Who plays bass guitar?
 

Is slap technique really as hard as it seems?

Take the side of your thumb, use your wrist, all in the wrist, flick the string....

Is that how it works, cause its not working....

Should I try the paint the fence technique or wax on wax off or something?

I've never fingered it out, though it doesn't matter too much to me personally.

The first slap riff I learned was the verse line from Aeroplane by RHCP. It's pretty simple.

It's when you get to double and tripple pops, it starts to get really hard.

So, I guess you would find a tuition vid on YT for the basics of slap, then learn that riff and the rest should come gradually from there.

Oh, and if you hold your hand out like your clinging to a rock face, thats how you should be holding your hand to play.

So how exatly do you do it?

Say the E string, youuse the side of your thumb. flick your wrist and its supposed to make a sound? I got a shitty sound when I do it, maybe cause Im learning.....

So...Which part of that was strangely?

A lot of basses actually have a thumb rest either at the top of the pickup or close to. The reason they have them there is that it's a common way to play. I'd probably play like it all the time if my fingers could take it. That and the top of my pickup is angular and digs. So sometimes I "pick" the bass, either with a pick or with my thumb.

I do it.

John Deacon (Queen) does it.

Actually, I can only name two or three people who play pick style. Now, slap's a different case, but it hardly makes it unusual. I'd rather nto use a pick, anyway. I prefer the tactile sensation.

A friend of mine sometimes rests his thumb on the top string while playing with his fingers. Then he'll pull his whole hand up a bit if playing the top string. Usually he'll just use a pick though, because it sounds better with his distortion. He can play using slap a bit though, usually just when he messes around, and he actually manages to pull it off pretty well. Not his strongest technique, but he does alright with it.