Funk Bass: Slapping or Popping?
 

Question to all fellow bass guitarists:

Do you prefer to slap or pop anything below E (the largest string). I myself find popping much easier.

I find it easier to pop D and G strings, but that's coming from someone who doesn't use those techniques very often at all, so I'm not good at them. I've always preferred funky fingerstyle grooves like Battlestar Scralatchtica.

Usually I use them in combination i.e. one right after another quickly.

I find it hard to get a good tone if you slap on anything but the E string. I was using this technique quite a bit in the early 90s. I was just starting to get good at it when it went out of style.

EVAD

I can't pop for sh*t so I have to slap everything, and slapping G doesn't have the same effect as E or A. Also I'm screwed when I play a 5 string because then the strings crowd in and I don't have ample slappage room

the funkiest bass i've heard has ALWAYS been fingerstyle. not slapping and popping. bootsy collins - fingerstyle. jaco pastorius - fingerstyle. - james jamerson - fingerstyle. flea's funkiest lines have always been when he relaxed and played with his fingers.

as far as the technique goes. i never saw the need to slap on any but the E or A strings. you also have to tweak your tone quite a bit to get it to sound decent. cut lows, boost mids.

the ONLY time i slap and pop now is if i feel like messing up the groove to 'higher ground' for poops and giggles between jams with my friends.

Neither, I'm not a percussion player,I'm A BASS PLAYER!

Those two things co-incide with each other, the bass generally is a very percussive instrument that I have found to be dumbed down in the world of modern music.
To completely dismiss an entire technique is a bit absurd really, I try to encompass every technique a bass has to offer because where as most people make the mistake of invisioning this instrument being simple to play there's a vast choice of techniques you can use when playing the bass and the slap and pop technique is not only a very popular one but when played right is probably the best technique a bass has to offer in my mind, it seperates bass from any other instrument realistically, except for those poncy percussion acoustic guitarists. It also can be played in many mamy many different ways, It can be agressive but can also be quite soft and melodic (believe it or not). It's a very complex and unique technique that can produce some beautifull pieces when played right.

Point taken, but for me, I just hate it, (Before you ask, I played sessions for 10 years, so have the technique down to a decent standard), it leaves me cold, and seemingly a majority of bass players below 40 have jumped on the bandwagon, to the detriment of melody and harmony.
Personally, I don't think Flea is that great a player, and certainly shouldn't deserve a mention in the same breath as Jaco, Billy Sheehan, Jack Bruce, etc.
(Bet that rattles some cages!:rofl:)

Flea's non-slapped parts are just as good as his slapped ones IMO.

It shouldn't, I entirely agree. Flea openly admits he knows no theory, immediately putting him from a progressive musicians perspective behind bassists such as victor wooten, jaco pastorius, who have strived for perfection and at the same time from a technical perspective isn't much of a player either, he writes very simplistic slap lines which he plays very well. He's a sturdy bassist in a great band, as a stage man his presence is electrifying and he's tight as a drum which makes him a great bassist but it hardly puts him in the running for greatest technical bassist. And if anyone wants to argue that his writing skills are what are most important and seperate him from the rest....they really don't, like i said simplistic riffs played fast. Just plain...good, don't get me wrong, bass lines. I think what I'm trying to say here is he's no jaco pastorius by any account. However, bass in it's natural form takes a very percussive roll, and it's place has always coincided with the drums in music. In funk that can mean slap but it would be wrong to assume you need to slap to create funk bass lines as my friend here has pointed out. however, no harm in using a technique when appropriate, when you need that percussive edge, or a harsher sort of tone, a harder feel, and generally when you want to play more agressive or write a bass pattern that needs the technique in order to be played, slapping and popping, double plucking, triple plicking, and the large range of percussive sounds that coencide with those techniques can very much come in handy. I think I've lost myself here now so I'm going to stop, peace.