So how do you slap?

[constant mesh]

Simple question - how should you hit the string with your thumb when slapping? In a piano hammer fashion or do you actually make a partial downstroke like with a pick?

[One Bad Monkey]

Re: So how do you slap?

Either. The greats do both.

However, striking through the string on the downstroke will set you up to use the thumb as the upstroke as well (which is what Vic's double thumbing technique is about). Here's a couple vids I did about slap, particularly the thumb.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/th...ics-the-thumb/
http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/ti...humb-upstroke/

[Falloffthebonetone]

Re: So how do you slap?

Tons of people do it differently. Flea bounces his thumb off the string and strikes it perpendicular to the string between the pickups. Marcus Miller sort of plucks the string with his slap with a downstroke that like bad OBM said, will set you up for an upstroke, and he picks by the neck. Les Claypool does kind of a mixture of both.

[jtougas]

Re: So how do you slap?

Arm fully extended, fingers slightly flexed to act as force multiplier, thumb at a right angle to travel, apply to the back of the head as needed...

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: So how do you slap?

I don't usually slap. In fact I don't usually use my fingers, so when I do slap, it's pretty basic. I watched the first video of Slap Bass Basics, and never progressed past that.

BTW are you using a Jack Bruce Warwick in those videos?

[Scott Olson]

Re: So how do you slap?

I usually slap thumb straight out almost perpendicular but just a bit of angle and use the index finger to pop some of the higher strings as needed.

[One Bad Monkey]

Re: So how do you slap?

BTW are you using a Jack Bruce Warwick in those videos?

Yep, the Artist Series version (read: made in Korea). Specwise, it's the same as the German made, except it doesn't have the side LEDs on the fretboard, which for the price difference, I'm okay with.

[Rockstar216]

Re: So how do you slap?

Does the same apply to a lead guitar? I've tried and use three different types of techniques I either pop with my thumb, hit the string parallel, or a downstroke which to me isn't that effective or I just don't do it properly. On a bass it seems to be way easier.

[jon the art guy]

Re: So how do you slap?

I'm either using a perpendicular strike with the side of my thumb knuckle or striking with my fingertips. I seldom pop as I suck at it. I have an SG bass, so the neck is crowded and thin anyway and the pickups are widely assumed to be possibly the worst pickups ever made by god, man or devil for pop slap work.

[BlueTalon]

Re: So how do you slap?

Does the same apply to a lead guitar? I've tried and use three different types of techniques I either pop with my thumb, hit the string parallel, or a downstroke which to me isn't that effective or I just don't do it properly. On a bass it seems to be way easier.

Slap is all about percussion. On a bass it seems way easier because on a bass it IS way easier. Bass strings have more mass and length, and respond more readily to being struck, than the thinner guitar strings.

[BlueTalon]

Re: So how do you slap?

To answer the OP's question about how to slap...

Tons of people do it differently.

This.

I do a little slap, not much. For myself, I can hit the E string reliably with my thumb. When I try to hit the A string, I sometimes am not accurate and sometimes don't hit it well. More so with the D string. So when the music requires it, I do a lot of percussive playing ("slap") with my fingers instead of my thumb. It's not the sort of technique I would teach or even recommend, but it works for me.

[dr. ad]

Re: So how do you slap?

i use as little force as possible, keep my hands otherwise relaxed and striking the string just before the end of the fingerboard with the last knuckle of the outstretched thumb;
this usually results in sounding like someone crashing a stolen car into an orchestra, dragging the bumper and muffler along the ground as they flee the scene.

[Johnny the Kid]

Re: So how do you slap?

Yep, the Artist Series version (read: made in Korea). Specwise, it's the same as the German made, except it doesn't have the side LEDs on the fretboard, which for the price difference, I'm okay with.

I never understood the idea of the led lights on the sides. I guess I've always played on stages that are fairly well lit.

Anyways, to answer the OP's question. I've been paying attention to how I slap a lot more recently. I have hitchhiker's thumb (when i put my thumb up it looks like it's bent at a 90 degree angle). This helps a lot when I slap, because I can use my thumb even more so as a hammer. I tend to hit the string at a small angle right at the bend (I don't know what it's actually called). It get's a good pop out of the note. Very recently, I've been trying to use my fingers a lot more on the bass, so I've also expanded to the style of slapping common on the double bass where you pull the string away from the fretboard until it snaps back. I'm gonna post a video of my cover of Muse's Panic Station sometime soon.

[crguti]

Re: So how do you slap?

I use a method that was discovered since the beginning of time. It works like a charm.

[GuitarStv]

Re: So how do you slap?

How has nobody responded "like a little girl" yet?