Jaco - crunchy fingerstyle technique

[stoob]

I don't want to play like Jaco per se, but I want to find tutorials which help you with this technique not only done by Jaco, but by players such as gospel bass players that do nice runs with short, staccato picking - making the notes stutter and pop (Alan 'Snoop' Evans is a good example of this technique).

Can anyone direct me to such tutorials on the web?

Cheers!

[SLaPiNFuNK]

A lot of it is a combination right and left hand...

To get the staccato notes, play close to the bridge with bridge pickup, and quickly lift your left hand to mute the string...

You can kind of see how I do it on the shorter notes in the close ups on this vid. Not the greatest example since most of it is legato, but you may get the idea and start working it out on your own...

SLaPiNFuNK - Teen Town Example...

[stoob]

Nice, great example! Thanks.

[Mark Wilson]

Moved to Technique.

[AndreyR]

Listen to some Jaco songs, then close your eyes, and try to make a few notes sound like him - its not that hard.
Lower everything except mids, boost mids, if you have two pickups - boost the bridge and lower the neck pickup a bit, move right hand closer to bridge, and try to get a clear bright sound.

[Fresh Cream]

Originally Posted by stoob

I don't want to play like Jaco per se, but I want to find tutorials which help you with this technique not only done by Jaco, but by players such as gospel bass players that do nice runs with short, staccato picking - making the notes stutter and pop (Alan 'Snoop' Evans is a good example of this technique).

Can anyone direct me to such tutorials on the web?

Cheers!

EQ

Well, for a start, make sure you have at least one J pickup on your bass, (JJ or PJ is fine) and then turn your neck pickup off and your bridge pickup fully on. Then have a look at your amp and turn up the mids really high, I'm a bit hazy as to how Jaco had his lows and trebles but I normally have each at halfway with the lows just a touch higher than the trebles, but that's just me

Technique

Once, you've got all that done, place your right hand over the bridge pickup and play around there. This will take some getting used to but once you are used to it it's great! You will great extra speed, clarity and louder and more crisp harmonics once you have got some skill in playing like this. Also have your thumb just floating around the E string rather than rooted to the spot so you can move up and down the pickups and get different tones (Jaco played closer to the fingerboard when he was playing a more legato style).

Hope this helps!

[Hifiguy]

of getting the Jaco staccato is the muting.

I have found that you have to use both hands for muting depending on the riff in question, usually the fretting hand but there will be times when a quick and seamless damp with the plucking hand is also necessary. That takes a while to get used to - at least it did for me. But I'm weird because when I went back to fingerstyle in the '90s after nearly 20 years of pickstyle I adopted Sheehan's 3-finger right hand technique, though now it's sort of 2&3/4's depending on the song.

As for playing position on the bass and EQ, what all of the other TBers have said is money. Take it to the bank.

[stoob]

noones mentioned strings here. Are light strings better for a more crunchy sound?

What strings would people recommend?

[Rebop]

Originally Posted by stoob

noones mentioned strings here. Are light strings better for a more crunchy sound?

What strings would people recommend?

Jaco used stainless steel strings (Rotosound 45-105). The stainless strings have a bite all their own.

His EQ was actually rather interesting considering his tone and that everyone here is saying to boost mids. Bass was cranked to 10 and treble was about 5. I forget what notch he used for mids on his Acoustic amp. I think it was notch 4 or 5 but not turned up too much. A lot of the sound came from his hands.

[Hifiguy]

Originally Posted by Rebop

Jaco used stainless steel strings (Rotosound 45-105). The stainless strings have a bite all their own.

His EQ was actually rather interesting considering his tone and that everyone here is saying to boost mids. Bass was cranked to 10 and treble was about 5. I forget what notch he used for mids on his Acoustic amp. I think it was notch 4 or 5 but not turned up too much. A lot of the sound came from his hands.

And Jaco used those weird old Acoustic cabs with 18" drivers in them, to boot. At least he did for ages. Not gonna get much treble out of those, so the treble boost kicked up the sound of the upper mids more than anything else. That also contributed to the distinctive upper-mid pop in his sound.

Oddly enough, I can pretty much replicate the classic Jaco sound on my Alembic. Give it about 90% bridge pickup 10% neck pickup, fiddle with the filter for the bridge pickup to find just the right cutoff point and then give it the Q boost. Works with every amp I have tried.

[conebeckham]

I think cutting the extreme highs, on modern amps, and boosting bass and especially mids between about 300-500Hz gives you that somewhat nasal "cutting" sound. you can round it out a bit by adding more lows or cutting more highs.....then, like everyone said, play over the bridge pickup, and favor that pickup via blend knob or volume...

And ghost notes are really a big part of the feel--which is all about muting, or, rather, striking muted notes to get that short, percussive sound...if you listen to his lines, sometimes only every 3rd note is fully articulated, and the others are more "pulses" created by ghost notes. Rocco P was a big influence, if I recall, in this approach as well.

[SLaPiNFuNK]

You gotta dig in too... Forgot to mention that...