Chords for How Flea Plays Bass

The Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of the most important alternative rock bands of [Dm] all time.
Coming out of the LA punk scene in the early [E]
1980s,
they slowly grew from cult [F] band to rising stars to rock favorites.
In that time, they've juggled [Dm] members, changed their sound, and put themselves all over the musical map.
[E] But one thing has always remained consistent.
Their [Am] wild, funky bass lines, courtesy [Dm] of the one and only Flea.
Let's take a closer look at how Flea plays, [E] and why he's one of the most celebrated bassists working today.
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_ Across [E] his career, Flea has proven himself versatile and creative,
but the core of his sound comes from his two biggest influences, funk and punk.
The funk side gives us the cornerstone of Flea's bass playing, slapping.
Slapping is a musical technique innovated by Larry Graham of Sly and the Family Stone, as well as Louis Johnson.
Instead of playing the string with a finger or pick, a slap bassist will aggressively hit it with their thumb.
The result is a heavier, percussive bass sound.
And this slapping is often accompanied by a pop, in which the player will pull up from beneath the string, usually an octave above.
This emulates the snare to the slap's bass drum.
Flea used this technique in his earliest [Em] music, and continues to [C] use it to this day.
You can hear it all throughout Dark Necessities. _ _
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_ _ Many bassists have used the slap technique and continue to to this day,
[D] but when Flea came along, he mixed his funk influence with that of punk.
Punk bass lines were fast and aggressive, so he added that speed to his slapping.
The result was an instantly recognizable sound that drove some of the Chili's earliest hit singles, like Higher Ground.
My personal favorite example of this can be heard on Nobody Weird Like Me. _ _ _
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_ These kinds of bass lines dominated the Chili's earliest work, but Flea started to shift away from them on Blood Sugar Sex Magic.
That album was a great display of another one of Flea's strengths, providing a counterpoint to John Frusciante's guitar.
In order to do so, Flea's bass lines had to shift to a more melodic place.
Listen to the interplay between Flea's bass line and Frusciante's guitar in Mellowship's Linky & B Major.
Here's [G] the guitar part, [A] _
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[B] and here's the bass. _ _ _ _
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[N] The two licks feed off of each other and come together at the end of every phrase.
Flea's bass, Frusciante's guitar, and Anthony Kiedis' vocals all create different melodies simultaneously.
This layering provides a syncopation that makes the music funky, and a depth that helps it stand out from other rock at the time.
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_ [Am] _ That kind of layering works in their upbeat songs, but Flea also provides countermelodies in the band's slower stuff.
Just check out Californication, one of the band's biggest hits. _
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[Dm] _ _ [C] The beautiful interplay between the guitar and bass on this track is a big part of why it had so much success.
And while Flea's chemistry with Frusciante is fantastic, his link with Chad Smith has helped create one of the best rhythm sections rock has ever seen.
Listen for the way the drums and bass are perfectly in sync in the funky verses of Aeroplane.
Chad Smith's snare hits consistently come just a split second after Flea's popping.
That little gap forms the syncopation that makes this track so damn funky, [A] _
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is different from the way most bassists do.
You'll often find rock bassists playing the same role on every song, providing the harmonic framework for the guitar while linking up with the drum beat.
Now there's nothing wrong with a solid bassist playing traditional bass lines, but part of what makes Flea so great is that he isn't confined to traditional definitions of what bass lines can be.
Just listen to the way he strums slow chords on the heart-wrenching Don't Forget Me. _ _ _
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_ _ [Bm] _ [A] _ _ [Am] Or how about the way his bass line jumps frenetically around the neck on Around the World.
_ _ [E] We can make [G] time for a banana to pop because I'm in my prime.
Falling in the dark, this warmth to entertain ya.
Cuz I'm down, [Bb] mother say [E] to Pennsylvania.
[D] Rock bass can sometimes feel like an afterthought, thrown in just to fill out the sound.
But Flea's bass lines never feel like that, they always add something new and essential to the song.
One of my favorite examples of this is the versatility in Humpty Bump.
In the verse of this song, he uses thick chords with a minimalist ideal that plays off Frusciante's riffing.
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[C] _ _ _ Then when we get to the chorus, he shifts to a fast, elastic lick full of runs that echo Kiedis' vocal [Dm] melody.
When I was a loner, [Bb] loner.
I'm no longer a two [A]-beach coma.
[G] Everybody see in the [Bb] sky, I'm [C] far away [D] now.
_ _ As a whole, Stadium Arcadium is a microcosm of everything Flea can do.
It's got driving riffs like Torture Me and She's Only 18,
alongside the classic slapping of Tell Me Baby or Storm in a Teacup,
and the beautiful melodies of Snow or If.
But really, Flea's entire career is full of astounding instrumentalism,
and this video is only beginning to touch on his capabilities.
If you want to truly appreciate Flea, find yourself some good speakers
and do a deep dive into almost any Chili Pepper song.
[G] Chances are you'll find something Flea [N] does that'll wow you. _ _ _ _
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[Am] _ Hey everybody, thanks so much for watching.
This [C] bonus video was made [F] possible by [E] the support [Dm] of my incredible patrons on Patreon.
As a Patreon [E] supporter, you'll get things like early access, bonus content,
[Am] and sneak peeks behind the scenes of my process.
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