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Tried to learn my first Slap Tune last night.


Bass_In_Yer_Face
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Few quickees I find helpfull when I'm teaching slap:

- New strings, brighter and beter response (or try boling some old ones)
- With your EQ the classic is to scoop the middle, the smilry face on the Garphic EQ
- It should be a very fast motion, with thumb in contact with the string for the minimum amount of time. You want to either bounce or go straight through the string, don't leave your thumb there once you've struck the string as that will effectivley mut the note
- Contact point - you want to try and have your thumb striking the string right over the bottom fret (not over the pickup) and bouncing the string off of that fret

Hope these help.

PS a really good slap song for beginners is Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz - PM me if you want and I'll knock up some TAB

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I don't really get slap either.
I know what "good" sounds like;
Miller, Levin, Johnson, Edwards, etc.
But I can't replicate it, nor find any accessible tunes to use as a starting point.

All I have learned (from experimenting) is to strike the string lightly and swiftly, and from not too great a distance away from the string.
As with all things bass, economy of movement is key.
The guys who are good make it look like no effort at all. Not because it is "easy" [i]per se[/i] but because the actual effort involved is quite small. It's how the small amounts of energy are precisely directed that governs the sound.

(Which is true of all styles, in fact!)

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im quite a fan of the old slapping business now (although thats not to say i'm any good!)

I find different basses react differently to various amounts of aggression, For example my EDA905 takes some real heavy hitting before i get i real nice tone from it, but my Cort requires the lightest touch. so thats something else to consider

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[quote name='gilmour' post='68563' date='Oct 2 2007, 11:12 AM']Few quickees I find helpfull when I'm teaching slap:

- New strings, brighter and beter response (or try boling some old ones)
- With your EQ the classic is to scoop the middle, the smilry face on the Garphic EQ
- It should be a very fast motion, with thumb in contact with the string for the minimum amount of time. You want to either bounce or go straight through the string, don't leave your thumb there once you've struck the string as that will effectivley mut the note
- Contact point - you want to try and have your thumb striking the string right over the bottom fret (not over the pickup) and bouncing the string off of that fret

Hope these help.

PS a really good slap song for beginners is Fly Away by Lenny Kravitz - PM me if you want and I'll knock up some TAB[/quote]

stunning, thanks for that i'll try that later on

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Just work on technique for now.

Things like EQ, compression and string gauges come in when it comes to finding your own particular slap sound.

I don't think Flea slaps particularly hard. He just makes it look like he's exerting more effort than it's taking - you know, the whole punk thing.

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Guest Bald Eagle

yep it's all in the 'bounce' and a nice smooth wrist action ooerr...not from the whole arm though and bass height is pretty important to get the right angle your arm wants to be more or less parallel with the neck/strings and contact right at the heel with a quick rotation of the wrist, then pull straight off with the thumb.

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I've just started to have a few lessons on this and it's been invaluable - you can't slow down a tutorial book CD or video and say "... no, no, no, hold it ... THAT bit right there!. How do you do THAT exactly?" like you can with a human.
I've made huge leaps in two weeks.

Tunes I've got on my pile to learn include "We supply" by Stanley Clarke but I'd have never got the subtle nuances without watching my tutor do it at about 1/3 speed for a few times through.
It does have several of the technique components in it though.

So I suggest you find a tutor for a few sessions, just to get going.

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Just don't get a tutor like the one I had (definitely past tense!) who only wanted to teach me what he wanted to teach me, and not what I might have wanted to learn...
I was willing to compromise- 50/50 of what he thought was good, allied to what I actually wanted to learn. (Slap technique was a request)
Y'know... bit of stick, bit of carrot.

I told him to shove it.
Sure he was good in some ways, but couldn't play by ear as well as I could OR play straight "rock" tunes either (Jazz was his forte)

A decade later, still no slap and a REAL aversion to teachers.
Damn I need some love!

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Higher Ground, RHCP is the first I learnt. Helps build up muscle memory for sure and speed also. Practise this solidly (til you're incredibly bored/sore) then apply the technique you've acquired to anything else and it will seem a lot easier. Rinse, repeat. Remember, economy of movement is vital for playing fast and complex slap rudiments and lines.

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I agree with OldGit's advice advice on getting a lesson or two. Also if you are really serious about getting into slapping I can't recommend highly enough Ultimate Slap Bass by Stuart Clayton from www.basslinepublishing.co.uk - it'll cost you the same as a lesson and keep you going for years. I think there's some samples of the lessons there too.

Edited by Sean
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As a 30+ year player I did have to reign my tutor in a bit at first as he started from his normal "born again bassplayer's first steps" position and didn't do anything to asses my prior knowledge (which is eclectic and very wide) but once I'd said we'd address my bad habits once I'd learned "a bit of fireworks for my gig next week" he focused and we made a lot of progress.

I'll come back to right hand alternating plucking fingers and Jaco left hand finger stretching exercises at a later date once I've got the slapping tool in my kit box.

I really do not have any major desire to learn Jaco solos note for note and can see no audience pleasing potential in the gigs I play for that sort of thing (unless the BC community all start attending my gigs :) )
Slapping and reading, though, I have an immediate use for.

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[quote name='theosd' post='68763' date='Oct 2 2007, 06:35 PM']Higher Ground, RHCP is the first I learnt. Helps build up muscle memory for sure and speed also. Practise this solidly (til you're incredibly bored/sore) then apply the technique you've acquired to anything else and it will seem a lot easier. Rinse, repeat. Remember, economy of movement is vital for playing fast and complex slap rudiments and lines.[/quote]

its the first slap song i learnt, too. then can't stop by the red hot chilis.

has anyone say make sure your thumb is tensed, you can't slap with a floppy thumb.

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