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Flea

#2
I agree. He's the bassist that made me want to play bass and music in general. Everything he does is full of energy and musical. His chops are solid, his onstage personality is great to watch, and he's dedicated to his craft. and chad is one of my favorite drummers...thought i'd put that out there :smug:
 
#5
damn, well. i love flea. all of what everyone's said.

just think that his emotional expression with playing is so intense... and its expression and emotion i aspire to and relate to...

how long till some 'really cool people' come and slag off flea because its the 'really cool' thing to do cos all 'really cool bassists' hate him.

you wouldnt be jack without flea, the amount of people he has influenced is uncountable, he is quite possibly THE most influential bassist ever... and guess what? he didnt mean to be, he just played what came naturally to him, and without trying to be a great bassist. its through trying to be a great musician.
 
#7
If you are a teenager, or maybe early twenties, I guess he *could* well be a very big influence on your playing

"THE most influential bassist ever" is over egging the pudding just a tad IMHO. :hmm: :hmm:

Don't get me wrong - I love his playing and, more particularly, his attitude and work ethic. I just don't think he ranks with the other bass "giants" of the last 30 years or so.

One man's meat etc etc. :D :D

All IMHO and with great respect. I hope that I will not now get flamed for having an opinion that differs from the norm. ;) ;)
 
#10
bassicinstinct said:
If you are a teenager, or maybe early twenties, I guess he *could* well be a very big influence on your playing

"THE most influential bassist ever" is over egging the pudding just a tad IMHO. :hmm: :hmm:

Don't get me wrong - I love his playing and, more particularly, his attitude and work ethic. I just don't think he ranks with the other bass "giants" of the last 30 years or so.

One man's meat etc etc. :D :D

All IMHO and with great respect. I hope that I will not now get flamed for having an opinion that differs from the norm. ;) ;)
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I'm in my 40's, and Flea's been a great influence for me. I'm still trying to pick up some of his slap technique (I grew up in the 70's - we really didn't have much slap back then).

How does he rank amongst the "greats?" Well, I don't know. It all depends on how one defines his contributions to the instrument. Has he done anything new and original? Again, I'm not sure, but there will probably be some here who will say he has, and more power to them. What I personally like is he's very melodic. Think Aeroplane, or My Friends. I just love what he does on both those tunes (amongst others).

My two cents,

Alan
 
#11
abngourmet said:
I'm in my 40's, and Flea's been a great influence for me. I'm still trying to pick up some of his slap technique (I grew up in the 70's - we really didn't have much slap back then).
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hmmmm....I'm in my forties as well and I seem to remember that there was Louis Johnson, Stanley Clarke, Verdine White, Marvin Craig, and some dude named Larry Graham that innovated slap before Flea was even born (unless he was born before 1967)...just to name some of the bassist's that we all should have some familiarity with.

IMO, Flea is quite accomplished and can receive a lot of credit for bringing slap to the "masses" (outside of people who listened to R&B and Funk), but I agree with bassicinstinct.
 
#12
GSPLBASSDC said:
hmmmm....I'm in my forties as well and I seem to remember that there was Louis Johnson, Stanley Clarke, Verdine White, Marvin Craig, and some dude named Larry Graham that innovated slap before Flea was even born (unless he was born before 1967)...just to name some of the bassist's that we all should have some familiarity with.

IMO, Flea is quite accomplished and can receive a lot of credit for bringing slap to the "masses" (outside of people who listened to R&B and Funk), but I agree with bassicinstinct.
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I guess what I was trying to say was that fingerstyle was more prevalent. Yes, Johnson, Stanley, Larry, et. al. were doing slap, but it wasn't widespread. What I like about Flea (personally, for me) is that his technique just sounds effortless. This is what I personally appreciate from him.

Stanley - God, in terms of bass playing IMHO. He did (and does) things no one else has ever done (or did).

Larry Graham - "I'm going to add some bottom ...." - you get the picture.

Verdine White - His lines on "Got to Get You Into My Life" are for me a watershed.

Alan
 
#13
abngourmet said:
I guess what I was trying to say was that fingerstyle was more prevalent. Yes, Johnson, Stanley, Larry, et. al. were doing slap, but it wasn't widespread. What I like about Flea (personally, for me) is that his technique just sounds effortless. This is what I personally appreciate from him.

Stanley - God, in terms of bass playing IMHO. He did (and does) things no one else has ever done (or did).

Larry Graham - "I'm going to add some bottom ...." - you get the picture.

Verdine White - His lines on "Got to Get You Into My Life" are for me a watershed.

Alan
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clarification is a wonderful thing...thanks! (you obviously know your history)

I feel ya, and I agree...fingerstyle was (and is) more prevalent among bassists...and based upon some of the "technique" that's passed off as slap...that's a good thing :D
 
#17
Flea's great. I don't judge his playing, because he doesn't either. He's got a superb attitude to is position in the RHCPs, and he's modest too...something that you can't credit a lot of Bassist's these days with.

I personally can't get with Stanley Clarke...his sound, his chops or anything. I much prefer his upright work.
 
#19
Bassic83 said:
If you want to hear some slap, check out Mark King, Victor Wooten, and Brian Bromberg. PWNed! :D

Who, you ask? Ah, my young padawan, seek out the cd's you must...
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There's a lot of people that slaps dude. Not only those ones. If you want to hear some slap you don't have to go so far.

And there's a lot of ways to slap flea uses slap and it sounds smooth. But somes like Wooten or Miller sounds really hard. I think this is what makes flea's so special tone. I think it's in by the way, when the tempo is fast, in the verse if i remember well, he plays a riff slapping and it really sounds like fingers. Maybe he plays near the brige. Anyway flea's great and got HIS tone.
 

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