slapping

Number One

New member
My friend has been bugging me to teach him to slap on his bass, but i don't play bass so... any advice or links that can be provided would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
Re: slapping

use your thumb. Hit the string so that it slaps down, and pops up from under the side of your thumb. Generally I hit on the bottom of the neck. Once you've got the feel for slapping acurately, start popping up with whichever finger is most comfortable. Easiest way to learn is to hit the bottom string and top string for the pop. Practice getting used to slapping and popping in a fluid motion and you can get pretty fast too. Once he's gotten used to slapping open strings a common fingering is two frets apart(3, 5) and skipping one string. Hope that helped some. It's best if you can show it.
 
Re: slapping

pivot at your wrist. hit through the string, not right on the string. (the thumb should land on the fretboard, not bounce from the string) work up a nice callous

slade
 
Re: slapping

As mentioned above, learn the basic movements first, alternating between
thumb/slaps and finger/pops (finger pops = actually pulling the string away
from the fingerboard and releasing it, creating the note). Then practice octaves
in all positions, and mix it up a bit using different combinations. For example,
using a sixteenth note pattern, instead just T-P-T-P, T-P-T-P, T-P-T-P, T-P-T-P
(where T = thumb and P = pop) try T-T-P-T, T-P-T-T, T-P-P-T, P-T-P-T, etc.

Hope this makes sense. Also check this page out for details on right hand
technique: http://www.warwickbass.com/basssurvival101/lesson_5slap.htm

It has some little movies that demonstrate the moves. BTW, guitarists can
use this technique, too (a la Van Halen's "Mean Street" intro on the Fair
Warning album).
 
Back
Top