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Is Flea v. Les; Who Is The Master Of Bass??

DJChillie	Date: October 3, 2005 @ 3:34 AM Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers v. Les Claypool of Primus; Who Is the bass master?
marcosalvarez	Date: October 3, 2005 @ 5:05 AM vic wooten
MindSculpture	Date: October 3, 2005 @ 7:37 AM Of the two...Les. I would say geddy Lee is the master.
zedsalt	Date: October 3, 2005 @ 12:11 PM When you start getting into the sparsely-populated Super Bass Shredder category, distinctions like that become almost meaningless. Geddy Lee strikes me as more of a great composer who happens to use the bass as his main instrument than as a technique freak.
blueyes2112	Date: October 3, 2005 @ 12:12 PM oh now that is a hard one!!! mmmmmm gunna have to think on that one
BlackMage	Date: October 3, 2005 @ 1:10 PM I have no idea, but Flea as a musician is a great influence. My turn. Who would win: Super Mario or Mega Man?
GeneHilbert	Date: October 3, 2005 @ 1:26 PM skellig........ Dude! you beat me to it..... Vic Wooten is the fucking man..... Billy Sheehan.... is still kickin as well. So is Stanley Clark... Between Flea v. Les... it a toss up...
DJChillie	Date: October 3, 2005 @ 8:00 PM super mario would kick mega mans arse!!
Acumen	Date: October 3, 2005 @ 10:45 PM mario is on shrooms... mega man would jump the shit out of him
MickeyBreezy	Date: October 3, 2005 @ 11:40 PM flea & mega man
BlackMage	Date: October 4, 2005 @ 6:08 AM Mega Man would kick Flea's ass.
DJChillie	Date: October 4, 2005 @ 6:32 AM flea's ass would kick mario
EtherEclectic	Date: October 18, 2005 @ 1:34 AM well i am not a good bass player but i will add to this, even though it is outdated. listening to alot of the work flea did with RHCP, i can only say flea can do some nice technically basslines. les claypool imo is probably the most technical and creative with the bass. but he says he wishes he'd learned drums instead of bass.
hate9wicket	Date: October 18, 2005 @ 11:06 AM Flea is more a natural talent, but he is also workingman like, good trumpeter too. Les is more or less a mad scientist, witness his theme music for South Park and Robot Chicken. I love them both, I appreciate what they both bring, but I'm not going to choose between the two, so I'll just say Michael Manring.
Intergalacti...	Date: October 19, 2005 @ 7:46 PM John Entwistle but out of the options hmm Les is the better musician whereas I've heard Flea play more inspiring stuff stretching across genres.
DigitalEntropy	Date: October 20, 2005 @ 10:47 AM there are much better bass players out there other than mainstream spotlight ones. why make a decision between those two? but if you forced me to id would probably go with les. also when it comes to megaman and mario: mario is just a man. megaman is a robot. mario may be able to shoot fire when hes powered up, but megaman can shoot a variety of weapons without having to power up first. this is why megamans enemies arent human. they wouldnt last long. in conclusion, mario's techniques may be effective against a wide variety of reptiles, fish, and bullets with faces on them, but in a battle against megaman his abilities would be rendered useless.
imemine	Date: October 20, 2005 @ 10:52 AM Still living? I second Victor Wooten! I have a lot of respect for Flea too as well as most of the guys listed above but I think that the most accomplished and versatile bassist today is Victor Wooten.
EvilPicnic	Date: October 20, 2005 @ 11:35 AM Jaco... without him (or Mingus)bassists would still today only be playing root notes and walking basslines. Of the choices: Claypool, simply because Flea plays so mechanically.
shouhei	Date: October 24, 2005 @ 8:26 AM I don't really have that much respect for a lot of the "Bass Shredders". I would consider Les Claypool better than Flea, simply because I like his stuff better. He's got a nice tone on some things and once I even thought he managed to sound like Marcus Miller. Vic Wooten is over-rated imho. I'm sick of hearing that double-thump glug that he makes. Outside of the Flecktones he's just a circus act. Oh and people have been playing anything but root notes since around the 1930s, Jaco was a melodic innovator on the Electric bass, but he was not the be all and end all of bass innovation. For example, some big names from the timescale. Scott LaFaro, Neils-Henning Orsted Pedersen, Rufus Reid, John Patitucci, Jeff Clyne, Mingus, Eddie Gomez, Paul Chambers, Miroslav Vitous, Stanley Clarke. Of course there's thousands more, people have been playing walking, harmonic, and even melodic lines since the beginning of jazz/swing.
spooj	Date: December 17, 2005 @ 10:10 PM i woudnt say either are a "master". There extremely different players imo.totally worlds apart. I prefer Fleas bass playing because i relate to this playing style more.A hard accented finger funk/rock punch. Even the slap technique is firm rudenmentary stuff=excellent. Claypool is gifted in slap,very avantgarde lines and melodies,but can be a bit tiresome after a while in a gimmicky way im afraid.
