flea is a monster?

[Stupid Jerk]

2) It's better to play the bass like a genuine musical instrument rather than mindlessly banging away on the strings like a chimp beating on a tree branch.

On occasion, it is excellent to hybridize the two approaches!

 

[MammaryVest]

You know, if the way he sounds is the way he wants to sound, I say his technique is perfect.

Also, Sometimes the only way to make a genuine musical instrument sound the way you want it to sound is to "beat it like a chimp". Neither approach is better, or wrong.

 

[DredFetus]

He prolly was breaking strings off and using them as a tourniquet.

 

[Gorn]

He prolly was breaking strings off and using them as a tourniquet.

Did you intentionally search out a 9 year old thread about Flea breaking strings so you could make a joke alluding to his drug use?

 

[two fingers]

Well it CAN be about the groove. I like to say that bass is about whatever I want it to be at any given time. But otherwise I agree with you.

I see a lot of bassists on here judge other bassists by the amount of strings they break or how low they wear their bass or how much they paid for their bass or some equally unimportant reason, though. Listen, when you get as good as Flea or achieve the lasting fame Flea has had, then you can tell him his technique blows. At which point Flea well tell you to F off, then you'll come on TB and tell everyone how he blew you off. What's it to you if he breaks a lot of strings? He gets them free.

As for the silly comment about having to stop and get another bass, most people can actually make it to the end of the song after they break a string. If you can't, maybe you should learn a little more about the notes on your bass. And Flea DOES have a bass tech to help him get another one of the 4 basses he brings on tour. So that's a moot point.

This.

I'm pretty sure I have broken a couple dozen A strings over the years and a couple D strings as well.

 

[DredFetus]

Opps my bad didnt notice the dates and found this from a link off a google search

 

[40Hz]

I'm not impressed. Put your strings on wrong and they'll break fairly easily too.

All I want say to players who are constantly breaking strings is: Party tricks! Enough already.

 

[David Jayne]

So much facepalm. So little time.

 

[Gorn]

I'm not impressed. Put your strings on wrong and they'll break fairly easily too.

All I want say to players who are constantly breaking strings is: Party tricks! Enough already.

I'm fairly sure Flea's tech who changes his strings before each show, knows how to correctly install strings. Flea plays really hard. It's his style. When he's running around a stage, naked and manic, pounding on his bass like he does, a string is gonna break now and again.

 

[40Hz]

I'm fairly sure Flea's tech who changes his strings before each show, knows how to correctly install strings. Flea plays really hard. It's his style. When he's running around a stage, naked and manic, pounding on his bass like he does, a string is gonna break now and again.

That could also be the reason. No argument. And no disrespect to Mr. Flea intended on my part. But by the same token, a competent tech would also know how to put strings on to maximize the number of times they will break if that's what the bassist he's working for wants.

But what pounding on your instrument, running around like a maniac naked, etc. has do with the music itself is beyond my admittedly limited ability to get.

But it does make for an 'interesting' stage show.

To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln: If you like that sort of thing, this is the sort of thing you'll like.

To each his own. You can't argue with success. And Flea is more successful than I've ever been. To date at least. (Hope springs eternal.)

 

[Thuddy Waters]

Maybe his bass had a burr on the bridge at the time?

In that case, I wonder if Oteil Burbridge breaks a lot of strings.

 

[40Hz]

And the transformation to bashing Flea/not bashing Flea thread is complete. Just to put a word in, I think most Flea bashers are actually the old guys who can't handle looking at a naked man's body, and in their mind that makes Flea a worse player. I've said it a billion times before, most people just don't understand that Flea is coming from PUNK ROCK, it's all about the intensity. He's not trying to impress anybody, which to me is very....impressive.

Well...I come from punk rock too. All the way back to before it was called punk rock. We mostly just called it "garage" when we called it anything at all. "Punk" was what the newspapers started calling it. When asked, Johnny Rotten said to a reporter something along the lines of "What's punk? Dunno. That's your name for it. Not ours."

I'm also one of the "old guys" some young-uns' like to generalize about. And punk wasn't just "all about the intensity." It was about a whole lot more than that. The intensity emerged out of the ethos. The ethos didn't emerge out of the intensity. The intensity was just a byproduct. And a lot of what led to the early demise of a lot of good punkers before their time. Being constantly over the top in order to keep up appearances and be punk-er than the next punk often came with a heavy tariff attached.

To my mind, the RHCP are more the second generation or third (depending who's counting) of the 'punk' scene. Not that that's any diss on Flea. Underneath the stage antics he's an awfully knowledgeable and savvy bass player with his own unique style. Not exactly my cup of tea. But it's listenable. And it's his. So no knock from me.

Funny thing...it's often the young guys - as opposed to the "old" rockers - who seem like they "can't handle seeing" any criticism of anything these days. Disagreeing about Flea breaking strings is (to them) the same as knocking the rest of the man and all the rest of his playing. How somebody saying it's silly to be constantly breaking strings is taken to mean (by some people) that they're just saying "Flea sucks!" is a bit of mental gymnastics beyond my ability to comprehend.

But I'm an "old guy" who's been told more than once by someone younger than me that: "You just don't get it." when they were spewing absolute nonsense. Usually after I called BS on it.

But they were right I suppose. It's true. I didn't "get it."

But that's ok. I'm good with that.

(Note: Handle seeing a naked guy? Whatever. It's no big deal to me. I see one every time I step out of the shower. Doesn't do it much for me personally. But to each his/her own I always say.)

 

[David Jayne]

In that case, I wonder if Oteil Burbridge breaks a lot of strings.

What you did there. I see it.

 

[Pudge Fish]

Here's some Flea love


Flea hits his solo at 3:00 minutes. You'll see tons of slapping and obnoxious playing from several "greats" in this one, yet Flea displays skill and musicianship. In my opinion, he plays better (in this video) than other "better" bassists...
Flea has chops, but grew them on-the-fly, so stories like this may apply to the early punk-days more than the later pop-days.

 

[Fishyfishfish]

High energy showmanship, bound to happen. Flea also put the bass back on the forefront of pop-punk music through the '80's '90's with a crazy style.

 

[RHFusillo]

Weren't early Stingrays prone to breaking strings? Years ago, when I was playing in a punk band in Pittsburgh, a friend of mine -- a heavy-handed player -- used to break the E string on his Stingray frequently. I used to save my used strings and give them to him for spares.

 

[40Hz]

Here's some Flea love


Flea hits his solo at 3:00 minutes. You'll see tons of slapping and obnoxious playing from several "greats" in this one, yet Flea displays skill and musicianship. In my opinion, he plays better (in this video) than other "better" bassists...
Flea has chops, but grew them on-the-fly, so stories like this may apply to the early punk-days more than the later pop-days.

Thx for that one! Gratifying yet oddly sad sometimes seeing a younger guy playing with some of the established greats, a few of whom are now well on their way to becoming old frauds IMO. I just love that too cool "dismount" he made at the end of it. (Is it just my imagination? Or do some of them look like they can't believe their ears?)

 

[T-MOST]

Flea can play thats just a fact. But you don't get points for breaking strings everytime you play. That just means you play waaayyy too hard.

 

[PokeyPrasch]

I broke a string once, a special technique called "Tuning via the wrong direction".
No matter how much I turned I couldn't seem to make the correct letter appear on the tuner.

Stupidity is painful, so are over-tightened bass strings when they snap.

 

[JackANSI]

In all the years of internet video, I think I've seen at least one video from every one of the "greats" people hold up "abusing" the strings or bass at some point, to artistic effect. If you think breaking a string is a "crime against bass"...