Slap Bass
Slap bass basically consists of pulling the strings on a
double bass out away from the fingerboard and letting them snap back against it again which strikes a note and creates a loud click. These clicks in combination with slapping the strings against the fingerboard with the palm of your hand can create interesting rhythms. Slap bass is useful if you dont have a drummer, and served exactly that purpose in early country music. It also is louder than
arco or
pizzicato playing, and many early players (especially around the turn of the century) used that technique for recording records since the low-end was nonexistant and they wanted to be heard on the recording, the clicks would come through. Slap bass is used almost exclusively in
rockabilly and
psychobilly.