Why I Quit Slapping The Bass All The Time
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- čas přidán 22. 04. 2023
- The bass that I'm playing in the beginning of this video is a Modulus. Graphite or Carbon...I'm not sure. If you listen closely, you can hear the sales guy saying that they wanted $1,095 for it. How times have changed.
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And I thought I was the only guy who finds nothing useful (in collaboration with others) in slap style playing for the kind of music I play. This is a gutsy statement. Good on ya for speaking up.
Thank you for being so open and honest.
You're welcome!
What a great and honest testimony. I stopped playing slap bass in the late ‘90’s as it just never served the songs correctly with the bands I was playing with at the time. And strangely enough I’m now trying to regain some of my slap chops, but it’s challenging and maybe in a good way - not that I intend to insinuate slap where it doesn’t belong but more so to just try and add it back into my toolkit. Thanks so much for sharing your story with us. From the other commenters here, it’s seems a similar situation with other bassists as well!
Man!!! That is the most amazing tone I’ve heard in a long time. Keep jammin’
I appreciate your words, man! Thank you!!
Back playing Philly international, Stax, Motown, incorporate slap when needed.❤
'A little too Rush'... lol respect, Geddy Lee was my hero growing up.
Refreshing to hear your honesty, dude. I've always been a prog player but w/ slap and tapping... I just never gelled. I just felt boxed in melodically by the technique.
Thank you! What I didn't mention is that I actually did some studio work for a hip-hop label and they didn't want that tap-pop-slap stuff either. The guys also said I was "too busy" and needed to tone it down a bit, so I switched gears and started listening to some much older music. I really got into Paul McCartney, John Paul Jones, Chris Squire, Chuck Rainey, etc. By mid 1996, I no longer saw the point in slap/pop/tap. I'd prefer to be in some avant-garde group. At least it would be melodic.
Slapping(we call it thumping) came to be a show off type of thing the past 25 years. I grew up in the seventies when it made sense and had its place in r&b/ funk but over time it seemed like it became a thing of let me show you how hard I can hit my bass with my thumb! I did it naturally because that’s what was going on in the music at the time I was growing up but I started to almost hate it because a lot of bands I played with always wanted me to do a thump solo instead of a straight up finger solo! There are people who are really good at it and it’s still cool but I think it gets terribly abused, keep that fingering technique going, be a BASS PLAYER and not just a slapper!! I appreciate this video man 💯💯💯🎸🤘🏽
What struck me with this video PRJ, is how, as an incredibly talented bass player, you share your evolution in playing and musicianship. You're an inspiration my friend. I wish you well with your YT channel!
Low Tone, I sincerely appreciate your words and you're inspiring me to continue sharing my musical thoughts and journey here on CZcams. Thanks, again!!
Nice video! Informative!
Thank you!!
This was awesome. Super honest too. Bassists should be able to play many techniques. Always learn.
You remind me so much of myself on my journey since I was 17 going thorough time on my bass adventures through life. (I'm 61 now) God bless you brother on many more experiences.
I'm not too far behind you at 49. You're at the musical sweet spot at 61! I have 3 former band mates turning 60 this year and I flip out when they tell me the stories of bands they saw and musicians they met. God bless!
Know your role,!!!!!!!!!Spot on,,,,beautiful content,,thank you so much!
You're very welcome...Actually, thank you so much!!
I love this format its great
Thank you! I have much more in store for this channel!
He's a great guy. He did a video to help me decide what bass to buy.
Thanks so much, man! I hope you're enjoying the new Yamaha!
Youre awesome man!❤
5:56 This is the reason I really love japanese music (both old and modern) - it has quite a lot of slap 🥰
Thanks for sharing that. I like your channel and happy to have found it this morning. Your title caught my eye because I made a very conscious decision at a very young age to not slap and I was curious why others might do that
I chose to avoid it because for one, I wasn't very good at it and two, I was hearing other local bassists live onstage who were not good at it. They would lose the time when they started slapping. It was rather embarrassing just to hear it. I didn't want to risk being like that. I was having enough fun playing the way I played and didn't feel the need to slap. I did like the tapping stuff a lot though, but more for extended harmony and less of the "how many notes can I play in 5 seconds."
