Slapping

[CaseLogic]

Okay so, I've been playing bass for almost 3 years now, but sadly I must admit that hardly any of that has been spent slapping. I have the technique down, just need to build up my speed and find some songs/artists for me to look up some slap lines to in order to help myself improve.

So a couple questions. Other than RHCP, Incubus, and 311 (all just general artists), what are some good artists/songs to look into to get my slap on? Keep in mind that I need to start kind of slow so I can learn to build my speed. To help gauage, I can probably do Higher Ground by RHCP no problem (not 100% though), but Aeroplane is still a tiny bit fast for me to play cleanly (but I kind get away with playin most of it).

Also, when you slap mutes, I have the habit of not actually muting the string, but rather just hitting the string in a way with my thumb that it just produces the thump/click (I guess I rest my thumb on it just long enough so that the string doesn't resonate). Is this bad technique, or is it acceptable? Sometimes, in certain situations, it seems really out of the way/difficult to actually mute the string with your left hand before you slap the mute.

Also, another annoying habit I happened to pick up is that when I go to pop strings, my wrist pivots and the side of my hand rests on the strings to almost support my hand for the pop. While this doesn't have any effect on the popped note, if I did have a note ringing previously, it would effectively mute it before the pop rings out. This happens more when I'm trying to slap faster, and my hand naturally rests on the bass strings to support itself. I dunno if I explained that well.. I assume this too is bad technique that I should aim to correct, but I find it really hard to pop in the air without resting the side of my hand, maybe I just need to stop bein such a woman =P

[Spazzout22]

Wow, so I don't know too much about slap, but since no one is helping you out... I guess I'll try.

First of all, I would just find slap songs you wanna play, then slow them down. Try out some Wooten songs slowed down a lot to learn double thumping. Play scales and such to increase your speed. I guess Primus has a lot of good slap stuff. Ok... so i'm not so good on this part.

I think it would be worth it to start practicing muting with your left hand. Just so you are able to do it effectivly. It'll also help to keep a fluid motion in your right hand (aka, if you have to change the way you slap to mute notes, you're playing two different kinds of ways and having to focus on two things instead of one). Hope that made sense. If it works, then do it. Just be able to do it the other way too.

I would try using your thumb as a fulcrum to pop with. So instead of the side of your hand, try using your thumb as a push off point. I dunno. Also, try to just mess around with things till they work. If you're having a hard time not muting ringing notes, move your hand around till you're not anymore. that's all the advice i've got for ya.

Hope that helped even a little.

[CaseLogic]

Thanks I appreciate it, and thanks for the response cause I was gettin a bit worried with all these views and no help =)

[woundedmonkey]

when i learned i just messed around with different stuff until i got the hang of it. once you have the form and everything down its not too hard, so maybe thats just what you want to do. as for finding songs, if you can't find any songs with slap in them easy enough to play, you could just play any old song and just slap it until you get fast enough to learn songs made for slap.

[OGE1]

thanks for the tips chaps

[Polyamarous]

Practice!

I spent months at the bottom the shag-pile in slapping terms. But if you practice pracrtice practice it will come to you.

[alexisonfire_]

Okay so, I've been playing bass for almost 3 years now, but sadly I must admit that hardly any of that has been spent slapping. I have the technique down, just need to build up my speed and find some songs/artists for me to look up some slap lines to in order to help myself improve.

So a couple questions. Other than RHCP, Incubus, and 311 (all just general artists), what are some good artists/songs to look into to get my slap on? Keep in mind that I need to start kind of slow so I can learn to build my speed. To help gauage, I can probably do Higher Ground by RHCP no problem (not 100% though), but Aeroplane is still a tiny bit fast for me to play cleanly (but I kind get away with playin most of it).

Also, when you slap mutes, I have the habit of not actually muting the string, but rather just hitting the string in a way with my thumb that it just produces the thump/click (I guess I rest my thumb on it just long enough so that the string doesn't resonate). Is this bad technique, or is it acceptable? Sometimes, in certain situations, it seems really out of the way/difficult to actually mute the string with your left hand before you slap the mute.

Also, another annoying habit I happened to pick up is that when I go to pop strings, my wrist pivots and the side of my hand rests on the strings to almost support my hand for the pop. While this doesn't have any effect on the popped note, if I did have a note ringing previously, it would effectively mute it before the pop rings out. This happens more when I'm trying to slap faster, and my hand naturally rests on the bass strings to support itself. I dunno if I explained that well.. I assume this too is bad technique that I should aim to correct, but I find it really hard to pop in the air without resting the side of my hand, maybe I just need to stop bein such a woman =P

first off.... do not start learning Victor Wooten songs if you're not entirely comfortable with slapping... especially if its RHCP songs you're having trouble with... Victor Wooten's technique of double thumbing is quite advanced and took me 6 months to cop it down and even then being able to do it like Wooten is nuts... keep at learning Chili Peppers songs for slapping... otherwise artists you should dig are Primus, Michael Manring, He Is Legend sometimes, Stu Hamm, Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller and maybe some Rage Against The Machine

as for your technique... what you described is somewhat unclear to me... i just don't see how your hand should rest on the string after you pop..

one kinda slap you might wanna learn in the future is quick thumbing... i learnt how do to double, triple and quadruple even a while ago...basically its slapping with your thumb more than once quickly...usually followed by a pop after.

[o b s]

you can simulate the effect much more easily however with a pair of spoons

[ludwig109]

"one kinda slap you might wanna learn in the future is quick thumbing... i learnt how do to double, triple and quadruple even a while ago...basically its slapping with your thumb more than once quickly...usually followed by a pop after."

i just learned that recently messin round.. didnt know what it was called. got amazingly fast with just a day at it. prettymuch doublekcik with me thu,b anywho...

for the future anyway try
pow: graham central station
there was a thread in general about bass ebooks.. one had a book with loadsa slap patterns and mp3 files along with em, if youre going for speed and all that id say thatd be yer best bet, it starts with pretty simple stuff moves through to advanced stuff

[bubinga5]

Hi case logic. Why dont you try the book "Slap It" by Tony Oppenhiem. Its been around since the seventies and is still the definative guide.(apart from Ed Freidlands Ultimate Slap DVD)Tis very good and is how i learned to slap.:thumb:

[Richi]

First off, there is absolutely no such thing as 'bad' or 'wrong' technique. There's technique that works for you and technique that doesn't.

The hand resting on the string...sounds like something I used to do. It can actually be utilised to produce popped pinch harmonics. If you want to prevent it, slow right down so you're just playing a slap then a pop. Don't worry about notes for now. Build up the speed very slowly, I'm talking 2-4 BPM every 20 minutes or so. Just focus on keeping your pops and your slaps clean and even. If you keep a focus on this while practising, when it comes time to let it go and go slap-happy, you won't even be thinking about it:)

Basically, keep up what you're doing. Someone said slap some songs that don't have slap in them. This is a great idea as it will let you see that slapping and popping isn't limited to funk. It's just a way to hit the string.

Best of luck and keep us posted if we can be of more help. Have fun with it!

Edit : Forgot to mention about the left hand muting. I suggest learning how to do it so that you have yet another tool at your disposal. As said before, there's technique that works for you. If it really is more comfortable for you to mute with your slapping thumb, go right ahead and do it. It'll take no more thought than anything else you're doing. Come to think of it, I think I tend to mute with my slapping hand:p I'm not really sure though...haven't analysed my slapping in a while.

[PsychoTronn]

Primus got me alot better at slap/pop