Some great advice from Flea

After watching this video, I’ve gained a whole new level of respect for Flea.
Is that a short scale he’s holding?

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I think so at 21 frets.

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2009 to 2011 Flea made these basses. An affordable bass for younger people in mind 34" scale and he had the the Jr flea that was 30". Not sure if they had a 32" version :thinking:. Only 2000 basses were made.

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Yeah from what I understand he sold the company but it never really went anywhere.

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Yeah, like these videos he did. The Flea way.
He said he didn’t like the business side of misic so he gave it up, that too bad at that time a was trying to playing 34". Colors were very neon .

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Here’s his slap part of video. Show his technique and some cool riff to learn.

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Here’s the hole video. if you wish to look at it. Thanks Pam.

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Thanks! I actually have ZERO interest in learning to slap though.

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Holy Cow! Me too @PamPurrs thanks for sharing this!

Specific comments which really struck me:

  • “The stronger the Bass can support all the other instruments, the more the other guys can shine.”
  • “Something I’d like to stress is the spirit of givingness, which is really kind of the most important thing.”
  • “The Bass part might be a simple part…the fact that you are doing subtle nuances to compliment the other instruments, the better Bass player you will be…”
  • “You wanna make everyone else sound good as the Bass player!”
  • “You’re giving the ground for everyone else to dance upon…”
  • “After a while you become one with the music and the music becomes you, and that’s what its supposed to be…”
  • “…Every Bass player has their own Bassline inside of them, everyone, and it’s a unique Bassline and to play and practice and study in service of finding the uniqueness inside of you so you can express it as a Bass player.”

WOW - mind blown! I could list more, but then no-one would need to watch the video. LoL

And now for confession - I (shamefully) admit, my musical tastes have been restricted for the last two decades (my choice). Sadly, that caused me to miss out on bands and musicians such as RCHP and Flea, and the many others whom we all refer to regularly in our Bass journeys. Glad to be crawling out from under my rock and experiencing all of this now, as it is (hopefully) never too late.

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That reminds me of one piece of advice I was given by my bass coach that I always keep in my head. He said, “Your #1 job as a bass player is to serve the tune, period!”

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You actually see FleaBasses used all the time, they look cool too. But not a shortie unless you get the Jr.

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Not a shame to have never listened to some music, no matter how popular. Only a shame to stay that way and never give it a try. :slight_smile:

Flea is a cool guy and really deserves a lot of respect as a modern day virtuoso, I’d say. His book, “Acid for the Children” talks a lot about his life before the Chili Peppers. After his mom remarried a jazz musician, he wanted to be a trumpet player for a jazz band, and some friends actually convinced him to give the bass a go. You can tell he just straight up loves music and not just playing bass really really fast or whatever, hehe.

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I made it about 75% through that book and never finished. One of these days I’ll finish it.

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I agree, he’s always impressed me whether or not I was in to the current RHCP output. I love that he, Frusciante and Klinghoffer were the types to just say screw it, take a bunch of time off, and spend a year touring Joy Division covers, too. Refreshing for a band in their position to do something like that.

Or the fact that the whole Frusciante/Klinghoffer thing was dealt with with basically no drama except from the fans. Says a lot about the band - you could tell they were all unhappy about it.

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Not here. I would get one in a heartbeat.

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Three on Reverb right now :slight_smile:

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I used to not be that bothered about RHCP in general but this incident really made me like Flea (and dislike Nick Cave):

I also was lucky enough to see him a few years ago playing bass for Patti Smith, while she performed Horses in its entirety, so that made me like him a bit too.

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See, that’s just a classy response.

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Absolutely! Almost enough to make up for all their post ‘One Hot Minute’ catalogue, ha ha.

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After reading Flea’s response, my respect level has risen even more.

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