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.

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.

#LesClaypool #BassLesson #PrimusSucks

[BassBuzz]

Alright, give it to me straight - I missed your favorite Primus riff, didn’t I? Punish me in the comments, I’ll be running away on the hamburger train. 🍔🚋

Timestamps for this lesson:
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

[cactustoadwine]

Les Claypool literally saved my life once. True story. Me and my old lady ate some random "doses" at a music festival; they tasted bad and we immediately spit them out. This was 2006 and Research chemicals were everywhere. I deduced that it had to be something like DOA, DoB or DOC. Either way, we ended up tripping for at least 72 hours. It was miserable, thought I'd completely lost my mind and I was gonna be insane for ever. We had been lying in our canopy for days with the most horrible, nightmarish hallucinations....unable to even speak to my girfriend. It was like a Hunter S. Thompson novel. And then, on the final day of the festival, a group of my buddies along with Mr. Claypool came and literally dragged the two of us out of our canopy and ("Weekend at Bernies style"). We had VIP tickets and were supposed to be working backstage on lighting. We had a posse of of Les's people prettty much carry us to the backstage area where we could watch the show in peace. It was magical. I've never been told by my favoreite rockstar to " Get up, you're gonna miss the show" { I didn't have a big role in the production of the shpow ( they could have gotten along just fine without me {) He just really wanted me to see the show and get out of my psychedelic horror film. I love that man.!

[robscallon]

This was fantastic.

I spent so much of my time in middle school trying to figure all this stuff out haha

[last]

You're not wrong about his humility! They came to town around '94 and my friends' local band opened for them. After their set, the members of Primus helped them load their gear off stage and into their van! I had never seen a band that big pitching in like that before or after!

[darrenstansbury]

The idea of Primus performing "Tommy the Cat" in the style of Hanson's "Mmmbop" is hilarious.

[irishchuck]

I think we can agree, Les Claypool isn't just a Bass player, he's a mad scientist/ genius with a four and six string laboratory at his fingertips. Thanks for the vid mate, now I'm off to hurt my lot

[invin]

Dayyyyum these videos are well made. No filler, no time wasting, good editing, good demonstrations, clear and easy tabs. My singular thumbs up is not enough.

[izzyreel]

Les is a friend to our family. He always shows grace and humility. A really good guy.

[andrewmurray]

Les created a whole universe of characters with his lyrics. Each with there own backstories, struggles and achievements.

[a_wretch_like_me]

Les Claypool. The man who made me want to pick up the bass.

[hgfskate]

"We're at an evil carnival and we're gonna die" - the most fantastic description of Les' style I've ever heard

[justaneedlessboi]

What's crazy to me is that on top of all those crazy basslines, Les is also singing, like that's some serious coordination

[michaeleastes]

As a 70 year old novice bass player, I know that I can never touch these riffs, but it’s sure entertaining to watch you guys who can.

[Sweetmanthanks]

My favorite thing about Primus is that it is it's own genre of music and Les deserves credit for being a pioneer.

[schwermetall]

The quote "So you can create feeling in music without following the rules - its just gonna be really weird feelings" actually made me laugh because it's so spot-on. Great writing in this episode!

[ekojar]

When I first herd Jerry was a race car driver. I didn't even know it was a bass that I was hearing, I thought it was just a loop of somebody slapping guitar strings that just happened to sound cool. Once I learned it was bass. It flipped my bass world upside-down. And I was hooked on Primus .

[blendofdays]

When I was a teen, I had friends that were a PRIMUS cover band & they legit knew how to play. Being able to sit in their basement & watch them was incredible. Two of the three were brothers & they were from a musical family who played mostly bluegrass.

[FrancoisCantine]

Big Primus fan here! Les is also a great guy, 15 years ago a friend of mine send him an email and asked him to use his music in a movie made as a college assignement. Les answered with a big thumb up and say that she can used wherever song she wants, no problems. Also, my favorite sont is The Return of Sathington Willoughby!

[holidayonion]

Les' vocals over Mmmbop is the most cursed thing i've heard in a while. Also, fantastic video! I've never really been interested in learning slap bass until now. This vid is easy to follow and does a very good job of breaking down the technique so a relative bass noob like myself can understand it and follow along. Might be putting down the pick for a few days.

[pdickens]

Les is straight up funky. I have seen Primus twice in concert and Les did not disappoint.