Flea - awesome or overrated? Here’s my take, including a bunch of tips on how to play like the man himself.
If you’re doing the Beginner to Badass course, this lesson would fit after you’ve learned some slap in Module 13 - but don’t be surprised if you still can’t slap as fast as Flea.
Flea Uses More Theory Than He Admits
Even though Flea is often on the list of musicians who “don’t know theory,” most of his bass lines fit perfectly well within the confines of music theory. Here’s a sample of his bass line from the chorus of Can’t Stop:
He lands on a root note on every single chord change, and all the in-between notes come from the G major scale, which fits over all four chords in the sequence.
Pretty by-the-books for a guy who supposedly doesn’t know any theory, right?
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In the video I mentioned that I don’t use the thumb-down slap technique that Flea use. Does anyone here point their thumb down like Flea? How is it working for you?
just watched the video, and shared it to my buddy who is a true RHCP fan (with tattoo and all that kind of very-fan stuff). this buddy was my bass player in a previous band I founded about 10 years ago, where I played the guitar.
Hard for me to tell about Flea and RHCP as it’s far from my musical zone.
well … I’m not a RHCP fan, not a surprise. it’s too “pop” for me, even if I can really like some pop stuff. But I really like Flea’s basslines, there’s some genius in there, always really well made and I think it makes all the “funk-side” of RHCP. in fact in my opinion, Flea’s line is what makes the difference between RHCP and any other random pop band, and the difference is huge.
Even if I’m not a big fan, this guy is a great, great, great bass player for sure.
I have to confess - I flunked out of Module 13 - just couldn’t do it! I decided to focus on fingerstyle for the time being, but this video… man, I reaaaaaally would like to be able to slap the bass like this one day!
This is great. Flea has always impressed me with his slap style and raw drive. Also the StingRay makes a great substitute for a FleaBass - which is not something you hear every day
The video is great - your visuals and editing and antics just keep getting better.
I always liked RHCP, and now, studying artists, I simply like Flea because it is easy to pick out the bassline.
I hope you’re getting tons of people signing up for B2B - in just a few hours, look how many views and comments your YT channel gets!!
Only one request - pretty please - make an intermediate or advanced beginner course for us soon! You hint at it so much in B2B. An army of bassketeers are waiting
@JoshFossgreen Man, I love the format of this video!
The design, editing, information, and you brought it all back around to making it a teaching moment. I want more of this. You could duplicate this with all different artists and genre’s of music.
I really want to Vik! It’s not at the top of my plate, still working on getting the Youtube channel pumping and some other stuff, but I swear I haven’t forgotten!
Yes, so nuts! They were both on so many drugs for that interview. So cooosssssmmmiiiccccc man.
