Too many slappers, too few musicians!

[Akamas]

Brandon Acker (in the video) presents the history of the guitar and plays his collection of instruments. He talks about picks, frets, scales, shapes ... from the beginning to today, and "slapping" occurs very early in the history of playing the guitar. Very interesting and well worth the 55 minutes of your time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjK4GVR1EcE

[Street Glider]

What it tells me is that people who are slapping their guitars are simply making more videos than those who finger pick or strum...

[DBW]

Sometimes it's appropriate for the song- sometimes it's not.

[RussL30]

Honestly, I noticed a lot more of the slapping style had gotten popular about 10-15 years ago. I haven’t really seen much of it in a while, but it may be that none of my music or YouTube searches involve that style.

[birkenweg42]

Im just happy that people still play acoustic guitars.

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

I'm not bothered by slapping per se. I'll let the cat out of the bag here, though: I am a sucker for melody, harmony, and compositional development. Without melody I don't become attracted.

This pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter: melody is where it's at and always has been for me. I've seen some of these slap-players online, and while the technique is impressive, I rarely see something that I'd be willing to listen to twice. And that's the the test for me. If I never want to hear it again, and forget almost immediately what I have heard after I've just listened to it, there was likely no melody there.

Someone mentioned that this type of slap-playing isn't conducive to playing with others. That is true, but I'd say most guitar players today don't have anyone to play with anyway, so these odd styles are likely to develop inside that void. Back in the day there were always kids getting together, playing guitar and forming bands, but today a lot less kids play guitar.

[kizz]

Originally Posted by Pizzanetor

Hi guys, this thread was born with a deliberately provocative intent, just to discuss a bit the topic.

Am I the only one who has noticed that recently on the internet there are literally thousands of videos of guitarists slapping their guitars, rather than fingerpicking/strumming/other conventional techniques?

For sure, everyone is free to do what they want with their instruments and express themselves the way they want, but is it possible that we are losing the traditional way of playing and also that guitars are being used more and more often as high-end bongos?

Also, I find this technique really boring, as well as literally incompatible with other instruments.
Furthermore, it seems to me that this technique hides several shortcomings both on a practical and theoretical level.

Opinions?

Delete your cookies.

[TBman]

I'm not a fan of tapping, I guess I'm old fashioned, but once in a while it can be interesting (Don Ross, Andy McKee).

To be honest there's a lot of singing going on with guitar that I could do without too

[Puddleglum]

Originally Posted by TBman

To be honest there's a lot of singing going on with guitar that I could do without too

I'm not sure if this is what you're referring to, but I've noticed in the last few years how some younger singers pronounce words and it's pretty much unbearable to me. It's hard to exactly describe this but I hear it a lot in TV, films, and when grocery shopping. The words just seem warbled, warped, and bent into the wrong shapes. Rather than sounding cool, to me they sound like they have a ubiquitous speech impediment.

[M Sarad]

My buddy, Don Alder, beats the living daylights out of his guitar. Then he plays a beautiful fingerstyke tune and sings like an angel.

He can make you cry or make you run.

[gfspencer]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Hi Pizzanetor,

Quite a few years ago I was totally infatuated to hear John Martyn play "May You Never," and he kind of slaps the strings as he plays to keep the beat. I thought it was a very cool technique, sounded good, and still do.



- Glenn

I like that! I don't consider it slapping.

[lowrider]

Originally Posted by Puddleglum

I'm not sure if this is what you're referring to, but I've noticed in the last few years how some younger singers pronounce words and it's pretty much unbearable to me. It's hard to exactly describe this but I hear it a lot in TV, films, and when grocery shopping. The words just seem warbled, warped, and bent into the wrong shapes. Rather than sounding cool, to me they sound like they have a ubiquitous speech impediment.

Don't go to Hawaii, everyone there talks like that.

[mercy]

YES, we are free to express ourselves on a variety of drums but as for a listener a little of that goes a loooooong way.

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by M Sarad

My buddy, Don Alder, beats the living daylights out of his guitar. Then he plays a beautiful fingerstyke tune and sings like an angel.

He can make you cry or make you run.

Don is amazing. One of my very favorite albums ever is "Not a Planet". A nice mix of what you are describing here on that album.

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by TBman

I'm not a fan of tapping, I guess I'm old fashioned, but once in a while it can be interesting (Don Ross, Andy McKee).

To be honest there's a lot of singing going on with guitar that I could do without too

Glad to read I am not the only one who feels this way.

Tony