Johnny Depp..I am growing tired of asking you, and very soon you will be too old, get thy shiat together and do the Jaco story on film.

Not subby, but I am a pretty good bassist -- and I'll say that this is one of the hardest songs to play on bass that I've ever seen. The transcription is just mind blowing to see. How does he pull those harmonics out of that fretless bass like that?

DblDad: Not subby, but I am a pretty good bassist -- and I'll say that this is one of the hardest songs to play on bass that I've ever seen. The transcription is just mind blowing to see. How does he pull those harmonics out of that fretless bass like that?

Because the strings don't touch the finger board when you're playing harmonics?

Jaco. Great bass player. Incredible douche bag in everyday life.
That's what got him killed.

TommyymmoT: Because the strings don't touch the finger board when you're playing harmonics?

This. It's actually very easy to play.

Jaco. Great bass player. Incredible douche bag in everyday life.
That's what got him killed.

Also, this.

John Paul Jones: Also, this.

Well, coming from a bass god such as yourself, sir, this is a "this" to be taken seriously.

/Permit me to add that your keyboard work is vastly underrated.

Jesus, are we really going to have another bassist jerk off thread?

T.M.S.: This is why I love these threads. There is always a "Fark Bass Master" that could beat Jaco's ass if they just ever had a chance.

No, I didn't say that. I did say that Portrait of Tracy isn't terribly challenging from a technical perspective.

Also, do try to improve your HTML skills. They annoy the rest of us.

I like him (and Tommy Bolin, for that matter) but damn!

Just too much noodling for me to listen to.

overrated

Cliff Burton would toss Jaco's salad.

Batchboozefists: Cliff Burton would toss Jaco's salad.

Sorry, no.

Between Jaco, Stanley Clarke, Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller and Daryl Jones, you could keep yourself busy learning for a long long time.

00ghost27: overrated

Agreed, less is more

John Paul Jones: Batchboozefists: Cliff Burton would toss Jaco's salad.

Sorry, no.

Sadly we would never know for sure

For the first two minutes I totally thought this was one of those "X Shreds" parody videos.

Man, what a terrible waste of five minutes and a perfectly good bass guitar. Hideous.

Did the wrong video get linked? The one that came up for me was only five minutes of him tuning up.

Seriously though, Jaco inspired me to yank the frets out of my bass when I was 16 but I still don't get Portrait of Tracy. Best I can come is it's his musical take on "modern art".

Harmonics are not hard to play.
-This song IS
/Great find subby, thanks.

It's not simple harmonics he's doing. It's the false harmonics that are the biatch. With hands of his size, Jaco could basically create a harmonic anywhere he wanted to on the fretboard. And give me a friggin' break with the "it's actually not that difficult to play" crap. Cliff Burton? I assume if he's tossing Jaco's salad that's not a compliment. Taste is a personal matter; to each his own. But if you think Cliff Burton is better than Jaco, then you must have some Metallica I've never heard. And you're wrong.

HagarTheHorrible: Did the wrong video get linked? The one that came up for me was only five minutes of him tuning up.

Seriously though, Jaco inspired me to yank the frets out of my bass when I was 16 but I still don't get Portrait of Tracy. Best I can come is it's his musical take on "modern art".

This.

I've heard some of his other stuff and some of it is indeed amazing. This song however, is a giant steaming turd. Regardless of how hard it is to play.

DblDad: Not subby, but I am a pretty good bassist -- and I'll say that this is one of the hardest songs to play on bass that I've ever seen.

When I was in high school, I had two bass instructors. The first one was your standard music store rock musician teaching as a day job. He and I spent an exceedingly long time working on PoT, getting it down to the point where we could get through it, neither of us could ever do it with as much skill as the album version of the song.

My second instructor was for double bass. He was the first chair bassist at the local major-city orchestra, taught in the music departments at two local universities, and was playing in jazz clubs many nights a week. He was a monster. One day, after my double bass lesson, I asked him about PoT. He picked up his electric and played it, note for note perfect. It was like listening to the album.

I've been a bass player for more than 20 years, although I don't play much any more. I was a double major at Berklee. I've known a *lot* of monsters. I've never heard anyone who was actually standing in the room with me with a bass in their hands describe PoT as "easy". That's why when I see someone on teh interwebs say something like this:

John Paul Jones: This. It's actually very easy to play.

Yeah. Post a Youtube of you playing it, or shut your filthy, lying, overconfident mouth. Don't forget to include some proof that it's actually you playing.

HagarTheHorrible: Did the wrong video get linked? The one that came up for me was only five minutes of him tuning up.

