By Brett Ratner

Since the previous part of my report wound up dealing mostly with the German take on valve guitar amplification, today's installment will discuss some of the other cool products out there.

One of the hottest demos I heard all week (and I heard quite a few) was for the "SLAPRING®." The device is a metal sleeve that you wear on your thumb to aid you in funk "slap" techniques for the bass guitar. It helped that the guy demonstrating the SLAPRING® was an absolute maniac (though he never slowed down long enough to lay an actual groove). However, the ring did seem brighten and enhance the attack of the thumb. Since the metal has less friction than bare skin, the ring also enabled the player to quickly alternate or strum between strings, thus creating a dizzying barrage of notes. Unfortunately, I think that many slap techniques have gone the way of two-handed tapping (i.e. they are becoming passé). However, if you manage to find a use for the SLAPRING®, you might want the accompanying video to help maximize its effectiveness. You can contact the company in Germany at +49 (0)251-77-88-98.

Bassline Music
Jürgen Richter Sound Check Magazin

Gerd Reese is a bassist, and that with passion. So that he and his colleagues will not have such a bad time in future, he invented a small supporting device, the SLAPRING® (test in SC 7/97). But this is not a demo CD for the SLAPRING®, here is in fact music to be found. Stylistically the pieces range from funk to fusion. Reese himself does assign some pieces to another style, but actually he sticks to his obvious favourite style. At the same time he takes the occasion as a real bass crack to show all facets of playing. The SLAPRING® simply tempts to play fast and precisely, and the






inventor just knows how to do it. Accordingly the titles present themselves clearly and exactly played - unfortunately with a lack of song quality as well. E.g. the piece "Whale" turns out to be a demo song for the SLAPRING® yet - which is not really that bad after all, because that way you can listen to the whole variety possible. The quieter pieces of the album show that there is more with Reese: "She walks in beauty" is just right for listening - and the bass everything but dominant. Sometimes less does offer more. CD and SLAPRING® are directly available with the inventor (...).

Videos: Gerald Rese
The SLAPRING® technique of bass playing

Now Gerald Reese finally made it and edited a teaching video to the SLAPRING® playing technique he invented. To remind you: The SLAPRING® is a special metal ring that you can put on your thumb. Correctly used it can produce interesting new effects. Moreover, the ring makes motion processes possible which without this device would not be achieved at all or at least not in such a way. As an example, quick upward and downward movements with the thumb become possible. They can additionally be combined with pops of the slapping hand´s other fingers. This causes e.g. the typical sixteenth triple time figures the one or the other already knows from Reese´s SLAPRING® album "Bassline Musicö. By this video in German language Reese gives an elementary insight in the motion processes of the SLAPRING® technique. He explains which effects can be achieved with the SLAPRING®, e.g. by varying the place the ring hits the string in different positions on the strings. Reese also comments on some basslines taken from pieces you can find on the CD. Unfortunately, the video´s playing time of about half an hour is definitely too short in my opinion. Instead it would have been appropriate to invest some more time to explain, step by step, several SLAPRING® licks based on each other and with a rising level of difficulty. In spite of this the video will be a signpost for the spreading of the SLAPRING® technique! Orders of the video, the SLAPRING®, the instruction book and the CD are accepted by Gerd Reese (à).

Gerald Reese
Interview out of Bassprofessor Magazin 4/99 on Frankfurt Music Fair

The winged thumb...or: What is Gerd Reese doing actually? The inventor of the famous notorious SLAPRING® which we presented in issue 3/97? We met the master (of course) with the piece of steel on the thumb for the "split-second interviewö at the Musik Messe Frankfurt in spring.

BP: Hello, Gerd! Do you spend the whole day standing here at your stand at the exposition demonstrating your SLAPRING® to the visitors?

GR: Yes, I play here all day until my fingers get sore! But only those of the left hand of course, because my thumb is well protectedà(laughs). Otherwise I probably couldn´t spend eight hours at the exposition wildly threshing my bass! But the effort is worth it, because this is the only way interested bassists can see how to handle the SLAPRING®.

BP: Well, the technique is quit well-known by now, I think, but maybe you could, though, roughly explain again how you employ the SLAPRING®.

GR: You put the SLAPRING® on the thumb that strikes the chords. The novelty about the technique is that you strike from above as well as from below, simply by movements upwards and downwards. This way you get, among others, straight eighth or sixteenth figures. If you then add to these the usual pops, you can play, e.g., these super-fast figures of sixteenth triple times I´ve been performing here all dayà

BP: So how many SLAPRINGs® have you sold so far?

GR: Quite a few-

BP: How many approximately?

GR: It has really sold well.

BP: Do you now only slap with your "thumb wing" actually?

GR: It depends. As you can also book me for studio performances, I put on the SLAPRING® if necessary, or I leave it. Recently I had the chance to do the soundtrack of a film. Then I decided to use the SLAPRING® because it sounds a bit sharper than the bare thumb. Of course it is also a great support of scratch effects as well as for percussive pieces. The soundtrack was developed at the Impuls studio in Münster. By the way, the film is called "Teethö, produced by Björn Redemann. Whoever knows this producer knows, too, at once that this is a real horror film where a lot of blood is shed...

BP: Has Mark King already tested the ring?

GR: That would be news for me! But of course I´m interested in him trying it one day.

BP: You give a lot of lessons, too. If your students try the SLAPRING®, do they stick with it?

GR: This entirely depends on the student, you see. But I know some guys who especially like using the ring in band business since it gets its way there very well because of its hard sound.

BP: How much do you have to pay for a SLAPRING® at the moment?

GR: The price is DM 20,- at present, with a small instruction book. Including a video and a CD the set costs DM 50,-. By the way, we will be present in the internet before long! There interested people can get a first impression of the SLAPRING® and/or contact me via e-mail.

BP: Is it true that you´re going to abandon your fairly expensive and high-choice Alembic bass to wholly concentrate on the German Miller basses?

GR: That´s right! These bases are really great. The deal came about here at the Musik Messe. I just tested some of the basses with the Miller guys, and I was simply fascinated. The sound character and the reaction were so equal to the Alembic that I even sell this one now! From now on I only play a Miller-Headless. And next year I´m going to play the Miller basses at the show stage in hall 9.3.

BP: What other interesting things are there to be told about the SLAPRING®?

GR: E.g. the fact that, surprisingly, more and more guitarists start liking it, too - this is quite strange! Besides, I have a favour to ask of the Bass Professor readers. I´ve been filmed at the Musik Messe once in a while by video cameras. Maybe someone is so kind as to send to me a tape with the shooting - I´d be really glad about that and, of course, pay for the costs!

BP: And we thank you for the interview and keep our fingers crossed for the case someone reports because of the tape!

GR: Bye! Have fun!