Members Chlo_treacher Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 Hey guys I need your help! For my history of popular music class, one of the essays I need to do is a journalistic style article. the subject i've chosen is funk, but more importantly the influence of slap bass on the style. I'm going to write a little bit about the history, key figures, who's arguably taken slap too far, how different techniques have evolved, and note some key songs that outline major turning points. the problem is i dont know where to go in order to find this information! can anyone help? its got to be 1000 words, and its due in this next tuesday. thanks all! chlo x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RSBro Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 IIRC Louis Johnson "invented" it. In the 80's it was Flea bringing the style to the forefront. Everything else is just a Victor rehash once he got hold of it, IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassplayer7770 Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 I'm guessing Larry Graham should be mentioned in the article... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RSBro Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 I'm guessing Larry Graham should be mentioned in the article... Or maybe it was him... I can never remember... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members T. Alan Smith Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 Also look up Bootsy Collins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chlo_treacher Posted March 19, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 thanks guys, are there any specific websites that are good for history? (not allowed to use wikipedia) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members T. Alan Smith Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 thanks guys, are there any specific websites that are good for history? (not allowed to use wikipedia) I'm at work, but try this page for BC- http://www.funky-stuff.com/bootsy/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassplayer7770 Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 thanks guys, are there any specific websites that are good for history? (not allowed to use wikipedia) http://www.bassplayer.com/article/larry-graham-trunk/apr-07/26994 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ToeJamFootball Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 Not allowed to use Wiki? That's like saying you're not allowed go to the library. EDIT: I will add that maybe you could talk some about Les Claypool and his approach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RSBro Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 Not allowed to use Wiki? That's like saying you're not allowed go to the library. If the library was run by meth heads and pron stars! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ToeJamFootball Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 If the library was run by meth heads and pron stars! I don't get it though, some people say Wiki is {censored}, I've found it great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dDigitalPimp Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 If the library was run by meth heads and pron stars! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RSBro Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 I don't get it though, some people say Wiki is {censored}, I've found it great. Yeah it's good for random/general info, but in order to write something substantial, you need more than just conjecture by a bunch of interwebz nerdz... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members dDigitalPimp Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 I don't get it though, some people say Wiki is {censored}, I've found it great. you can go edit a page right now and put a bunch of junk info in and save it. i remember right after that southpark episode where bono was made up entirely of {censored} someone edited his wiki entry to show his weight in courics Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ToeJamFootball Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 you can go edit a page right now and put a bunch of junk info in and save it. i remember right after that southpark episode where bono was made up entirely of {censored} someone edited his wiki entry to show his weight in courics Yeah, I have heard this argument too many times. It's not like you would go to Wiki and base your whole research off of what it has to say. But to exclude it completely doesn't make sense in my mind. I imagine that the majority of contributers are honest. Anyway, sorry for the derail :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RSBro Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 ^^^ Again it's good for basic/general info and if it's not a widely-accepted viewpoint, it usually gets edited or revised... but there are reasons why you don't see many Ph.D's and MBA's contributing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Super Bass Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 Larry Graham invented it supposedly. There are a few videos with him discussing how it came about on Youtube. Apparently he was trying to compensat for a lack of a drummer. Typical! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ToeJamFootball Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 ^^^ Again it's good for basic/general info and if it's not a widely-accepted viewpoint, it usually gets edited or revised... but there are reasons why you don't see many Ph.D's and MBA's contributing... This is my point. That fact that it is ruled out as a reference point is stupid IMO.OK, /derail, for real this time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chlo_treacher Posted March 19, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 does anyone happen to know when double bassists started doing the equivalent? was it in the jazz period or earlier?! thanks for the sites guys, this is really helpful! keep it coming! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RSBro Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 Like "real" upright slapping, or the "boom-chicka-boom, chicka-boom, chicka-boom" you hear on old country/blues/folk type stuff? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Onkel Bob Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 does anyone happen to know when double bassists started doing the equivalent? was it in the jazz period or earlier?! thanks for the sites guys, this is really helpful! keep it coming! I'm certain it was earlier than on the electric. I remember seeing a really old video on youtube where the guy playing upright slapped the hell out of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Chlo_treacher Posted March 19, 2009 Author Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 either! which ever was first cause i dont want look like a twit saying 'it was first done in 19-yardy-yada and my teacher (who seem's to know everything, ever) go...'no it wasnt!' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Onkel Bob Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 I hear some slapping here but it's a bad recording: Edit: To be fair it's hard to hear. I think it is the bass but it could be the banjo or something... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members degroove Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 Repeating what I have seen in American popular music documentaries on the early incfluences up to actual slapping. ANybody with improvement of info or deepening it would be appreciated. From what I recall, the slap bass style did start with Larry Graham. The funk stuff is based in the influence of afro-cuban styles that started in the blues and gospel, and to a bit Folk and Country, traditions in the african american community in the USA. The music was a combination of familiar (field calls as in African religious or work situations) and the new Christian influence of church music. African Americans started the blues as a fusion of american piano and boogie woogie (stride style) that was huge in early 1900s to 1920s. The oppression of Southern US slavery plantations lead to slaves finding solace and relief in those familiar call and response patterns typical of the african american story telling songs tradition. The voices in these singing stories were often vocaly improvised with the call being from the singer and response being from the audience. This eventually lead to the early stats of Rhythm N Blues (RNB) here and what eventually became Jazz. The feel that to me became funk came from these early progenitors. There were aslo marches for funerals with this same feel. The New Orleans funky feeling is an example of this (Louis Armstrong) up to people in the 60s like George Porter Jr of The Meters. The RNB with its syncopation and improvisation, african american rhhythms and polyrythms, field calls, gospel, traditional European music were the roots to funk. YOu can still hear those elements in the funk that flourished in the whole RNB movement of the 60s. The other element - soulful gospel - remained influential as well. Even Larry Graham came from this tradtion. I believe Church is where his style developed and without a drummer, he needed to play the church music in the syncopated call and response fashion that inluenced Rock N Roll, Jazz, Blues hugely in the 60s where graham started with the band Sly and the Family Stone. Having taken lessons on Upright Bass - 2 things are clear. 1. Volume is always and issue due to acountsic and the physics of replroducing low notes in the bass frequency. Micing acounstic instruments is prone to feedback. These pefromance issues influence what method you use to be heard (no matter if its slapping, bowing, or pizzacotta). I think part of the reason the basslines were slapped elsewhere, like in country and expecially rockabilly was the same african american influence on separate white society. There is even bands today playing punk iinfluenced but slapped bass lines. Anyways, I am trying to say 1 hours of stuff in this post. Feel free to ask questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members kaiser_sosea Posted March 19, 2009 Members Share Posted March 19, 2009 This is my point. That fact that it is ruled out as a reference point is stupid IMO. OK, /derail, for real this time. Because sometimes you kind find info on there like the Civil War happened 2000 years ago, i'm not joking, a girl in one of my Composition classes was writing a research paper on the Civil War and used Wiki as her only source, didn't do any fact checking. This is why Wiki is not an accepted source, it's not necessarily facts, it could just be random peeps opinions on the topic. Best just to stay away when you need a reliable source. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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