Does anyone feel the slapping technique can be overdone?

[packmule]

Originally Posted by MartinGibsonFan

I agree, it gets old quickly if that's the only thing the performer does.

Celtic music is repetitive, but from time to time, i enjoy listening to it and playing it.

It's easy to play, and easy to listen to.

Not much attention span or intensity needed.

But I do agree, percussive technique gets old with nothing else in the quiver.

MGF

Yeah, whenever I hear the great Artie McGlynn play I always think to meself "Shame he had so little attention span or intensity, maybe if he'd played stuff that wasn't so "easy" he could've made a career out of this guitar playing lark....."

[EllenGtrGrl]

Is slapping on acoustic guitars overdone? Yes, and then some. Just watch some of the videos on YouTube - some of the players slap after every single phrase they play. It gets old very quick, and it's as though they're trying to sound like some hipster street musician, who's out busking, and trying to do the one-man band, by also acting like the rhythm section by slapping the guitar, or trying to add in rap-style rhythm backing.

In a way, acoustic slapping has become overdone like several other guitar techinques/playing styles have over the last few decades:

Wah - it seemed like everybody and his uncle in the early 70s had to play "wah, wah, wah," on a wah-wah pedal. Especially after the theme from "Shaft" became a hit.

Two Handed Tapping - after Eddie Van Halen went crazy two handed tapping on "Eruption", everybody and his dog had to know how to two handed tap, if they were any kind of a "serious" rock guitar slinger/shredder. It got so overboard for a while in the 80s, it seemed every other guitar solo had to have two handed tapping as a part of it. Paul Westerberg of the The Replacements, went so far as to state during the 80s, that two handed tapping had become "the 80s version of the wah wah pedal."

Dive Bombing With a Vibrato - ugh! Once the Floyd Rose (and to a lesser extent the Kahler) vibratos came on the scene in the 80s, with their promise of allowing you to stay in tune, even if you did a bunch of dive bombs on guitar, every guitar player and his dog (especially in hair bands [ugh! hair metal is so boring to me]) did dive bombs on guitar like they were going out of style. I had a boyfriend who had a Kramer for a while, with a Floyd Rose on it, and it seemed like every other riff he played, he was doing dive bombs on. I could have killed him after several months of this nonsense. Luckily, by the time him and I started playing together in bands, he'd gotten away from playing guitars with Floyd Roses on them.

It'll take a few years, but like the techniques and playing styles mentioned above, acoustic guitar slapping will run its course, due to players getting bored with it, or deciding that doing it is too much in the vein of "me too", since so many players seem to be doing it nowadays.

[boombox]

It's odd how so many people here generally hate it, but slapping/tapping on the guitar, particularly for solo artists, has been around for years and fortunately won't be going away soon. String slapping is an excellent way of driving an acoustic song along - just look at John Martyn here:



Extreme's 'More Than Words' has already been mentioned as a good example and then of course, there is the highly talented John Mayer:



As for tapping the body, Don Ross, Michael Hedges and Preston Reed are the undisputed kings, but who can argue with this - one of the most viewed and covered instrumentals in yt's history, proving the haters here are in the minority globally:



Finally, how about Jon Gomm, who does it all and sings:

[rstaight]

It is a useful technique that can be over done. I have turned off videos where I felt the player was going overboard.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by packmule

Yeah, whenever I hear the great Artie McGlynn play I always think to meself "Shame he had so little attention span or intensity, maybe if he'd played stuff that wasn't so "easy" he could've made a career out of this guitar playing lark....."

I agree glittering generalities are generally just that. (ha I am so phunny)


Sarcasm aside, I noted particularly how he makes (sometimes subtle, sometimes more noticeable), pattern changes after two or three repeats of a given phrase,, Yet all around a central theme. Of course if one is not paying attention ya might miss it

More Celtic music form Mary Black that defies being place in a contrived box of perception.



And seems a wee bit of "intensity" here ?

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by buddyhu

I thought it was revelatory when I first heard and then saw Michael Hedges. I don’t seek out that style at this point. Once in a while I hear a song that sounds good with a percussive style. But I think it should be used sparingly.

Absolutely and well said! Hedges' music was often technical, but when it was it was technically brilliant. He is the best at it, adding salt only to bring out more underlying and understated flavors.

