The BassBuzz 2 Week SLAP Challenge

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Hear ye, hear ye! Calling all slappers and wannabe slappers…

Will ye answer the call of the 2 Week Slap Challenge? Avast!

Okay enough pirate talk. Here’s the deal - I’ve created an exercise that will MAGICALLY make you better at slap (I hope).

Your mission -

  1. grab a “before” video of you attempting the exercise (BEFORE you watch the lesson)

  2. watch the (rough draft) lesson video for more guidance

  3. practice the exercise daily for 10 minutes, for 2 weeks.

  4. grab an “after” video to track your progress, due by Nov 5th

  5. If you get your before/afters in by the deadline, you’ll get a custom forum badge acknowledging your participation. :slight_smile:

Post all your vids, progress, questions, etc. to this thread.

The Exercise, in 5 Levels

Try Level 5 for your “before” video, just for comedy’s sake. :slight_smile:

BB Slap Challenge
BB Slap Challenge1670×1854 252 KB

The Tracks

Here’s a no-bass track you can jam this exercise with, created by our very own @Justyn .

(you can hear me play each level in the video, for reference)

The Lesson

This is a very very rough version of what will eventually be a real Youtube video, for your learning and viewing pleasure. Fans of off-the-cuff Josh will be pleased, fans of fancy production will be disappointed. :stuck_out_tongue:

dailyslap

[original vid has been deleted as the final lesson is now on YT]

My intention is to turn this exercise into another “Practice This Daily” video, and I’d love to use your progress clips in the vid to show that it works! Please let me know if you don’t want your clips on Youtube for the world to see. (I promise to show your progress in a flattering light of course)

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Oh boy… My slapping skills are still pretty abysmal but I’m down to participate! Seems we need to start TODAY to hit the deadline!

Slap on!

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Cool initiative! Would likely work wonders in terms of pushing me to look into slap more seriously.

Alas, I am almost constantly on the road the next two weeks and will have little to no time to practice :cry:

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Good point, bumped it to Nov 5th to give people time to get oriented.

Bummer! Well the exercise and challenge will still exist after the deadline too. :slight_smile:

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Oh, not what I thought :wink:

(British English, slang, offensive) ​an offensive word for a woman, used to suggest that she has a lot of sexual partners.

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This I need, have really bad slap and pop. Will make the before video tomorrow.:slight_smile:

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I’m in! The last “Practice Daily” helped me tremendously, still doing it. Been wanting to get better at slap, but just haven’t put the work in consistently, so this will force me to commit.

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I shall be participating. Just posting this to make myself more accountable.

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I will spectate. I simply don’t slap.

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I will try, I might be out of town for few days but I will see if I can take my bass with me. I haven’t even attempted slapping before.

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@Nebel this might not be the best starting point, as you’ll need your slap and pop functioning decently well already. Resources!

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Cheers boss Josh, I will take a look at this and see.

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Here’s my before – four minutes of me trying to play level 5. I’ll watch the lesson video tomorrow.

Day 1
Level 1

Day 2
Level 2
100 bpm, 132 bpm, then with backing track
I really struggle with slowing down and staying on tempo.

Day 3
Level 3
Warmed up through the first three levels, then hit about 6 minutes of level 3 at 132 bpm then 6 minutes with the backing track.

Day 4
Level 4
Why is that second hammer on throwing me off so much?

Day 5
Level 5
Spent about 10 minutes warming up with levels 1-4 then did a few minutes of level 5 with a click track then 8 minutes of level 5 with the backing track.

Day 6
Level 5
Apparently I’m building stamina today. Playing this for 5 minutes straight is a workout!

Day 7
Level 5
More of the same. warmed up with Level 1-4 then did level 5 for about 6 minutes. I should probably work on my accuracy and muting, but I’m just kinda having fun with it.

Day 8
Level 5
Just putting in more work. Warmed up with levels 1-4 then spent about 10 minutes on Level 5 with the backing track. I had some distractions today, mostly my 5 year old son, but it was still a good practice session.

Day 9
Level 5
Just getting the work in. A little over 10 minutes today at level 5 with the backing track. I need to work on not muting my slap on the slap pop slap pop parts.

Day 10
Level 5
I was very short on time today… I eventually got the practice in. I did feel rushed though.

Day 11
Level 5
It was a busy day today, but got the practice in. It wasn’t great, actually a little rough, but still got it. Happy Halloween everyone.

Day 12
Level 5
I got to practice a lot more today. It was nice to not be rushed. So my left shoulder has been giving me problems for most of this year, mostly in the area of not being able to do pushups and stuff like that. But I realized today that this groove really makes my shoulder burn, especially the second octave part. And that makes me rush through it after I’ve played it for a while. It’s frustrating. I need to get in to see a physical therapist soon. Other than that, I’m really happy with the progress I’ve made in the last 12 days. I definitely feel more comfortable slapping. It didn’t take any secret formula either, just a clever groove to practice every day.

