Time to Slap?

Believe it or not most people who wanted to learn bass are because of slapping. They think that it is slapping on the bass that will make them groove, funky or look cool. Well!
Depend on how each individual view it.

The slap technique origin from Larry Graham. It was out of necessity as their drummer was not around and he had to use the bass to double up providing the snare drum.

Throughout the years we saw a few ways to slap and thump that bass. I will just quickly touch on the most basic of it.

What I usually do is to use my thumb and strike the last fret of my bass. It’s like bouncing on it and come back. Some people like to do the thumb down and up method. Occasionally I use the thumb down and pluck with my fore finger followed by my middle.

Try to slap on every open string and get the same volume. D and G string are thinner so might be more difficult to strike. With some practice should be no problem.

Think of a drum pattern and practise with it. For now you can treat the bass drum as your slap and snare drum as your pop.Your pop can be the octave of the note you slap. Up to you. Get the technique right first before playing with a time machine.Got a PC and don't want to spend on a metronome? Thank God for www.metronomeonline.com.Select a comfortable tempo and groove.

Ok hope you have some fun with it and don't rush.

Cheers,

Ben