[steelvibe]

Originally Posted by EllenGtrGrl

Dive Bombing With a Vibrato - ugh! Once the Floyd Rose (and to a lesser extent the Kahler) vibratos came on the scene in the 80s, with their promise of allowing you to stay in tune, even if you did a bunch of dive bombs on guitar, every guitar player and his dog (especially in hair bands [ugh! hair metal is so boring to me]) did dive bombs on guitar like they were going out of style. I had a boyfriend who had a Kramer for a while, with a Floyd Rose on it, and it seemed like every other riff he played, he was doing dive bombs on. I could have killed him after several months of this nonsense. Luckily, by the time him and I started playing together in bands, he'd gotten away from playing guitars with Floyd Roses on them.

I agree with much of what you say, but you go after 80's hair metal?! 80's hair metal is largely what got me to pick up guitar. Isn't listening to music that inspires us, especially to the extent that we pick up an instrument and learn it what it is ultimately about? I realize we all have our tastes, and I can look back at my youth and see how cheesy much of that was, but in the end I still play guitar and those days were FUN!

It seems that somebody often comes around and challenges the status quo of music. Some have a more lasting effect at changing or adding to musical discourse, but it always happens. I'm reminded of how Mozart changed the face of music, but not without the critique of his contemporaries;

Emperor Joseph II: My dear young man, don't take it too hard. Your work is ingenious. It's quality work. And there are simply too many notes, that's all. Just cut a few and it will be perfect.

Mozart: Which few did you have in mind, Majesty?

[bufflehead]

Originally Posted by steelvibe

Absolutely and well said! Hedges' music was often technical, but when it was it was technically brilliant. He is the best at it, adding salt only to bring out more underlying and understated flavors.

I've always been fine with Michael Hedges' technique. With others it sounds a bit faddish.

[TJE]

Short answer YES! I never watch a video or listen to anything that has slapping in it. It’s a guitar not a drum! Absolutely can’t stand slapping!😁

[NormanKliman]

A little dab'll do ya. Alex De Grassi and others use it sparingly, and that's okay by me. I don't like it when the guitarist doesn't seem to have many more skills. I want to hear at least a few arpeggios (for example) in just about everything, and some players don't do that. When they're young and do things differently and that's all they got, it makes me feel old, and not in a good way.

But what the hey, guitar's been played all kinds of ways since forever.

[Willie_D]

It can be fatiguing to listen to, at least to my ear.

[MakingMusic]

So hard to do it well but when it's done right and at the appropriate times, it can add a lot.

[ctgagnon]

Originally Posted by MartinGibsonFan

Riverdance wouldn't be Riverdance without percussive technique



MGF

I don't think they like it either. They all look really ticked off.

[SprintBob]

As long as the player is moving a compelling melody with the percussion, it can certainly sound interesting and for the most part complimentary. The trap so many fall into is that it can make their music sound one dimensional. A couple of years ago they came out with the Acoustic Uprising video and it was focused on this style and I found it totally boring as so much of the music that was presented sounded all the same. Most of the players were in their teen’s to early 30’s so perhaps a generation gap showing here.

It can be entertaining live with the right performer. TE makes it fun to me if he does not do too much of it in his sets. I saw Christie Lenee and Vicki Genfan perform at Swannanoa last year. Christie was as entertaining to watch as to listen to as she has this energy that jumps out at the audience. Not my cup of tea to play but it was fun to watch. Vicki was doing it but she had a great melody and sung so overall it was quite good.

[rick-slo]

Originally Posted by SprintBob

As long as the player is moving a compelling melody with the percussion, it can certainly sound interesting and for the most part complimentary. The trap so many fall into is that it can make their music sound one dimensional. A couple of years ago they came out with the Acoustic Uprising video and it was focused on this style and I found it totally boring as so much of the music that was presented sounded all the same. Most of the players were in their teen’s to early 30’s so perhaps a generation gap showing here.

It can be entertaining live with the right performer. TE makes it fun to me if he does not do too much of it in his sets. I saw Christie Lenee and Vicki Genfan perform at Swannanoa last year. Christie was as entertaining to watch as to listen to as she has this energy that jumps out at the audience. Not my cup of tea to play but it was fun to watch. Vicki was doing it but she had a great melody and sung so overall it was quite good.

Thanks, you saved me some typing. Too often with tappers there is no thought to a song structure let alone a memorable melody which for example as is such
as what I have heard from the Christie you mentioned. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aaipnxrdd78

Five to ten seconds into the music and you have heard everything but the repeats.