slaping!!!

[muffin123im a he]

(if all of this is cut off im ghona be so pissed off im sorry bout the spellin to)Not bein the best bass player in the world.But i can slap realitivly well so i decided to pass wot i no on about it!! other people can say wot thay no this way we all learn!
play slap with your thumb try and hit down the side. Near the nuckle and slap from the wrist keep it loose to!!!
so start by playin somin easy say on the top string somin like!
G--------------------------
D--------------------------
A--------------------------
E------1---2--3--4-------

then try somin a bit harder soon as u get that! like.
G-----------4----------
D--------3-----3--------
A-----2-----------2-----
E--1-----------------1--
soon as your get this try it faster and faster and just look up some stup like the chillis or the biggining of clasic thump by Victore Wooten(this guy is next 2 god in my eyes)
Octaves
now octaves are comenly used in slap and in playing in genrall!!An octave is the same letter in the neck!!like
G---------5-------------
D------------------------
A----3------------------
E------------------------
These are both c and u can slap 3 and pop the 5(if u dont no the letters of the neck ill cover it in another thread just say!!)thers millions of posibillities just slap stuph u no!!and you sould get faster just by doing these things ill put more in some time but every one else help out !!(oh and if some one can start a theory thread that would be graet cos its cool and i need 2 learn more)

[De-la]

Very good slap exercise...
p s p s p s
G................./ .................../ ................../
D................./ (r) ...........5....../ (r) ............5..../ (r)
A...........5..../ .................../ ...3............./
E.....3........../ ....3............./ ................./

p s
............5....
...3.............
..................

[funkyassbassplayer]

i like to slap , so i have a few little exercises, im sory if they are a little difficult but i doubt they are.

E-----0-------0---------0------------------------------------
A------------------------------------4-2--------------------- x4
D--2----2-2-2----2-2-2-----------4-2-------------------------
G--------------------------2-4-2-----------------------------
p t p p p t p p p t p p p


E------------------------------------------------------------
A----0--------0--------0------------------------------------- x2 then repeat above
D------------------------------------------------------------
G--2---2-2-2-----2-2-2----2-2/5-7-5-2-4-2--------------------
p t p p p t p p p t p p p p p p p p

im sory bout the fact its upside down and all,lol i did it when i was drunk.

also try

G------------9-------0h7h9----------------------------
D---------------------------------------------------------
A---------------------------------------------------------
E-------7-7----0-7--------------------------------------

jsut do them as fast as poss guys and see were ya get.
also what ya think of that top tab?
i was gunn use it in a song but im not shure, play it erm, i cant think of how fast, kinda fast but not flea fast, adn yeh say what ya see.

[retrokris]

get some chilis tab books thats what started my slapping off. also get to know your drum patterns cos that is basicaly what slapping emulates. Treat your your slap like a bass drum and ur pop like a snare and just find cool rythms in your head. thats all i do

[funkyassbassplayer]

man thats a sweet idea!

hmm, i jsut thaught if ya try slapping on a off beat to like a punk kind of drum riff that may kick ass, i shall have to reoprt back to ya on this one!

[retrokris]

Good idea my friend, ive just given it a go. Its a bit tricky at first but i kinda got it. The tougher beats are ones that start with the snare (or the pop)

[max]

i suck at slapping, an iv been through google at least 20 times looking for information, an i do everything everyone says, an iv studied the thumb motion, an i can do it, cept for one thing, IT DOESNT SOUND LIKE SLAP AHHH! it sounds exactly like im plucking the sting, can anone tell me what im doing wrong?

thanks

[De-la]

Hey Max,
I suggest you have a few lessons! if you are local there are many teachers about! I would be happy to give you a one off slap lesson to get you on your way

De-la

[HowardK]

The lower your action and the newer your strings the easier it wil be to play slap.

The key is getting the angle of your thumb right. You want it at the same angle as the strings, NOT pointing downward accross the strings. Flea might get away with it, but he's got shit technique, so dont copy him.

Always practice (slap) with a metronome.

Learn lines by ear instead of using crappy internet tabs.

[Skidlee Bootsy is Funk God]

ah, someone else who agrees on Flea's technique, my mate a Jazz god guru down here thinks Flea's limited. I think he's amazing and if i could slap as good as him i'd follow his technique. I don't hear many other bassists ie Guru's whoare as fast as Flea. i like Flea's rawness...but yeah he's not in the league of Clarke, Miller, Wooten etc...And i'm sure he'd agree.

[De-la]

I don’t think u should rip his teq! I agree there are less stressful ways of playing slap but flea has a sound he wants to acive and the attack he uses achieves that!

Bus yeah i do agree to any1 learning to use the Mark King/Marcus Miller/Victor Wooten style of playing!!!

Peace n luv

[WeeMann]

I've always believed that it's the results that count, not the technique (that's just a tool for obtaining the end result).

I'm a big fan of Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, some of his playing is awesome, but if you watch his technique up close you'd be crying - the first thing I was taught when playing fingerstyle is anchor your thumb down, so you're pulling against something - Harry's hand just floats in the air, but it's never hampered his playing.

[HowardK]

WeeMann said:

I've always believed that it's the results that count, not the technique (that's just a tool for obtaining the end result).

I agree entirely which why I'm not convinced by Flea's technique. The result is great on record, but live it's a pile of sloppy shit. Dont get me wrong, I've been a fan of RHCPs for over 17 years, but last time I saw them live (Hyde Park this summer), I found myself thinking I might be able to play flee's bass parts better! They were vastly shown up by James Brown's (absolutely impeccable) band.

Also, there is a reason that all the top players use very simelarly, very precise techniques... because it works.

I learn to slap by copying Flea in about 1991, only in the last 4 years a have I realised how using his 'thumb down' technique was making it much harder to play slap bass. It is less precise and has a less rich or variable tone.

Anchored thumb... I tend to anchor my thumb also, but if you watch a bassist playing a 5 or 6 string bass, they use floating thumb - they rest their thumb on the strings that arent being played in from of the plucking fingers to damp the strings, both are very useful techniques.

[Max]

Ok, im still having the same problem as before, but i think iv narrowed it down a bit, only on the E string, mainly the open E string is where im having trouble getting that slap sound. Iv skrewed w/ my action an tried a lot of other stuff, but i cant seem to get the sound

[TheBassPlayer]

hit the string where the neck joins the body, as in just past the last fret!! New strings tend to sound good, or strings that have just been worn in!!