i need some help, how can i slap bass like flea?

[Joe Nerve]

The harder you hit when slapping, the slower you'll go and the sooner you won't be able to play the bass anymore.

If you ever get a chance to watch Flea's hands closely, do so. He's not playing hard at at all.

[tyburn]

bravo !

someone with sense

[Pacman]

Originally posted by The Funkbomb
This sounds a bit crazy but works . Just hit your bass as hard as you can till your hand f#cking hurts like hell and your fingers are covered in blisters . It will sound really sh#t to start with but keep practicing and you will start to develop a rhythm then try to develop other rhythms . Most of fleas slapping is a continuous rhythm with only your hand on the neck changing . The secret to Flea bass is playing your bass really fu#kin hard

Congratulations. This is the single worst piece of advice I've ever seen on Talkbass. Ever.

If you're giving yourself blisters, or hurting yourself, you are endangering your ability to play bass in the future. If it hurts, don't do it!

[The Funkbomb]

why are all the people that don't even write about how to slap like flea rippen the pish out of what I said , and to whoever said flea doesn't slap hard why's he got a hole in his fu#kin thumb then . I'm not saying just hit your bass and you'll be a master player but to get fleas rough sound you do have to hit your bass hard or it doesn't sound right for example the Stone cold Bush slap solo you could not play unhard and make it sound right . ok all of you like a more smooth style of playing and see it as bad advice but what's wrong with doing both and don't say if you play hard you couldn' t play smooth or slow because that's simply not true . I also don't see flea as a god there are players with better technique living here in Scotland playing in their local jazz cafe .

[tyburn]

you have to remember, and your new, but what you say here counts. people ask for advice, and when it's something like "how to slap" or slapping techniques it's usually someone young, and in the innocence and in some cases naivety they take everything you say literally, whether it's good or bad.

you have to careful about what you put forward, and if it's unfounded advice, like your post, then expect to get negative or contrasting responses.

you may have reasoning about what you said, but you really don't have the luxury of being able to explain yourself afterwards, the persons probably already gone off to try it.

all myself and pacman were trying to say, and I can't really speak on his behalf, but, you don't have to wack the crap out of you bass to be like flea, you don't have to physically hurt yourself, it can be done without it.

fair enough, fleas maybe partial to a bit of hardened playing, but we all don't have to be like that, look at mark king, he went as far to protect his thumb with gaffa tape?, and he can slap hard.

if you want to find other ways of doing something, inevitably you can and do, its just about perseverance and commitment to bass. and not

BASS MASOCHISM

[Pacman]

Nicely put, THIGHBURN, you're right on track. I think of myself as an athlete, with my hands and arms being what I use for my 'sport'. No one would ever say 'run untill you've got blisters and your feet are bleeding' or anything of the sort, and neither should one treat one's hands poorly either.

If you'd like to continue playing in your later years, as I'm sure the vast majority of us would, treat your body like an athlete's body. Drink lots of water, warm up and stretch properly, pay attention to how your body reacts to certain types of playing. Your body is a machine, and requires maintainance to keep it running.

A final word from me about slapping. It's my experience (and I'm someone who does get calls to slap), you should be able to match your slap style volume to your fingerstyle volume with your hands alone. I slap only hard enough to get the tone I want, which I've found is very lightly. You'll also notice it's easier to play faster and more intricate stuff that way (bonus!)

[Joe Nerve]

I'd like to get my last 2 cents in here also.

I still disagree about the Flea thing and him pounding the hell out of his bass, but I also realize that it may all be relative. What's pounding and smashing to one person, might not be to another - I don't exactly tap my bass. Who knows, one might think I smash the hell out it. Bottom line is I don't hurt myself, and if I ever got blisters, they were so minor I don't even remember them. I also conciously practice playing more lightly cuz you can get way more dynamic things happening, and go a f*ck of a lot faster.

The other thing is that I used to think it was lame to warm up, or think about protecting myself or my fingers. It's rock and roll. Smash the damn thing, hit the strings so hard their mothers will feel it. Until I almost couldn't use my right hand middle finger anymore (from aggressive finger style playing, not slapping). If you truly love the bass you have no idea the fear that runs through you when you think you may not be able to use that finger anymore. It took me a year of relearning some technique to get myself fully back in action again, and the scare really taught that I have to take care of myeslf if I want to do this for the rest of my life - as uncool as I used to think that sounded.

Finally - a lot of the Flea sound comes from his basses also. I wondered why even if I played the same stuff it didn't sound anything like when he did, until I picked up my first Musicman. It made all the difference in the world, and of course I had to buy one. Don't have much experience with the Flea bass, but my guess it's a similar thing.

[fleabass89]

heh..just so you don't kill <b>me</b> too, that big scrolling BEAT THE HELL OUT OF IT thing was a joke..lol. just practice. There's no reason to kill your bass, or your hands!

