Hmm, raising the volume did seem to sort it out, a bit of practise and I'll be away. Two last questions: why does the slap sound so much lower than it does on videos (like in the Warwick survival one), yet playing normally sounds higher than in songs? Also, in popping, how far should you pull away from the fretboard, and do you just basically straighten your finger to let it go?

Not sure what you mean by the first question - surely as ever that just depends on which note you fret?

And as for popping, I don't change how straight my finger is at all, I just only hook the string with the tip of my finger so that when I pull away it just slips off.

Glad to be of help.

What I meant was, if I slap open E, it sounds low, but then if I watch a video of someone slapping the same string, it sounds higher.

Edit: To try and explain, here's a little wav file: [url]www.psyvision.co.uk/slapping.wav[/url] (it plays twice as fast as it should in winamp, for some reason). It's all on E, and you can hear the clicking sound in the strings.

maybe its the tone, it can make a big difference on my bass when im slapping with an amp...

How did you record that? if it was putting a mike up to the amp, I'd expect a lot of clicking, but not that much if you're running a lead direct from the amp to the pc.

It sounds like you may be slapping too hard, or have the action too low - try slapping the back of your left hand (assuming you're right handed) if it hurts at all you're doing it too hard.

It was through a mike, but the only background noise was some hissing, so any clicks must've been me.

Yes, but if you're using a mike it can pick up the acoustic clanging of the strings, which the pickups do not pick up on.

I had a hell of a time getting it to pick up on the sound of the bass, I had to turn the amp up to full and dangle the mic in front of it. I don't think it would be able to pick up on the acoustic bits.

You might be surprised - I remember recording an mp3 for someone and realising I'd also recorded on of the 'Yeah, I know' sketches from Little Britain.

What I do to record is plug a cable from the heaphones jack on the amp to the line-in jack on the soundcard of my pc. There's no mike, so there's no background noise. (but a more complete guide to home recording can be found in the Bass Forum Archive)

Hmm, I think I've got it now, though Higher Ground sounds much lower than it does on the CD. Thanks for the help.

Glad to help.

okay, well i've been learning how to slap and pop but sometimes when i slap on the higher strings, my thumb hits the string that is lower, is this something that will improve with practice or am i not doing it right?

It's simply a practice thing. Keep at it, keep practicing on slapping the higher strings.

Track down 'Golden Boy' by Primus, that's a handy one for that.

Your accuracy will improve over time.

I know im gonna sound REALLY dumb here but wat the hell r the octaves, and mute exercises? i dunno wat everyones talkin about. someone please help me

You know how the musical scale runs ABCDEFG? Well after the G comes another A, and the whole thing repeats.

[size=4][b]A[/b][/size]bcdefg[size=4][b]A[/b][/size]bcdefg

The two As here are octaves to each other.

To play an octave, you want to move up 12 frets (semitones). Another way to do it is to move up two frets and two strings. Try it (for example the 2nd fret on the E string and the 4th on the D string) and you'll see they fit together very well, as they are the same note in different octaves.

Now try slapping the 2nd on E and popping the 4th on D, and presto! You're slapping and popping octaves!

Technically that was a theory question, rather than a slapping one, but never mind.

As for the mute exercises, let me first ask: Do you know what a ghost note is?

Sweet, finaally a good topic to talk about, but i have one more thing to add. most bassists do an octave slap (like u were just talking about), but many dont do a kind of riff like such... (btw, its in G)

---------------------------------------------
---------5--------5--------5-------5-------- (Pop)
----------------------3h5------------------- (Pop)
---3-3-------3-3-------------3-3----------- (Slap)

Most bassists just do a simple octave, try this (this i believe is in G major blues scale, not sure tho). If you add more poping to something, u can be heard better and u sound really cool ;-).

Ok, ill shut up now...

oh,, just wondering WINTERMUTE but is that an albino stingray in ur pic?

Actually it's a shot of my Stingray replica, but with the colours reversed in Jasc Paintshop Pro 7. I wish they were made like that though...

Yea, that looks REALLY cool, especially the black strings and white pickup. Im gonna submit that idea to Musicman... heh...

I have a 5 string. I can slap a little bit but the b-string is pissing me off. i got a private slap lesson once and they said to use palm mute which i know I use my right hand palm (outer edge of palm) to mute...but one thing I dont know how to do.

the whole time while slapping and popping and whatnot your doing flicking movements with the wrist which brings the palm off the strings right...so how does that work?

Imagine the right side of your palm is a hinge. It's perfectly possible to do, though a little tricky to explain. Thing is, your thumb and forefinger are on the left hand side of your right hand (as you look at it palm down) so they can still move up and down when the right side of your palm stays in contact with the strings.

Imagining the right hand side as a hinge is about the best I can put it.

Did he not demonstrate what he was telling you to do in the lesson? If not, why not?

Either use the palm mute or just practice your slapping - as accuracy improves you'll find it becomes less of a problem.

No i dont but can ya tell me? thanx for the help so far, its great, keep it coming

[QUOTE=Wintermute]You know how the musical scale runs ABCDEFG? Well after the G comes another A, and the whole thing repeats.

[size=4][b]A[/b][/size]bcdefg[size=4][b]A[/b][/size]bcdefg

The two As here are octaves to each other.

To play an octave, you want to move up 12 frets (semitones). Another way to do it is to move up two frets and two strings. Try it (for example the 2nd fret on the E string and the 4th on the D string) and you'll see they fit together very well, as they are the same note in different octaves.

Now try slapping the 2nd on E and popping the 4th on D, and presto! You're slapping and popping octaves!

Technically that was a theory question, rather than a slapping one, but never mind.

As for the mute exercises, let me first ask: Do you know what a ghost note is?[/QUOTE]



Thanx for your help, its great, no i dont know a ghost note, keep it coming

how do you do harmonics on different frets? i can only do it on the 7th

You play other harmonics exactly the same as you would the seventh. They're all over the place, but the easiest to get are the 7th, 5th and 12th. (The 12th should be the same pitch as the note you'd get if you fretted the 12th on that string).

That is nothing at all to do with slapping though - I really should be a little less helpful when people go off topic!

Right then, ghost notes. Rest your finger on a string as if you were going to play a harmonic, but then put other fingers on the string as well in the same way. Slap that string. You should get a *thud* kind of sound of no discernable tone. This is a ghost note, and they are more useful than they sound.

A mute exercise is basically a good way to practise them, like

G-------x------
D-----x---x----
A---x-------x--
G-x-----------x

where an 'x' is a ghost note. Slap that kind of thing, and you should get better at ghost notes (which are the same as mute notes)

For more examples and how to use them visit Bass_Guy33's thread 'Slap Rudiments'
[url]http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=128136[/url]

Hey thanks sooo much for the help, its great. just one more thing, i know im being a pain its just could you tell me wat a triplet is, thanx im learnin anesthesia by metallica and it said somefink about triplets.

Three notes played in one beat. (In rapid succession) With fingerstyle, this would normally be done with three fingers, one to each note.

(Once again, sod all to do with slap, but never mind!)

Im a real noob and I was just wondering if better quality pick-ups would make my slaps sound better

Put simply, yes. Better quality pickups give better quality sound.

hey ur really helpin me out here and i know im a pain its just what do u do if someone asks u to improvise, is it just scales mixed together? i know its sod all to do with slappin but i really appreciate ur help.