Slapping with your thumb parallel

[Aukai]

I just notice quatre commenting in another thread about this, I hear it alot, and I see alot of pros use it, but I can't for the life of me slap like this. Any have tips, vids, suggestions, flaming? Anything, I wanna learn how to do this!

[Chameleon]

What is it you're having trouble with? Can you not get the notes to sustain because the rest of your thumb is hitting the string?

[ebe9]

Parallel to the strings?
Parallel to the pickups?

will assume strings................I learned to slap parallel from the get go and find it very odd to do it perpendicular to the stringsas i always hit more than one at a time, also due to the fact that i slap on a 5er

[Aukai]

well, when I started trying to learn, I remember someone saying, the object is to get your thumb to bounce away as fast as possible to get the note loud, like you were drumming, I can't do that parallel. So I guess like you say, I can't get it sustained because my thumb feels akward. Are you suppose to do it like Vic, slap through the string to the bottom one?

[Aukai]

Parallel to the strings?
Parallel to the pickups?

will assume strings................I learned to slap parallel from the get go and find it very odd to do it perpendicular to the stringsas i always hit more than one at a time, also due to the fact that i slap on a 5er


Be happy its awkward for you to do it wrong =(

[Chameleon]

To be honest, like with most of the questions on this site, the answer is just practice.

I wear my bass high, so my thumb isn't parallel, it's more of an upward angle, almost pointing up at my face. Vic slaps fairly parallelish, but if you watch he's angled more upwards like I play (that's pretty much why I play this way). You can go through the string to the next one, but I wouldn't "rely" on that. I'd spent 10 minutes every day just going on and off the string in this parallelish position. Eventually you'll get the "springyness" (combination of power and speed I think) needed to properly slap this way.

Good luck with it.

[Aukai]

Ugh, I expected that to be the answer, but atleast I got something else to add to my routine now.

Thats for the help Chamelon, I'm going to start just PMimg you when I have a Q

[Jody LeCompte]

I slap semi-parallel to the strings. I find that if I hold my thumb directly straight it gets too hard to move fast and locks up

[JBass]

honestly i dont even pay that much attention when i slap...i dont look and i do whatevrs comfortable but know that im tryin to look i guess i slap like at an angle but not perpendicular and not parallel...kinda just so my thmub is pointed just below my oppoiste shoulder

[Akira]

Are you suppose to do it like Vic, slap through the string to the bottom one?
That isn't slapping. That is thumbing. It's a different technique.

[LewsTherin]

That isn't slapping. That is thumbing. It's a different technique.


Slapping through is still slapping. Granted, its used when you DT so you can come back up, but its still a perfectly valid way to slap.

[Akira]

Slapping through is still slapping. Granted, its used when you DT so you can come back up, but its still a perfectly valid way to slap.
I guess I just haven't watched Wooten do normal slap in a while, I didn't think he went through though.

[Killer Fridge]

nope, slapping through is still called slapping. There is no such technique as thumbing (as far as im aware anyway)

[Akira]

nope, slapping through is still called slapping. There is no such technique as thumbing (as far as im aware anyway)
Well I was just referring to the downward half of double thumbing, I wasn't aware Victor Wooten slaps though when he is playing normal slap, which isn't all that often anyways.

[Lowtone]

I found a good way of learning to slap was to practice hitting my thumb off the wood of the guitar just above the strings and to try and make a noise as hard as I could with the side of the knuckle on my thumb and pull away.
The sorer it is the better you're getting;)

[Akira]

I found a good way of learning to slap was to practice hitting my thumb off the wood of the guitar just above the strings and to try and make a noise as hard as I could with the side of the knuckle on my thumb and pull away.
The sorer it is the better you're getting;)
That's a load of crap. You want to slap as lightly as possible.

[FU.CKY.OU]

^all depends on the sound your goin for..

[SixnStones]

you gotsa practice till youse be able to slap so it be soundin' good. /thread

[Lowtone]

That's a load of crap. You want to slap as lightly as possible.
Absoloutely no way.
It was a great way for me to build up the strength/speed in my wrist and teaching my hand to move in a different way. You can also practice it anywhere, on a table, on your knee etc.

[lateralus423]

I can do it perallel to the strings and the pickups so i believe it's possible with a little practice to do it either way. Depend's what feel's comfiterable.

[Killer Fridge]

How Not To Slap A Bass (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=961402849353158338&q=bass)

How To Slap A Bass (http://www.cliffengel.com/bass_lessons/online/free_bass_lessons/slapping/slapping_introduction/)

And again in video form (http://www.cliffengel.com/realmedia/contemporary_slapping.ram)

[Omega Red]

normal slapping and doublethumbing walk hand in hand. you cant double thumb with out slapping but you can slap with out double thumbing, its an extention of the technique just like poping.

first off relax your hand its all in your wrist. turn your wrist over like you're going to give a thumbs up, then drop it like a hammer into the string and follow through so that it lands on the string below it. I dont land on the string every time, but i do use that motion ever time. keep practicing with it

[trumpeter]

I love how he breaks out some RHCP

[Omega Red]

I love how he breaks out some RHCP
of course he is, he slaps like flea. i watched a video of a kid who tried to slap power with flea's technique, it was so bad.

[trumpeter]

Sounds painful.

[LewsTherin]

of course he is, he slaps like flea. i watched a video of a kid who tried to slap power with flea's technique, it was so bad.

:lol:

As much as I love slapping like Flea, even I slap parallel when I play power (still working on it, stfu about recordings)

[mikethecoug]

of course he is, he slaps like flea. i watched a video of a kid who tried to slap power with flea's technique, it was so bad.
it wasnt him was it.. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2788664512176617062&q=power+mike+thompson

i hope not.

i saw some dude like this doing power though it looked kinda bad
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9178560788325866401&q=power+bass

[lateralus423]

Hahah he plays higher ground in an instructional video.

[FU.CKY.OU]

^well duh, its Uber l33t.