Slap Tone

[51m0n]

Cant stand that Level 42 slap tone, its got no 'meat' on its ricky-ticky bones

Love Bonin' but the slap tone on that is too nasal for my liking ("mmmm my warwicks got so much wood!" - yeah, but again, no meat!)

I prefer a fatter slap tone all round, like this:-



Or even the first track on my myspace page (shameless plug ) which has a slap tone I was thrilled to get, all grindy and naughty, not all squeaky clean and polite....

[51m0n]

[quote name='bassbloke' post='784762' date='Mar 24 2010, 02:56 PM']I'm ashamed. 4 pages of name calling and no one has thought to post this



Nice clear bass tone on a Fender precision bass. Instantly recognisable bassline.[/quote]

HUGE +1 from me.

Probably my all time favourite slap line, if I had to name just one....

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='51m0n' post='784777' date='Mar 24 2010, 03:12 PM']Cant stand that Level 42 slap tone, its got no 'meat' on its ricky-ticky bones

Love Bonin' but the slap tone on that is too nasal for my liking ("mmmm my warwicks got so much wood!" - yeah, but again, no meat!)

I prefer a fatter slap tone all round, like this:-



Or even the first track on my myspace page (shameless plug ) which has a slap tone I was thrilled to get, all grindy and naughty, not all squeaky clean and polite....[/quote]

Great track.

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='Doddy' post='784690' date='Mar 24 2010, 01:48 PM']I've never been a big fan of Mark King's tone-I've always found it too
treble-y. Kind of a weaker version of Stanley.

Yeah,'Pops' is really underrated. I've got a great album called 'Baked Potato Super Live' by
Greg Matheison, and 'Pops' plays great.

Victor Bailey has a really filthy slap tone on Weather Report's 'D-Flat Waltz'.

Slap tone for me,starts with Larry and then kind of branches off into Stanley
and Marcus.[/quote]

You kept that album a secret.

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='obi 2 kenobi' post='784687' date='Mar 24 2010, 01:45 PM']Larry Graham had a great sound by first GCS record in '74. Granted before that it was arguably undefined when with Sly.

Other guys in the same period (Louis Johnson, Pops, etc) also had a kind of muffled slap tone on the P basses at the time.

Personally I prefer the Louis's stingray tone on Blam from '78 to the among best recorded slap tone. Which is another reason why rays > p bass IMO

Other great early slap sounds are from Byron Miller (on p bass with George Duke and Roy Ayers).

Also check out Abe Laboriel, esp. on Chaka Khan (Night in Tunisia) and w/ George Benson 'Give me the nIght album[/quote]

Agreed. On the first Brothers Johnson album you can barely tell Louis is slapping. His tone on the Stomp break is amazing.

[thisnameistaken]

[quote name='marcus bell' post='784766' date='Mar 24 2010, 03:01 PM']or is it just that i have absolutely no respect for the poster of the link ...[/quote]

I am devastated.

[JTUK]

Also not a Mark King slap fan although nobody can deny he was very influencial at the time.
I think his overall playing was very good but overtaken by his slap thing... and that was as shame.

The best thing about L42 was his playing and Phil Gould's drumming..the rest was a vehicle for "world's greatest slappper" audtions though.. He got people's interest though, mostly..
Not a style that survived IMV as it never underpinned anything...whereas someone like Miller did exactly that, even to the point of getting synth players to ape him...
It is always going to be a problem to get a bass slap part to really carry the song live..and not many do it alone, IMO..

Edited March 24, 2010 by JTUK

[crez5150]

[quote name='marcus bell' post='784749' date='Mar 24 2010, 02:40 PM'][url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_DPx0eQ16c"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_DPx0eQ16c[/url]

THE SLAP TONE! (for me anyways), i just love it, doesnt sound too trebley...
more like quite middy actually, before he got to the stage of using alembics and status's when it all went downhill along with the bands musical direction (again imho),

Jaydee supernatural classic series 1 1978
Trace elliot ah250 (i think?)
x2 Trace elliot 1048h cabs
x2 yamaha analog delay: one for modualtion, one for delay...
mxr phase 100...

unbeatable.

on a serious not ive just read this thread and not really impressed to be honest, slap bass tone is not the end of the world and yet that guys slating marcus miller is acting like it is. lets not argue were supposed to be grown up's here. the only thing i will say is that marcus is not bothered hes got more money than probably all of us, so if his tone is crap or not who cares???

thanks, hope everyone is well
marcus
x[/quote]

I think you'll find the 1048H wasn't around during this era.... I believe he had some bright boxes but to be honest it doesn't give you that top end zing of a Compression Driver

[Conan]

Good call on "Dance on heavy weather" - just about my favourite L42 track in terms of bass sound...

