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Flea bass fills?

#2
Uhh, I imagine it depends on the song :) Soul to Squeeze's fills are just in F maj AFAIK (with an a 9th on one of the later fills). Mostly just using chord tones.

I think he tends to just play in key with some chromatics but I don't know if you can really generalize about a guy who varies technique as much as Flea.
 
#4
rpsands said:
Uhh, I imagine it depends on the song :) Soul to Squeeze's fills are just in F maj AFAIK (with an a 9th on one of the later fills). Mostly just using chord tones.

I think he tends to just play in key with some chromatics but I don't know if you can really generalize about a guy who varies technique as much as Flea.
Click to expand...

I'd agree excpet I may be playing it wrong. And its not nearly as complicated as it sounds, which is why I love that bass line. DOn't overthink it and your fills will sound better IMHO.
 
#5
It's hard to say without knowing an example of a song you're thinking of...like a lot of rock bassists, he fills and improvises using the pentatonic scale frequently, so that's always a good place to start. If the main riff is in E, for example, it'd be the E pentatonic scale. For mellower stuff he's more likely to use the major or minor scale that corresponds to the particular tune. Those are gross generalizations however...he's played on lots of tunes over the years and I'm sure switches it up live quite a bit
 

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