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Slapping

When you do slapping, it’s easier to have your guitar positioned fairly high on your body. It’s really difficult to slap with it slung too low, so make sure you have it high enough. I would say that the lowest it should go is with the bottom of your bass at your waist. Yes, that’s high, but it will definitely help you in the long run. You should be able to bend your arm and have it run parrallel to the strings. When you slap, you should be hitting the strings right around the second to last fret on your bass.

Fret the note you want to play with your left hand as usual. With your right thumb, hit the string with with the side of your thumb near the knuckle, where it’s a bit knobbier. This way, it won’t be your entire thumb that is hitting the string, but just one part of it. When it hit the string, don’t just let your finger sit there, because that will mute the sound you just tried to create. Allow your finger to bounce back off the string to allow it to sound. It’ll take a whilte to get used to playing like this. At first, your notes may sound muddy or partially muted, but keep practicing until you can get a sharp, percussive sound.

Popping

When you want to pop a string, take your index finger on your right hand and sort of hook it under the string at the first knuckle. Then, twist your wrist up and out to both raise the string up a little and unlodge your finger from under the string. Slapping produces almost the same sound as popping, though it tends to be a bit more percussive and sharp.

Tags: Articles & Lessons //