The comments about King's bass tone lacking balls/oomph/bottom etc may have a ring of truth about them when referring to his studio recorded sound, but believe me when they played live there was [b]plenty[/b] of low end to fill out the sound of the band! Considering the lightness of the strings he used (30-90 IIRC), its a wonder he got any tone at all!!

Yes, the "machine gun" triplets and "bassist as typist" stuff in the early to mid eighties got seriously out of hand, but it was just so damned [i]exciting[/i] back then! Sure it sounds passe now, but TBH, until Wooten came along, who else had really shaken up the bass world since about 1983?

Miller's tone never lacked bottom end either - just depends on what kind of speakers you listen to your music on I guess.

My own personal feeling on "slap tone" (if there is one!)... You [i]can[/i] scoop out the mids (that seems to be the expectation) but you don't have to! Like any style of playing, its in the fingers (and thumb!) - with only a certain amount being contributed by the bass, strings, amp, speakers...

Having said that, ever heard slap played on a Rickenbacker?!

[bassbloke]

[quote name='Conan' post='784999' date='Mar 24 2010, 06:58 PM']Having said that, ever heard slap played on a Rickenbacker?! [/quote]

Unfortunately, yes.

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='Conan' post='784999' date='Mar 24 2010, 06:58 PM']Good call on "Dance on heavy weather" - just about my favourite L42 track in terms of bass sound...

The comments about King's bass tone lacking balls/oomph/bottom etc may have a ring of truth about them when referring to his studio recorded sound, but believe me when they played live there was [b]plenty[/b] of low end to fill out the sound of the band! Considering the lightness of the strings he used (30-90 IIRC), its a wonder he got any tone at all!!

Yes, the "machine gun" triplets and "bassist as typist" stuff in the early to mid eighties got seriously out of hand, but it was just so damned [i]exciting[/i] back then! Sure it sounds passe now, but TBH, until Wooten came along, who else had really shaken up the bass world since about 1983?

Miller's tone never lacked bottom end either - just depends on what kind of speakers you listen to your music on I guess.

My own personal feeling on "slap tone" (if there is one!)... You [i]can[/i] scoop out the mids (that seems to be the expectation) but you don't have to! Like any style of playing, its in the fingers (and thumb!) - with only a certain amount being contributed by the bass, strings, amp, speakers...

Having said that, ever heard slap played on a Rickenbacker?! [/quote]

I am a huge MK fan. I think his recorded tone is amazing, especially on the very first album. I saw him live in the 80s and wasn't impressed. All I could hear was the 'pulls'. That's 30 - 90 gauge strings for you IMO.

I still think Marcus has the sound and style nailed, though.

It is all in the fingers (and thumb).

[Doddy]

[quote name='Conan' post='784999' date='Mar 24 2010, 06:58 PM']Having said that, ever heard slap played on a Rickenbacker?! [/quote]

Yes I have....

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_FAQteWySc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_FAQteWySc[/url]

[Mog]

[quote name='witterth' post='783941' date='Mar 23 2010, 08:31 PM']but that's not a bass.
no disrespect, but listen again, Sienfeld "bass"is a synth...well by that I mean a sample played on keyboard.
Im not a betting man but on this occasion £10er says.....
ATB
W [/quote]

Yep that much I know. Was using it as an example of what is probably still considered [b][i]the slap tone [/i][/b]by most. We talkin £ or € for that tenner???

Jumping in on the slap tone debate:
1 Stu Hamm (on outbound)
2 Phillip Bynoe
3 Timmie C
4 Flea
5 Marcus Miller

[phil.i.stein]

wtf ?

there is no 'one' slap tone.
i've heard good and bad. it all needs to be balanced to the other instruments etc. bass always needs to be heard in the mix, but at the right frequencies for the style..
i can kind of 'zone out' to some of tom jenkinsons or les claypools solo stuff though..

