'Flea Bites' was written to demonstrate the aggressive but funky style of bass playing that Flea has become renowned for through his work with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. As you’ll no doubt be able to hear, this track was heavily inspired by Flea’s playing during the band’s early to mid-nineties period, when Flea had begun to favour laid-back fingerstyle grooves in place of aggressive, up-tempo slap lines. In keeping with Flea’s style of playing during this era, this line is heavy on chord tones, and features several melodic ideas that are often found in funk grooves. It’s also played aggressively, and makes use of some effects pedals.
Don’t forget to hit the Download Resources button above to get the PDF transcription and the audio files for this piece (available to subscribers only).
This course contains the following videos, each of which can be selected from the video player above:
This video is a full demonstration of 'Flea Bites', performed on a Music Man Sterling SUB Series StingRay bass.
This video gives a brief overview of the course.
In this video you'll learn how to play the A section, which is bars 1-9.
In this video you'll learn how to play the B section, which is bars 10-17.
In this video you'll learn how to play the C section, which is bars 18-25.
In this video you'll learn how to play the D section, which is bars 26-33.
In this video you'll learn how to play the F section, which is bars 43-59.
This lesson covers Flea's tone and offers advice on how you can achieve something similar.