About Opentopia
Opentopia Directory Encyclopedia Tools

Slapping

Encyclopedia : S : SL : SLA : Slapping

In music, the term slapping is often used to refer to two different though related playing techniques on the double bass and on the (electric) bass guitar.

Contents

Double bass

On double bass it refers to the technique that is a more vigorous version of pizzicato where the string is plucked so hard that when released, it bounces off the finger board, making a distinctive sound. Notable slap style double bass players have included Bill Johnson, Wellman Braud, Pops Foster, Milt Hinton and Lee Rocker.

Bass guitar

On bass guitar it usually refers to a technique that consists of hitting a bass guitar's strings with the thumb of the strumming hand near the base of the guitar's neck, often combined with plucking the strings with the index or middle finger of the same hand (the latter more specifically called "popping", i.e., "Slapping and popping"). The invention is generally credited to Sly & the Family Stone bassist Larry Graham; Graham has stated in several interviews that he was trying to emulate the sound of a drum set after the band he was in lost its drummer.

The technique

The slapping technique is used to achieve a percussive "popping" bass sound, which is one of the signature sounds of funk music. A bass guitar played using the slapping technique in a well executed way is almost per definition funky, although many funk bassists do not use the technique at all. (see for example Francis 'Rocco' Prestia of Tower of Power, Bernard Edwards of CHIC, Jaco Pastorius, Paul Jackson of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters) Slapping is nearly always used in conjunction with popping, which is a technique in which a finger is hooked under a string and used to pull the string away from the bass guitar so that it slaps against the neck when released. Usually slapping refers to a playing style that combines both these techniques, i.e. slapping and popping also referred to as slap and pop.

The unique sound of the slapping technique comes from the string hitting the fretboard with high force, and gives a much more percussive sound than regular fingering of notes with the strumming hand. The sound is also usually louder and more distinct than the sound of a bass guitar played using the usual finger style techniques. This feature combined with the fact that a bass guitarist using the slapping technique often looks quite spectacular has contributed to the popularity of the technique both with players and listeners. Critics suggest that the technique is often merely used for show purposes, often detrimental to the musicality of the bass playing.

Variants

There are numerous variants of the slapping technique, which extend the basic actions by including other percussive strumming techniques, such as adding hammered notes, and repeating slap and pop patterns to effectively produce the equivalent of a drumroll on the bass guitar (see Victor Wooten).

Another variant of the slapping technique involves the so called 'Slapring'. The Slapring consists of a thin metal tube about 4 cm long. The tube is not completely closed but offers a small gap in length so that it fits thumbs of any size. Connected with the Slapring is a special playing and striking technique. It allows the bassist to slip in more double stops, chords, scratch sounds and overtones. The first song ever recorded using this technique is 'Space Machine' written by Gerald Reese. The Slapring was invented and patented by Gerald Reese (Germany, 1996).

Examples

Some bass guitar players known for their use of slapping in their playing , with notable bands and/or artists they have worked with:

Some songs with prominent bassplaying using the slapping technique:

See also

External links

 

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

Search Titles
0123456789
ABCDEFGHIJ
KLMNOPQRST
UVWXYZ?

E-mail this article to:

Personal Message: