Slapping on the D and G string are impossible

so i have been playing the bass for a total of about 2 and a half weeks and i found a great warm up song {THE ORAL CIGARETTES, HEY KIDS}, but it involves slapping in one section. its only got 3 notes to slap on the D string. 1 on the twelve fret and 2 on the tenth fret. when i try to slap any note past the eighth fret of the D string it becomes very tinny and sometimes barely makes any sound at all. don’t even get me started about the G string, it almost always doesn’t make any sound. like how hard do you have to hit these strings to get sound. I don’t know what the problem is and it is frustrating watching everybody else slap and get nice even[ish] sound across all their strings.

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Welcome @dualspiral66

Slapping is something I’m still yet to get anywhere near mastering but Josh covers it in s great module on the B2B course.
Basically to get a decent sound out of the D and G string you’ve got to hit them harder and show them who’s boss

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Awesome! Japanese indie rock rules. Actually for those guys they are just “rock” at this point I guess - pretty big at this point.

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Welcome to Bass Buzz @dualspiral66

Slapping these strings can be very frustrating because of muting. it feels impossible to slap these strings to get any sound, without making all sorts of racket on the E and A string.
Two muting techniques might help, along with re-positioning of your right hand when you are slapping.

1 - palm mute the E string with your right hand, sort of reset your hand on that string while you are slapping. if you can get the A string with the heel of your palm as well, thats a plus, but you should at least be able to get one string.
2 - place your index finger flat across all 4 strings, and use your middle finger, or ring finger, or pinky, which ever feels most comfortable, to fret the note. your finger is behind the fretted note, so it mutes all the other strings.

once you get this down, you won’t feel so reluctant to slap the D and G string.

also, if you move your right hand towards the bridge, away from the neck a bit, so you are slapping in about the middle, or even closer to the bridge. This is where I get the most volume out of a slap.

I am no expert, but this is what works for me, and I get a little crazy watching some of the experts barely touch a string and get crazy sound out of it. But that will come in time, start with this and see if it helps.

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Could also be setup. Every single bass I have owned arrived with way too high an action for slapping. If the action is set too high it’s just hard to slap.

Generally you want a really low action for slap. Could you take a cellphone pic from the side showing how high your G string is from the fretboard?

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Not so bad. That looks like it might be a bit high - not outrageous but could be lower. My action is pretty low and is about 2mm clearance at the last fret, for comparison.

You could try lowering it and seeing if it helps. This is a great video describing how:

That will help, but might not solve the problem for you. At only a little time playing like you have, I’d say it most likely technique.

Are you working through the course? Josh covers slapping in a later module and describes good slap technique.

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I have heard Marcello say that slappers like the action a little higher.

I love my low action, and I don’t change it for slapping, but I have heard from several sources that slappers like a little more action.

Not too much, there is a fine line, but a little on the high side is supposed to be desirable.

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That’s counter to everything I have heard, to my own experience, to what Josh says in the course, and to what Marcelo says in that video :slight_smile:

In fact he describes his JB as being set super low because he only uses it for slap.

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Yeah, it isn’t in that video, and it might have been some other people. I didn’t think it sounded right, but I have heard some say slappers like it up a little.
As said, didn’t think it sounded right, but I did hear it a couple places.

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Are we going to have a slap off?

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Man I can’t slap for sh*t without a low action :slight_smile:

Super surprising someone would want it high, I can’t see that working out at all.

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Didn’t say high, just said a little higher, a fine line, just a little up for more thump is what was being said, but it could be wrong, you never can trust YT videos completely.

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I am game

round 1

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Okay, there’s one for Team High. Now let’s hear from Team Low.

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Wait, my action is super low.
There is some confusion here. I did not actually advocate for high action for slapping.
all I was saying is that the action on the bass posted, may be a little higher then desired, as Howard pointed out, and I was just saying, it might not be too high for slapping, cuz I have heard from some, somewhere that slappers, at least some, like a little higher action. the key word in that last sentence is LITTLE

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High or low action, I can’t get a decent slap sound no matter which. I purchased the slap course at TalkingBass during the last sale, but haven’t started it yet.

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I suck at slap - certain Toby’s better than I am. I’m just super surprised to hear that anyone would prefer higher action for it as it’s opposite pretty much all the advice I’ve been given.

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Please just note that I do not prefer higher action for it, I have only heard that some do??

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Slap bass is much harder to play on the D and G strings comparative to the E and A strings. It is also harder to slap on the frets above the 7th or 9th and get decent sound as compared with open strings up to the 7th/9th fret area.

You’re working with two real serious challenges simultaneously. I don’t approach these strings with lots of thumb action with my students until they’ve gone through a month or two of E and A slap, D and G pops.

It’s a tough place to develop technique, is what I’m saying.

Go back to open E and A, and if you get perfect sound there, go to open D and G until you get perfect thumb sound on all 4.
Then work on 3rd-5th-7th fret ideas across all 4 until you feel like you can keep solid perfect slap tone across all 4 strings fretted in the sweet spot of the neck.
Once you’ve got that, move up to the 10th-12th frets and see if it’s any better.

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