I did learn one slap riff for when people gave me crap about whether or not I could slap. It was an impressive enough riff to shut them up but i never played like that on stage or on recording.
Now I mostly just play electric at home after practicing my upright and I have been slapping a lot lately because its fun.
I no longer feel the need to prove anything to anyone and like most of my music playing these days. I just do it to entertain myself in the privacy of my own home. If I ever do perform with an electric bass again I might slap if the music really calls out for it AND/IF can make it work for the song.
You're welcome! Thank you for sharing your story! What slap riff did you learn to show people you could slap the bass? I've written countless slap-bass lines which have been applied to recordings I've done in the past but wouldn't be able to play most of them today. My favorite slap player to listen to would definitely be Mark King of Level 42. I love his vocals more than anything, so his bass playing is like an added bonus. I sometimes play along with their songs and work out bass chops on songs like "Love Games" and "Lessons In Love".
Just listened to a video of Lessons in Love. Wow he plays that and sings! That is pretty amazing! I never got into them before only because they didn't really cross my musical listening path. Going to explore them more this week.
Since you were asking, and its a slow quiet christmas for me this year. And because describing a bass line in a comments section with words is ineffective, I recorded my slap riff real quick for you and put it on to a video feedback clip i made a while back so you can hear it. czcams.com/video/9HPk01t65WE/video.html
I made it up when I was 13 because a drummer was giving me a hard time about not being able to slap. There was one other line learned in my thirties, Patrice Rushen's Forget Me Nots. I play the first parts of Forget Me Nots on every electric bass I get my hands on as a way to compare basses, It's one of my "baseline" bass lines I always play for reference.
BTW I love your fretless basses. I have a Pedulla Hexabuzz and an amazing fretless Fender jazz bass with a Warmoth 24 fret unlined ebony fingerboard. Those are my favorit ebasses. I love fretless so I'm always going to enjoy any fretless content you post.
Have a great 2024!
@@progrockjock
@daniellemeyer5159
😳 Thank you for sharing that slap-bass sample!
I must preface this by saying I’m not saying that we have the exact same bass lines and I’m not claiming to be psychic. However, before hearing what you played, I was actually going to specifically ask if it was something you learned or made up...but it gets even crazier because your slap line sounds eerily similar to bass line that I recorded on the 4-track sometime around the age of 19. What's even more interesting is how my demo sounded when I played it backwards. It did have programed drums & guitar, as well but it sounded like 80s video game music. More on that later...
I'm honored that you shared that bass line with me. My recordings are an absolute, disorganized mess, but I will try to share my old slap line with you today. It is my hope that you understand where I'm coming from and don't think I'm trying to say that I had your idea first. That's not what I'm saying at all. Without being able to hear it on command, my memory tells me that only the first 2 or 3 bars sound similar. The main thing as that you and I both slap the E but who doesn’t do that, right?? For the record, I think your bass line is better and yours is also more difficult to play. I used to cheat to get those triplets, as I demonstrate in this video, which spawned our discussion. Freddie Washington’s widely celebrated bass line on Forget Me Nots is one of my favorites too!
Moving on to Level 42, you will love their music. I wish I had gotten into them sooner. Their first 6 or 7 releases are amazing. I love almost every song the recorded as the classic 4-piece lineup. They did have a behind-the-scenes, fifth member (Wally Badarou) who actually co-wrote their biggest hits. He also played with Grace Jones, M, Talking Heads and Tom Tom Club, to name a few.
Thank you for the compliment on my fretless collection! Fretless bass just doesn’t get the love it used to get but I will never give up on it. Hang on to that Hexabuzz!!! I wish I had one.
Speaking of musicians having likeminded ideas, this happened to me with The Postal Service. I met Death Cab For Cutie when we were playing small clubs in late 1999, but I had no idea that Ben Gibbard shared the same love for 8-bit video game music that I had. When The Postal Service came onto the scene, I had several friends reach out to me in shock, asking how I felt about their music. More than anything, it taught me that any idea that is special to its creator is special enough to be shared with the rest of the world. You just never know.
I’m glad we have met.
A great 2024 to you as well!
