Flea Vs Cliff Burton

[st_anger8]

i have this arguement almost every day with my bass playing chili fan friend, and it is, who is the better bassist: flea of the chilis or cliff burton of MetallicA?

as bassists i want your response to this, and you can only comment if you know both of their work, not just as a Metalli-fuk or a chili freak.

i personnaly say cliff, he could shred with his fingers, never needed a pick and knew alllllll his music theory and was deep into loads of different musical styles. flea just kinda seems to show off and jump around with little clothing.

this should be interesting...

[Abaddon]

definatly cliff. he was an extremely tallented bassist. before anesthesia i'd never heard anything like that. it was really great.
flea isnt very creative. he just does the same things that every other bass player out there does. i know bass players better than him. but definitly hard to find one better than cliff

[BassTallica]

ok this looks like a job for ME to answer

ok... to set the record strait.. Cliff.. DID NOT write pulling teeth, Ron Mcgovery did.. cliff just redid it a bit and finished the song.

now this question is a little hard to answer, first to begin they are 2 completly different types of music.. and we have seen flea play and advance through out the years were we lost cliff just when he was hitting his peak with tallica.

flea is a slap bassist where cliff is a finger bassist
This one goes to flea

flea drives most off his bands songs with leading rythms while cliff just fills for a rythm guitar and solos
This one goes to flea

alot of fleas great riffs come from cover songs while cliff has great riffs from originals such as orion and to live is to die
This one goes to cliff

Both have great stage presence but cliff makes fewer mistakes during live shows
This one goes to cliff

The final factor i have to say is their writting ability.. Cliff is a wonderful writer, BUT alot of his stuff is jsut variations of what the rythm guitar plays (which isnt a bad thing) Flea writes riffs that go with the guitar and dosnt copy it or that sets the whoel song with out playing the same exact thign as the guitar.. being also flea is in a 1 guitar band and cliff played with 2 other guitarists i have to say Flea is the better bassist

but dont get me wrong i love them both.. we should just say the winner is Fliff ... :D

and keep in midn people they play 2 different types of music so their styles and writting ect ect are gonan be diff.

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[st_anger8]

ok... to set the record strait.. Cliff.. DID NOT write pulling teeth, Ron Mcgovery did.. cliff just redid it a bit and finished the song.

well even so it isnt easy (is it?) and cliff was able to learn it and put it together while still doing his own thing with it. plus, we have video evidence of cliff doing his own thing (cliff em all) and that was brilliant, i had never seen a bass player do anything like that and it actually dropped my jaw.

flea is a slap bassist where cliff is a finger bassist

i think finger bass is harder, with slap you hit it very hard and always use the thumb, whereas fingered bass requires more hand-eye co-ordination between all the fingers. also, flea does use picks quite a bit, which looses him marks to me. cliff never needed a pick, even when riffing with hetfield.

flea drives most off his bands songs with leading rythms while cliff just fills for a rythm guitar and solos

i cant argue that, but i will say you cant really measure because, like you said, they are two completly different styles of music, the bass needs to back the guitar in metal for a heavier sound.

alot of fleas great riffs come from cover songs while cliff has great riffs from originals such as orion and to live is to die

too right

Both have great stage presence but cliff makes fewer mistakes during live shows

which shows cliff to be the better player technically.

as for writing, c'mon it took the chili's ten years to evolve into something great, wheras MetallicA came into the world as a brilliant, innovative band straight away, and cliff was there with them, brilliant from the start. alot of guitar parts came from cliff as well in early MetallicA, so i think we can conclusily say that cliff did more in his 6 years with 'tallica than fleas 20 years in the rhcp. its the same arguement i put forward with randy rhoads vs eddie van halen: he was so great that in the short life he had he did enough to weigh up against somebody elses 20 years worth of work.

METALLICA 4 LIFE

[Problem Child]

It's a little bit off-topic, but to me it looks like you have to be dead to be classified a really great musician or even a genius (Hendrix, Bonham, Cobain, Lennon, etc.).