[The Funkbomb]

I think I was a bit rash in what I said and will think before I speak next time . Pacman if you don't mind me asking how old r u and how long have you played

[Pacman]

Originally posted by The Funkbomb
I think I was a bit rash in what I said and will think before I speak next time . Pacman if you don't mind me asking how old r u and how long have you played

First, if anyone saw the original version of my response to this post, I apologize. I'm tired. My house is nothing but boxes, I smell like a goat, and I don't have any sheets! (I'm moving) So I didn't read the above post properly.

That said, DRUNKMOM, thanks for your candor. Always nice to see this kind of thing on Talkbass.

I'm 32, and I've been making my living solely as a bassist for 14 years. I've been playing professionally for 17 or so, and I've been playing for 20 total.

I hope people understand that I really try to think about my posts here. Not only because I'm a moderator, but mostly because I do have the experience that I do. I get PM's and emails often from people who want to draw on what I've learned. And that's humbling. I'm amazed that people want to pay me to do what I do, but that other people want me to give them advice? Humbling. There's no other word. So I take it seriously when I give advice. I'm sorry I blasted you the way I did, but you've got to understand that someone may look at that and try it - which could easily lead to injury. I'd hate to see someone endanger a life of playing bass ( and being as overjoyed about it as me) because someone shot off an answer so dangerous.

[voodoo]

Flea is not a god. He just practiced a lot and finally got the result. Several years ago I was saying the same "How does he play! It can`t be true!". However, now I can play some flea stuff . With some practice ( I mean 1-2 months everyday 2-3 hours with metronome) you`ll play as fast ( probaly faster) as flea.
My advice is:
as we know Flea plays with his thumb pointed down. You should practice a lot ver simple figures and combinate them on a very-very high speed ( 120 bps and faster). Here are some simple figures
1..2..1..2..1..2..1..2..1..2
s..p..s..s..p..s..p..s..p..s
( bitrate - 120 bps and higher)
then, for exampe
try instead of one slap hit, play two at a time
try to play the intro to "Higher groung" faster then Flea does.
month of practice- you`ll play as Flea

[Drop_D]

One more thing about FLEA. The slap stuff in his records aren´t "that" difficult, including the older albums. The solos that he improvises at live shows, those are the REAL complex and hard to get stuff.
But like most of you guys said, practice leads you to whatever you want.

[ldiezman]

hmm.... Lemme try and stay on track and not go off on a tangent ... I slap the string with my thump with just enough pressure to get that "sound" that I'm listening for. It took some time to get it especially since my last bass wasn't good for slapping at all.. anyway.. to pop i pull the string with just enough force to get that "pop" sound I am longing for.... slapping and popping should not require blood and sweat... if it does you may be doing something wrong. The first time I used the slap/pop technique was when I traveled to Waturbury Conn. with my old band (i'm from SC) Everyone thought it sounded cool... but I was really beating up my bass and my fingers. I scratced up my pups and got a nasty little blister on my index finger..... I will never be that rough again..... I find that on my stingray it is much easier to slap and pop than on my steinberger. anyways.. i got off subject. It took a good while before i could slap and pop effeciently and do things besides octave pops and what not. But with what I play now, there is not much call for slapping and popping.. If I do do use it, then it is for a small amount of time not the whole song... anyways

Peaceout

[Usul]

If I could answer that,I would be filthy rich selling my "Usul`s Ultimate Flea Style Bass Slapping Course"!

Why would you want to slap like Flea(one of my bassheros)when you could slap like Vic Wooten? LOL

[tyburn]

Originally posted by Usul


Why would you want to slap like Flea(one of my bassheros)when you could slap like Vic Wooten? LOL

OR YOURSELF

[Disco_Gee]

Originally posted by tyburn


yeah it does, theres absolutely no reason why any technique applied to bass guitar should cause you to even have blisters, if you take your time and do not wack the $hit out of your bass, not only will you have a better sound, technique and more control over what your doing , but you'll also have NO blisters.

even with things like fingerstyle playing, what do you people do that causes you to have blisters, i see posts like "how many blisters do you have", like its a contest!?

nothing, the majority of the time, is added to the sonic value of a note, when you wack it silly, sure some stylesand songs, for instance, Jacos part on the chicken, require you to modify the posistion and the way in which you strike the string.

but i've never had a blister, perhaps a bit of hardened skin, i've always played with fingers, never a pick.

listen to what your playing, if it sounds bad to you, then whats everybody else goning to think when it's increased in volume by 300W

theres no reason, in my mind why you'd want to sound and play just like flea, the technique isn't exclusivly his, nor is he the best at it,

once your playings getting good, you want to be looking at how you can make yourself stand out from the crowd, work on modifying techniques, doing things differently, thats why the fleas, jaco's, vic wootens etc, are mentioned , they do things a little different than there predecessors

sure, lokk for inspiration, but don't get caught up in the "flea is god" stuff, it's not worth it, nor is taking advice , like "wack the strings, it'll sound like $hit and you'll have lots of blisters"

be objective and sensable with what you listen to, and if your still not sure, ask some of the TBers who are a little more mature.

I thought about flaming you, but I won't. What you said is right.

[tucker]

TO SLAP LIKE FLEA YOU MUST BE FLEA CAUSE EVERYONE SLAPS DIFFERENTLY!!!