This page is obviously about my influences. People who make me want to play bass and make me want to get so much better. These are the players I want to play like and I look up to them so much!
Each person inspires me in different ways:
Mark King - I absolutely love his slap technique and just how he plays the bass! He is my top influence.
Flea - I really like flea's stage presents. How crazy he is in general while playing some awesome bass lines.
Victor Wooten - This guy is just amazing. He does everything. And the technique that gets me is the bass sweeping he does.
Anyway I'm going to tell about each person and their band and what I think of them.
Each person inspires me in different ways:
Mark King - I absolutely love his slap technique and just how he plays the bass! He is my top influence.
Flea - I really like flea's stage presents. How crazy he is in general while playing some awesome bass lines.
Victor Wooten - This guy is just amazing. He does everything. And the technique that gets me is the bass sweeping he does.
Anyway I'm going to tell about each person and their band and what I think of them.
MARK KING
|
The video is Mark King performing a bass solo live at the Jazz Cafe. When the band joins in, it is a song by Level 42,
MR. PINK!! It is probably the best bass solo I have heard! |
About Mark KingMark King was probably the first bassist to make 'slapping and popping' quite famous. He developed it a bit more than what was made and popularized it.
King had an amazing playing speed and introduced technical elements that made him produce a mix of percussive effects while maintaining a steady bass line. One of of his greatest influences was Tom Taylor, who gave Mark guitar lessons at the age of 12. His technique is "machine-gun" style. This style is made up of playing rapidly using a combination of thumb slaps, pops, hammer-ons, and left hand slaps. |
Mark King To MeMark King is a guy I only decided to listen to in August 2012.
He would definitely be my top most greatest influences! I look up to him so much. He popularized slapping in the eighties! Right there is basically saying he is the best! well I think so. He inspires me so much. I have learnt a few of his songs so far, 'Love Games', 'Mr. Pink' and starting to learn 'Lessons In Love'. I love his main way of slapping. It's sort of like a gallop or a triplet but it is quite hard to get the hang of to start with. 'Lessons In Love' would be the rhythm I am talking about. He really is amazing! |
About 'LEVEL 42'Level 42 are an English pop, rock, jazz and funk band who were very successful in the 1980's-90's
The band became so successful mostly because of Mark King's percussive slapping technique. It influenced a lot of 80's bands at the time. The band are also known for Mark King playing the bass as well as singing lead vocals. Having been a very successful live and studio band in the 1980s. They decided to break up in 1994 but the band reformed in 2001. Their most successful song was "Lessons in Love" |
FLEA
(Michael Balzary)
|
This video is Flea and Chad Smith (RHCP) having a little 'jamming' session.
They do this kind of thing nearly every day so they can get the bass and the drums really locked together for red hot chili peppers. |
About FleaFlea's bass playing has varied quite a lot. When he joined 'Fear' the bass lines were traditional punk rock, but when he joined the RHCP. He started to use the "slapping" technique.
But this technique caused Flea to get attention from the music world and was often copied. He then decided to completely remove "slapping" in some of the RHCP albums. In the album Blood Sugar Sex Magik (1991) he didn't do any of his signature techniques but used styles that focused more on traditional and melodic roots. "I was trying to play simply on Blood Sugar Sex Magik because I had been playing too much prior to that, so I thought, 'I've really got to chill out and play half as many notes'. When you play less, it's more exciting—there's more room for everything. If I do play something busy, it stands out, instead of the bass being a constant onslaught of notes. Space is good." |
Flea To MeFlea is a bassist I found out about in Secondary school. A friend really liked the chili's and told me to check them out because she knew I was starting to learn bass.
I learned a few songs before coming to college such as: Californication, The Adventures Of Rain Dance Maggie, By The Way, Get Up And Jump, Black Eyed Blonde, Parallel Universe, Don't Forget Me and Higher Ground. To begin with I Flea used to be my top number one... until I listened to Mark King. But I still think Flea is an amazing player. His bass lines are so 'jumpy'. He doesn't slap so much anymore but when he used to, I thought it was amazing! Especially songs like "Get Up And Jump", "Black Eyed Blonde" and "Skinny Sweaty Man". Even with his simple fingering bass lines. The can be so simple yet so effective. It's just like the song "Don't Forget Me", the bass only does four different power chords and mutes, but it is really effective. |
About the 'RHCP'Red Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band. Got together in Los Angeles in 1983. Their musical style is a mix of so many different genres but mainly rock and funk.
Currently, the band consists of founding members Anthony Kiedis (vocals) and Michael "Flea" Balzary (bass), drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer. Red Hot Chili Peppers have won seven Grammy Awards, and sold over 65 million records worldwide. They are known for so many different things: 1) Anthony Kiedis - His spoken verses and rap style. 2) John Frusciante - His guitar playing uses melody and emotion rather than virtuosity. 3)Flea - His slapping and melodic bass lines. And his craziness on stage. 4) Chad Smith - Blends rock with funk. He mixes funk, rock, metal and jazz to his beats |
Victor Wooten
|
If you've seen Victor Wooten you'll know that his solo's are crazy and he uses a lot of bass tapping and sweeping!
|
Victor WootenVictor Wooten has been 'bass player of the year' three times in a row and was the first person to win an award more than once.
His bass playing is crazy. He does everything: Slapping, Popping, Tapping, Fingers, Sweeping, Harmonics, De-tuning. Just about every technique there is. His slapping and popping is very unusual and when he does it, he doesn't get that funky sound like Mark King or Flea. Victor is all about the speed. He doesn't like how much time it takes to bring your hand back from doing regular slapping so he sort of created his own way. He then incorporated his slapping into creating the bass guitar sweeping. His most used technique is tapping! |
Victor To MeI never really got into Victor Wooten. My brother showed me him once on YouTube when I was starting to learn the bass and I just thought "wow" and that was it.
It was only recently (2013) got into his playing. When I seen Victor Wooten transcriptions on my bass tutors website so I checked more of his stuff out. We then started to talk about Victor in my lessons and Colin showed me some stuff. And it was only then I was like "okay wow!!" I think he is truly amazing but I am not to found of his slapping and his songs. I would learn them just to say I can, but I honestly prefer Mark King's and Flea's stuff. It would be awesome to be able to do the sweeping and tapping like him because I think it is so impressive! |
Bela Fleck And The FlecktonesBela Fleck and the Flecktones use bluegrass, fusion of jazz, or anything else that catches their interest. They leave their music open to inspiration and have recently been incorporating a lot of African instruments.
Brothers Victor Wooten and Roy Wooten form the rhythm section. Victor Wooten is known in jazz and bass-playing circles for his slap and pop technique on bass guitar. In 2011, a new album, titled Rocket Science, was released. It is an album of new material. The song "Life in Eleven" won Best Instrumental Composition at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards. |