Legato is playing two notes that are connected without any articulation between. Glissanso is playing all the notes between two notes without any articulation.
So, a glis from an A to a D on the E-string would involve sliding between the two while each note in between sounds. But a A-Dslur only has two notes sounded–the A and the D, with there being only articulation on the A.
There can be articulation on both notes with legato phrasing - and on some instruments there has to be - but the key is that the notes overlap, one running in to the next, with no gap.
So it’s not just hammerons and pulloffs; it can also be two plucked notes.
Awesome; that’s what I really wanted to know…trying to learn some Bach stuff and was wondering how else to play it; makes total sense now if I can just playing the running 16th notes without choking off the previous note. No way in hell you could tap and hammer all of that stuff.
It is kinda weird, because a slur on other instruments does not sound like a hammer on or pull off at all. Maybe its the ‘best that bass can do’.
On a fretless a slur would better match say a sax by simply sliding up to the note quickly without plucking on the new note, etc. A bit harder to do on fretted but could still do.
It is what it is I guess.
Besides, sliding from one fret to another on a bass is just cool AF anyway and sounds badass XD
Yep for sure. Entire songs can be in legato; it’s not just for two adjacent notes 
Like I said, they’re called different things on different instruments. A slide is called a glissando on a trombone when it’s technically a portamento because you’re hitting all the notes in-between but it’s not so much the notes that you hit as your intent. A gliss is an intentional slide between two notes, a portamento is an ornamentation.
A slur means a smooth transition between two notes. For most wind instruments, a slur is accomplished by fingering multiple notes while keeping the air moving and not tonguing in between them. That is in essence the same as a hammer-on and pull-off.
