Portrait of Tracy: Am I phyiscally challanged?

[stranded horse]

I have a fretless 34" scale and a fretted 30" scale. I can play most parts of it slowly on my shortscale, but I can't play anything of it on my longscale, and I'm not a kid, I'm full grown.

Specially that one move in the head melody, when he presses down the 2nd fret on the A string with his index finger and does the harmonic on the 6th fret with the pinky. It's giving me headache on the shortscale bass, but there is no way I can ever do this on a long scale bass.
Is this a common problem, or do I have the wrong fingers to play bass?
It's really frustrating, and I'm already thinking about going back to ukulele.......

[halfjackson]

Hey man, there's another, much easier way to pull that harmonic. Fret the B on the A string as you normally would, and instead of your pinky on the 6th fret, use your thumb to mark the harmonic closer to the bridge. It's approximately where the...29th fret would be, but with a little searching you should be able to find it easily.

I hope that helps.

[beggar98]

This is not meant as a joke or a put-down, but I'd say that if you can't stretch from 2 to 6 on a 30" scale you probably are physically challenged. Some players, even those with longer fingers, just don't have the flexibility to stretch more than the usual one-finger-per-fret distance. It might prevent you from doing some of the more acrobatic things, but shouldn't be a problem in most situations.

[paganjack]

I'd say you are probably just more used to the 30" scale, so playing on a 34" scale feels unnatural to you. Maybe if you only had 34" scale basses it would be easier. I don't mean this as any sort of admonishment, but it could be a source of your difficulty.

That said, it's a tricky note to hit.

[stranded horse]

I'm using the full flexibility of my hand when I try to hit this note and I have my forearm almost parallel to the neck, then it works on the 30". I think even decades of finger yoga will enable me to do this on the 34". Other option would be to use my thumb instead of my index finger, haha.
But that's not the only problem. As I said I can play none of the entire song properly on my 34". I have serious trouble gettiing my ringfinger and pinky apart far enough to get the harmonics on the 4th fret g string and 5th string while pressing down the 3rd fret on the a string.

[ExaltBass]

Have seen Jaco's fingers??? They were Wayyy LONG! I'm a stubby fingered guy m'self... oh well.

[wideyes]

You should hear the interview snippets of Jaco talking about this song around the time he recorded it. He gets all giggidy about how nobody else had played anything like it before.

Hmmm, can't find the audio. But here's a transcription:

"'Portrait of Tracy' is a thing with harmonics, if you know what that's about? I'm playing all this harmonic stuff, and this is the first time it was ever done, is on this solo album. The whole tune is played using nothing but harmonics and only on one bass, but it sounds like five guys! So you gotta check it out! Oh, by the way, for my solo album I got nominated for two Grammies. 'Best Jazz Album Of The Year', and 'Best Jazz Soloist', so I got nominated for Best Jazz Soloist two years in a row for Grammies, and I didn't even know it! But neither did Epic Records, my record label - the dummies!"

A strange man, Jaco. Catch the rest of the interview here: http://www.symbiosis-music.com/jaco_pastorius.html

[dougjwray]

Believe it or not, Jaco personally taught me how to play it (in the dressing room before a concert he did with Herbie Hancock in early 1977). (I was pretending to be a volunteer crewmember, in order to gain access. ) (This was when I guarded his famous fretless while he soundchecked with the fretted one... I've bored everyone here with this story on multiple occasions.)
He stressed that there are only two places in "Portrait of Tracy" where artificial harmonics show up (the place you're talking about and the very last chord) and acted bemused that no one else had done similar things with harmonics. ("They're are all over the neck!")
(Sort of like Michaelangelo saying, "It's just paint!")

[Largedon]

Originally Posted by ExaltBass

Have seen Jaco's fingers??? They were Wayyy LONG! I'm a stubby fingered guy m'self... oh well.

This sums it up well. He had really long hands which helps a lot for those weird stretches. Watch his video and he talks about playing full scales over two strings using like 5 or 6 fret stretches. Makes my hand feel like a fat guy trying to do the splits to try and play that way. Kind of like being tall in basketball, long fingers aren't a requirement, but it sure helps.

I'm in the same boat as ExaltBass as I have wide hands but I'm stuck with sausage fingers.

