If you’re doing the Beginner to Badass course, these Primus riffs are pretty hairy on the difficulty scale! Come prepared for a challenge, or just enjoy the conceptual bits you can grab without going full Tommy the Cat.
Les Claypool Bass Riffs
Here’s the Noteflight link for all the Primus bass riffs I play in the video. Have fun!
Primus Bass Chord Shapes
For all the cool bass chord stuff Les plays, you can actually do a lot of it with just these two simple shapes:
Awesome vid, thanks! Sadly didn’t see them live but Sailing the Seas of Cheese was one of my first ever albums I owned. Really impressed with Tommy the Cat on your 6 string fretless
Saw Primus about 4 times through the years and if Les cannot make it to the show I am sure you can stand in for him!
Would love to see more videos of you with the fretless 6! Maybe a mini course! I Would pay for that! Great video and Thank You!
I am just not a Les Claypool guy. I wanna be, as I think he’s brilliant, but the music just doesn’t do it for me. I love the basslines, but not the music.
I SAW PRIMUS or: HOW LES CLAYPOOL TAUGHT ME NOT TO BE TOO NERVOUS ABOUT SOME THINGS
This first part is going to sound extraneous, so please bear with me. My maternal grandfather was a luthier - he made violins (and two violas, as far as I know). He refurbished an old violin for me to play when I was learning, and after he died I received one of his violins. So I was always confident that if something happened to my violin (while he was alive), he could help fix it. But he didn’t work on bows – that’s a completely different craft. As a kid, it felt like if something happened to my bow, I’d be screwed.
In 1992, Primus was the opening band on Rush’s Roll the Bones tour. I just wanted to see Primus, but my friend wanted to see Rush, so…anyway we headed on over to the Hampton Coliseum (also known as the Cosmic Cupcake). Primus played a cover of Led Zeppelin‘s Kashmir. Les Claypool sawed away Kashmir on an electric bass with a BOW.
He.
Shredded.
That.
Bow.
There was horsehair everywhere - dangling off the stick, hanging on the bass, scattered across the stage.
Ever watch someone smash something valuable, and because it wasn’t your valuable item, you found it thrilling?
I f*cking loved it.
Primus also played Tommy the Cat and Jerry Was a Race Car Driver as part of their set. They were fantastic (surprising, since #PRIMUSSUCKS).
I don’t remember anything about Rush’s set.
(I’d also like to respond to your video, @JoshFossgreen , but that will have to be a separate comment, after I finish giggling. Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na Batman)
I have been a Primus fan, and in awe of Les’ bass playing, for as long as I can remember. I have seen Primus numerous times:
Opening for Fishbone at the Hollywood Palladium.
Opening for Public Enemy and Anthrax on the “Bring the Noise” tour.
At the Nokia Theater, with Mariachi El Bronx as their opener.
I was fortunate enough to see Les’ Duo de Twang at Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown, out by Yucca Valley. Very intimate venue, awesome show.
@JoshFossgreen, when you are doing the left hand percussive full-hand slap thing, are you just thumping your hand onto the strings? Or pushing them down to the frets?
I love Les. Oysterhead is an amazing band. Les on bass, Stuart Copeland on drums, Trey Anastasio on guitar. Three masters of their craft playing some far out there weird proggy stuff. They only ever put out one album since it is just a little side project for all of them, but they still play a festivals and such from time to time.
Ah yes, the elusive left hand slap… the tricky is to get em to smack the frets, but not long enough to make a note. Like a Bruce Lee punch, in and out before you can blink. I also leave my index finger on the strings for muting a lot of the time, and then do the smack with the other three fingers.
Josh, your videos just keep getting better. This is an exceptional overview of what and how Les Claypool plays. I’ve never heard or seen anyone get in to this much detail on how Les does his thing. Man, this was so, so good.
Josh, you should definitely do an advanced course! Granted I am not ready but a lot of people are. Add 5 or more strings and other advanced techniques. Your manner of teaching is very different than others online. Which is very refreshing!
And also: “We need emotional content…Don’t think - FEEL It’s like a finger pointing away to the moon. Do not concentrate on the finger, or you will miss all of the heavenly glory!”
But maybe that’s for after you’ve practiced long enough for a punch to just be a punch again.