Listen to the album version instead to get a better idea of why people speak so highly of this particular track. I've never cared for the live versions, either.

DblDad: Not subby, but I am a pretty good bassist -- and I'll say that this is one of the hardest songs to play on bass that I've ever seen. The transcription is just mind blowing to see. How does he pull those harmonics out of that fretless bass like that?

1. Rip up the transcription. Naturals like Jaco don't start with transcriptions.

2. Love your bass (or whatever instrument you play). Get to know it inside and out...including where all those harmonics are at.

3. Don't overthink your playing. Most great performers create songs that may sound mindblowing and impossible, but are actually accessible once you start using logic.

Learned the last point as I was trying to learn Led Zeppelin's "The Rain Song." Every egghead transcription on the internet was wrong...except for the one that posted the alternative tuning that Page used. Once I used that altered tuning, I learned that most of the song was played with two or three fingers...very easy, yet amazingly beautiful.

Yes, I'm oversimplifying to boast on this thread. This is Fark.

thegonz111: 00ghost27: overrated

Agreed, less is more

this is his solo spot morons.

John Paul Jones: I did say that Portrait of Tracy isn't terribly challenging from a technical perspective.

and yes its easy to play. so is mood indigo and autumn leaves. still good songs.

It is always "easy" to copy something done before.
As a modern electric bassist you now have about 60 years worth of electric bassists to look back and copy from.

Jaco began playing bass more than 40 years ago.
Before him NOBODY played like that.
He created that fretless/harmonic/melodic technique.

This is just like mongrel-tards who say idiotic sh*t like "Hendrix wasn't all that great" ...etc...

BULLSH*T YOU FUKCING MORONS! it will NEVER be 1967 again.
Hendrix can't be surpassed!

If anybody can play as well/better than Jaco/Hendrix...it is BECAUSE of Jaco/Hendrix.


It will NEVER be the early 70s again--nobody will ever be able to push the envelope like that again on an electric bass like Jaco.

The electric bass was still a relatively "new" instrument.
Fusion Jazz was a new music form.


Also,I have heard and read on MANY occasions that Jaco was a very cool and laid back nice guy. It wasn't until his downward spiral with drugs and alcohol in the end that he changed. (early and mid 80s)


btw--has any Fark bassists here tried those new ACOUSTIC bass amp reissues? They look totally cool and vintage. They are also priced very low. I wonder if they sound as good as the originals?

Pronto_Breakneck:

I've been a bass player for more than 20 years, although I don't play much any more. I was a double major at Berklee. I've known a *lot* of monsters. I've never heard anyone who was actually standing in the room with me with a bass in their hands describe PoT as "easy". That's why when I see someone on teh interwebs say something like this...



Did you study with Whit Browne at Berklee? Oh, and THIS. Playing it is relatively hard. It's like a 7 out of 10. Playing it as cleanly as Jaco did, like everything else he did is a solid 9.5 .

Terraceten: Did you study with Whit Browne at Berklee?>

I'm pretty sure that Whit administered my final "play a tune to graduate" exam, but I don't recall having a class with him. I'm honestly not sure, though; it's been a few years.

craigdamage: Also,I have heard and read on MANY occasions that Jaco was a very cool and laid back nice guy. It wasn't until his downward spiral with drugs and alcohol in the end that he changed. (early and mid 80s)

actually it was while he was in weather report. i heard from a firsthand source(a really well known bassist you probably know)that there were mountains of coke backstage at the weather report show he opened at. i also hear not firsthand that jaco was straight as an arrow before WR. speaking of-ive had the concert this clip comes from for a long time, and wayne is so coked up it looks like his head is gonna go ghost rider the whole time. he plays amazing on it though.

The drummer who plays in my band had lunch with Jaco in New York back in the early 80s.

Said he was really quiet and overall a "nice dude"

Roddy (drummer for my band here in Texas) was in NYC hanging out with some of his musician buddies and were eating at some diner.
He told me that there was this "long haired hippy looking dude" hanging out with them and half way through their meal they started talking about Zawinul and Weather Report etc. at which point the "hippy" opened up with about his experiences with them...only at that point did Roddy realize he was sitting across from Jaco Patorious.

Cool story.
I wish it had been me (bassist) who had met him.

btw--I truly adore Shorter,Zawinul and the others as much as I respect and appreciate Jaco.

WTF? When does he get done tuning and play music?

/bassist
//hates pretentious bastards

Music like this, in this day and age..

*whoosh*

Right over the heads of most listeners. What a shame.