Learn More Information About Slap Bass

Slap Bass History

Slap bass was invented by Larry Graham in his mothers band Sly & The Family Stone when the band didn't have a drummer. Larry tried to duplicate the drums on his bass. He would slap the string with his thumb to emulate the sound of a bass drum and pop the string with his finger to emulate the sound of a snare drum. Since then many bassists have took this style and made it there own from Les Claypool, Louis Johnson, Flea, Victor Wooten and many more. Bands back in the day sometimes used slap bass so they could be heard over the other instruments in the band.

What is Slap bass?

Slap Bass is basically a technique that involves striking the strings with your thumb to produce a slapped kind of effect. There are different variations of slapping the string, you can either strike with your thumb parallel to your strings or with your thumb facing downwards. To pop, your fingers are used to pull the strings from underneath and let them go to produce a popping kind of effect. Your middle and index finger are used to produce the popping noise. Both techniques come together to be known as slap and pop, or slapping and popping. The E and A strings are usually slapped and the D and G strings are usually popped. Hammer-ons, pull-offs, ghost notes and left hand slap are things that can be incorporating into your slap bass playing. I will have lessons in the slap bass category explaining these techniques.

About Slap Bass

Slap bass is a precession effect that is played on the bass guitar, the effect has become very popular amongst bassists and the style keeps on growing and growing. Slap bass is very popular in the music genres Funk, Jazz, Latin, etc but has become quite popular nowadays in a wide range of music styles. Slap bass is a different approach to playing the bass, as playing the bass is traditionally playing with either your fingers or by using a pick. Slap bass also brings the sounds of the bass to the front rather than making the bass sound like a backing instrument as it currently is.