Non-Slappers?

[Baird]

I just bought Ed Friedland's instructional video on Slap Bass, and found out that I had been doing it all wrong!

I slap wrong as well but it works for me!

 

[PocketGroove82]

-1 on wanker slapping
+1 on tasty slap groves

I'm amazed at how many people think the ray is primarily a "slapping bass".
I'm also amazed at how many people on this forum have gotten over the whole slapping thing, and play what good for the song.

 

[stretch80]

The things that make MM basses great for slapping are the same things that make them great for other techniques: big clean full-range sound with a lot of definition but no lack of bottom.

I play mostly fingerstyle, sometimes with a percussive attack that gets some of the slap effect. And a little slap here and there where it works (it's great for getting a key fill to pop out over the mix..

When I picked up my first MM SR5, I went WOW this thing sounds alive! The EQ is really musical and useful too. Boost the bass, cut mids and treble a bit, and it's very old school!

so...clearly we're not all "slappers". So much for the accepted wisdom!

 

[Baird]

The place I hear slap bass most is GC. It never ceases to amaze me how many customers/employees there can ONLY slap. I'll have some guy come up , pick up a bass, slap a cool line for 30 seconds and then talk ****e. Then when you ask them to PLAY the bass they look at you like " Dude, that's what I was doing!".

That's funny.

I guess bad bassists slap in music stores and guitarists play Back in Black and Stairway to Heaven.

 

[ptg]

I am quite surprised that few people on the forum slap. Could it be an age factor? I get the feeling that most of us are, well...let's say...old!

Like Stretch80 I tend to be a percussive player. I'm not a slapper at all.

As far as Mark saying, "The only thing I slap is the monkey."

 

[MickeyMouse]

Well I am no old codger and I prefer fingerstyle to anything else even though my generation of folks are heavy into the RHCP and think Flea is the best bass player on earth... I love the warm sound of fingerstyle and I love the snappy attack of pick style but I wouldn't be able play a bass with a pick to save my life

 

[saxnbass]

I love the warmth of finger style. I really like that Marcus Miller slap tone, it sound even better live. That man can slap with a groove.

 

[tkarter]

I also bet Marcus Miller spent more time working on that than typing on an internet forum.

Now I know why I ain't any good.


tk

 

[mike not fat]

The fact that Flea used to play on an SR, and can slap really fast, makes some people say EBMM are slap basses ; they probably never really tried one.

95 % of the time I pluck the strings with my fingers. I sometimes slap some simple lines in a song, but I don't want to f**k our tunes up, so I only use slap when i'm sure it will sound right and I'll be able to play it right. In the past I was able to play fast lines with a pick ; but I don't use it anymore, so I lost that ability.

MNF

 

[saxnbass]

HAHA. Probably. He does show up on his forum daily though and leaves some comments.

 

[UKFIN]

never slap . Just fnger style here

 

[Jim_F]

I am sure you will find the Stingray is an excellent all round instrument (which is why I got mine).

I don't slap / pop except in the privacy of my own home at the moment (might have phrased that better I guess ) - most of my bass playing in a live / rehearsal / band environment is finger style or plectrum, my 'Ray sounds great with both fingers and a pick.

But when I do get to funk it up it really shines on the slap bass stuff as well.

 

[Slim]

I only play bass for less than two years but I wanted to learn to slap and pop technique first because being a guitarist for last 40 years I could pretty much finger pick the strings pretty well so I practiced slap and pop everyday and I became pretty good slapper but I still have long way to go to be great slapper though. I play in variety band which covers from standard, jazz, oldies, disco, funk, heavy metal, cha cha, salsa, bosanova, etc. so I needed to learn every style of music on bass in one month.
I have SR5 H 1991 model with alnico pickup and SR5 HH 2006 model and both basses are excellent basses for slapping but on H bass I use pickup switch position 5 for slapping and position 1 and 3 for finger style. On HH I use position 3 for slapping and others for finger style and I turn up bass eq up a bit on both basses. SR5 is an excellent bass for any playing style and I play lots of old standard tunes on position 1 and cut all treble and mid all the way up and bass in neutral and it sounds perfect to my ear. On funk tunes I set to position 5 with treble up mid all the way up and bass a little bit up on H. On HH same set up on eq but position 3 on pickup switch.
I don't play much rock on bass because I play 6 string guitar on rock tunes.

 

[jamesattard]

I only slap when i do my solo when the band presents the bass player..i pluck with my fingers (floating fingers technique) over the pickup as well, however i want to try to install a thumb rest on the scratchplate to play more closer to the fretboard (to get a fatter sound)

 

[Rano Bass]

I slap and i'm proud of it!
Of course i do it less than 50% of the time cause i'm not Mark King, but that's one of the reasons that atracted me to MusicMan basses. When i saw a clinic in early 1997 with Dave LaRue and Steve Morse i was sold, he was playing a Sterling back then.

 

[StevieStingray]

allow me to preface this all by saying i pluck with my fingers the majority of the time, AND the stingray tone kicks a$$.

that said, when i throw in the odd slap or pop - HOLY !@#$ - it blows me away! [the sound, not neccessarily the playing]

not sure if it's been mentioned, but a pretty decent resource is:
FUNKYCHOPS "101 Funky Slap Bass Riffs, vol.1" - Bass Guitar Instruction Video Download & CD-ROM

it has 101 licks, played fast, med, slow. Not very "instructional", but at the slow speed, you can figure out what's happening quite easily and duplicate it

 

[Alz®]

The fact that Flea used to play on an SR, and can slap really fast, makes some people say EBMM are slap basses ; they probably never really tried one.

95 % of the time I pluck the strings with my fingers. I sometimes slap some simple lines in a song, but I don't want to f**k our tunes up, so I only use slap when i'm sure it will sound right and I'll be able to play it right. In the past I was able to play fast lines with a pick ; but I don't use it anymore, so I lost that ability.

MNF

I think you'll find that Flea plays more fingerstyle than any other style.

 

[1Echo]

I love the warm sound of fingerstyle and I love the snappy attack of pick style but I wouldn't be able play a bass with a pick to save my life

Glad I'm not the only one. I'm a complete train wreck with a pick. I'm a finger-style player all the way. Still, I believe in being well-rounded and always learning so I'm working on slap-pop, chord-comping, and other techniques at the moment. That being said, I find slapping on my Ray 10x easier than on my Bongo.

 

[PzoLover]

Bass Abuse

Someone recently said MM Basses are mainly basses for slap technique.
Though true, I'm a non-slapper. I play pretty much traditional technique on my StingRay 5H. Pluck finger style over the pickup.
Curious how many other MM players are non-slappers or don't slap less than say 50% of the time?

my original reply was in very bad taste but..."Somene's full o' baloney/PL

 

[PzoLover]

Bass Abuse

Someone recently said MM Basses are mainly basses for slap technique.
"someone's" full o' baloney/PL