What’s up guys and gals, welcome back to another episode of Know Your Bass Player.
Today we’re talking the high flying, high jumping psycho slap player
that's all smash and no flash. Flea from The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Bumpa dee ba bumpa-ty bumpa-ty ...
My name is Alfie Williams and it’s my job to dissect the gear, the styles and the technique
of the great bass players out there.
Flea from RHCP has been an inspiration for me since I was a teenager.
Some of the first songs I learned as a bass player were Chili Pepper songs
and were a great way to bridge the gaps between my musical tastes and other peoples.
For over 30 years Flea has been associated with thundering slapping style
and finger fast plucking
Today we dig deep to find out
just what gear he uses to make him sound so good.
When Flea helped create the Red Chili Peppers in 1983
he joined the scene using a MusicMan Cutlass 1.
Flea recorded with a Cutlass 1 on the Red Hot Chili Pepper's first two albums;
Red Hot Chili Peppers and Freaky Styley,
This early Cutlass of Flea's was adorned pink and green tape and splashed with paint,
This bass can be seen in the band's earliest videos 'True Men Don't Kill Coyotes',
'Jungle Man', and 'Catholic School Girls Rule'.
As well as one of the band’s first live television performance on 1984's
Thicke of the night.
In a short space of time this bass quickly became adorned with shiny flag stickers
Notably from other countries.
The headstock was painted yellow and black.
Music Man had partnered with Modulus Graphite to produce two short-lived basses
The Cutlass 1 and Cutlass 2
These basses look like normal MusicMan StingRay's but they actually have graphite necks installed.
Modulus have a hand in Flea's future basses but we'll talk about them
and the future of graphite necks later on.
Around 600 of these basses were madebut they never caught on quite like the StingRay
and production ceased in the mid 80’s.
Interestingly enough, as of October 2016, Musicman have produced two new basses inspired
by a modern rework to the Cutlass guitar .
This is based on designs that were left incomplete by Leo Fender.
Leo Fender at the time was owner of the MusicMan company prior to Ernie Ball in 1984.
As this guitar was a success, MusicMan decided
to bestow complementing bass versions upon us too.
These modern basses rework the successful elements of the Fender Precision and Jazz
then blends them with the StingRay.
The resulting basses are the Precision-style Cutlass and the Jazz-style Caprice.
Moving on to the third album The Uplift Mofo Party Plan.
Flea started to use Spectator basses.
His first spector was a NS2-JA bolt and seen on the video “Fight like a brave”.
In 1989 Mother’s Milk was released and Flea had switched to the now classic NS-2 model
which features a three piece neck thru construction.-
This and the EMG, P/J pickups give it a warm well rounded tone with immense resonance.
Flea can be seen happily slapping away on the video “Knock Me Down”.
The other two singles from Mother’s Milk were “Taste the Pain" and
”Higher Ground”.
Flea used the Tiesco NB-4
which was sold under the name SIlvertone in the US.
A strange choice for Flea considering the bass’ shorter scale
and a low starting point , mostly ideal for for beginners.
The 1991 album BSSM was recorded with a combination of basses.
but it was thanks to the touring in this time that Flea is remembered for the honking and
thumping tone of a MusicMan StingRay.
StingRays are known for having extremely low action and a trademark active humbucker
Built with Alnico magnets it is a combination of three different metals;
Aluminium, Cobalt and Nickel.
Add to this combination a 3 band EQ and you have one loud versatile instrument.
The StingRay can be see in the videos “Give It Away” as well as the live video single
“If You Have To Ask”.
A StingRay was used for the tracks “Funky Monks” and 'Righteous and the Wicked',
Where Flea said he needed an ultra low action sound.
You’ll also notice a StingRay 5 string in the video for “Under The Bridge”.
Which contrary to the video, this was actually recorded with a Wal Mach II (2) bass.
Wal Mk 2 basses have an unbelievable tone is warm and loud beyond belief.
This is down to the construction of its proprietary humbucker pickup
. Each pole piece has it’s own ceramic magnet
wrapped around a coil.
The use of the Wal bass coincided with a complete change of musical style by Flea
Trying new things he was toning down his hyper slap aggressive passages
and focusing more on the song writing as a whole.
This bass can be glimpsed in the video 'Suck My Kiss' and seen more frequently in the 1991
documentary Funky Monks.
For the production of 1995s One Hot Minute, Flea stated in an interview for Bass Player
magazine that he was using an Alembic Epic for most of the record
. The reason being is that the Alembic has a
more consistent volume throughout the neck.
- The highs just as loud as the lows
This is know to be an issue with StingRays. The article also states that Flea's bass is
a stock Epic.
The Alembics’ volume and punchy tone was a great compliment
to new guitarists Dave Navarro’s thick tone.
Dave was known for layering and dubbing effects which can get quite thick in a mix.
Strangely enough, an off handed quote from Flea said; “I’d never be caught dead playing it live
… I always use a StingRay but
the Alembic is like the Wal I used on
the last record.
I didn’t like it either but it was so easy to record with.”