No dice! My Tascam Porta One (4-track) quit on me almost immediately once I finally powered it up. It seems like everything I leave in my basement fails on me. If you have a basement, don't leave any rare electronics down there. I already knew not to leave instruments down there but this is pretty sad.
Thanks for this. My story's similar to yours. I started playing in the 90s and expended a LOT of energy and time trying to be Flea and Victor Wooten rolled into one when I *should* have been learning scales, arpeggios, walking basslines, and all the rest. I gave up playing around 2005 because I'd gotten so frustrated with slap technique. Picked it back up again 4 years ago and decided that this time I was going to focus on the basics. It's been great because I've been listening more. I've basically given up slap, and my playing's gotten loads better. Ironically my main bass now is a EBMM Stingray Special but I almost never slap on it! Too bad about that fretless Stingray too 😭
Story of my life 😂
The only time I made slapping work was during a breakdown in a song (just drums and bass). Couldn't find a place for it otherwise.
I don't know who you are or who you were, but I am pretty sure you could regain all of the things you had AND then some. You are alive! ;)
God bless you, man! I really appreciate it!
I’m a lefty and play righty as well, which makes me have a fast fret hand and a fast right hand too, I never thought I would be ably able to play a right handed bass, I even started play upside down lol
Good observations...
I've been playing bass for 4 years now and slap is just not really important right now.
I AM -64...SLAP AIN'T EVERYTHING...
I LOVE SLAP.. BUT I LOVE MELODY
I STUDIED JAMES JAMERSON TO GET MY MELODIC PLAYING TOGETHER....
MUCH LOVE AND RESPECT YOUNG MAN.
TOO MANY SLAPPERS NOT ENOUGH MELODY.... GOOD VEDIO SIR
Jesus! Whatever became of that handsome young dude at the start? 😂😂
Well this resonated with me so much. I also stopped slapping for around 15 years as I was in a very busy cover band that didn't really require it. Although it sneaked in from time to time. I can't it get back now either at 57 yo, hands shagged with joint & tendon pain. They just don't have the same free movement. One of my gigging bands is a soul funk cover band. I really wish I had the chops I had, especially between 19 - 34 ish. I also had a unique slap technique, I would slap with thumb & index finger like double thumb, machine gun speed. So not just percussive ghost notes but full notes. Can't do it now. I did help me make a name for myself in the mid 80s lol.
Yeah, guitarists, enough said 😅.
Good move with the flats on fretless, same here. It helps you concentrate on melody & harmony. Cheers PRJ.
Ha! Who knows?? 😜 I was barely into my 21st trip around the sun when that was filmed. It's strange that I can't see your comment here but I did receive it. I've actually had a lot of issues with messages getting lost in the shuffle. Anyway, I think understand that thumb/index attack you're speaking of. That sounds really cool! I have recordings of another slap technique that I really didn't show in this video. It was a thumb slap with a quick index pop on the same note. Sometimes I would use the middle finger right after the index to also give that rapid fire sound. I had a plethora of techniques, even one using a guitar slide. This was before Morphine came along. However, Mark Sandman was MUCH better, not to mention cooler. Gone too soon. One thing I'm sure you have is "feel". I've met and played with very few musicians who have sounded wise beyond their years. I always followed players who were 5 to 20 years older than me when I was cutting my teeth in the Atlanta music scene and I still do to this day. Thanks for sharing your experience!
@@progrockjock thanks for replying. Yep it's a diet of codeine based pills & Naproxen before a gig for me now, oh how times have changed, the drugs 20 years ago backstage were way more fun🤣🤣.
Its strange how we had to develop our own techniques back then as it was pre CZcams. We didn't know exactly how Mark King or Stanley Clark or Marcus Miller etc etc were doing their thing. We had to listen & try to work it out. This led to an evolution of styles, so all good.
Yeah I've still got my feel, I'm probably a better musician now, just not as flash lol.
I'm not sure I knew of Mark Sandman. I'll do a search & check him out. Hope your Atlanta spring is better than rainy old UK is this spring. First bbq yesterday, as soon I lit the coals the heavens opened up!!! Bugger!
@@progrockjock ha, you were talking about the band Morphine, wrong end the stick. Just checking him out now.
