Tommy the Cat (excerpt)

[Fr3derick]

Awesome

Grandma Mary

[MajoraMasks66]

Nice bass, but even if this isn't right, I still enjoyed it.

[c0d3h4x0r]

@MajoraMasks66 This is right.

[skinnypuppy1]

thats good, I think it sounds correct. ive been playing bass for some time I digggg!

[darkmatterdoesit]

Nice! By the way, where did you get that epic bass?

[c0d3h4x0r]

@darkmatterdoesit Guitar Center

[MrTurbonizzle]

Have you been in the neck pickup or both? I just wondered

[c0d3h4x0r]

@MrTurbonizzle This was recorded with an even split between neck and bridge pickups.

[MrTurbonizzle]

@c0d3h4x0r Ah ok :) Somehow this sounded more like a bridge pickup to me... dunno why. Non the less good playing

[phukifiy]

dude that is the best bass evver

[timmotjo17]

Awesome!

[villanonickXgmail]

Dude... That is one sexy bass you have there, sir

[WWWNATHAN]

epic bass dude :) love the colour :D

[HipstermcFunk]

you missed the best bit off....

[c0d3h4x0r]

@HipstermcFunk - Huh?

[mosstica]

oh this is Flea

[c0d3h4x0r]

@mosstica Um, no, this is Primus (Les Claypool).

[c0d3h4x0r]

@xGuideUNCUT Don't have one, not going to take the time to make one. But you can check out the instructional video in my photostream.

[AttitudeCastle]

@c0d3h4x0r Skills for learning this by ear! How do you like the Bongo? I really want a 6 string version of what you have! (Tangerine Pearl with a perliod pick guard!) As they don't do the orginal AWESOME orange with orange swirl pickguard :(

[c0d3h4x0r]

@AttitudeCastle - The Bongo is a great bass, my only complaints are that its tone is very mid-scooped (can be tough to get it to cut through a live mix) and the neck pickup size/positioning really gets in the way for slap/pop playing. It's a very well-made instrument though.

[slayer5371]

Hey man, sweet Madarozo bass!!!! ive allways wanted one of there guitars but there so damn expensive...

[c0d3h4x0r]

@slayer5371 I don't know what a Madarozo is, but this isn't one. It's an Ernie Ball MusicMan Bongo.

[slayer5371]

@c0d3h4x0r Huh, could of sworn it was.... Its a guitar maker that is very expensive

[illfortune921]

love the tone!

[sfranklin0440]

Thank you do much for your help. I have found some ok instructional vids on her but ,your right,none are really great. I tried some of flea's vids on here but he's so fast I can't keep up. That would be awesome if you made a "how to slap/pop" vid. Please keep me in the loop if ya do! God bless :)

[c0d3h4x0r]

@sfranklin0440 I'm atheist, but thanks anyway :-P  Seriously, just search YouTube for "Alex Sklarevski" or "The Slap Bass Program" and you'll find those videos easily.

[sfranklin0440]

Cool! I've been practicing alittle bit. I'm kinda like bootsy Collins....I've been keeping it on the one....lol. Lots of practice I guess :)

[c0d3h4x0r]

@sfranklin0440 Maybe I'll try to make an instructional video. There are tons of them on YouTube, but most aren't very good. For what it's worth, the best slap-style tutorial video I've seen so far is "The Slap Bass Program" by Alex Sklarevski. It's really dated and cheesy at first glance, but if you look past that it's incredibly informative and teaches all the fundamentals. You can find plenty of clips from it here on YouTube. I own it (legit purchase, VHS cassette) and it was a good buy.

[Vizillar2505]

great job dude! a little more attitude would be nice

[c0d3h4x0r]

@Vizillar2505 Hey man, F-you.  How's that for attitude? :)

[Vizillar2505]

@c0d3h4x0r I'm pretty sure les doesn't go "F-you!!" to his bass but if that's the way you add the adtitude then, F-ing good job!!!!!!

