| Author | Message | ||
| funkyjazzjunky
Senior Member Username: funkyjazzjunky Post Number: 406 Registered: 5-2007 |
I enjoy it when Stanley, Marcus and Victor slap their basses during solos. It seems to me that too many young bassist think that you cannot play any lines without thumbing them to death. I love Anthony Jackson and others that rely on the tone of their bass. | ||
| olieoliver
Senior Member Username: olieoliver Post Number: 2205 Registered: 2-2006 |
Agreed Vann. Slappin'-Tappin'-Poppin'....is all cool when used tastefully. I've seen some younger cats wearin'it out slappin' away and have NO idea whats going on with the fretboard. It's like they've forgotten they have 2 hands, (usually). One of the all time greats, Jamerson, only used 1 finger pluck the strings. THE HOOK! But what great lines with the fretting hand. OO | ||
| terryc
Senior Member Username: terryc Post Number: 745 Registered: 11-2004 |
I have gotten so many jobs in bands where the bass player is building a shed, now I can slap just as good as any of us but if you are going to play 'My Girl', well hammering 16th's at 500BPM with your taped thumb just doesn't do it for the song. Jaco and Rocco play the funkiest lines without all that but I still like to hammer the s**t out of the fretboard at times. Time and a place for every style and being flash doesn't mean you are good, just means you have spent hours in your bedroom practising that style only. | ||
| gyonnii
New Username: gyonnii Post Number: 7 Registered: 3-2009 |
It's because they lack passion in their playing...Like a Orchestral symphony..That is full and powerful, Airy and sweet..But only when it needs to be, such is the Bass Player who strives to shine as one and strives to shine together as one with his fellow musicians. We all must wait until the Conductor gives you your Cue to shine otherwise all the dynamics of the piece is lost in the shuffle of notes as they collide into the air of space, which then leaves nothing, but a passing of musical tones for our ears to sort out..And what's left is our moment of shine and your fellow band members look at you with respect and resentment for your talent, for you have left behind your fellow musicians, play with passion! you will earn total respect from others whom you meet along the way. | ||
| eligilam
Intermediate Member Username: eligilam Post Number: 165 Registered: 2-2006 |
I'm reminded of why I cancelled my BassPlayer subscription back in the late '90's: they were so hung up on the "gospel of groove" that it was turning into more of an anti-slap anti-tap gestapo..anything that didn't groove didn't count as bass playing, or so it seemed at the time. I recently re-visited their mag and found them much more accomodating to the "technique geeks" like myself... I mean, I loooove "Come On, Come Over," but I'll take Primus' "Lacquerhead" over it in a pinch. To each his own! Back to my atonal thwackety thwack... Cheers! | ||
| funkyjazzjunky
Senior Member Username: funkyjazzjunky Post Number: 407 Registered: 5-2007 |
Do not get me wrong, one of my favorite songs is 'Thank You Falleten Me Bee Mice-elf Again' with Larry Graham snapping and popping throughout. But I do not want to listen to an entire set | ||
| bsee
Senior Member Username: bsee Post Number: 2241 Registered: 3-2004 |
Claypool hits notes. He has a feel that creates a texture and it does groove. That song is nothing like the drivel that Dickens was putting forth in the youtube video from the Ampeg booth. I wonder if you turned up his metronome by 10bpm if he would have fallen apart. It sounded like he might, that he was pushing his limits. Now, if he wasn't, that's just as bad because sounding like you are shouldn't be anyone's goal. Personally, I enjoy listening to Vic Wooten. He plays as fast as one could hope, but never sounds like he's pushing it. He always seems to be in control and placing each note where he wants it rather than just trying to fit it in before the next one. You can groove while slapping. While it might be good practice to slap as fast as you possibly can, it is hard for most of us to listen to. Take that technique and be creative. If you're playing audible notes, then say something with the notes. If you're just creating percussive hits, then throwing in a skipped beat here and there will make the piece a lot more interesting than straight 16ths at 200bpm. When notes are combined with percussive hits, slap can create some really interesting grooves. Musician and technician are two separate things. You can be one or the other, or both. Of the possible combinations, a technician who isn't a musician will be the hardest for me to listen to. Well, next to someone who is neither a technician nor a musician, but that goes without saying. -bob | ||
