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Post by Schidney on Dec 2, 2015 0:37:01 GMT
The man who is credited with inventing fretless bass guitar playing & arguably got it right first time...
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Post by melvindale on Dec 2, 2015 1:42:47 GMT
A real genius - miss him
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Post by Schidney on Dec 8, 2015 22:13:35 GMT
Did an ill conceived version of Teen Town a few years ago. The original was written & played on a fretless bass using fingers so I thought I'd do a version using a fretted bass & a pleck(pick) for the hell of it. Feckin' murder it was. Take after take after take. Easy on the fretless but a bastid on the fretted. Never again & after I got it finished I realized my version was slower...Bollocks! Bah!
https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Frizla-green%2Fteen-town-4
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Post by stonedcrow on Apr 1, 2016 11:56:06 GMT
The first and probably the only bass guitarist who I saw using the guitar players feedback generating 'trick' - holding the guitars pickups close to the speakers of your amp or cab, it was a mind opening experience, the album Heavy Weather by Weather Report, should be on every bass player's or learning bass players play list.
Robert Trujillo the bass player from Metallica, has made a really good documentary about Jaco and his playing style, though it seems to skip over the fact that Jaco had his tech smothered the fretboard of 'The Bass of Doom' with one thick coat of marine expoxy, instead of lots of thin coats, because the Rotosound roundwound strings that he used chewed through the rosewood fretboard.
Jaco Pastorius wasn't the first famous bass player to play a fretless bass guitar, Jaco is most famous for it, but people such as Creams Jack Bruce where playing a fretless Warwick bass guitar in the 60's, Jaco's first recording project, his debut album called 'Jaco Pastorius' wasn't released until 1976, there where lots of people playing fretless bass guitars both live and in the studio before Jaco bought his fretless 1962 Fender Jazz Bass, remember Jaco didn't take the frets off this guitar the previous owner did, Jaco bought it with the frets already removed.
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Jaco
Apr 1, 2016 21:29:13 GMT
Post by Schidney on Apr 1, 2016 21:29:13 GMT
Hi Stonedcrow. Remarkably well informed about Jaco & fretless bass into the bargain. Knew there were others who claimed to have pulled the frets out, notably Bill Wyman who claims to have done it first. I reckon someone who played upright & bought one of Leo's new fangled electric basses whipped them frets out within days of buying one long before he did.
Jaco used to play upright but the humid conditions in Florida basically destroyed his bass so he went electric & yes he went down the docks & got the fretboard coated in some kind of marine epoxy. Guy was thinking way beyond his time back then. Just now I use a Mighty Mite fretless neck which is call Ebonal I think. Plastic compiste material cause I love the round wounds & have never got on with flat wounds. The neck can take a good pounding but not the greatest sound but I do use it with a P Bass so it might not be the best bass for different tones.
Didn't know my fellow Glaswegian Jack Bruce was playing fretless before him though. Yep Heavy Weather is a classic.
Cheers mate Sid
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Jaco
Apr 1, 2016 22:46:45 GMT
Post by Schidney on Apr 1, 2016 22:46:45 GMT
Just as an aside. Live album 8:30 has my fav version of this. They go into a long funky jam with Jaco turning up the Fuzz/Distortion at the end. Wish it was videoed but just audio alas. Still...Mighty.
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Post by Snoop Droobie Doge Doge on Apr 2, 2016 16:15:42 GMT
The guy was a freakin virtuoso.
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Post by stonedcrow on Apr 2, 2016 16:34:37 GMT
Jaco was to the bass guitar what Jimi Hendrix was to the electric guitar.
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Post by stonedcrow on Apr 2, 2016 16:52:20 GMT
Hi Stonedcrow. Remarkably well informed about Jaco & fretless bass into the bargain. Knew there were others who claimed to have pulled the frets out, notably Bill Wyman who claims to have done it first. I reckon someone who played upright & bought one of Leo's new fangled electric basses whipped them frets out within days of buying one long before he did. Jaco used to play upright but the humid conditions in Florida basically destroyed his bass so he went electric & yes he went down the docks & got the fretboard coated in some kind of marine epoxy. Guy was thinking way beyond his time back then. Just now I use a Mighty Mite fretless neck which is call Ebonal I think. Plastic compiste material cause I love the round wounds & have never got on with flat wounds. The neck can take a good pounding but not the greatest sound but I do use it with a P Bass so it might not be the best bass for different tones. Didn't know my fellow Glaswegian Jack Bruce was playing fretless before him though. Yep Heavy Weather is a classic. Cheers mate Sid I'm a fan of his work, and the way he approached, treated and looked at the bass guitar, he might not of been the first to do what he did with it, like using a fretless or using a bass guitar as the main instrument for the melody of a piece of music, but he was one of if not the best at it, his use of acoustic guitar amps instead of the standard bass guitar amps, his use of electric guitar effects and techniques. They guy was extremely creative not just musically, but in the technology side of the bass guitar, I don't mean the design of the bass guitar or it's features, but in things like the amps he used, the effects he used, how he basically plugged his bass guitar up for a concert, even his speaker placement was quite an eye opener.
