One of the bass guitar sounds that really caught my attention when I first started playing bass was slapping, when I first heard the tecnique I was about 15. I remeber asking a bass playing friend how do they get that sound, he replied, they use lots of treble. I tried turning the treble up on my bass and amp but it just didnt sound right. later I saw Mark King from level 42 and I remember thinking, hes using his thumb to slap the strings. over the next few weeks I am going to show the basics of how it is done. the rudiments of the tecnique are, slapping the strings at the top end of the fretboard with your thumb, dead notes and pulls. The most comon sound is what I call the octave slap and pull, basicaly you slap the A string while fretting an E note at the 7th fret and pull the E note octave at the 9th on the G with your index finger. this style was invented by Larry Graham from Sly and the family stone, and I first heard slap bass on the Ohio Players hit Love Rollercoaster. I am going to be backing up this information with some videos to help you understand what I am talking about, until then checkout Larry Graham, Marshall Rock Jones and Mark King on the web. Happy Slapin...