Bleat Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 I found the biggest issues with the Super Fast Slap Bass lesson are : 1. Only one of the words in the title are relevant to myself i.e. "Bass", all the others including "super", "fast" and most certainly "slap" do not apply to me. 2. I got to about 49 seconds and the guy mentions the 6th fret?! WHAT!? what the hell is a 6th fret doing there.... anything past 5 and it's just not bass anymore! Just cos these instruments have "6th frets" and above does NOT mean we should be playing them ! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellzero Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 @Leonard Smalls said it well, there are very good slap players that use the technique as part of their vocabulary, like Jonas Hellborg every time he's slapping or Marcus Miller, but they don't over abuse the "effects" of the technique. And this where the hatred lies : over abuse of over heard phrases. That said, there is a terrific Louis Johnson slap bass part here, nobody would disagree : Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 1 minute ago, tauzero said: Her music stand is just out of shot. It's OK, there's an iPad on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leftybassman392 Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 (edited) 9 minutes ago, EBS_freak said: Don't need no heft for the sound of a staple gun. What amp is it that Mark King is using again...? What, the Office World MK signature 'Shredder' you mean? Edited January 23, 2019 by leftybassman392 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 As great as those players in the clip are a few Asian men saying "wawwwyrrwwr" every couple of minutes will not pay their mortgage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 5 minutes ago, leftybassman392 said: What, the Office World MK signature shredder you mean? The very one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 I can't play slap. I'd like to be able to but have never managed to get my fingers to co-operate, and can't see a real use for it in any band situation I'm ever likely to be in. I'm not averse to others using it and it's not mandatory for me to watch any Youtube videos with it on. If thine Youtube offends thee, turn it off. However, if someone intends to demonstrate the capabilities of a bass and does nothing but slap on it, that's not a good demonstration. I thought that slap interplay between the two street bassists was rather good. Couldn't have coped with two 45 minute sets of it though. And a while ago, in a prog rock covers band that never fled the nest, we did a couple of King Crimson numbers, Epitaph and Court of the Crimson King. For one of them, there's a video somewhere on Youtube with a post-Greg Lake incarnation of KC performing it, in which the bassist at one point plays some slap and demonstrates why you should never play slap in prog rock. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 15 minutes ago, Hellzero said: That said, there is a terrific Louis Johnson slap bass part here, nobody would disagree : God, what an awful song. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassjim Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 (edited) Spent years in my youth perfecting slap bass playing. That and wa+*ing. I can still do both but dont have the same enthusiasm as I did then. But I will say one of these useless talents still draw a crowd if I do it in public during gigs at certain point in the set by myself. Edited January 23, 2019 by bassjim 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest oZZma Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 (edited) 3 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said: I don't understand all the hatred for slap bass; surely it's better to celebrate skill than it is to dismiss it as "showing off" or "fretw£qry"? After all, if every musician stuck to doing the absolute minimum just in case someone say "look at him, he's up himself!" we all only be playing the root and occasional 5th. There'd be no Stanley Clarke, Les Claypool, Billy Sheehan, Jonas Hellborg etc. Or for that matter, no Bach, Mozart or even Mach and his Saddest Of All Keys... I would never dismiss Les Claypool or Bill Laswell, because their great technique is a tool for crafting music, that's not the focus of it. And lots of musicians I love are extremely skilled and "technical". Sometimes to a "not even human" degree BUT When musicians are focused on virtuosity itself, in my book that's just showing off. Pointless, boasted, shallow exhibition. There is a very explanatory word for that, in Italian. Unfortunately it's untranslatable It's not even the slap technique itself, slap just happens to be, it seems, the favourite technique of such kind of musicians described above, so that is has more of less become the epitome of overplaying and boaster musicians. Edited January 23, 2019 by oZZma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EBS_freak Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 40 minutes ago, bassjim said: Spent years in my youth perfecting slap bass playing. That and wa+*ing. I can still do both but dont have the same enthusiasm as I did then. But I will say one of these useless talents still draw a crowd if I do it in public during gigs at certain point in the set by myself. Jeez, I see what you mean now. Your setlist must be right stale. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellzero Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 1 hour ago, tauzero said: God, what an awful song. Tell it to Quincy Jones. 🤣 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
