set after the band had lost its drummer.

The unique sound of the slapping technique comes from the string hitting the fretboard with high force, and gives a much more percussive sound than regular fingering of notes with the strumming hand. The sound is also usually louder and more distinct than the sound of a bass guitar played using the usual plucking techniques.

 

I agree 100%. That's why the kids in the band call me "Papa Thump"!!

 

YADA YADA YADA IT'S THUMPIN AND POPPIN!

 

Did anyone notice that on DB you pluck on the downbeat & slap on the backbeat, whereas as on BG it's(generally)just the opposite? Neat-O.
On topic, I call it 'playing'. Yeah- crazy.

 

Pretty sure it's supposed to be thumping; it's just that 'slapping' ended up being used more.

 

We alll called it "popping" as in "Larry Graham, the Poppa of Poppin'"!

jte

 

thumping isnt really descriptive of the tone that is produced by hitting your thumb against the strings though...thump to me implies a short sustain, dead kind of sound i.e. a p-bass with flats and muting technique and/or a foam mute. I'll call it slapping and poping, but I'm only 19 so what do I know lol

 

Here's one for the Young man with all the tech. Victor W. calls his technique the "double Thump" No matter what you call it .Just play your bass to the best of your ability and call it good.

 

It was called 'thumpin''. 'Slappin'' was another tech used to imitate bongos. Poppin' was done with pills.

 

I'd say you're 100% right when listening to any modern day slapping, because the crack of the hit through tweeters and hi-fi amps has the same attack as an actual slap; back in the day when Larry Graham was getting it going (pick your favorite Sly tune), with the gear he had and recorded through, thumping might have been more descriptive.
At least he thought so.