[sfranklin0440]

Nice job bro! I am having do much trouble learning slap style. All my rock stuff with fingers and pick are good but I just can't seem yo pick up slap. Any suggestions on how to learn? Thanks in advance for any help!

[c0d3h4x0r]

@sfranklin0440 Slap/pop is actually really easy as long as you have a good internal sense of rhythm and timing. Also, it helps a lot to set the action pretty low on your bass. As for the physical part, just make a "thumbs up" with your hand, then lay your hand against the strings, and that's the positioning you want. The movement is all about twisting/rotating your forearm, not in the wrist or the fingers or the elbow. Use a a relaxed rotating motion, slap w/ thumb, pop w/ finger.

[xoleafs89]

love the bongo bassss

amazing cover

[DeathGerbil202022]

primus made the bass epic

[hellashes]

Damn, that was a crazy awesome cover. O_o

[OffbeatMarkie84]

Nice tone.

[StevenShpielberg]

So there is someone on youtube who can actually get the groove right in this tune! Nice cover.

[yeedoh]

sounds good!

[RCola43133]

i like your rendition of it tommy the cat

[nolageek]

Awesome.

[leroyatleroys]

Just wondering, what kind of strings did you have when you did this vid? Do you still use the same kind?

[c0d3h4x0r]

@leroyatleroys I always use roundwounds. Somtimes nickel, sometimes stainless steel (for a more metallic tone). I prefer medium-to-heavy gauge. Brand doesn't effect tone much at all, but different brands may fit your given instrument differently (different length, taperings at the ends, etc). If I had to guess what I was using in this vid, it was probably DR stainless steel hi-beams (round core).

[leroyatleroys]

@c0d3h4x0r Thanks. Its simply that I have been experimenting with strings and I still don't feel comfortable with any specific type. I have not tried DR's for bass though.

[GolduckSM6]

could you tab it please? You are right, most tabs are very very wrong.

Great job!

[BigVStudio]

Nice! Nice! That's a beautiful Bongo Bass dude! I think i say it right... I wish i could afford one of those...lol

[RriverJJ]

very good

[calvinlove0]

nice bass...however i dislike the colour lol

[Whitemofoproductions]

i love your bass <3

[MisterTwoPiece]

wow i love your bass

[DoubleLLL]

That has to be one of the fucking ugliest basses I have seen.

[MisterTwoPiece]

@DoubleLLL - blow me

[gallespaul]

Man i LOOOVE musicman bongo :D

[JDilla2812]

who is tommy?

[c0d3h4x0r]

@JDilla2812 Tom Waits

[RenatoMaffei]

You showed me that it's not so difficult... I was trying to pick it by ear but I was playing in a complicated way! Thanks

[Claudio79]

Great! One of the very few tutorials on Youtube that REALLY sounds like the original song!! ;-)

[maziku]

thats how you do a cover. no music in the background, just you playing so we can actually hear it for one, and to decide if it sounds good or not. i hate when you can barely hear someone playing because of the song in the background. good job!

[JustTheApis]

holy cow ! awsome well done !

[cameronj279]

i hate the look of that bass....yet i love the look at the same time. (i'm aware it makes no sense)

[chubbymosher700]

awesome bass dude :D

[mrmonkey14]

That bongo is your bitch. Oo, you work it man.

[bbender1986]

this dude is awesome i bet he's really smart too damn you!

[OkstadOo]

Roundwounds?

[c0d3h4x0r]

@OkstadOo - Of course.

[Jimkaider]

That is a fucking kickass bass guitar.

[JoeyRocksTheBass]

very nice bass

[bassfest1990]

How did you learn to slap like that?? also, how long have you been slappin? nice job

[emeralex101]

hi there, great job, there's something i would like to point out and took me some time to figure out and i consider it important, by the time is playing G (on the E string) Les moves slightly half note, please check the spring break 92 at the 1:05 minute, sorry for my limitated english, saludos desde mexico. again great job.

