Do you slap?¿

[JDL]

Just check one, either you slap or you don't.

I'm defitnitly a slapper, that's how I groove, but I gotta get better.

 

You slap, or not?!

[DanYmaL X]

I tried slapping once... everybody stopped and looked around thinking I'd tripped and knocked over my amp!

But seriously... the bass player that my guitarist used to work with has agreed to give me some lessons... not just slap, either. Things are definitely looking good.

DX

[cornbread_medhotmail.com]

I can slap effectively, but, I choose not to. No real reason. I do throw it in every now and then when called for, but, I'll leave it the the professionals.

[Cuahtemoc]

I'd love to be able to, but I blow at it. Ah well, only been playing bass for 18 months, still got plenty of time to learn how.

[NickT]

Where was the option for "I can slap but most of the time it is the wrong thing to do"?

 

I can slap (it does need a little work I admit, but still) but most of the time it sounds like the wrong thing to play. Out of all the tunes that I play, with 3 different regular bands, I slap on a total of 4 tunes, and even then only on certain sections.

[abaguer]

Depends on the music. Some rhythms and grooves I can slap much better than play fingerstyle. I think one of the biggest problems with slappers is the tone. When it gets really trebly you get that whackity/whack sound happening. Most of the time I go for the old school slap with treble rolled off and the G string muted. It fits better into the mix and is more percussive. It doesn't jump out at you all the time. Of course if the music calls for a brighter top end then that's what you go for.

[BenLoy]

I didn't vote.

 

I slap. I also play fingerstyle.

 

These days, you should be able to do both...or at least be passable at slap technique enough to make it through "Brick House" or "To Be Real" in one piece.

 

If I were to choose a right hand technique to favor as a working bassist, I'd recommend fingerstyle...nobody will really take you seriously if you can't play with your fingers (unless you're only playing in punk and metal bands, that's a different story), and it's appropriate for almost anything.

 

If you never play with a pick, though, try it. You never know when someone will ask you to. Be versatile. It won't "kill your creativity."

[SteveC]

I didn't vote either. There needs to be an "I slap when it's called for" option. I am not the best slapper, but I am able enough to use it when called for.

[Brendan Orr]

I slap when called for. Still striving for perfection with Larry Graham and Victor Wooten as guides (rather, goals)

[JDL]

By the way, I don't use slap in every song. I'm not saying that's all I do, or will do.

Of course I can play fingerstyle.

And, Ben Loy, I use a pick very often.

 

I love to incorporate all the tones(pick, slap, fingerstyle) I can get out of anyway to strum my bass.

Yeah, I guess I am in the same boat as some of you. I'm not the best, or even very skilled at slapping, yet. But, for me, slap is fun. It makes the music more fun.

To me, I can groove and get into the music when I slap. I can feel the drummer, vice versa.

 

fine, dont vote

 

In every poll there is someone, or some people that says "where's the ______ option?"

OK, when you post, thats like adding your vote..............at least for me

[_Sweet Willie_]

Originally posted by NickT:

Where was the option for "I can slap but most of the time it is the wrong thing to do"?

 

Or, even more simply, the option: "I slap sometimes." Or "I slap rarely."

 

I can slap, but I am no slap-wonder. I enjoy it, but hardly ever do it.

[The Bear Jew]

I CAN slap, but I don't as a general rule. It basically has no place in the music I play.

 

I blame Flea and Les Claypool for all the retarded suburban white boys who took their thumbs out of their asses and started assaulting their basses with them. That was around 1990 or so. Suddenly, every band had a bassist who played entire sets going "buggita-blap-blugga-bip" all over the place and calling themselves "funky." News flash... just because you slap all the time doesn't make you funky. It makes you a jackass. The minute I hear the bassists in most bands we meet start slapping, I tend to tune out... unless, of course, the band is a funk band or the bassist is making it work for the song.

 

Unless it's coming from Stanley Clarke or Victor Wooten, I find slapping to be kind of annoying and trite these days. It seems to be more of a technical thing now, as opposed to a groovy one.

 

I miss slappers like Larry Graham and Bootsy, who put slap into songs only when the song called for it, not simply to massage their egos. Ultimately, it's the song that means the most. If the song calls for slap, play slap. If it calls for a pick, use a pick. Serve the fucking song, not yourself.

 

Once again, I say to the bassists of the world, "It's not about YOU, douchebag."

[Scoot]

Originally posted by CMDN:

I CAN slap, but I don't as a general rule. It basically has no place in the music I play.

 

I blame Flea and Les Claypool for all the retarded suburban white boys who took their thumbs out of their asses and started assaulting their basses with them. That was around 1990 or so. Suddenly, every fucking band had a bassist who played entire sets going "buggita-blap-blugga-bip" all over the place and calling themselves "funky." News flash... just because you slap all the time doesn't make you funky. It makes you a jackass. The minute I hear the bassists in most bands we meet start slapping, I tend to tune out... unless, of course, the band is a funk band or the bassist is making it work for the song.

 

Unless it's coming from Stanley Clarke or Victor Wooten, I find slapping to be kind of annoying and trite these days. It seems to be more of a technical thing now, as opposed to a groovy one.

 

I miss slappers like Larry Graham and Bootsy, who put slap into songs only when the song called for it, not simply to massage their egos. Ultimately, it's the song that means the most. If the song calls for slap, play slap. If it calls for a pick, use a pick. Serve the fucking song, not yourself.

 

Once again, I say to the bassists of the world, "It's not about YOU, douchebag."

word.

 

Flea and Dirk Lance (Incubus) both can slap their balls off, but eventually both of them started playing for THE SONG instead of just a "cool bass line". Is it a coincidence that their bands became respected for their songwriting abilities at about the same time??

 

But to answer the question, no, I never slap. Just not my thing.

