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Setting up for both slap and pizz


razze06
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I'm interested in learning a bit of slap bass to help with some of the rockabilly and bluegrass style covers we might do, but i'm worried that i won't be able to set up my  bass to play in one style and not the other effectively. Any advice?

I've currently got both a mag and a piezo pickup on my bass, and i'm using spiro weichs (i think)

 

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I've been on a similar journey.....

I found Spiro Weichs are a bit high tension to do any proper rockabilly slapping and strings designed for slapping (Silver slaps, Presto Nylons) don't have enough definition to work for pizz. 

The only one bass solution is to put some work in and build up some muscles so you can slap the weichs for a whole song without cramping up.  I can now slap well enough for bluegrass but any serious rockabilly is out of the question unless I start doing bench presses or something.

Pickup wise, adding a clicky helps and reduces the amount of effort that you need to put into the slap.

I've played other players basses that are set up for slap and they're a breeze to play slap on, but just not enough definition on the E and sometimes the A string for pizz.

 

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In defence of Presto Nylons - I've been playing pizz using Jazzicato for 3 years now and they work great. Just switched to the Jazzicato Tungsten which have a bit more sustain and growl and couldn't be happier.  Not a slapper myself but a slapping friend of mine bashed out a few notes on it a few days ago and it sounded good to me!

I do have quite a bright sounding bass though so probably not for everyone but would definitely recommend giving them a try, and at £130 a set it's a reasonably affordable risk. Break-in time for me is about a week

Relating to Rev's comment on E and A definition - I do use a steel E as I found the Jazzicato E was lacking a bit of definition and some heft when I was really digging in. Always assumed it was the bass but I suppose it makes sense that lower-tension strings would be more fallible at heavier gauges. Switching to the Jazzicato tungsten got it to 90% but I still found myself reverting to a steel wound E. As a compromise for slap/pizz doubling though I think the stock E would do fine.

Edited by Cathode_Follower
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5 hours ago, Cathode_Follower said:

In defence of Presto Nylons - I've been playing pizz using Jazzicato for 3 years now and they work great. Just switched to the Jazzicato Tungsten which have a bit more sustain and growl and couldn't be happier.  Not a slapper myself but a slapping friend of mine bashed out a few notes on it a few days ago and it sounded good to me!

 

I have a set of Jazzicato tungsten which do have better E and A definition, but on my bass the D seemed to have a significantly higher tension than the other strings.

I have Presto nylons on my carved bass, perhaps I should try the Jazzicato E and A with the nylon D and G.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ooh, spiro weich slapped, criminal.

Milt Hinton might get away with it but that’s no rockabilly sound.

Evah Pirazzi weich sounds pretty good slapped if you can tame them with technique and eq. Give great pizz and slap.

And Innovation braided solo gauge are good too.

just don’t set the strings too low, you won’t be able to get purchase on them.

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