7 Reasons Les Claypool is Strangely Awesome (+Lesson Tips)

Les Claypool - human, or slap bass machine? Or Willie Wonka in disguise? Here’s my take, plus bass lesson tips to match his style.
0:00 - Primus Sucks
0:36 - Slap Bass Sorceror
3:41 - Slap ‘n’ Strum
7:03 - Weird A$$ Notes
10:18 - Tapping Fiend
12:35 - Creativity First
14:40 - Signature Tone
17:16 - Defying Tradition

Sheet music + bass tab for all the Primus riffs I played - https://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/6551000623c0da2f7b01d9f443a1f10dc32c69d7

Let’s get right into it - if you’re anything like me, your brain probably exploded when you first heard Les Claypool slapping up a storm on a Primus tune. “How does a human make a bass guitar sound like that?” you may have asked yourself. “How does Josh know what my internal monologue is?” Fair question.

The thing is, Les’s technique actually can be comprehended by mortal minds - I’ll break it down for you, so you can start learning some Primus riffs ASAP.

Then we’ll dig into all things strum. Les plays a lot of bass chords, and combines them with his slap technique to create a lot of his signature bass lines. Again - I’ll break it down, you can copy it and learn Primus riffs. Are you sensing a pattern?

But how the hell does he pick all these weird notes? I’ll dig into a little bit of music theory (hey wait stop running away) to explain why Primus sounds like Primus and not… that weird Hanson mashup that I subject you to in this section of the video.

Time to take a tour of Colonel Claypool’s tapping technique. I’ll show you some of Les’s favorite moves, plus how to approach tapping with his particular style.

Also - Les is the king of weird bass tone. Let’s talk about it. I’ll demonstrate how different he sounds compared to other basses from the same era, and how crucial his tone is to getting the Primus sound.

Finally, we end as all semi-biographical tribute videos must end… with some juicy quotes from Les about the creative process, and a painfully obvious pun based on a Primus song title.

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