operative451 Posted January 23, 2019 Author Share Posted January 23, 2019 I guess my point is/was completely made by the video above (and yes i like that song) - nearly all of the bass part is played as, y'know, notes! Except for the bit where he starts flapping at his bass like its got a wasp on it. I should add i was initially attracted to the bass when i realised most of the fuzzed out droney roar that i loved from the Jesus and Mary Chain was the bass, not the guitar. Whose first bassist famously said when asked in an interview about why his bass guitar only had two strings replied: “That’s the two I use. I mean, what’s the flipping point in spending money on another two? It’s like, two is enough. It’s adequate. Anybody can play this bass." I wouldn;t go that far but i must admit, last time i changed strings i did wonder if there was any point in changing the G as i hardly touch it... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubit Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 7 minutes ago, operative451 said: I wouldn;t go that far but i must admit, last time i changed strings i did wonder if there was any point in changing the G as i hardly touch it... My guitarist mate used to annoy me by saying that I only used the E and the A. That was because most songs we did spent most of the time on those strings. He never appreciated my runs and octaves Now I make sure I play on those strings with the stuff I learn. Stuff him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 I barely slap at all in a band context these days, but I still like it and often do it just for fun. One of the things I love about slap is that it seems to really really annoy so many people here 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hellzero Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 I think it's about time to open a bunch of tappers! thread. 😋 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burno70 Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 I like a bit of slap. It takes discipline like any other style or technique of bass and when it's done well sounds great to me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newfoundfreedom Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 4 hours ago, leftybassman392 said: It's slap; it's got more than 4 strings; and - horror of horrors (gasp!) - it's a girl. So, pretty much everything that could go wrong has gone wrong then... ... Yeah but she's a proper slapper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monkey Steve Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 All techniques are tools, and it's as well to have as many tools as possible so that you can play the right thing at the right time. Personally I can do it a bit, but mainly use it for fun as it's not of huge use for the bands I've been in (though I can claim to have used it during a gig with a death metal band at Christmas) I'd hold up Juan Nelson from the Innocent Criminals at this point - doesn't use slap a lot, but when he rolls it out, man, it's effective. And I'd throw in Art Liboon from Mordred, one of my favourite bass players, proving that slap bass and thrash metal are made for each other Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubit Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 (edited) As Ive said, slapping is great when used in its proper environment. Yes, I joked the mid eighties. My gripe is people demonstrating amps or basses who exclusively slap, which doesn’t let you properly hear the instrument and what it can do. I doth my cap to folk who do it well and folk who include it in demo videos alongside normal playing but when it’s used exclusively to demo, it’s just a knob showing off! Edited January 24, 2019 by ubit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris_b Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 1 hour ago, Monkey Steve said: I'd hold up Juan Nelson from the Innocent Criminals at this point - doesn't use slap a lot, but when he rolls it out, man, it's effective. This. He's a great example of "good" slap playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepurpleblob Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 I never learned to slap. There are only so many (practice) hours in a day and there are lots more interesting things to learn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
operative451 Posted January 24, 2019 Author Share Posted January 24, 2019 I think i'm going to do an instagram vid with my bass strap as long as it will go, all on the low E and with a pick... And distortion.. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassfan Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 8 minutes ago, operative451 said: I think i'm going to do an instagram vid with my bass strap as long as it will go, all on the low E and with a pick... And distortion.. Can you slap with a pick? 😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barking Spiders Posted January 24, 2019 Share Posted January 24, 2019 (edited) Slap bass playing needs to lock in supertight with the drums and is best heard in funk, where BPM average 90 -115. To my ears slapping at speeds of 130 BPM goes against what slap was originally meant for; getting down and dirty to on the dancefloor! That superfast way of playing is as self indulgent, unlistenable and ultimately pointless as guitar shredding. Edited January 24, 2019 by Barking Spiders 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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