Ditto @Ross Trotter - that is the most straigthtforward, easiest to understand demonstration of this technique I have ever seen. Really appreciate you taking the time to make the vid. - thank you!
Great video! I was stuck on triplet slaps. Within about five minutes of watching your demonstration I had it figured out. Nice sound, and in-the-pocket feel too. Bravo!
best lesson i seen so far, i'm a complete beginner to this. i can play some intermediate level stuff on electric bass, but this is a totally different beast, and i wanted to learn from the beginning and have a bit of knowledge about it before i get a double bass.
Thank you... Just what I needed... Been playing bass all my life... Just recently started playing upright, and REALLY enjoying it... Seems like everybody wants to see me "slap" the bass...??? Or stand on it, or wear it like a big electric bass, or something like that...??? Thought it sounded great just the way I was playing it...??? This was very informative for someone like myself who wants an inside look at the technique... Thank you again...
It could be your setup or your strings. For easy slapping get some weed whacker strings. I love the hillbilly slap strings if you can find a set. Right now I am using innovation strings they are steel but wrapped in nylon.
Thanks for the instruction Heath. Great work. Are you saying that in this video you are using the innovation strings? I am trying to mimic your sound with a set of Velvet Animas and it seems very hard. I understand that the weed whacker strings have very little tone especially the E string but you say they're good for easy slapping. Do you agree about the tone issue?
youngspanion Yes in this video I had Innovation strings on the bass. I am back to using Weed Wackers now. I use the ones made by Barefoot Larry. They are called Hill Billy Slap Strings. I have been using the same set since 2005. I LOVE them for slapping. They are not as loud as the innovations but I always use an amp so that problem is solved. I would suggest trying a set for yourself. If you do, give them a few weeks to settle in and get used to them. It makes slapping WAY WAY easier. But that being said, some people HATE them so you never know.
Thank you!! I am going to practice this! My friend needed me to play bluegrass for her.. and I was just like... um well this isn't my thing but I can definitely learn ... So thanks!
Hi! amazing data question: walking bass with a slap or without slap....depends on the style? sorry is just I'm a little bit ignorant about the double bass and I'm studying the instrument
Great video! Can you guide us to any sites or tell us what pick ups your are using and any other electronics ? Also what are the best string for slapping?
Is the method Steve Brown invented(?) back in 1920? I've always wanted to know how to do it. Seems really quite hard, and not at all like electric bass "slapping" To hear what I'm talking about, search for this here, it's Steve Brown's best number: My Pretty Girl Goldkette
thanks for share your knowlodge, could i ask you something? on nylon strings is it the same volume as when uses metal strings on doublebass whit a fishmanpickup?
Hi! I just got an upright bass, and every time I try to slap, I have to slap very hard to get a decent slapping sound. You seem to be able to slap so easily! Whenever I try, my hand just bounces off the strings therefore making me have to slap harder-unusually hard. What could be the problem here? Thanks!
I would say buy one with most of the wood in tact. See what you have access to down there. Have you priced them? Zowie! Even cheapo pressed wood ones can cost you a lot. Start hanging out at auctions and get to know local orchestra directors.
+luis vital I would stay away from the Chinese basses. You end up spending a bunch of money to get them to play right. I play a `1961 Kay and I love it. Englehart makes a decent bass for a grand or more. You can find them used for less. Slap King makes some nice ones but they are around 2 grand.
This is nice-but it doesn't help me to play like Ray Brown in a video I saw of him, doing the slapping technique-he appears to be on another level with it. Also I had developed a similar technique(my own)decades ago, when I was strictly a bass guitarist; didn't know anything about jazz or Ray Brown and all of what I learned was self-taught, with a little observation at times, here and there. The technique in question also, I was inspired to come up with by watching the late bass phenom, Louis Johnson, over four decades ago. It's not a big deal now I suppose, because all such was what I considered part of the bygone era of Funk and progressive R&B(it was great)and then decades later, I learned how to play the upright bass, but I'm sort of 'outside the loop" if you will(not a part of the "click"; never was-and never ever will be), so you'll never hear about a person like me, besides, I'm in my mid 60s now, and I know the world has pretty much passed on a cat like me(does that mean I've passed on myself?)...but I like jazz also, and this technique I recall, seems to be quite standard for Rockabilly and Bluegrass and such, but it's not a technique you will find endorsed or played by a lot of jazz cats anymore, the way I understand it used to be, a long time ago. But I think the instructor in this video makes it easy for the beginner or intermediate player to pick-up on it(slapping technique), and he seems like he might be a good instructor in teaching the fundamentals of the upright bass also, for anyone that would be willing to learn from him. 2-9-23.
