Bass players that never, ever slap their bass*

Interestingly, in the two New Order songs that I mentioned, the slapping occurs
- only in the intro, never to be repeated (if memory serves?) in Perfect Kiss
- only in the outro/fadeout in Murder

 

Great news! I got an email back from the man himself who did the music for Seinfeld!

 

And?

 

we call it fart noises.

I played bass in rock bands for years and I hated the sound of thump popping, I never did that. I preferred the huge low mids mud of a P-bass pushing thru a couple of 15s. Find the kick drum beat and hug it. That was my role, it sounded great, there was no need to make an fool of myself with showboating fart noises.

 

It was just for a question I wanted to ask him.

 

Me.

 

Well, what did you ask him?

 

It was just about when some of his videos were made, that's all.

 

Same set up as me. And if I ever fancied showboating (which I sometimes did), then the fingers worked just fine without that horrible pop and slap nonsense. Hated it then, hate it now.

 

that took all of 18 minutes.

 

Is this is joke?

I'm sorry but this whole thread is completely ridiculous.

 

I think other than funky, some jazz fusion and perhaps a bit of other genre here and there, most bassists actually DON'T slap their basses

 

Sorry. Couldn't resist.

 

My biggest influences :

Leon Wilkeson\Ed King
Johnny Colt\Sven Pipien
Geezer Butler
Tod Bowers
Ron Wood
Bill Wyman\Keith\Mick Taylor
Andy Fraser
Ronnie Lane
John McVie
Paul McCartney

None of them are known for "slapping". It's all about the GROOVE.

Play what the song calls for.

 

Well, I'm a P-bass>SVT>810, but...yeah.

 

Slap bang pluck stroke rub wiggle bow - whatever it takes to get the sound you need. I think immediately of Tony Levin - chops enough to be Robert Fripp's go-to Bass guy for nigh on 30-some years now (no small feat) but can be a very percussive slapper when the sound requires it.

 

I prefer Tony's playing on Double Fantasy - tight and in the pocket, nary a slap in sight

Either way, Tony is one of the greats who will do whatever the situation calls for.

 

With a moniker like mine, I just have to comment on this thread.....! I love bass players who slap or pop just to add a little zest to a bassline. Check out Freddie Washington on Herbie Hancock's "Stars In Your Eyes," where he just occasionally pops a string - love it!

 

I don't think Dee Dee Ramone ever did.

 

Good to know...LOL!

Ed

 

Klaus Voorman

 

Trying to think if I have ever heard Bill Laswell slap a bass. He has such a distinct sound. He can get very funky and bottom heavy but I always think of him as being very fluid and expressive, even when he is just making noise. With a discography like his though, it's hard to know for sure. He's probably done a little bit of everything.

 

ok, so I just spoke to Robbie. my bad
he DID play that chorus, as well as the one on Pull Up to the Bumper by Grace Jones
to him, a lot of players are slapping to show off
plus he feels he is not good enough to do it like Larry Graham, Stanley Clarke or Marcus Miller so he has worked on developing a style that no one else can copy by creating his own sound and focusing on bass lines, which he says need to tell a story that lasts 4 minutes
he enjoyed recording songs with another bass player (1 for Jimmy Cliff with Jaco Pastorius, another or a couple other for Kazumi Watanabe with Marcus Miller) because they could explore uncharted bass territories, complementing each other without stepping on each other's toes.
let me know if you have other questions for him

 

Mmmmm...Robbies baseline on Pull Up to the Bumper - one of the funkiest ever! Whatever he had to slap, pluck, smoke or snort to get that sound, it was worth it!!!