Day 13
Level 5
This didn’t go well today. My shoulder just won’t let me play that last bar with the octaves. I tried for a long time to just will myself to play it well and it didn’t work. This riff is like PT for my shoulder though. It makes it burn like when I do PT for my shoulder and I honestly think it’s helped my shoulder over all, but after playing for a few minutes I just can’t play this riff correctly anymore.
Three months ago I couldn’t bench press 115 pounds without pain in my shoulder, but after playing this riff for almost 30 minutes a day for 13 days I was able to bench 185 pounds for 14 reps today with no pain. So that’s an interesting side effect of this two week slap challenge.

Day 14
Level 5
Last day! This challenge has been amazing. It has helped my accuracy and timing and improved my confidence in the slap technique. Thanks @JoshFossgreen for the challenge.

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OK, here is my before take. I am so bad at this slap and pop technique that I’m not sure if I am the right candidate for this challenge. But I will try.:slight_smile:

Day 1 - level 1 - worked on thumb position.

Day 2 - level 2 - This was not a good bass day, but I did the work. Nothing was easy today, but at least trying to have the thumb the right way:-)

Day 3 and 4, Level 1-5. Still trying to remember to have the thumb up.:-):+1:

Day 5 - Level 5, 20 min.

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Here is mine, think this is an attempt of level 4 and not 5 now that I read the tabs closer. I’ll be keeping it at level 1 or 2 in this morning’s practice.

I’m going to use this post as a practice journal to track how things go.

date minutes notes
10/21 15 stayed on level one, altered my thumb angle a little, used drum machine funk beat at 100bpm. Focused on snare hit timing for the rests.
10/22 20 added in the pops and ghost notes (level 3), solid with drum machine at 110bpm, okay with backing track but feels a little fast, focused on left hand muting, so glad I finally have a good excuse for that thumb over thing I do, revelation → slap on a fretless is possible!
10/23 15 listen to the drums, listen to Josh, ghost notes on the snare, biggest challenges are hitting the open A consistently and muting
10/24 10 busy day at work today pretty beat, still had some good fun working on this, think I’m starting to find the pocket more at least when I lower the tempo a little
10/25 25 able to increase tempo today, need to mute the A string better when I go to do the first hammer on, overall feeling more natural, ended the slap practice trying to play the “on the floor” riff, doesn’t sound great, but couldn’t even attempt it before so that’s a win.
10/26 5 not much to report on today, just had enough time to run through the backing track once
10/27 25 little more time tonight, recorded a sample, I notice a lot more separation in the notes and more definition in the ghost notes, and also some questionable intonation, but that’s another story.day seven attempt
10/28 0 oh man, missed a day, had a great time out on a trail with my daughter but no time for bass
10/29 10 played to the backing track, slowed down and added the level 5 melody part
10/30 30 got into the flow tonight, worked on level 5, muting work, finished the slap practice some “get on the floor” attempts, pretty rough but having fun
10/31 20 all hopped up my daughter’s trick or treat candy, got an extra 10 minutes in on the drill tonight
11/1 15 Worked on those ascending octaves tonight, and transitioning from the riff before it, sounding better.
11/2 5 not much time tonight, quick run through is all I could do
11/3 10 Day 14 already! Oh no, could use a few more days, but I’ll keep working on it. This was a lot of fun. I practiced it 10 minutes and now its time to make my video.

Here is my Day 14 video

And another one on my fretted bass as @John_E recommended, I like the “pops” better on this one.

Thanks for bringing this challenge to us @JoshFossgreen! I’ve been very inconsistent about practicing slap. I tell myself this is because its not central to my style or goals, but I realize I was probably avoiding it more because it was difficult, and I actually enjoy it. I usually practice about an hour a night, so there is really no reason I can’t spend 10 minutes working on it. I very much appreciate the way the exercise was leveled and how it incorporated a variety of techniques. It also helped to have fellow BassBuzzers working on it at the same time, that was pretty cool.

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I love this idea.
I’m enjoying the course, but this kind of ‘add ons’ takes it to a whole new level.
Also I had to leave the bass this summer and it made me lose the initiative and I needed a deadlined challenge to regain some momentum. Without deadlines there are no bass lines? :upside_down_face:
I must say I haven’t reached the point where the slap technique is explained in the course, but I’ll try this challenge anyway.
A true story of begginner to… badass? We’ll see.
Please, Josh, keep it up with more challenges like this!
Good luck to all the B2Bs out there!

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Okay! Here’s is my “before” video! I had to trim some out of the middle of the video since I didn’t have the backing track ready when I hit record. I don’t have the backing track included in the final version so the bass stands alone.

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This was fun and humbling lol. I never post practice material and usually only finish product. This is quite the opposite as my 2nd time reading the sheet with no chunking.

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The open A string turns out to be a challenging spot as I usually don’t slap the open string unless it’s a filler note to allow me to move to different part of the fingerboard seamlessly. So this is a new learning experience for me.

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