[Earbrass]

Forget Miller, Wooten, King and the rest, if you want great slap...

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhJQp-q1Y1s"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhJQp-q1Y1s[/url]

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='Earbrass' post='785664' date='Mar 25 2010, 11:52 AM']Forget Miller, Wooten, King and the rest, if you want great slap...

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhJQp-q1Y1s"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhJQp-q1Y1s[/url][/quote]

[Doddy]

[quote name='Earbrass' post='785664' date='Mar 25 2010, 11:52 AM']Forget Miller, Wooten, King and the rest, if you want great slap...

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhJQp-q1Y1s"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhJQp-q1Y1s[/url][/quote]

Ace.

Brings a whole new meaning to slap bass

[Pete Academy]

The Americans used to call it 'thumpin'

[HoweDy]

[quote name='Doddy' post='785144' date='Mar 24 2010, 08:57 PM']Yes I have....

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_FAQteWySc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_FAQteWySc[/url][/quote]

only claypool could pull that off!

[Doddy]

[quote name='HoweDy' post='787436' date='Mar 26 2010, 08:44 PM']only claypool could pull that off![/quote]

...and still sound like Claypool.

[Chris2112]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='785837' date='Mar 25 2010, 02:00 PM']The Americans used to call it 'thumpin'[/quote]

I have a copy of Jonas Hellborg's "Thumb Bassics" book from the 1980's. In there he refers to it as the "Thumb style", and the word "slap" isn't mentioned once!

[Doddy]

Larry Graham always calls it 'Thumpin' and Pluckin''.
I kind of like that term more than 'Slapping'

[Mowac]

The way I try to get a decent slap sound is by reducing the volume on the bass at around the 70% mark or by turning up the volume to 3/4 full. Compression helps alot and I have recently discovered that the big secret could be a fixed envelope filter. A filter alows you to get an even tone all the way across the strings without the obnoxious booming low end that you get from trying to achieve the same sound from a graphic E.Q. It's like a wah filter except you can set it at a fixed position to achieve the desired tone once you have dialed it in.
I've also tried Markbass amps and I was very impressed at the way those amps are built. They are on the pricey side, but it would pay for itself with the reward you get from it. I tried the little Markbass 1x12 combo amp and it damn near shook all the other basses off the wall at the guitar store I tried one out at.

Edited May 9, 2010 by Mowac

[dan670844]

[quote name='Fly2far' post='783806' date='Mar 23 2010, 07:48 PM']Is there a pedal/limiter/compressor/ heavy gauge strings etc. that is giving the "tone" that seems prevalent to this style of playing.

I've tried scooping the mids on my 70's Jazz Bass on the guitar and amp (Trace Elliot Pre amp) but I can never seem to get that clean sparkle of the tops and that "sucking" sound.

Any advice appreciated.[/quote]

Here Is what I do for slap, though Its not my fav why to play bass but needs must to earn a crust and all that

Jazz bass

Everything up full, on my old jazzes I tend to wind the bridge pickup a bit, use a compressor to compress the lows, dial about halfway up, I do not compress highs at all, cut 400-500hz by a couple of Db, Boost couple of Db around 1-2.6Khz. Boost 100hz - 160Hz by a few Db. Elicit cheesy noob grin job done. Of course this is my sound that I like on my amp. This gives that 'dry' slap clicky sound very 80's.......... yuck

You can get that easy if you have a trace elliot smx just use preshape 1 no other eq and put the low compressor dial up halfway and just a smidge of high. Same settings on the compressor but use preshape 2 with a smidge of 100Hz gives a thinner sound... whatever!!

For old school slap I normally don't boost the 1-2.6Khz so it doesnt give so much attack.

For basses that have buckers I just use the bridge pickup, but don't use them that often.

I Don't use active basses, my misses bannned them because I kept taking batteries out of the smoke alarms!

[deathpanda]

Is it weird that my geddy lee sig has a lovely slap tone? I see how active pickups can help, but those complaining that passive basses don't sound good slapped, probably aren't doing something right.