[fig]

Very rare for me as the music I do doesn't call for it. There's maybe three or four songs I'll slap a little in. I'm not good at it, as I was just never driven to learn it by any of the music I've done over the years.

[davebrownbass]

Yep, I can slap. And I voted that way.

 

I was slapping before I ever heard of Flea and Les. In fact, the first time I attempted slap was in 1978...I remember 'cause I just got married.

 

I began developing my slap technique in 1981. I also showed it to Chuck Rainey in 1991 in a lesson. He told me "I wish my thumb was as fast as yours."

 

Now...as the others said, I use it very rarely. In fact, in the past 5 years, I can think of only 2 times I've slapped in performance.

 

One was on "Orange Blossom Special" with backing up an incredible harmonica soloist, Jerl Welch. (Yep, I slapped country music convincingly!)

 

The other was this past Christmas, one of our praise band tunes needed it, for the final chorus and out chorus.

 

Of course, I love to slap in the music stores!!!!

[jeremy c]

I join the many other posters who want a category:

 

"I slap when it is appropriate"

 

I can play with fingers, thumb, slapping, and a pick. Even my elbow if I really want to.

 

Then I use what is appropriate for the situation.

[A.P. Non-Prod.]

I'm always playing with dead strings and slapping doesn't sound to good with muddy tone. I usually use a pick but enjoy using my fingers when I'm covering a song by someone who uses their fingers. I've tried to play a few flea and claypool riffs here and there. I don't really have the popping part down. I'm going to get new strings today though for our gig coming on saturday. Yay!

[DWBass]

Dammit, I will slap you silly!! I slap my kids and the dog!! Oh....do I slap on my bass?? Yeah, I do!

[...]

Originally posted by CMDN:

[QB]I CAN slap, but I don't as a general rule. It basically has no place in the music I play.

 

I blame Flea and Les Claypool for all the retarded suburban white boys who took their thumbs out of their asses and started assaulting their basses with them. That was around 1990 or so. Suddenly, every band had a bassist who played entire sets going "buggita-blap-blugga-bip" all over the place and calling themselves "funky." News flash... just because you slap all the time doesn't make you funky. It makes you a jackass.[QB]

Dig. One should have the basics of slap technique in their Bag O' Tricks, as my esteemed collegue BenLoy pointed out, because eventually someone will ask you to do it. I can slap, I can get through 'Brick House' or 'Higher Ground'. I very, very rarely use slap technique in anything I play... and I definately don't need to slap to "groove".

[patrick_dont_fret]

Yeah, I think I want that other category...I can slap, but I hardly ever pop. In that way, I slap the higher strings, too. Just sounds cool, and it's not as loud. I do look to Wooten and all them, though, for their mastery which I will not achieve.

[Tom Capasso]

I couldn't slap if my life depended on it. I somehow manage to smack my thumb against the strings and get through "Brick House", but it isn't pretty.

 

On my Gibson I could strike in such a way that it almost sounded like slapping. It doesn't come out quite the same on my Kinal...

 

Tom

[Bartolini]

I got my Music Man SingRay 4, why? To Slap.

I'm a slapholic and I'm damn good at it.

[Max Valentino]

Yes, I slap. I use slapping as a technique,not a "style", both in ensemble playing and solo shows, to achieve certain timbres and textures.(one thig I do in my solo shows is use muted thumb slaps, nail rakes and muted pops to play drum parts on the bass, often times incorpoarating harmonics into the drum patterns, which are loped and used as rhythm beds for live solo improvisations).

 

No, I don't do it all the time. I don't use slapping to be "funky" (face it the funk doesn't come from there!) And if it is not appropropriate for the tune, I do not use it. I can slap quite well, so I am told. I can "double thumb", and I sometimes combine percusssive slaps and mutes with modified flamenco techniques. I even slap on an ABG. I play fingerstyle, also. I play with my thumb and three fingers in a psuedo-flamenco technique. I use a modified classical guitar "rasguedo" technique, also. I tap sometimes too!

 

But one thing I have never been able to get the hang of is playing with a pick. For that sound I do have one trick: I hold my index finger and thumb as if I am holding a pick using both fingernails to achieve that "picky" kind of attack (index finger nail on the downstrokes, thumbnail on the upstrokes). It works, and it allows me to switch from fingerstyle to slap, to tap, to faux-flamenco, to pick with ease.

 

I suppose the point to all of this is that slapping, like fingerstyle, pickstyle etc, is a technique, and like all techniques CAN be overdone to a point where it is non-musical, inappropriate, and pointless. Technique of any kind is a method to achieve and end; not the end itself.

 

Max

[earljam]

only time i will slap is in a bluegrass jam with an upright- and only then if there is some sissy fiddler that i want to piss off.

[Graham56]

Only my forehead when I b**lls it up completely.

 

Again.

[alexclaber]

I love to slap (and after years of trying have got pretty good at it) but probably slap less than 20% of the time when playing in other people's bands. And although I can do the slap funk thang well, I always feel funkier when I'm greasing it up fingerstyle.

 

Now that I've learnt how to use a pick I'm integrating that into my tonal palette, great fun for Tom Morello-esque fx weirdouts and Bobby Vega-style funk grooves.

 

Alex

[Brendan Orr]

Sorry for going off-topic, but during what years did he play for TOP?

[Cup]

I never slap. I learnt to slap for one song that my last band covered (we had so little material of our own, I was so crap, covers were the only way we could ever hope to improve) Correct me if I'm wrong, but the middle 8 of R.E.M's Orange crush has a little slap in it. Well it did/does to my ignorant ear at that time.

 

Of course, I muck around with a lil slap whilst we're goofing in rehearsal, but I can't see my style of music ever requiring full on slap in any song.

 

CupMcMali...this monkey's gone to heaven