[c0d3h4x0r]

@emeralex101 Please see my instructional video for this song. I explained about this in the comments for that video.

[DarkThoot]

Clap Clap clap!

One of the most accurate cover on youtube ,the tone is amazing .Dude ur bass is fantastic,I wonder to have 1 with 2 pickup.

[thedee619]

Nicely played, great tone, very smooth - thanks for the video!

[jhetta22]

Great job....how do you like the Bongo....I have been lookin @ both the Bongo & the Stingray, not sure which I perfer....any suggestions ?

[c0d3h4x0r]

@jhetta22 - I like the Bongo. If you're looking at Stingrays, look at the newer ones that have both a single-coil neck pickup and the humbucker bridge pickup.

[thisismyname45]

damn man, you've got some skill. Keep up the good work!

[17yargnits]

Must B boring playin other peoples tunes

[c0d3h4x0r]

@17yargnits - Not at all... but it must be lonely being hated by everyone for being such a troll.

[LadySaanum93]

@c0d3h4x0r high five man that was a great comeback :D lol.

[N11Ckk123472]

@c0d3h4x0r SUH-NAPP

[bodstevens]

@17yargnits What a clown statement, how can one create great original stuff with out learning other stuff? What are you doing to help bassist -kind? Troll.....

[mrfetser666]

@17yargnits Lets see you do better....muppet!

[Frankalp24]

AWESOME!!

[jgalpin360]

yes i am a fellow bassist and have seen many attenpt to play this song, you are by far the best to les.

[ks1ceo]

Been on the tube watching guys for about an hour. Your are by far the closest I've heard and the tone is amazing. Nice vid my man. What equipment you playin on.

[c0d3h4x0r]

@ks1ceo - Thanks. Equipment list is already in the video details.

[sunilthegreat]

pretty close. good job for picking it out by ear.

[Arkazki]

It sounded great!

[novidkid93]

damn man nice playin, and nice guitar 2

[Mr5stringBob]

Hey, man, thanks again for this vid. I finally posted my own version, and was able to finish figuring out how to do it by watching yours. I haven't figured out the fills yet, just the main riff.

[c0d3h4x0r]

@Mr5stringBob Absolute, glad I was able to help out! I checked out your video -- nice work!

[Mr5stringBob]

@c0d3h4x0r Thanks!

[midinerd]

nice! really smooth

[kikko87ful]

molto bravo!

[eltrain2]

so. good.

[Silks]

First of all, this is probably the most correct rendition I've seen or heard on the net. Second, this helps show that there is no "double thumb" technique involved. All just down slaps.

I keep seeing people thinking that Claypool double thumbs like Wooten, which I have yet to ever see Claypool do.

[c0d3h4x0r]

Les double thumbs on both "Iowan Gal" and on "Riddles Are Abound Tonight". But you're right that he doesn't use the technique often, and that there is no double-thumb in "Tommy the Cat".

[laurence231]

i think the music video shows him doing some realllllllllly fast double slap in the solo thing

[c0d3h4x0r]

Yes, but double slap is not the same thing as double thumb.

[thecaleb1000]

also in My Name Is Mud

[Derkayzer]

Well done man! I can't find any other guys on youtube who's versions soulnd anything like the original, and you're right, the tabs out there are all wrong

[Flyelskeren]

5 strings rocks, and u too man!

[RATMempire]

Wow

[MrTomasz555]

nice i like this song

[Mr5stringBob]

Yes! You begin the phrase with a popped open d string followed immediately by a down/up fingerswipe of 2nd fret d and 4th fret g. That's what I was missing! Thank you - my version should be up in a week or so once I perfect it.

[cajica1221]

yeah it sounds great

[hoovboy14]

This is ridiculously clean! haha you have good hands for this playing style.

[drummercymbalsamples]

Incredible

[ghrocker12]

thats the coolest lookin bass ever lol and an amazing cover!

