damn you les claypool

[RockStar571]

alright so i'm trying to learn some stuff from sailing on the seas of cheese i've got sgt. baker down pretty well and i'm limping through tommy the cat but i'm having some problems with american life and jerry was a race car driver. any tips?

[warwickben]

you could do wat i did to learn tommy the cat just learn the main parts and make ur own fills any live recordings u find of it it allways sounds different. so make it ur own. unless u wanan learn the sailing the sea of chesse version note for note. if u wanna do that u could buy the tab book for sailing the sea of cheese. i belive its pretty close. just play it really slow and slowly speed up.
if u need help with any othere songs u can pm me and ill make videos of the parts. u have trouble with

[RockStar571]

that's basicly what i'm doing with tommy the cat...i'm having problems more with american life and jerry was a race car driver...

[Stevious G]

Well, get a 6 string for Jerry. It's not all that tricky, once you get the rythm down. Dunno for American Life. I DO know it's a LOT of hammer-ons...

[Figjam]

american life isnt too bad, its like, pluck and then 2 hammer ons, pluck pull off hammer on..etc.

[Rapscallion2112]

get the fleminko technique down (strumming with the tips of your fingers). its really just a slapped g on the e and then flaminko on the d and g strings....check out the new primus dvd (hallucino-genetics) they play it and there's alot of closeups on claypools bass when they're playing it

[milo]

share the DVD with EMULE please.
there is a little videos of PRIMUS.

[nuclearrabbit17]

This is strange. I can play american life and jerry was a race car driver easier than sh*t, but I can't for the life of me play tommy the cat. I apoligize for saying this but i think you are full of crap that you can play tommy the cat the right way. I could be wrong though and I would love to see a video of you playing it. Man that song is hard.

[jenderfazz]

Tommy the Cat is not hard once you get the hang of it. It's repetition, and as long as you can slap decently and stick to it for a while you'll get it. Start slowly until the motion becomes automatic. Jerry is harder for me simply because I don't have low as heck action and my A string tapping tends to be more silent. American Life, well I just can't exactly decipher what he's playing. It's some kind of flamenco strum on the D and G.

[RockStar571]

i by no means claim that i can play tommy the cat perfectly however i think it's an easier song than the other two mainly because i'm better at slapping than tapping

[TOOL460002]

okay- granted my thumbs are double jointed on both joints- but- the easiest way to play american life is not flamenco strumming (only thing i HAVE to do that on is Nature Boy [imho- best primus song ever]), but instead try to use your thumb to slap 2 notes.

like- try hitting just the D string, then the D and G, and then just the G. practice this a lot and it'll make the song easier to play technique-wise.

the rest is simply left hand strength. granted- it's a lot of it, but still- dont puss out- get little finger sweat bands and aerobacize or something. okay- im drunk and out- later.

[Lewis7789]

Originally Posted by TOOL460002

- get little finger sweat bands and aerobacize or something. okay- im drunk and out- later.

That's probably the best post I've ever seen here on TB.

[FumandoV]

Tommy the Cat is hard to get it right just because of the fact that Les is playing. But American life is much easier, it's a slap on G on the E string, flamenco strumming on the D and G strings. You just play hammer ons on the D string: 0-3-5 while at the same time playing the G string open all the time. That's basically it, Jerry was a ....... is so easy because it tapping on the right hand and lifts on the left!!