Chad Smith and Flea from RHCP Jamming

Insta of Bass — Mon, 02 Nov 2020 13:14:36 +0000

Throwback to this great video by Chad Smith and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. This video is one of the classic funk drum and bass jam videos. It is part of a Japanese drum instructional video Chad Smith released a while ago. He is joined by his band member Flea with whom he has been playing together since 1988. Since then, they have been labeled as the tightest rhythm section in rock music. Together they have won 3 Grammys and were nominated for 12.

In this video Flea is playing a 4 string Music Man StingRay bass. He was known for playing Music Man basses in the early days of RHCP. Later he would switch to Modulus and currently, he plays his signature Fender basses.

Check out the video below

About

Flea was born on October 16, 1962, in Melbourne, Australia, but his family moved to the US soon after. Flea’s first instrument was not the bass guitar, but because of the influence of his stepfather, Flea took up the trumpet first. His stepfather was a jazz musician and because of him, he was first attracted to jazz music and became proficient at jazz trumpet even before getting into rock and punk music.

Flea was one of the founding members of Red Hot Chilli Peppers alongside his high school classmates, Anthony Kiedis and Hillel Slovak. This band was considered a side project for Hilal and Flea at that time. This was also the time that Flea took up the bass guitar and Hillel was his first teacher, teaching him about funk and punk music. Since 1983, when RHCP was founded, Flea and Anthony were the only constant band members. The band went through a lot of drummers over the years. Chad Smith, who would become the longest-serving drummer in the band joined up with Anthony and Flea in 1988.

Chad Smith and Flea have appeared on all albums since 1988 starting with “Mother’s Milk“. Their next album “Blood Sugar Sex Magik” is their most successful album to date yet. They received the Grammy Award for the “Best Hard Rock Performance with Vocal” for their song “Give it Away”. The song “Under the Bridge” from the same album peaked at #3 on the Billboard charts. Since its release, this album has gone 7-Time Platinum. Chad Smith and Flea worked on 6 more RHCP albums together. These were “One Hot Minute”, “Californication”, “By the Way”, “Stadium Arcadium”, “I’m with You” and “The Getaway”.

In 2020 the classic lineup of Anthony Kiedis, Flea, Chad Smith, and John Frusciante rejoined again and are working on a new album that would be released hopefully soon.

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Joe Dart Bass by Ernie Ball Music Man

Insta of Bass — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 20:35:31 +0000

Last year around March, Ernie Ball released a limited run of the Joe Dart Bass. This instrument was designed together with Joe Dart, who is the bass player for the funk band Vulfpeck. This bass was specifically designed to suit the playing style of Joe and includes a number of innovations only found on this bass. Because of the overwhelming demand, Ernie Ball brought it back for a second run a couple of months later. This time in a higher volume number as well.

The core of this bass is a Music Man Sterling bass and features a lightweight ash body, one humbucking ceramic magnet, 22 stainless steel frets. For us, the most visually striking part of this bass is the control knob, one single oversized volume knob, which is a great addition to this bass. In addition, the neck is made from flamed maple, and the fingerboard is figured maple.

Every bass will come with flatwound string and is perfect for players who would love a “to-the-point” classic-looking bass with vintage vibes. This bass will be ready to funk right out of the case. Every bass has a one-of-a-kind look because of the natural ash body, not all pieces of ash look the same so in a way, every instrument will be a unique piece. The Joe Dart Bass has passive electronics and has a powerful, rich passive bass tone we all know and love.

Check out this video about the Joe Dart Bass

“The look of the one knob, one pickup, white on wood… I haven’t seen anything like it. We feel like we brought something new into the world.”

Joe Dart

Vulfpeck

Vulfpeck is an American funk band formed by Jack Stratton. This band was formed at the University of Michigan where all the members were studying at one point. Other band members include Theo Katzman on guitar, drums, and vocals, Woody Goss on Keyboards, and of course Joe Dart on bass.

The original idea of this band was to recreate the vibe of the famous ’60s and ’70s rhythm section bands such as The Funk Brothers from Motown, the Wrecking Crew, and Muscle Shoals in a more modern context.

Vulfpeck over the years has worked with numerous guest artists, some of them became a permanent touring member of the ensemble. Such musicians, for example, are Cory Wong, Joey Dosik, Bernard Purdie, Antwaun Stanley, Bootsy Collins, Michael Bland, James Gadson, Chris Thile to name a few.

In September 2019, the Vulfpeck became the first band to headline a sold-out Madison Square Garden concert without a manager or record label support. The live performance was released on YouTube (with nearly 3 million views to date) and on a live album as well. It features guest artists Chris Thile, Charles Jones, Dave Koz, Nate Smith to name a few.

To date, Vulfpeck has released, six albums, four EP’s and a silent album on Spotify. The band asked their fans to stream their silent album on Spotify while they sleep so they can generate royalties and subsequently fund an admission-free tour. In October 2020, Vulfpeck released their newest album called, The Joy of Music, the Job of Real Estate.

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