i think that tomomi's way of slap and pop is very weird and unusual. what is she doing? the sound is also very unlike normal slap and pop. it's more quiet? it's def not like flea's slap and pop which is who she looks up to right?  i can see flea in how she puts her hand down tho. tomomi's wrist is very flexible and relaxed. normal slap bass needs stiff hands and fingers. i'm just starting bass but this is really confusing. normal slap bass also tends to keep hand positioned at one spot with only little movement. with tomomi, she really pulls back her hand and literally slaps the bass with her finger .whistle. 


shoujo s start and ending. 11:20ish. 

Tomomi plays the Flea style. That is: bass haging low, slapping with the thum pointing down and a lot of bounce. It's the most basic way of slapping, the more natural. Flea (which I love) has a very developed PLAYING, but a very raw technique. 

If you're learning slap from a bass professor (and based on your description of the slap and pop technique), it's very possible that he it's teaching you a Wooten/Miller oriented style. That means: bass haging higher, no bounce, thumb parallel to the string (or slightly pointing up). 

These differences may be the reason why your're confused. There is no "right way" of playing. Both styles are valid. You gotta find which fits you music better. Developing an advanced technique it's always good, and it will allow you to play faster and more complex things, if that's your goal.

I like Timo's slap. It doesn't sound strange to me. It may not be the most classic slap sound, but I guess that is because she doesn't  use a very "slappy sound", like flea.

Also, keep in mind that the tone you get from slapping also depends on the brightness/punch you dial in on your amp.

Tomo's tone isn't the same as Flea's but it's understandable due to the kind music SCANDAL plays as opposed to RHCP's more funky sound.

It doesn't look strange to me. I started out playing bass long before Scandal even existed, but her style is the way I learned to do it. (To be honest, I'm not very good at it, but that's the way I learned.)

As Mati Audia says, there's not really a "right way" to play either bass or regular guitar. It's really just whatever works. It so happens that humans all have basically the same body structure so there's often a common way of playing bass or guitar that a lot of people are most comfortable with, but everyone does it a little differently and some people do it *way* differently because that's just what feels better for them.

But Tomomi's way of slapping is pretty common, I think. As for it being quiet, that's partially the recording, partially her equipment and partially her settings. But mostly it's the recording.

Zombie thread! But I just found something related.

Here you can see Tomo slapping that bass for a few secs, but better than live. Hi Hi Hi line.

Her thumb it's pointing almost 90º down. The bass sounds a lot more slappy alone and clean than in the mix (and it sounds awesome, by the way), and it may be because she uses a little distortion when playing live, and that's not good for slappy sound.

I believe Tomomi does well with slapping and popping. It's just her amp settings sounds more suitable for early 70s rock and Motown than funk rock. It would be a different case if her amp settings is similar to the likes of Flea and the late John Entwistle.