I see this comment but not the other one. Yes, I meant the band, but I have thought about discussing drug use on this channel. I had a problem with drinking while on the road and had bad situation scare me straight. I think I talked about it in one of my videos about the black P bass. The bassist who ended up with my bass will forever be in my good graces for returning it to me. I quit my drinking, cold turkey, after that.
@@progrockjock Morphine was some unique stuff. Just checked Mark Sandman. Yeah crazy cool tunes . Have you seen the video where they made a Sandman tribute 2 string bass? Brilliant.
I'll look your vid out re black P bass. Yep we've all been there. Coming back from tours an absolute wreck. It's an occupational hazard. At least we are still here to tell the tales down the pub 😀
I'm a beginning bassist "6 months" and I really don't like slapping. I know there are many who do it a lot including Victor Wooten. I really just don't like the sound. I know some do but to me I prefer plucking, or tapping. The guy who teaches the course I'm doing teaches it in the course but tells you , yeah it's fun but there a very few times you'll get a gig where people want it. What you call your gift, I think is where all bassists need to eventually be. So you're where you should be I think. Thanks for sharing. Great story.
Thank you, Jesus Nina! Keep at it, man!! Do what makes you feel comfortable. I started filming my bass playing at the age of 19, two & a half years after switching to bass. That video was filmed a month after my 21st birthday. One of the kids who was there checking out gear with me that day received bass lessons from the same guy who gave me guitar lessons. We obviously switched primary instruments and continued on a remarkable musical journey together. I will eventually tell my full story on this channel because I think it will help and inspire people. This is my main purpose here on CZcams.
Dude, you’re rockin’ one of the old school American SUB basses! You don’t see them much these days. I have one as well.
Cool! Which finish do you have? It's a total boat anchor but it's a pleasure to play!
@@progrockjock It’s has the matte black finish like yours. Mine has a silver/chrome pickguard though. I like the tortoiseshell pickguard that’s on yours (or it looks like tortoiseshell from what I can see). Is yours fretless?
@@axemansjazz6670 Thank you! I love the look of the silver/chrome pick guard. Yes, it's fretless with a tortoiseshell pick guard.
@@progrockjock Thank you! I didn’t realize the SUBS had fretless variants. That’s so cool!
I always had an appreciation for slap but I was only really able to recreate the lines of slappers who kept it a little simpler, i.e. Bernard Edwards or even Tim Commerford on the early RATM stuff. I always try and keep my slap, pick, and fingerstyle chops up because I'll never know when I need them. I did a metal project with a friend that was just drums and bass and some of the riffs he came up with used slap, so I'm very glad I had that in my wheelhouse. I definitely use pick and fingerstyle more, but I don't think there's ever a good reason to totally write off a whole entire approach to the instrument.
Glad you got on this soap box. I still dig slap when it's done right but watching the latest popcorn machine does nothing for me. Same with any technique where it's done to flash the virtuosity rather than make a great *sound*. I'm 63 and kinda digging back into my slap chops, but only to the extent that it's funky. There's a sh*tload of rapid fire slap, pop & tickle that's hard to do but doesn't have a trace of real funk in it. And at the end you really hit on the essential question: Who's gonna play bass while you do that nonsense? Placing the right note at the right moment with the right feel is everything.
and this is fingers & flats -- a whole world of funkiness is in that combo:
czcams.com/video/nmKySi-vz9s/video.html
Amen!
This song reminds me of Edwin Birdsong. Yes, I hear you, man. I remember the first time I heard The Meters and thought to myself, "this is true funk!"
@@progrockjock Oh man thanks for that reference -- I hadn't heard him. A new love!! Kinda like discovering Shuggy Otis 2 years ago.
What do you think of the hammer-style fingering where you use your plucking fingers more like hammers to strike the strings and get a quasi-slap sound? I'm thinking this might make a good hybrid tool to introduce some of the slap color to music that doesn't work well with the full-blown slap-pop technique.
Short answer: I think it's a great idea! Maybe your idea is a little different but Tony Levin has a video out with him doing something that fits your description. It basically turns his fingers into drumsticks. Please check it out and let me know if we're on the same page.