ChillinBuzz	Date: December 18, 2005 @ 8:43 AM it does say "master", i always liked Phil King's Level 42 bass playing, as i did Sting's playing in The Police, but for sheer brilliance on bass its not commercial artist that i deem the hottest, he's right here on DM
spooj	Date: December 18, 2005 @ 8:58 AM you mean Mark king..he was and still is a legend.saw him 2 years ago at a local venue cos he still tours level 42 around the country..he hasnt lost that touch.
100thmonk	Date: January 3, 2006 @ 10:37 PM jaco was not the first to play melody and evade roots fifths etc. probably the real innovator in that region was scott lafaro. as for mingus, his music was just so much huger than the bass he played. as for les and flea, commendable as rock musicians, but not comparable. the styles they play in are entirely different. as for master flavour of the week i would say Ratzo Harris is my fave right now. he used to play with kenny werner trio. he's got that deep dark tone and he plays a six-string upright with a very nimble pair of hands. also anders jormin, another monster upright player who just makes the upright sing.
ryan62690	Date: February 25, 2006 @ 10:42 PM john entwistle - the greatest live rock bassist ever stanley clarke and jaco are good too redding was really a guitar player before the hendrix exp. the reason jimi recorded alot of the bass lines is because he and noel wouldnt talk to eacch other after a while noel is better than cox hands down
EchoMinor	Date: February 25, 2006 @ 11:00 PM now wait a damn second, people saying mario would beat megaman??? mario is only skilled at dodging angry turtles and hurling small amounts of fireballs at them... megaman has some nice weapons that would destroy mario in a matter of seconds. les claypool on bass of course.
leedsquietman	Date: February 26, 2006 @ 12:46 AM Lemmy (motorhead/hawkwind)- he rockz muthafcks - marshall amp on 11, hunge clunky rickenbacker - like on stay clean and not trying and will never claim to be a virtouso musician - a.k.a. overly flash egomaniac. Otherwise Jack Bruce / Jean-Paul Jones, even Macca can play a bit considering he was really a 6 string player. Also Andy Rourke of the Smiths, very unusual bass playing which went against the drums and still sounds awesome.
JackOwen	Date: March 26, 2006 @ 8:48 PM john entwistle all the way, he was pure skill. not sure about the question though since i dont really know les
Industrial-B...	Date: March 26, 2006 @ 11:47 PM As far as taking the bass out of Roots and such, you've gotta go way back. Bop cats like Milt Hinton, and others prior. Best modern Bassist is John Pattituci of Chick Corea's band, and out of the choices mentioned above, Les wins.
PrincessTast...	Date: March 29, 2006 @ 10:24 AM Les Claypool is awesome! I think I already mentioned Hugh Hopper from Soft Machine on that other bass thread, but one good post deserves another. What about Tony Levin?
Alexsy	Date: April 12, 2006 @ 11:56 AM two words: jack bruce.
MinisterofSc...	Date: April 12, 2006 @ 12:48 PM Pssshhh...Les all the way...nobody even. It's. Mr.Claypool is. The Capitan.
Ilmarinen	Date: April 12, 2006 @ 5:47 PM I'd have to say that Les Claypool is the better musician and showman, but flea just has the overall affect that makes you love him and his music. I think I'd still rather go with Les though.
pog	Date: April 13, 2006 @ 4:55 PM Today I say Lez... tomorrow, I'll prolly say Flea...
SimonWaldram	Date: April 13, 2006 @ 4:59 PM Mike Watt is the master of bass - check out pretty much any Minutemen album.
Intergalacti...	Date: April 13, 2006 @ 5:11 PM What the hell is leeds quiet man on about haha Lemmy
RFox	Date: May 11, 2006 @ 9:39 AM i love both of them! Flea is my favorite bassist and i like his music more but i think Les is more talented and innovative
AMGram	Date: May 11, 2006 @ 10:01 PM Claypool's music is meant to be experimental, Flea's is more mainstream. Since there is little in comparison of playing styles, choosing one over the other as a "better" bassist comes down to personal preference. In my case it is Claypool.
ollie09	Date: August 9, 2006 @ 9:20 PM neither probably the best bassist these days is probably victor wooten.
Rikki27	Date: August 10, 2006 @ 3:56 PM i'd say the Ox was...but hes playing mad licks in a better place now..RIP
seanchiarot	Date: August 12, 2006 @ 1:39 PM for me i would say #1Geddy Lee, #2 Vic Wooten #3 Flea
celtaidd	Date: August 12, 2006 @ 2:26 PM Must admit, John Entwistle put me off playing Bass for years. Figured I could never play that well, so why bother. Root notes rule!!!