[drew25kra]

God, it's great to finally be able to watch someone *good* cover a Primus song on Youtube. Very nice job! I hope I get to be as talented (just took up bass recently).

[leroyatleroys]

This is one of the best Tommy the Cat videos I have seen from a fan. You actually did pretty good. Well done.

[c0d3h4x0r]

Thanks! I strive for accuracy :-)

[Line6SGRock]

you found it wherever it was hiding

[Verticans]

Tabs?

[c0d3h4x0r]

None. I learned this by ear and by watching Les play it.

[fleffi]

@c0d3h4x0r when somebody asks "Tabs?", they usually mean "Have you made tabs for this that you can share with us?" not "Did you learn this by using a certain tab and can you share that with us?"

[c0d3h4x0r]

I've already been asked that question, and answered that question, several times in these comments if people would just bother to read. No, I don't have any tabs. No, I haven't written up any tabs. No, I'm probably not going to take the time to. I learn by ear and by watching, and I posted the video so you can see what I'm doing. Any further comments asking about tabs will be automatically deleted.

[BountyHunter233]

nice bongo

how much did that cost?

[c0d3h4x0r]

About $1300 at Guitar Center, but that was about 5 years ago.

[InfiniteObscurity]

nice cover man!

i love musicman, a friend of mine has a really old fretless, it's SO heavy, worth alot of money now though.

[proctorul]

cooooooool!!!!!!

[enterthetoucan]

Great job, i can play this but not nearly as clean and good. keep it up man!

[nicisg0d]

and why are you not Uber famous? are you?

[wheeper]

Makes fun watching you playin that tune!

Good job :)

[sewiusproductions]

Good lord, Les Claypool is freaking insane!!! He writes guitar music for the bass, your calluses must be HUGE!!!

[c0d3h4x0r]

Nah, he just writes interesting bass parts. Nope, no huge calluses here... bass strings don't cut into your fingertips nearly as badly as guitar strings do.

[KamiDisturbed]

well if its calluses that u want, try mudvaynes under my skin or something like that :D i seriously had to tape my fingers because there was a big calluse above my index finger nail that i could see under it like weirdly :D but i dont know if u must play it really like live version to get those but still awesome job with this m8 :D

[combatwombat98]

Keep it up is right, that was awsome!

[thiagoibanez]

keep it up man. :D

[FeelOfFriction]

Cool.

[aidkid666]

you look like tom hanks...!

[ShwanPugHah]

such an awesome bass! I was in love with musicman bongo basses, but I could NEVER! afford one. So I settle for taking crappy basses and modding them into B+ quality basses. I'd still love to play one one day. PRIMUS SUCKS! (it means primus is awesome, look it up.)

[ScootLaundry]

you should definately post a tab for this! haha i wanna play it correctly :D lol

[robs70986987]

awesome!

[ragglefraggle09]

your tutorial differs from this version D=

it's the original bassline found in the music video, the one youre doing here is more like the ones Les does during concerts

[viniciovp4ever]

yeah you are very goob 8D I loved your cover

[Apemopo]

sweet! gonna check out the instructional video

[panxoke]

great man!!

[nuclearRabbit123]

awesome dude hey think you could do an instructional video?

[c0d3h4x0r]

Already did that!  Look in my videos list.

[nuclearRabbit123]

oh heh sorry

[bobulibobium]

excellent, best cover so far!

love your bongo, orange is sweet as!

[jimineedles]

i love this song, but i am not a bassist, your video is really smooth and tight. I just have a small question that you might be able to help me out with. when you type in 'tommy the cat' in on the youtube bar, it comes up with the doorly festival one where they play the awakening half way through, tell me, did claypool change the bassline for tommy the cat for that live performance because to be it sounds different to your/studio version. cheers!