| peoplechipper
Member Username: peoplechipper Post Number: 52 Registered: 2-2009 |
Bob, I'm certainly no technician, and barely a musician in my opinion(others who I've played with disagree with me on that, so I guess I hide my ignorance well!) I don't even know how to slap (yet) someone said that the music actually lives between the notes, and I fully believe that; sometimes that quarter-note rest makes ALL the difference to a phrase... Someone like Claypool seems to understand this and can use all his technique to make his point or just a few notes...Tales from the punchbowl album comes to mind in that respect... Frank Zappa once said about free jazz guys that they often created constellations of "gnat notes" that dissipated into little brown clouds of nothing(or something like that...) there are lots of people out there with technique but lack feel; If you ever wanna test this, take your local lead guitar player and make him play bass...many will fail as they don't FEEL time like a good rythmn player or bassist does...I think good time feel is the only talent I have( in music anyway) which saved my ass in my old band, playing rock tunes in 9/8, 7/4, etc. time... Maybe some of the slappity/poppity guys (as my buddy Geoff calls them...Who's an AWESOME bass player himself) are 'diverted' lead guitar players? | ||
| peoplechipper
Member Username: peoplechipper Post Number: 53 Registered: 2-2009 |
Gyonnii, I went back and read your post again after mine and you do hit a major point...but I don't think it's passion, it's sensitivity...(after all, getting to that level of technique means spending a lot of time being passionate with one's self!) surrender to the song; don't make the song surrender...Tony | ||
| white_cloud
Senior Member Username: white_cloud Post Number: 633 Registered: 11-2007 |
I agree that technique alone is never enough - feel, groove and timing for a bassist should be king imho! I pretty much mastered the slap/popping technique but very much moved away from it, probably unconsciously because I just didnt find it very useful in the music I was playing. There are some awesome slap players around ( I agree that Wooten Claypool Miller etc are masters of it ) who blend it beautifully into the music that they are playing but for every good example there are two bad ones. Take Mark King for example, Im not saying he is a particular bad example or anything as he is a monster player - in fact he has killer technique - but he uses it on about 90% of every song he plays...... after two hours of listening to him live recently I felt like my head had been attacked by a woodpecker. John. | ||
| gyonnii
New Username: gyonnii Post Number: 8 Registered: 3-2009 |
I choose Passion because to feel to see to play correctly and to express yourself as a Musician you must know yourself, before you can love, you must love yourself in knowing who you are, so as I express whatever I do in my playing, whether it is a slap a pop a slide sustain, vibrato etc....I have to know me and for others to appreciate me and know I am not just a copy kat player they can see it in your face...Just watch Victor's face while he plays..Pure passion for his love of the instrument and the knowing that he is controlling what he plays from within...Not coming from his ears or what he thinks..It's all good as long as you know who you are as from within..Be it from your mind , heart and soul, Passion will always be the common denominator and trust me these words are not mine , They were passed down to me while I was a student of John. John Judge taught me to feel these word's while I was his student back in 1974-1977 and it made me a better player today..We all at times get to worried about what others think about what we play if they don't like all the pops or slaps, Then they will move on to listen to what they enjoy but in the audience of life out there...There is some one who will look at you and listen and say you are the greatest at what you do...to put this all simple..Enjoy your Bass for you have choosen to be the Bass! | ||
| georgie_boy
Senior Member Username: georgie_boy Post Number: 675 Registered: 8-2005 |
Amen Brother!! | ||
| peoplechipper
Member Username: peoplechipper Post Number: 59 Registered: 2-2009 |
I was talking to a friend today, who pointed out that many of the best producers/arrangers of the modern era were bass players; makes sense as bass players are usually the guys trying to make the drums and guitars work with each other...Tony |