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Jaco
Apr 2, 2016 17:50:40 GMT
Post by Schidney on Apr 2, 2016 17:50:40 GMT
Hi Stonedcrow. Remarkably well informed about Jaco & fretless bass into the bargain. Knew there were others who claimed to have pulled the frets out, notably Bill Wyman who claims to have done it first. I reckon someone who played upright & bought one of Leo's new fangled electric basses whipped them frets out within days of buying one long before he did. Jaco used to play upright but the humid conditions in Florida basically destroyed his bass so he went electric & yes he went down the docks & got the fretboard coated in some kind of marine epoxy. Guy was thinking way beyond his time back then. Just now I use a Mighty Mite fretless neck which is call Ebonal I think. Plastic compiste material cause I love the round wounds & have never got on with flat wounds. The neck can take a good pounding but not the greatest sound but I do use it with a P Bass so it might not be the best bass for different tones. Didn't know my fellow Glaswegian Jack Bruce was playing fretless before him though. Yep Heavy Weather is a classic. Cheers mate Sid I'm a fan of his work, and the way he approached, treated and looked at the bass guitar, he might not of been the first to do what he did with it, like using a fretless or using a bass guitar as the main instrument for the melody of a piece of music, but he was one of if not the best at it, his use of acoustic guitar amps instead of the standard bass guitar amps, his use of electric guitar effects and techniques. They guy was extremely creative not just musically, but in the technology side of the bass guitar, I don't mean the design of the bass guitar or it's features, but in things like the amps he used, the effects he used, how he basically plugged his bass guitar up for a concert, even his speaker placement was quite an eye opener. Aye & did all that in his 20's. Makes yi sick eh?
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Jaco
Apr 2, 2016 19:09:05 GMT
Post by stonedcrow on Apr 2, 2016 19:09:05 GMT
I'm a fan of his work, and the way he approached, treated and looked at the bass guitar, he might not of been the first to do what he did with it, like using a fretless or using a bass guitar as the main instrument for the melody of a piece of music, but he was one of if not the best at it, his use of acoustic guitar amps instead of the standard bass guitar amps, his use of electric guitar effects and techniques. They guy was extremely creative not just musically, but in the technology side of the bass guitar, I don't mean the design of the bass guitar or it's features, but in things like the amps he used, the effects he used, how he basically plugged his bass guitar up for a concert, even his speaker placement was quite an eye opener. Aye & did all that in his 20's. Makes yi sick eh? Not really don't forget Jaco was extremely affected by bipolar disorder, that's something I wouldn't wish on anybody, yet alone myself, that's an extremely heavy price to pay for his talent, not to mention that most famous bipolar people tend to die quite young if not very young, few of them live to their old age. Remember towards the end of his life Jaco was living as a homeless bum in Central Park New York with nothing but 'the bass of doom', it was very badly smashed up into lots of pieces by gang bangers, and it was finally stolen off of him not long after it was repaired and returned to him during this period shortly before his death. I'm pretty sure my partner will say I have enough bad habits, and am self destructive enough with out being cursed with bipolar disorder.
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Jaco
Apr 2, 2016 20:16:21 GMT
Post by Schidney on Apr 2, 2016 20:16:21 GMT
You know how to cheer a guy up eh? Aye us bass players can be a bit self destructive. It's having to live with you bloody guitarists.
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Post by stonedcrow on Apr 3, 2016 12:21:58 GMT
You know how to cheer a guy up eh? Aye us bass players can be a bit self destructive. It's having to live with you bloody guitarists. I was being upbeat, you just know that if Jaco was Scottish he would of died from either an overdose or alcohol poisoning. I'll make a deal with you, the day bass players figure out that there is eight that's right 8 notes in a scale/key and not three/3 or four/4 you know 1, 3, 5, and the talented bass players will know about 7, and do more than play 1,3,5 'walks' in the background, us guitarists will cut you some slack for your inability to deal with six that is right 6 strings.
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Post by Schidney on Apr 3, 2016 13:50:50 GMT
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Post by Donal on Apr 3, 2016 14:08:23 GMT
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Post by Grand Toad on Apr 4, 2016 5:40:54 GMT
You know how to cheer a guy up eh? Aye us bass players can be a bit self destructive. It's having to live with you bloody guitarists. I was being upbeat, you just know that if Jaco was Scottish he would of died from either an overdose or alcohol poisoning. I'll make a deal with you, the day bass players figure out that there is eight that's right 8 notes in a scale/key and not three/3 or four/4 you know 1, 3, 5, and the talented bass players will know about 7, and do more than play 1,3,5 'walks' in the background, us guitarists will cut you some slack for your inability to deal with six that is right 6 strings. Hey, I'll make a deal with YOU, quit being an ass, and I won't suggest that Sid beat you about the head and shoulders with a P Bass. Do you always leave such an unpleasant impression where ever you light.
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Post by Maxwell on Apr 5, 2016 20:15:13 GMT
Jaco, Stanley Clarke, Berry Oakley (ABB), Entwistle, Paul Goddard (ARS and tons of studio stuff), Squire (YES) were some of the greatest game changers in the bass world to me...
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