[Cix]

I've got a question when it comes to a few specific parts of this song. I've got the whole 2(6) movement down, painfully, and will be trying the second position using my thumb, but there are a couple other harmonics I've having a very difficult time achieving.

I'm trying to learn most by ear or by watching videos of others play, but this is my tab reference: http://www.bassmasta.net/p/pastorius,_jaco/162835.html

First point in question is the 2nd measure of the 3rd line,

--(12)---
--(9)----
--(9)----
---------

I understand exactly what it's wanting me to play, but for whatever reason it doesn't sound right. The G harmonic rings out WAAAY over the other two, making them just about inaudible. Any tips for this?


Second point in question is the first measure of the 5th line,
* A
-(4)-------2--(2)--
-(4)-------2--(2)--
-(3)-------2--(2)--
-----4--4----------
* G
I'm not 100% sure what it's having me play at the 2nd fret part.


Third part in question is the first measure of the 12th line, where it tells to play
* A
---(7)-----6---
---(5)----(4)--
---------------
-4-----4-------
* G#
I can't figure out what's going on with that 6th fret. Where does that really high pitch tone come from that makes the chord so dissonant?


I know this tab probably isn't totally accurate, so if anyone knows what's going on in these parts and can explain it in english, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks

[JHRyan]

Originally Posted by stranded horse

I have a fretless 34" scale and a fretted 30" scale. I can play most parts of it slowly on my shortscale, but I can't play anything of it on my longscale, and I'm not a kid, I'm full grown.

Specially that one move in the head melody, when he presses down the 2nd fret on the A string with his index finger and does the harmonic on the 6th fret with the pinky. It's giving me headache on the shortscale bass, but there is no way I can ever do this on a long scale bass.
Is this a common problem, or do I have the wrong fingers to play bass?
It's really frustrating, and I'm already thinking about going back to ukulele.......

Try fretting the B as per normal and use your plucking hand to strike the 6th fret for the artificial harmonic. It is a little tricky to get to sound properly, but if your hand is too short you don't really have many options.

[tomas_almeida]

I have pretty small hands and do that stretch on a 35" scale bass just fine. It really comes down to just practicing and most important of all CORRECT LEFT HAND POSITIONING.
And the patterns that Jaco demonstrates to paly a majoR scale (just in 3 strings) are very accessible, he did have long fingers, but that didn't have that much difference. Nico Assumpção had small hands (like me) and did stuff with as much or even bigger stretches than Jaco did. And I too am able to do that.

Just practice it on the 34" scale and take the time to develop good left hand technique.

[Beginner Bass]

You could play the B on the E string. Of course I'm not sure which part you're refering too so I don't know the context but From what information you gave that should work.

[JHRyan]

Originally Posted by tomas_almeida

I have pretty small hands and do that stretch on a 35" scale bass just fine. It really comes down to just practicing and most important of all CORRECT LEFT HAND POSITIONING.
And the patterns that Jaco demonstrates to paly a majoR scale (just in 3 strings) are very accessible, he did have long fingers, but that didn't have that much difference. Nico Assumpção had small hands (like me) and did stuff with as much or even bigger stretches than Jaco did. And I too am able to do that.

Just practice it on the 34" scale and take the time to develop good left hand technique.

Correct positioning only goes so far for things of this nature. For instance, if you need to reach something 7" away without moving your hand and your hand is only 6" wide no amount of technique is going to make your hand grow. Working on getting to the point where one can play things at the ends of their reach without strain is certainly advisable, but their are certain physical limitations like this where workarounds may need to be found.

It also depends on your definition of "small hands". While I don't have a ruler or anything on hand I can tell you that the distance from my index finer to my pinky at max is slightly smaller than a standard cd case. If the OP's hands are even smaller than that this stretch simply won't be accessible in the traditional manner.

[champbassist]

Originally Posted by Beginner Bass

You could play the B on the E string. Of course I'm not sure which part you're refering too so I don't know the context but From what information you gave that should work.

The harmonic that is generated by playing the B (7th fret) on the E string is B itself. The harmonic that is played in the song is D#.

It's a simple formula: if you fret the nth fret and place a finger on the (n+4)th fret to play an artificial harmonic, the note you get is identical to the note you'd get by fretting the (n+4)th fret, just 2 octaves higher. