BoobsVanderbilt

Hey everyone. I think this would be the appropriate sub-forum, since he plays funk, rock, alt-rock and this is the closest I think that it would belong under.

I am wondering, my friend showed me a video saying have you seen "Flea" play before? The bassist from RHCP?

I of course said no, but I obviously have listened to RHCP . So he tells me just how INSANE he is and how just blown away I'll be when he shows me just how ridiculous he is at bass.. how fast, how skilled with slapping, and flicking the bass and everything involved in a bass he is.

So I watch and all I can go is !

I never have watched videos of musicians before I had gotten very into playing guitar and music like I am now. I always have listened to music and have been into music, but since I started playing guitar and loving it and progressing and learning and growing each day, attempting to make my own stuff.. I watch Rockumentaries all the time for inspiration and learn more about musicians rising and about the whole artist rise and life.

So I am very into watching artists, players, musicians on youtube for inspiration and watching the best play. Just seeing them makes me influenced and each video just brings more creativeness towards me and my future writing/composition and more of an idea of what I'd want to take a direction in with music.


BESIDES all of that, I am now looking into Bass because I really don't know much about bass. I know about drummers, guitarist, but Bass .. I don't know much because.. well they aren't put in the spotlight as vocalists and lead guitarists are.. but after watching the Amy Schemel documentary on drummers, I realized so much more about drummers I didn't quite know. How much they are extremely important, much more than previously, how they basically control the crowd with their foot, etc. So I figure.. wow if I didn't even know all of this about a DRUMMER.. what do I NOT know about bassists.... so I look up top bassists and wow.... I am blown away by what amazing bassists actually do, sound like, and are capable of.

My entire pre-conconceived idea is thrown out the window and I really don't have an idea of where they start and how they come up with what they do when it comes to bass lines.

So that brings me to what my friend showed me with Flea. His INSANELY fast bass-lines, the slapping and flicking and everything... it is awe-inspiring to watch how incredibly fast and intricate and precise he does it, and at that speed.

I love watching him because of that, and I wanted to know.. is there any bassist that have that same speed or FASTER, with the same skill level and are able to pull off what he does ?

ChemicalFire

They are many many players who are both faster and more skilled than Flea.

He recently had to re-learn his slapping technique because he'd been doing it in a potentially damaging way for years.

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Felkara

It's not all about how fast you play or the technique you use. The most important thing a bassist has to do is hold the song together and groove. If you can do that in any genre of music then you're on to a winner.


Arif Mirabdolbaghi of Protest The Hero


Zach Cooper of Coheed And Cambria


Greg MacPherson of InMe

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'93

thing about flea is that he brought the idea of technicality for bass into rock music. but imo his best stuff isnt his fastest stuff but his slow funky bass lines

helltothee

The song is more important than speed and technicality. Flea brought that into songs, but isn't the only one to, just the most obvious or well known one.

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JAHellraiser

If you're looking into bassists, you gotta start with some of the forefathers of bass as we know it now. James Jameson, John Paul Jones, and John Entwistle. Not faster than flea, but oh so skilled.

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steven seagull

I think you'll find plenty of bassists who did that long before Flea - John Entwistle was doing it when Flea was still in nappies.

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Actually called Mark!


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Adam808

I used too make fun of bassist, but I realize how critical they are to a band and proper song structure.

Flea is awesome to watch. Plus his sound is funky and fits with the band perfectly.

John Paul Jones is another fav of mine.

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Corrosive

Like others have said, it's not about speed but feeling and emotion.

In that regard, Victor Wooten and Les Claypool are two of my favorite bassists.

Cliff was an awesome bassist also, but in a different respect.

griffin888

John Myung>

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FeMathias

The guy from Jamiroquai, Paul Turner, is a pretty good bassist. Maybe even better then Flea.

'93

hmm fair enough i guess but remember that he came from a punk rock scene where the most challenging thing on bass was 8th notes using downpicking

Bazz22

I'm sure they've been posted already, but seeing as I'm at school and can't see videos, I'll just mention a few;

Victor Wooten
Evan Brewer

spazzz69

The grandfather of slapping. Larry Graham. Skip to 1:00 for slapping.