Top 5 Slap Tips in Under 5 Mins

From Larry Graham’s iconic thumps and plucks to the quirky grooves of Les Claypool, slap bass is a pretty amazing technique that can add a funky flavor to any style of music. In today’s video we’re going to show you our 5 top tips to get you started AND we’re going to do it all in under 5 minutes!

Tip 01: How hard do you slap?

Like any technique, don't make your playing style harder than it has to be. You don't have to hit the strings super hard in order to get a good slap bass sound. It’s got to be a relaxed, fluent motion. If you tense up your wrist you’re going to have problems.

Tip 02: Thumbs up or thumbs down?

As for your hand position, the basic technique usually combines a wrist-twisting thumb slap with an index-finger pop. While there are a lot of variations, switching from having your thumb roughly pointing downwards to having it more parallel to the strings will give you access to the basic strokes. Don’t look for any shortcuts. Sit and put in the time and try to figure out how to make the sound you want.

Tip 03: Which strings?

Generally speaking, flatwound strings will produce a sound that emphasizes the mid-range. Roundwound strings have more low-end thump and will give you a brighter and more aggressive attack in the high-end. Before you do anything, if you can get yourself a new set of roundwound strings, you’ve arrived as a slap bass player. You don’t want to be slapping on tired old strings.

Tip 04: How to setup for slap

A low action may give you more facility to play fast licks, but you risk losing a lot of your available range in terms of timbre and volume. With a slightly higher action you can still play soft, but you can also hit the strings harder. Set your action high enough so that the sound is big, but low enough so that you get a slight bit of rattle when you really dig in. “I like the action, or string height, to be quite low,” Mark King once told SBL. “My bass is set at 2.9mm at the 12th fret across the neck.”

Tip 05: It has to groove!

Slap bass has a natural tendency to encourage muso show-offs, which often prompts its rejection in mainstream rock and pop especially. Remember that with great slap skills, comes great responsibility! It’s WAY cooler to play in the groove with fewer notes, than to stutter and stammer with too many. It’s easy to get lost in the technical side of the technique, but there’s nothing wrong with keeping it simple.