era music Posted March 20, 2002 Share Posted March 20, 2002 hello Bass players!! Could someone help me what the best (or eassiest) technique is for slapping. I just dont seam to get the powerfull sound. Please let me know your advice!! Era Music Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenLoy Posted March 20, 2002 Share Posted March 20, 2002 Hand in a balled fist, thumb angled slightly skyward. The slapping motion should come from rotating your wrist to bounce your thumb off the string. Pop w/ your index finger. Don't move your fingers, try to let the motion come from your wrist and elbow. Finally, listen to Larry Graham, Louis Johnson, and Marcus Miller 'till your thumb is black and blue! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlembicKoa Posted March 20, 2002 Share Posted March 20, 2002 Originally posted by BenLoy: Finally, listen to Larry Graham, Louis Johnson, and Marcus Miller 'till your thumb is black and blue! When it heals...listen to Victor Wooten. Regards... Steve https://sites.google.com/site/sjs54music/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim T. Posted March 20, 2002 Share Posted March 20, 2002 I'm just starting to learn slap technique. I could use some EQ tips or maybe more specifically, bass knob settings to get a good slap sound. Do I scoop mids? Add them? Heavy on the treble? What's generally a good starting point for the Marcus/Caron tone? I have Alex S.'s "Slap Bass Program" video which is incredibly good for technique but the tone thing... Thanks, Jim T. "When people hear good music, it makes them homesick for something they never had, and never will have." Edgar Watson Howe "Don't play what's there. Play what's not there" Miles Davis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BenLoy Posted March 20, 2002 Share Posted March 20, 2002 If yer into the Marcus thing, get yourself a Jazz bass with an ash body and a maple fingerboard. Put both pickups on full and add some bass. It'll sound even more authentic if you install some kind of active preamp that'll boost the bass from the instrument. I've never had much use for the scooped mid eq. All it seems to do for me is bury me in the mix. I play a Stingray, so I just boost the treble slightly and leave the midrange and bass controls in the same position I use for fingerstyle (Mids and Bass boosted, bass higher than mids). By itself the mids make it sound a little nasal, but in a band setting the sound rounds off nicely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlembicKoa Posted March 20, 2002 Share Posted March 20, 2002 Originally posted by Jim T.: What's generally a good starting point for the Marcus/Caron tone? Jim...find your own tone. Experiment a bit and work on something that belongs to you rather than being yet another person trying to sound like another person. Start flat and go from there. The school of thought is to dip the mids. Here is what I do...just play. I slap at whatever settings I am using at that particular time because, you know what? Nobody really gives a damn if you sound like someone they don't know. They just want to hear good music. Regards... Steve https://sites.google.com/site/sjs54music/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcr Posted March 21, 2002 Share Posted March 21, 2002 "Nobody really gives a damn if you sound like someone they don't know. They just want to hear good music." I hate to admit it, but I think that's true. I hate to admit it because as a bassist I think about my tone a lot, but when I'm listening to a band play live, I have just two bass tone categories--"Like" and "Don't like"--and don't really scrutinize it that much. (Tone on recordings is another thing altogether, though!) Play so that it pleases you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
music-man Posted March 21, 2002 Share Posted March 21, 2002 Originally posted by era music: Could someone help me what the best (or eassiest) technique is for slapping. I just dont seam to get the powerfull sound. As I've confessed to the masses before, I pretty well suck at slapping. But this doesn't stop me from doing it - in different gigs, I HAVE to, cause I inherited parts from clinkety clank slapper-wannabes and now everyone's used to the parts etc... As to "the powerful sound" - purists will likely insist that it all comes from your fingers and the wood and the strings and the yadayadayda, but since I pretty much stink at slapping, I find that some compression (nothin fancy in my rack, unfortunately) helps in evening out the ring of the notes with the initial "kerthwang" of the attack. This helps quite a bit for me in bringing out bass notes - it allows me to turn up without puncturing the guitar player's eyeballs every time I pop. (I like my guitar player). Also, I find that smacking harder with my thumb gives me no more sound. It only hurts more. I find that getting good slap sound with bottom end is actually more about speed and technique than power - the more you can get out of the string's way after you hit it, the more it can ring, and therefore the more sound you'll get. If you thwack the string hard with your thumb, but you're sloppy after the impact, you'll likely end up damping the string from ringing out ... and you won't get nearly as much sound. Now that I read back over this, I realize it sounds pretty moronic, but it's what works for me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonJan Posted March 21, 2002 Share Posted March 21, 2002 Agree on most everything here.. just make sure you are not popping peoples ears with a really hard trebly pop. I cant stand listening to that. Only one other thing to add to the technique thing.. try and get your thumb to hit right around the last fret on your neck, so about half an inch from where your neck ends.. Oh yeah.. video (best instructional video for slap ever) Alexis Sclarevsky.. he goes through everything step by step, and makes it pretty easy. Good Luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davebrownbass Posted March 21, 2002 Share Posted March 21, 2002 Couple of more hints, My pinky stays kinda in contact with the body of the bass below the G string, just barely touches it. As I rotate my forearm, my pinky helps keep me located in space. I treat my thumb as a whip, and I aim not directly at the string, but to the fingerboard directly below the string I'm slapping. I kinda strike the string a glancing blow. Thumb as a whip...you know how you crack a whip, throw it down and then jerk it back up before the wave reaches the tip...that's how I treat my thumb. "Let's raise the level of this conversation" -- Jeremy Cohen, in the Picasso Thread. Still spendin' that political capital far faster than I can earn it...stretched way out on a limb here and looking for a better interest rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9 Posted March 21, 2002 Share Posted March 21, 2002 Please consider these points and suggestions... I slap a lot ... huh, maybe TOO MUCH! I don't think it's your bass, your amp, your knobs position(s) etc... Buying a j-bass, or any other kind of bass won't help you sound better at slap! etc... Would buying a Gibson ripper help your picking technique? (If you swung that way??? LOL) You bought the bass you have for a reason, now make it work! Example, all my friends disliked my Yamaha Attitude 4 string when it was in the local store, for its pick up placement, and its relationship to difficulty slapping the bass... (I can slap the **** out of the thing, because I wanted to!) The sound is in your fingers, and we all have different fingers... I have a habit of NEVER taking any of my pre amp settings away from flat position... And I prefer the knobs on my basses cranked so I know where they are and I can always find it in a hurry... Point ... if you don't like your tone ... touch it differently, until you find "That SPOT"!!! Gregory Bruce Campbell http://www.mp3.com/freakwincing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
era music Posted March 21, 2002 Author Share Posted March 21, 2002 Thanks everybody... So it comes down to this... Get yourself a blue hand...dont loose your thumb and I should learned it.... hehehe Oke I can do that!!! Seriously Thanks for the answer.. And... I realy wont try to be as good as Marcus Miller.. This man has such i briliant sound but moreover an extraordinary great timing...its briliant... Greetings ERA MUSIC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim T. Posted March 22, 2002 Share Posted March 22, 2002 Thanks Steve-rule of thumb/thought is basically what I was looking for. I just KNEW someone would tell me to get a blonde jazz bass! I don't wanna sound like anyone else but me but it pays to know what kinda sound to aim for eh? Off to twiddling some more knobs.... Jim t. "When people hear good music, it makes them homesick for something they never had, and never will have." Edgar Watson Howe "Don't play what's there. Play what's not there" Miles Davis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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