[c0d3h4x0r]

I don't know which one you're talking about, but no, he doesn't generally change the bassline in any significant way when he plays this in concert. His tone tends to vary a lot though depending on all sorts of factors (which bass he's using, sound engineer at the concert, amplifiers used for the concert, etc) so that may be what's throwing you.

[claudexxx]

Yeah!!!

[spiderzer0]

First saw this video probably a year ago, and just thought I should let you know and say thank you.

I picked up my flamenco strum technique from you (though I've modified it a bit). I always tried Les' style, but the free-floating start always had me hitting strings I didn't want to and cost me some speed.

Then I saw this vid, "Of course! Use your thumb to mute the strings you don't want to hit and as an anchor for speed and accuracy."

Simple, effective and sounds great!

Thanks a bunch.

[c0d3h4x0r]

Sure, glad it helped. Les's strum technique relies on a dirty trick. He tends to do strumming mostly on his 4-string short-scale bass, since the trick only works on a bass with a very thin neck. He wraps the thumb of his fretting hand up over the top of the neck (a bad habit you see in many guitar players) but he uses it to mute the low strings so that a full strum with his right hand only makes sound with the higher strings.

[arkadarius]

I had this problem too. I picked this muting trick alone. I always muted the strings I didn't want to hit even when I wasn't strumming so it's kinda natural.

[manmcman01]

that is a verry awkward looking bass, and i like it!

how does it play?

[c0d3h4x0r]

Like an orange toilet seat :-)

[69erthx1138]

You have obviously gotten very comfortable with that style of slapping, your playing hand is completely relaxed! Nice Job.

[c0d3h4x0r]

Thanks.

[docmyrtle]

Finally a correct version! Congrats, you got it! I've been working on this riff for years and still don't quite get it...

[SoadFreak1989]

I've been contemplating whether or not to get a Bongo 6 (yes, i know yours is a Bongo 5) for slapping and tapping for a few days now but your videos have definitely pushed me to want to... Correction... NEED to get one. The tone you have there is so for lack of a better term, perfect. Great job and thank you.

[c0d3h4x0r]

The tone you hear is mostly the result of the SansAmp DI pedal, not the instrument. The Bongo itself has an okay but not great tone.

[nonbass]

Hell yeah! I agree...love that tone!

[Flyelskeren]

superb!

[dhesport]

Is there anywhere I could get an accurate tab of the song?

[c0d3h4x0r]

As far as I've been able to tell, the answer is "no".

[nicisg0d]

Seriously! Y are you not famous

[abhay108]

wow! you figured this out by ear? thats incredible

[viewer1a]

Well done. I rated you as awesome.

[aBassist111]

I feel like a piece of crap now, thanks alot.

No but seriously, that was awesome, spot on.

I'm digging that tone, aswell.

[frozenmouse76]

thank you for sharing you have great timing and nice bongo whats the string spacing like on them compared with a sterling 5.

[c0d3h4x0r]

I don't own a Sterling 5 so I couldn't tell you.

[sociopathix]

haha, right on. Great version of the song.

[shpookums]

Awesome playing and sick looking Bongo

[yellowshirtguy]

I learned to play this by watching you. Always had a lot of trouble with this song, and then after watching you I just realized it wasn't that hard and tried to do what your doing.

Thanks for the video :)

[twopumpchumplove]

kick ass brother, one of my favorite Primus songs

[Austenbass]

nicely done. thats a beautiful bass as well

[1greggg]

I like your sound :)

[korntwist1]

damn u r good, hey niiiice bass

[nyge23]

i think this is the most accurate version i have heard. like the bongo too, i have a stingray.

i dont suppose you used a tab to learn it but if you did would you be able to tell me which you think is the closest to les' original please?

or perhaps you could play the main riff slower with the camera closer to your neck hand?

thanks for the vid...

[c0d3h4x0r]

I learned by ear and by watching him play it. I've never found accurate tab for it.

[69erthx1138]

I've never found accurate tabs on any primus bass work. I have 4 song books I've collected since 1992 and all incorrect.