In the video lesson below you will learn how to play John Frusciante’s guitar part on the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ latest single “Tippa My Tongue” from their latest album “Return Of The Dream Canteen”. First, let’s look at the tone and technique required.
Grab the tone
In terms of Frusciante’s core guitar tone here, the Strat’s single-coil neck position plays a big role, and “Tippa My Tongue” even features a tremolo bar dip in the opening solo.
The guitar amp should be set right at the breakup, and from there it’s a great example of how to elegantly stack gain stages.
The main rhythm part should sound mostly clean when played single notes, but break down a bit when chords are strummed. I use a Zvex Box of Rock, but you can use any overdrive pedal that gives a light boost to add a bit of gain and body. A compression pedal will do the trick as well.
(Image courtesy of Future)
There’s a slight slapback delay heard throughout, so I use a GFI System Orca Delay with repeats set to about 100ms and the delay mix level turned down. You can really hear the difference. The chorus needs the gain turned up again, so the next part of the chain is a medium overdrive pedal on top. In the video I use a Funny Little Boxes 1991, but another option is the Boss DS2 Turbo.
For the final solo, I add a Big Muff style fuzz pedal for the base rhythm tone – I chose the Jam Pedals Red Muck .
Technique Tips
“Tippa My Tongue” is in standard tuning and the intro pays homage to the dynamics used in “Can’t Stop,” so try playing some of the 16th notes quieter than others to develop a feel for it.
The main riff has a variety of funky fills in it (you can even play a C blues over it), but John has a tendency to add percussive parts that aren’t apparent in the album mix – he’s strumming in the video too, so I guess that’s what he’s doing here too – it also helps keep you stuck in the groove. At the end of the verse there’s a beautiful chord extension over a free G#-FA# line.
The chorus is played with light palm muting and a relaxed feel in the right hand, John probably playing the G# to A# chords with his thumb on top, which makes the fill-ins easier.
The solo is nice and short, but the hardest part is the second measure, which uses full bends and the tremolo arm to dip a couple of times before resolving into a tasty triplet lick. Enjoy!
