SLapping..pls correct me.

[kreed]

i just started out TRYING to slap..but i juz wanna ask..when u guys slap ur bass,do u slap wif quite a lot of strength? cuz sometimes when i slap, there is sort of an "exploding" -puck- sound..and it makes me feel like i'm hurting my amp

 

[rottenramone]

..

i used to think that you need a lot of strength to slap the bass. not true. the idea is to flick your wrist lightly and use the hard part of your thumb to lightly tap on the string.

 

[kreed]

i forgot to ask another thing..if i slap too softly,the strings dont really touch the fretboard and the sounds seems to be like normal playing..is dat wrong?(juz wanna make sure)

 

[3notesAbar]

Your action is too high probably. And also, the PUCK sound is probably the strings touching the pickup poles (magnets) when you slap too hard.

Lower your action, play comfortably and slap the strings so that it bounces off the last few frets of the neck.

 

[exin]

i suggest that you bring your bass down for a proper setup to lower the action and stuff ..

please note that when you lower your action, your tone WILL change if you don't adjust the pickups at the same time .. also you won't be able to play as hard as possible if you were playing hard at all in the first place.. alot of times slap setup has low action that requires a soft touch to play to prevent overbuzzing ..

go hear marcus miller if you wanna learn slap ..

 

[rylche]

yeah. i just lowered all my saddles to a really low action, really love the slap tone man! playing's so much easier now. but yeah, a softer touch is needed. cant play too hard right now. the tone's also much more overdriven kinda sound. really love the kinda "buzz-mwah" tone now 8)

 

[exin]

if you find that your sound is too overdriven you may wanna lower the pickups to lower the output .. i figured that since you lowered your saddles your strings are much close to the pickups than before .. so the pickups are "reading' more of the strings than before .. that may account for the overdriven sound thingy .. =) .. cheers buddy .. happy slapping!

 

[RentaBass]

yeah. i just lowered all my saddles to a really low action, really love the slap tone man! playing's so much easier now. but yeah, a softer touch is needed. cant play too hard right now. the tone's also much more overdriven kinda sound. really love the kinda "buzz-mwah" tone now 8)

That's strange....there shouldn't really be a "buzz-mwah" sound, thought you should be getting more of a metallic thump, with a pinch of clicking from the frets slapping against the string....is your action too low?

It could be caused by excessively low action, which causes fret buzz. That can lead you a very undefined sound, as the amp picks up all the buzzing. Not a pretty sound. Try playing around with your set up a little more, it changes the sound and playability a lot.