The Alembic is seen in the video for “My Friends” which depicts clips of the band
in the studio.
whilst the rest of the videos
Aeroplane, Coffee shop and Warped depict the Classic StingRay.
Going 6 times platinum in 1997 was Californiacation. It was at this time The Modulus Flea bass
hit the market.
Developed by Modulus with Flea, it was their combined take on the MusicMan StingRay.
The specialty of this bass is its graphite neck.
Normal basses made of wood are a malleable material that can
the ebb and flow of the environment.
Not only this but the pull of the strings across the neck don’t help either.
You can counter this issue with a truss rod but it's not a permanent solution
Necks are to prone to certain unpredictable and undesirable qualities.
Like "bowing" either too pronounced or too subtle,
dead spots, or areas on the neck where notes are quieter or more indistinct compared to
the others.
Non-traditional neck materials such as graphite are attempts to correct these issues by replacing
wood with lighter, stiffer and more uniform components that don’t change.
For Flea, these basses were ideal for touring as they would hardly
"All around the world"
As they hardly ever need to be adjusted to the environment.
The strength of this neck also made it useful for thrashing about on stage.
The Blue Sparkle Modulus Flea Bass was the first to be made.
and primarily used on the Californiacation tour.
Flea has had many Modulus basses over the years.
Several which still show up in his in his rig today.
For the most part, these basses are all set up the same
with graphite necks, lane poor pickips and Aguliar preamps
All of these basses have made an appearance from The Californiacation era to the current
“The Getaway” era.
Here is a few of his collection, if you would like to know all of the stats for these basses
take a look at our show notes linked below.
There’s the Sunburst.
Aboriginal pattern
Silver Sparkle and a 5 string Silver Sparkle.
All Black custom with Lakers font FLEA in the fretboard.
And the Circle Jerk Punk-Rock
The second bass featured on Californaciation was a 1961 Fender Jazz which we first see
in the video for “Californiacation”.
This is a remarkable bass and from here on out used to record nearly every studio album
the Chili Peppers have had.
We're talking By The Way, Stadium Arcardium, I’m with You and The Getaway.
The bass was given to him by a fan after requesting in his online tour journal
if anyone knew where he could get a pre-CBS Jazz Bass
being one of the original “Shell Pink” jazz bases ever produced by Fender it has
been evaluated to be worth 35 thousand dollars
Whilst Flea adores this bass and
treasures its “old wood sound".
his bass technician Tracy Robar has stated that;
“It’s a great bass but wasn’t for Chili Peppers.
He can’t play as quick and it has no cutting tone”
Fender have since brought out a signature Flea Jazz Bass
Which tries to match the features his ‘61 Jazz.
It includes vintage J pickups And a “period correct” neck.
This neck profile is ideal for those that like playing
with their thumb on the back of the neck or the side.
The By The Way tour in 2003 solidified the Chili's popularity in mainstream music.
- It was at this time the Circle Jerk Punk Rock
bass was seen in music videos and on tour.
Making it most likely the second most popular bass Flea is known for.
It was painted red white and blue akin to the french flag and then adorned even more stickers
these feature a bunch of Flea's favourite punk bands.
As you’ve guessed, The Circle Jerks being one of them
In 2007 The Chili Peppers entered a hiatus that lasted two years.
During that time Flea left the sponsorship with Modulus to create his very own
line of basses.
Because once you’ve been sponsored the only way to top it off is to have your very own
line of basses right?!
His goal was to start a music company to produce quality bass guitars that
were affordable for young people
The FleaBass - Not to be confused with the “Modulus Flea Bass”
Which by the way has been now been renamed the Modulus Funk since fleas abandonment.
Has two models, The Touring model with a 34 inch neck and
the Junior Model with 30 inch
They are very colourful basses and come in 4 different combinations.
For the Recording of “I’m with you” which began in September 2010.
Fleas own FleaBass was further customised with a Lane Poor pickup and an Aguliar preamp.
In all the videos for the album Flea can be seen playing his FleaBass
which has a multicoloured spin art finish created by
UK controversial artist Damien Hirst
The two collaborated on these basses and set up an auction to help fund Flea's music school
the Silverlake Conservatory of Music.
One of these basses will set you back $50 thousand dollars
“The Getaway” was released in 2016 and gave us a few singles.
It’s only in the video for "Dark Necessities" can we see Flea still playing his 61 Jazz
and in “Sick Love” A colourful rendition of his FleaBass.
Finishing with our current year 2017 - Fender have again
provided Flea with several custom basses
His now number 1 bass is a Jazz styled body,
with a legacy Lane Poor pick up,
Aguliar preamp and graphite enforced neck.
He has a few more basses like this of the same design,
one of which is his Laker bass and a heavily reliced
road worn pinkish version which is a nod to his 61 Jazz.
Fin!
That’s it for Fleas basses, take a look at the show notes where we've included a lot
history and specifications we couldn’t include in this video.
We continue talking Flea's rig. With amplifiers, strings and techniques in part 2.
So please join us for that by clicking on the link below.
If you liked the video please give me a thumbs up and subscribe.
and I will see you in part 2
*Clap clap*
Woo!