When it comes to bass playing, Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers knows what he’s talking about.
So, who does Flea think is the best bass player in rock music?
On a recent episode of the Where Everybody Knows Your Name podcast, Flea revealed that he thinks that title belongs to Sir Paul McCartney.
“I think Paul’s the greatest rock bass player,” he revealed to hosts Ted Danson and Woody Harrelson. “He’s just great. I mean, there are so many guys that are great in different ways, but Paul’s bass playing is so lyrical and melodic, and it’s just so beautiful. One of the things I’ve heard is that he put the bass on after. A band like mine, the bass sometimes the song starts with bass lines, so coming first, or the music comes first.”
He added: “Whereas I think Paul and John and George, when they wrote songs and Paul would do the bass. And after multi-tracking came in, at the beginning of them, they just went and played live and would do it after, like ‘Sgt. Pepper’s’, the melody is already there. So then he’s doing, like a counter melody, so the bass is like a melody as opposed to just rhythm, and that’s amazing. He’s amazing.”
