"Around the World" by RHCP?

Hey dude,

Form how I play it, I dont think there are any shortcuts. I think Flea plays the first 5 notes slapping and the rest of the intro is by using fingerstyle. Thats how I play it. I know you dont want to hear it, but if you keep at it, you should be able to do it up to speed in no time.

 

There's slapping in there? ah well...

I dunno, it's pretty simple... I find I can only play it standing, not sitting, and it helps to have the bass moderately low (to most of you that's normal).

Just work up your speed.

 

just use fast fingers and a lot of distortion

 

You're in luck, because this is the only RHCP song I've ever bothered to learn. The bit that you describe is played fingerstyle by Flea. I find that the trick is to go easy with the right hand - instead of trying deliberately to move your fingers as fast as possible, ease off a little bit and try to make the strokes more consistant. Try playing the song more slowly and then bringing it up to speed - playing it like that usually helps you to iron out any problems with your technique that may be holding you back.

 

that's a cool song

 

Thats actually one of my favorite songs to play. Ill explain it a little:

During the whole intro, Flea uses distortion. The first note is a slapped open E, which lasts for 5 beats. Then he slaps 4 open Es (quarter notes) that get progressively louder.

Then he plays that little lick around the 12th fret, which Im not gonna TAB because itll take me too long and I am lazy. Theres a lot of little hammer ons and pull offs in there that make it easier to play, just figure out where they are. Thats all fingerstyle, and like yawnsie said, its easier when you use loose fingers and play it slowly. When I first learned the intro to that song, I tried to play it as fast as I could, which was about twice as fast as Flea plays it, and I kept screwing up and I didnt know why. Then I realized that Flea plays it really slow, and it just sounds fast because he is using distortion. Distortion has a way of playing tricks on your ears... It makes you sound better than you actually are. I think thats why guitarists use it so much

 

If your looking for other RHCP songs (that are easyish) Californication is good and it doesnt have slap!

 

fun song to play...not much slapping in it. but after going into music stores and watching and listening to people playing that as their "Show off Riff" kind of took away the fun. peace
Chad

 

it's probably easier to play that opening riff up on the G-string, and tonally (to me, anyway, so shuddup) it just sounds more "snappier". trust me, you want snap. and lots of it
by the way, learn the names of the damn notes, baw - it ain't a "14" you're playing, it's an E. in fact i think the entire song is in E Minor (what else is new with rock stuff, eh)... so yeah, if you wanna try it on the G, here's your bloody tab for ya


G--7h9-9--7h9-9--7h9-9---... ad freakin' nauseum.

 

well you know how i usually compare your opinion with everyone's arsehole?

 

The sweetest line that Flea ever played had no slap in it.

It was on Soul to squeeze from the Coneheads soundtrack.

That was the song that covinced me that Flea was not just someone who could slap halfway decent, but that he was a real bass player.

 

Amen to that

 

embellisher...soul to squeeze is by far the best song RHCP has to offer. great bass line. just smooth. peace
Chad

 

A fave flea song of mine with no slapping in is 'transcending' from 'one hot minute'.
That album has a lot of cool songs on where flea seems to be just improvising and he also plays a lot of fingerstyle on it.

 

To play that riff correctly there IS a chord drop-off, played:

G--7h9-9--7h9-9--7h9-9--7h9-9--
D-----------------------------------------9-8
A-----------------------------------------------9-8

Then it repeats, minus one of the high bars and another line on E:

G--7h9-9--7h9-9--7h9-9--
D---------------------------------9-8
A---------------------------------------9-8
E---------------------------------------------7-5

The entier process is repeated twice, I think. Listen to the song with the bass way up and the mids and treble cut significantly to really hear this.

Rock on
Eric

 

thanks for that Eric, but i don't recall asking how to play a song that i already know, and of course SPANKMYCOW already knew that