wishface

I think I agree (with Jeff Berlin) that being a slave to a metronome is both missing the point and setting oneself up to fail. However if you don't use a metronome, how do you develop speed, dexterity and precision in doing so?

[quote name='El Bajo' timestamp='1341932288' post='1726421'] Try Ed Friedlands slap DVD. really good for getting the fundamentals as well as a few fancy bits. I went through a phase like you. I just wanted to be able to pull out some nice riffs that sounded like I wasn't throwing my bass down the stairs. I'm in a metal band now so I don't really get to do the technique apart from slapping for the tone (I was accused of trying to sound like Level 42 by the guitarist, Mark King denied!?!), but I have a lickle noodle when I get the fancy. [/quote]THis is a great dvd. Presentation is just right and it does cover pretty much all the basics. If only theft from libraries was morally correct and legal. That was a joke. Don't slap me down!

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1342010600' post='1727944'] It certainly won't be a loud sound - and can vary from a click to a thump depending on how light (or otherwise!) your touch is. You don't want your action too low either... v=lJutye9b7C4&feature=fvwrel&NR=1[/url] [/quote]Thanks for this. I came across this chap, today, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90aDMnRpGXE&feature=relmfu whom I had never heard of before. Even though he does the usual tapping stuff, the mix of slap and strum is more what I'm interested in, and some of these pieces are really listenable. But I have no idea how he's doing this if he isn't using alternate tunings.

I've just found that in my local library. Hurrah!

[quote name='Hector' timestamp='1341919789' post='1726109'] The pattern that he's playing at the end is: Index finger pop, middle finger pop, thumb, index finger pop, left hand slap, thumb, index finger pop, thumb, thumb. I find that getting both index and middle finger popping at speed takes a little work, but that's the pattern. [/quote] I thought it must be something like that, but I didn't see the left hand slap. I can't get any sound when I slap with my left hand. It's a move that doesn't feel right to me.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1341915249' post='1725961'] Sounds like you have a very particular and specific style in mind... which makes it much harder to give you advice! Listen to lots of slap players. Find the ones you like. Listen hard to what they are doing and if possible watch them live or on video. Try to do what they do. This method has always worked for me - but it does take time. [/quote]The style, if I have one (i'm not really sure), is, like all of us, a melding of influences. I'm hesitant to say i have astyle because what influences me is never something i listen to enough to really develop as I have attention problems. So I listen to The Word by Hellborg and I found it really interesting, but I don't learn any of it and probably never will, and that's the same with pretty much anyone that isn't a more conventional player. When it comes to playing I don't have a band and am more inclined to noodle along with geezer butler or geddy lee than try and copy Hellborg (he's far too good), but I really like the way he uses the bass as its own instrument with chords. Same with Claypool, in his own weird way (even though most everything he's done sounds the same because he's never found instrument players to complement what he's doing as its so busy). So I'm interested in slap and the tricks involved, but to a point. Being able to use it to express my ideas and articulate myself is more relevant.

I have a basic grasp of slap. Again self taught, but slap is a difficult thing to advance self taught (ime, obviously not for the likes of flea or les claypool). I end up playing the same boxy patterns as a result. What I'm specifically looking for are the tricks that people use to do the fast stuff (but not doublethumping, that's just not possible on my bass and frankly I am not interested in it). Plenty of players don't use (I think): Flea doesn't (though he's a bit sloppy at time, and i'm not a huge chili pepper fan), I don't think JOnas Hellborg or Claypool do - and they are more where I'm coming from. My style is almost more like flamenco with strumming involved and so I want to explore that with the fast stuff - rather than just be another Marcus Miller clone. Thanks. For instance this: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4ycLnSKOL4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4ycLnSKOL4[/url] What is he actually doing? Some muted popping, but I can't see the trick to the full triplet. It's not left hand slap (which I just cannot make work at all).

Hello, this is my first post here. I've been playing bass (though not professionally at all) for 20 odd years, but it's been a while since I studied properly. I have a reasonable self taught technique and I don't claim to be any kind of wizkid on the instrument As my first question, I'm probably going to be asking the worst question possible, but I'm prompted to ask about slap. I know how to slap, but not very well. I can do it in a basic slow kind of way, slap and pop. But i'm trying to figure out how people manage the quick runs. I'm guessing there must be some trick to it beyond merely having a loose wrist. I've seen a lot of clips of all kinds of people doing the fast stuff. It's not normally stuff I'd play, but I like it when interesting musicians use it like Les Claypool and Jonas Hellborg. But I have never been able to figure out how they get to be so quick. I know there's a double thump technique, but I'm going to rule that out, my bass ain't all that great and it's a technique I'm not interested in learning, besides there are plenty of fast slappers (!) out there that don't do this (I'm guessing). So if anyone knows a good overview and some exercises that can help develop this properly I'd be very grateful. I tend to find that I run out of ideas very quickly when I slap: it's a technique that seems to provoke a limited vocabulary in my playing - slap a low note, pop a high/octave note, then do a hammer on. It'd be nice to broaden that. PS: my favourite players include Geddy, Geezer Butler, Chris Squire, Jah Wobble, Bill Laswell, T-Lev, the late Mick Karn, Steve Harris, and the Ozric Tentacles always had good bassists, and probably others as well. I also like mucking around chordally. Thanks for reading.