@@progrockjock Ok Tony Levin's funk fingers are wild! Yes that was the idea, I was playing around with just the fingers and hammering the strings but strapping drum sticks on them is another level!
@@prism223 I've also played around with that idea, which spawned from experimenting with harmonics. Either way, I sincerely believe using as many techniques as possible can't hurt you. You certainly won't get bored either.
You just confirmed my theory on using picks. I always believed that those who use a pick probably were guitarist first. My background is self taught Classical Guitar so I'm used to using the fingers. And it's my preferred choice with the bass. I also think it's a higher skill guitarists need to train as well if they pick up the bass. That's just me though.
You remind of myself in that you sold your basses when you stopped slapping. Those Stingrays could be played in any style.😊
It was very foolish of me to let go of those Stingrays, especially considering how little I paid for them at the time. Yes, the tone of those stingrays was all I really needed.
@@progrockjock blaming the bass is a common reaction and young folks tend to think stuff is always replaceable.
@@Below-Average_Joe You are right. However, I never truly blamed the bass and I actually looked forward to getting older because I appreciated the way older (or let's say "well-seasoned") cats played the bass. I hold myself fully accountable but I came up with a musician who was a key partner early in my musical journey. He actually advised me to ditch the Stingrays and the Eden World Tour 800 rig I had for an old 1968 P Bass and 1972 Ampeg SVT. He also talked me into trading my Pedulla Buzz Bass for a 1994 Custom Shop Strat, but I had the sense to buy my Pedulla back from the guy I traded with. It was at this point that I realized that my gear, especially the instruments contained great value to me. This is kind of a spoiler to a video I've already recorded...and sort of to one I already posted but it is what it is.
I grew listening to Motown so when slap became prominent, things got awkward for me I felt like I was starting all over again but with no support network. I began using it for accents or to add a touch of spice when needed and that works for me but thats the only time I use it. I've only played one slap song by GCS which was dancing and swinging. A good finger exercise is Dance and hum along by Rare Earth. You will get a good work out but even now I find that song a bit extream to play.
Wow! I love hearing stories like yours!! Speaking of Motown, James Jamerson is one of my heroes! As I probably mentioned in this video, I started out playing Metal but I was raised on all that Motown & Stax stuff. My parents played it all for me, so deep within my soul, all of those musical influences have come to the surface through my playing and songwriting. I actually had a short-lived gig with some guys who used to play for Joe Tex and Jonnie Taylor way back in the day. Ultimately, I wasn't the right fit for their group but it was still a great experience. I will check out Hum Along and Dance. Thanks!
Larry Grahm on Sly's album there is a root going on. Many of those cuts used slap but in a differnt way which complimented those songs. I feel this was Larry Grahm finest playing. I saw him in a differnt light from that time on. I use slap for accents on many songs while holding it down with plucking for the most part. Use both in your work with bass guitar because now it is a defacto skill that most bass players must have. Bring the funk when needed.
Amen to that!
It's like we have the same record collection. Sugar Cubes and Sarah McLachlan? Tool and Talk Talk?
Ha. I'll stop now.
Ha! I love them all!!
Looks like 👍 ( Thumping) 2 me .
slapping really felt out of fashion in those last 20 years. even Alain Caron, arguably the best slapper alive ( in my opinion better than marcus and victor) said that he doesn't really do or teach slap bass anymore and that he's mostly a fretless guy now. myself i barely slap nowaday, this skill is just not needed in your regular jazz stuff ( i have a single jazz funk song with a big band where a bit of slap can help but even then its not required). i still train some alain caron and andrew gouche 6 string slap stuff but its mostly to challenge myself, the probability that those skill will serve me in a live setting are extremely rare. maybe it can be of use in some solo bass stuff, with 6 string, looper, effect and stuff. one day perhaps.
I totally hear you and you make a great point. Slap is sort of like a lone bassist technique to make up for percussion.
Dude, in the demo you look so much like Lil Yachty it's insane :D Or better said, he looks like you did when you were younger :D
So funny! I didn't know he was, so I had to look him up. 😂
You were just not in the same band same flow with you.
Upright Bassist Slap .
Play funk or Gospel, not an issue
It’s overrated af that’s why