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slapping, different style


soupster

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Hey,

I am bewildered by this style of slapping. I can slap flea style, really well, but last night I saw a kid solo, in a very fast thumb slap, and I am totally lost as to how he got the sound and rythm out of his thumb. Or did he use plucking too, I dont know. But going back to my cd's I picked out this style in alot of Victor's stuff. I really want to understand this. Help me out?

 

love soupster

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You might be reffering to thumb plucking in the sense of slapping up and down as if plucking the strings with the hard part of you thumb. I find it extremely difficult and stick to standard T-P, however the people I see doing this modified method have incredible speed and a tone unlike anyother technique. Victor Wooten, as you mentioned, does this a tone and is a pioneer of this style.

 

-Germain

.~.
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Originally posted by Radiohead:

im having a hard time getting my notes to sound percussive, i mute the string and slap at the same time and it just sounds real shitty... :cry:

Try adjusting your EQ. Boost your bass and treble, and cut your mids. Also if you use a compressor use a higher ratio or attack.

"Start listening to music!".

-Jeremy C

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Why would you mute and slap at the same time?

 

How long have you been trying to learn this style?

 

After seeing Larry Graham in the mid 70s, I practiced slapping for a year before I tried it in public.

 

There are many other slappers beside Flea, he got his style from a lot of other people, Larry Graham, Louis Johnson and Bootsy included.

 

Marcus Miller is the reigning king of slap as far as I am concerned.

 

Other people to check out include Mark King.

 

There are videos by several people and books by a bunch. The best book is called Slap It! by Tony Oppenheim, but you have to be able to read music to use it.

 

Time to practice.

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Originally posted by jeremyc:

 

There are videos by several people and books by a bunch. The best book is called Slap It! by Tony Oppenheim, but you have to be able to read music to use it.

 

Time to practice.

Sorry for going JC quote crazy, but that is THE BOOK : my one actually bass instructor (Peter Gallagher if memory serves; he played with the Hartford Symphony, went on strike, moved to Florida, end of lessons, strike ended, moved back). If you can find it, and use it, you are sure to be funkier than before!

"Start listening to music!".

-Jeremy C

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"Slap It" is a great resource. Alexis Sklarevski's "The Slap Bass Program" is an awesome video as well. I picked up a lot from his column when he used to write for Guitar Player.

http://www.videoprogressions.com/bin/a1-cvr.gif

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You should mute after you play the note, not while you are playing the note. The percussiveness if from hitting the string, you want the string to sound.

 

Unless you are talking about the clicks and bangs (non-pitched notes between the pitched notes). Then you do want to mute while slapping. The right hand never changes what it is doing, only the left hand.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Im not an expert on slapping, or anything that much. When i slap the bass, i tend to slap twice really fast then hammer on a note and pull-off REAL fast, it makes it sound like im playing really fast. Does doing this make me "newbish" or should i just say this is "my style". also, do any pro's do this. Just wasn't sure if this is a standard style of playing the bass or if its what most newbie slappers do

How much wiooid can a wood chuck chuck if a wood chuck could chuck wood?

...

what kind of wood is it?

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I am by no means an expert slapper. However, I do play a great deal with my thumb. I have gotten most of what I do from Wooten. I use both a down and up stroke of my thumb. It allows me to play quickly without great effort and I find it easier to keep time that way. I don't, however, always make it sound like a slap. Using a different attack can make it sound identical to someone playing with fingers or even a pick. I also have learned (from Wooten) to add a pluck after a down and up making it a triplet. This is not necessarily that useful for the average bass player in the average band. I see it as a another tool in my arsenal/vocabulary at my disposal. If you are interested in the technique check out the Bass Day '98 DVD featuring Wooten. He takes the time to explain it very well.

Let your speech be better than silence, or be silent.

 

For those who believe, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not, none will suffice.

 

"Rindase!"

"Rendirme? Que se rinda su abuela, *#@!^$"

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Fleas's style is quite simple. Its repetition of down stroke(thumb and / or palm mute) and up stroke with a pop. Continuous down up , down up, down up and down up, ables you to combine thumb, pop and mutes many ways you want. As for thumb up stroke, not only it helps you to get a double thumbing (down & up stroke),but also to get the fingers flow without a hic up to the motion of the direction of strokes. :idea: Thats like making your right hand 4 fingers in to a little 'machine'. It helps hell of a lot in soloing. Vic's Bass day performance is something you should check out, and also check out Vail Johnson Solos with Kenny G and he uses thumb up a lot as a mute /rest on the upper part of the fretboard , Abe Laboriel does it like accentuated thumb pops at upward motion..
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and having said that, I also saw this guy soloing with a unique technique and couldn't figure out how he got those sounds. What he did was pivoting the right hand on the wrist and hitting the thumb on the 3rd and 4th strings and the next stroke with index, midle and 3rd finger-together on the 2nd and 1st strings.(no pops) It was like

Da da da da da da da da & It went on repetatively like a machine and the sounds he got were amazing. After the gig (at the pub) I politely asked him what he did and he was like, 'oh just the thumb and index and vanished. :evil:

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