HELP ME PLAY LIKE LES CLAYPOOL!

[bungleboy]

ive tried my hardest and this is the closet i can get


YouTube - Primus - Tommy the Cat (Bass Cover)

[Rexalot]

Originally Posted by bungleboy

ive tried my hardest and this is the closet i can get


YouTube - Primus - Tommy the Cat (Bass Cover)

That's a really good effort!!! Enjoyed it.
Improvements? I know Les goes fishing a lot, do you fish?

[JoeCBass]

I'll second all those who state that you should find your own style. That's what Les has done. While learning to play like him will have advantages, I believe that you should create your own sound. He's an original not only with the sailor hats and all around fishing themes, but his antics, stage presence and on and on... I have him listed as one of my main influences, but I sound nothing like him. Learn to play like him and then blend other influences into it as well. That's true style. "Don't seek to be like the great players, seek what they sought."

[Rexalot]

Originally Posted by JoeCBass

I'll second all those who state that you should find your own style. That's what Les has done. While learning to play like him will have advantages, I believe that you should create your own sound. He's an original not only with the sailor hats and all around fishing themes, but his antics, stage presence and on and on... I have him listed as one of my main influences, but I sound nothing like him. Learn to play like him and then blend other influences into it as well. That's true style. "Don't seek to be like the great players, seek what they sought."

+1

[Nev375]

To play like Les, you have to suck..... awesomely.

I recommend forgetting any musical approach you are familiar with. No tabs, no playing along with the tape, don't even try to transcribe into sheet music.

Just sit down with your bass and thump and thwack at the strings in a sort of meditative state. Let your fingers go apeshit. DON'T THINK! Just spew out random noises and listen. I mean seriously LISTEN.

When you hear something that sounds like Les, then listen for it to happen again and try to pay attention to how you accidentally made that sound so you can do it again.

I'm pretty sure that's how he writes his own music as well.

[bungleboy]

Haha no i don't fish actually, maybe that will help with all the little screw ups in that song. Word to wise, to learn a song like this and to emulate Les' sound you have to be patient, Ive been learning Tommy the Cat for almost 2 years now!

[MistaMarko]

Why do people always want to try to sound like someone else?

To contribute positively to the OP's question:

1. Purchase a bass

2. Practice your ass off

3. Profit

[bassgrooves2]

I spent many nights in my apartment with my bass in my lap and watching Les's DVDs. A lot can be learned from watching the master at work. If you dont have any Primus/Les Claypool DVDs, I suggest you get them... All of them! They are Badass to watch when you're bored or when to have on when your cleaning the house or doing laundry or something. I used to have these vids playing all the time and then I'd sit down and watch particular parts with my bass in hand and it really helped me see how he was technically acomplishing some sounds that I just could not picture. Having said all that this was several years ago and I still don't play like Claypool, but his playing and learning from his techniques has greatly influenced my own playing and I am finding that I am settling into my own style of slapping, strumming, tapping, and plucking. Oh and if you can get youre hands on some Victor Wooten instruction vids , I'd check those out to.!

[mcm]

3 years is just long enough to totally understand the basics, let alone claypool.

[Absentia]

The only thing I haven't tried yet is to learn how to fly fish.


I love his tone, always will, but I gave up and settled somewhere in between him and a marcus miller type tone. Technique wise I'd practice thumping with a drummer, and left hand slaps. Be more percussive and play more with less.

[gera799]

1- Die
2- Reborn as Les Claypool

You can learn his songs and even play them better than him, but you can't play LIKE him, because you are not him.

[Tajue17]

is it true Les is self taught on the bass

YouTube - Primus-My Name is Mud @ Woodstock

[bassic.science]

Why is everyone responding to a thread from 2003 like it's brand new?

[hippibluesman]

there are a lot a douche bag guitarists acting all holier than thou on this telling you that you shouldn't learn to play like less claypool, be your own style bla bla. you are just asking the wrong question. i mean of course you don't want to copy les claypool, you just want to know what he did to get so good. well the thing with him is that he just kinda made up a tonne of stuff that is unique to him. he started off like anybody else, with a metronome, and a ridiculous amount of spare time. he started off small, playing the little basic riffs and techniques and constantly built off of it. just figure out your music theory first (i suggest learning acoustic guitar for that, that's what i did) you know to get things like chords arrpegios and all that jazz. then master all the cool techniques you can, and then practice melding them together. once you can do that, just let the music flow. what i used to do is smoke a bowl, sit down for three hours and just let my soul poor out its sweet nectar in the form of gloriously written riffs. and man, being good at music and being able to play in front of everyone, maybe even getting a career out of it, is such a small part of the experiance. its all about getting that good. putting all those hours in, and knowing they payed off. that's what music is about, the mother ****in journey. NEVER STOP THE ROCK: bassist:

[mademko]

Piccalo strings... And tune your bass one whole octave higher than standard.
OR
Buy a 32" scale bass and uses two A strings and two G strings tuned to E-A-D-G

[Immigrant]

Hmm. They look like standard gauges to me.



He uses a piccolo bass sometimes but only rarely.