I've slung my instruments around waist high for as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, I used to see guys with basses slung nearly around their knees, which I, of course had to try when I was first getting started. I concluded that was about mostly about looking cool(I guess it was cool at some point), because playing with the silly thing hanging that low is a real, uh, challenge, if you know what I mean.

Lately, I have noticed that slapping is hard with the bass at waist level. One of my friends, who is a pretty good slapper, says the guy who taught him actually cut his strap off short enough that he couldn't hang it any lower than just below the center of his chest. He said every white boy he ever taught came to him with their bass hanging too low to do really slap well.

How low do you guys sling yours?

I usually have all my basses at about gut level these days.

As far as slapping as well as any other kind of playing I think bass height depends on the technique used. For example. Mark King has his practically under his arm pit but he slaps with his arm about palallel with his strings and his thumb at a right angle pointing up across the strings. Flea wears his low and has his arm at about maybe 30 degrees from verticle with his thumb pointing downward. Marcus wears his about waist level with his thumb parallel with the strings. A lot of the guys I've seen that wear there basses around their knees seem to be pick players and in some ways it is easier to
power pick at that level.

About here:


I don't seem to have a problem slapping there. I used to have my bass higher but for me it resulted in a lot of shoulder and back discomfort.

Davo did a good thread about this, you jerkwad. IIRC most people ended up about like Chad. I prefer it just a wee bit higher.

That's "jerkWEED," jerkweed.

You're a .

and we're done.

robb.

Here I am:

A reasonable player (& aren't we all ? ) actually does something about like what the positiona would be if they were sitting...oddly what classical positioning is.

I really like seeing those supra-punkoid cats that have the strap set so long that they have to bend over to reach the strings.
"They funny!"

I got the "classical position" idea from Gary Willis and I really prefer it to the "normal" sitting position.

Unlike his transcribing in an earlier post, I can agree with Jeremy on this one.

That's really all it comes (heh-heh) "down" to...

Bass! How low can you go?
Death row--what a brother knows.
Once again back is the incredible
The rhyme animal
The incredible--D! Public enemy No. 1
Five-o said, "Freeze," and I got numb
Can I tell 'em that I really never had a gun?
But it's the wax that the Terminator X spun

How do you follow that post?

You just did.

right about there

Bass:


Guitar:


Added bonus--my bro, Dave, rocks the bass nice and low in this shot.

This is where I'm at:

Hey Erik, going ot for a moment, how is your wee mans birthday plans going? Can't believe its been a year we had a party yesterday for Keela even though she's not 1 until Thursday. Crazy how the time flies!!

Yo...
Xavier is gonna get a Dora cake, a full day of outside play and a pile of presents from the assembled family and friends. The kid is a frickin' celebrity--we started his parties on Sunday, and we'll have the last one this coming weekend.

He, of course, remains aloof and disinterested, as you can see here:




As you can see, he's already decided to affiliate himself with The Bloods. We're working on his Crip Walk right now, but I guess regular walking should come first.

To bring this quasi back on topic, he absolutely loves music and pointed at my bass this weekend, saying, "Dada! DADA," which, for those of you who do not understand Xavier-talk, means, "Father, I would find it most enjoyable if you would be so kind as to favor me with a musical selection, please."

Gut level, sometimes a wee bit higher.

Like this.

Here's a picture taken yesterday.
Looks like I'm higher than most of you guys, which makes sense since I live in Berkeley.

Thanks Joshua

At least one person remembers my public service. Here it is:

http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/2014319/1

Davo : )

Jeremy... I'm curious...


Is that the PRS fiver? How do you work the three (they are three, right?) pickups in there?

Yes, that's my PRS 5. There's actually a 4th pickup on the back which is a dummy coil.

The pickups are all single coil, but it is wired so that no matter what the combination of pickups is, it will always have two pickups working as a humbucker. Or at least that's what it's supposed to do.

The knob on the top left is actually a five position switch.
Pickup 1, Pickup 2, Pickup 2&3, Pickup 1&3, Pickup 3.

I use it with pickup 2&3 nearly all the time. The other positions have come in handy in the studio...this bass has a lot of sounds. It's got active controls (which can be turned off) that give bass and treble boost and cut.

I love this bass.

Now back to your regularly scheduled thread. Or else I can post pictures of me with every one of my basses and then answer questions about each one.

I smell an MTV Cribs episode at the Cohizzle residence.

right about there

Think I posted this before, but what the heck I'm thinking of lowering it somewhat, but this is a rather comfortable height for me.

Yep Jeremy, thats about where I wear mine these days.
That PRS looks kind of cool.