damn you jaco!

blackbassist · #1 08-02-2006, 05:10 PM

yeah so i can play most of portrait of tracy, but there's this one thing that just catches me everytime. i cant do the harmonic tabbed as "A--2&6--". i know it means to hold down the second and play a harmonic on the 6th, but i cant seem to stretch it.

does anyone know an alternative like another harmomic i can use to get the same pitch?

spudmaster34 · #2 08-02-2006, 05:12 PM

there was a thread a little while ago about someone who stretched their hands untill they could do that harmonic with their pointer and middle finger!

blackbassist · #3 08-02-2006, 05:16 PM

i can do it, but it takes me like 5 seconds to get into position i have to like, lean my body over to the side. i just need a way to make it flow

Der Bluten Kat · #4 08-02-2006, 05:28 PM

practice for hours and you'll get it.. then you'll go and play the song for someone and you totally mess everything up and make all the strings ring and then you throw your bass down and snap the neck in half then punch a hole in the wall and take a knife and... well, just keep practicing i guess

s.m.80808 · #5 08-02-2006, 06:05 PM

You should probably be able to hit another node of that harmonic with your right hand using artificial harmonics.

aesir6 · #6 08-02-2006, 06:07 PM

I didnt seem to have any problem doing it. I lean a bit but not much, no other problems except that minor leaning thing but tons of people prob. do that. So yeah as others said just stretch your hands a good bit and everything should be cool.

Basshole · #7 08-02-2006, 06:11 PM

Wanna see a fellow TB'r do it with style?

Portrait Of Tracy on my fretless Bongo

...And on a bass with flats, no less.

blackbassist · #8 08-02-2006, 07:13 PM

damn.
k i'll stretch my hands...i guess

fcleff · #9 08-02-2006, 07:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blackbassist

yeah so i can play most of portrait of tracy, but there's this one thing that just catches me everytime. i cant do the harmonic tabbed as "A--2&6--". i know it means to hold down the second and play a harmonic on the 6th, but i cant seem to stretch it.

does anyone know an alternative like another harmomic i can use to get the same pitch?

I've been playing this for about 18 years. All I can say is just stretch for it. That's what I did; it feels pretty good now. There's really not another good way to get it because it is a false harmonic. Good luck and stretch, stretch, stretch.

I've always found the last harmonic of the piece to be quite a bi**h!

JustOpenYourMind · #10 08-02-2006, 07:58 PM

you can make a false harmonic on the d string while fretting the first fret. it's the same one.

If you don't know how to make a false harmonic:

fret the note as you would normally do for a non harmonic note.

Then you touch the string near the pick-ups. you just need to barely touch it with either your thumb or first finger. then you pluck the string with another finger towards the bridge. it's easier to do than that stretch. I think victor wooten plays the song that way.

lateralus423 · #11 08-02-2006, 07:59 PM

You can actually do it on the string withot fretting. I have a vid here victor tell how he could never do the stretch so he found his own way which is..You find the place on the a string(ive no clue where it is) but you place your thumb on the a string where u pluck and then you pluck the string with your index or whatever.

Erick Lam · #12 08-02-2006, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustOpenYourMind

you can make a false harmonic on the d string while fretting the first fret. it's the same one.

I do a false harmonic as well, except on the A string (fretting the B). The nod is somewhere over the neck pick-up.

Quebec City, eh? I grew-up in Loretteville.

JustOpenYourMind · #13 08-03-2006, 03:46 PM

Ha I live in Ancienne-Lorette

MMcC · #14 08-03-2006, 03:59 PM

Ditto Erick Lam. Fret the 6th fret on the A string and do a false harmonic just left of the neck pickup.

natselection · #15 08-03-2006, 11:40 PM

learning jaco tunes with tabs? =[

Sagaris · #16 08-04-2006, 03:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fcleff

I've always found the last harmonic of the piece to be quite a bi**h!

Same here. I've never been able to get it even to ring out unless I turn the mids RIGHT up. And even then it's too quiet.

I need Jazz Pickups.

bassist 4 life · #17 08-04-2006, 04:43 PM

this is weird, but i have no problem fretting the 2nd fret and hitting the harmonic at the 6th :S

blackbassist · #18 08-04-2006, 06:19 PM

k you just have big flexible hands, much unlike mine.

ireidt · #19 08-05-2006, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fcleff

I've always found the last harmonic of the piece to be quite a bi**h!

heh...I make something up at the ending whne i play it live becuase I can't reach the last harmonic...yet..

iplaybassguitar · #20 08-10-2006, 10:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustOpenYourMind

you can make a false harmonic on the d string while fretting the first fret. it's the same one.

If you don't know how to make a false harmonic:

fret the note as you would normally do for a non harmonic note.

Then you touch the string near the pick-ups. you just need to barely touch it with either your thumb or first finger. then you pluck the string with another finger towards the bridge. it's easier to do than that stretch. I think victor wooten plays the song that way.

you cant just touch the string over the pickups and expect to get an A.H.

an artificial harmonis is where you fret a note with your left hand and hit a harmonic somewhere on the neck...it depends on which harmonic you are striving for.

ex.1 - if you are fretting the first fret on the g-string, and you want to octave that, hit the 13th fret ...
ex.2 - if your still fretting that 1st fret on the g, and you want the double octave harmonic, you can hit the 6th fret...

basically you move the harmonic that you want up the same number of frets that you are fretting with your left hand. its like using a capo on a guitar. so there probably is an A.H. over your pickup in that case, but it will always depend what fret you are fretting and also where your frets are located...it might work on your bass but probably not on mine or his or hers.

as for the origonal topic, i cant reach that harmonic either, ill probably stretch...but in the meantime, you could always fret that second fret with your left hand, and quickly reach over and hit an artificial harmonic with your right...