[Abaddon]

well eddie van halen isnt dead. and neither is james brown. or dave mustaine(in my opinion the unsung hero of metal). the list goes on

[ecthelion]

I believe Problem Child. In Led Zeppelin, if Bonham didn't die, Jimmy Page would've. Now I have a theory that if Jimmy Page died, he would be thought of as ahead of Clapton and maybe even Hendrix and a genius. The only problem is that we'd have a ton of ****ty quality recordings from Led Zeppelin because there would be no Jimmy to remaster them.

I'd say Cliff Burton, because if he hadn't died he would save so much from Metallica's rampaging path of suck after his death.

[st_anger8]

i'll ignore that last comment because this isnt about your feelings about MetallicA, its who you (as bassists) deem the better player.

[popmusic_sux]

Originally posted by st_anger8


flea is a slap bassist where cliff is a finger bassist

i think finger bass is harder, with slap you hit it very hard and always use the thumb, whereas fingered bass requires more hand-eye co-ordination between all the fingers. also, flea does use picks quite a bit, which looses him marks to me. cliff never needed a pick, even when riffing with hetfield.




I'm sure I'm not the only bassist that when playing slap bass (or at least attempting in my case) and doesn't play with just my thumb, I slap with my thumb and finger pick at the same time (or at least try to)

I don't think hitting the bass string with your thumb is the only thing there is to slap bass.

If you're good enough you don't need hand-eye coordination, you can play without looking down at your hands and know what string you're on.

[BassTallica]

Originally posted by popmusic_sux
I'm sure I'm not the only bassist that when playing slap bass (or at least attempting in my case) and doesn't play with just my thumb, I slap with my thumb and finger pick at the same time (or at least try to)

I don't think hitting the bass string with your thumb is the only thing there is to slap bass.

If you're good enough you don't need hand-eye coordination, you can play without looking down at your hands and know what string you're on.

very true.. actually flea uses his thumb for just the top 2 strings and his middle and ring finger for the bottom too.. and recently he really hasnt been slapping as much... never the less.. hsi style of playing is a bit more complicated and harder to master then cliffs

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[JackasS sonNY]

Cliff is so much better, but I also hate RHCP.

[BassTallica]

Originally posted by ******* sonNY
Cliff is so much better, but I also hate RHCP.

Hes really not though

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[ibleedmarshall]

Originally posted by ecthelion
I believe Problem Child. In Led Zeppelin, if Bonham didn't die, Jimmy Page would've. Now I have a theory that if Jimmy Page died, he would be thought of as ahead of Clapton and maybe even Hendrix and a genius. The only problem is that we'd have a ton of ****ty quality recordings from Led Zeppelin because there would be no Jimmy to remaster them.

I'd say Cliff Burton, because if he hadn't died he would save so much from Metallica's rampaging path of suck after his death.

I gotta disagree with yoru theory...

If Page died... maybe in front of Clapton.. not of Hendrix

[ThickSkind]

I would have to say Flea...I don't actually like RHCP....Cliff was good too, I just think he could have done more....of course all of this is my opinion.

[orestes]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by st_anger8
[B]ok... to set the record strait.. Cliff.. DID NOT write pulling teeth, Ron Mcgovery did.. cliff just redid it a bit and finished the song.

flea is a slap bassist where cliff is a finger bassist

i think finger bass is harder, with slap you hit it very hard and always use the thumb, whereas fingered bass requires more hand-eye co-ordination between all the fingers. also, flea does use picks quite a bit, which looses him marks to me. cliff never needed a pick, even when riffing with hetfield.

Ok you're right, flea plays with a pick sometimes but, it isn't because he can't play the same thing with his fingers. Everything flea plays with a pick on the recordings he plays with his fingers live. He plays with a pick for a more melodic approach like in "universally speaking". Flea is a great slap player and he is also a great finger player. look at the riff at the beginning of around the world.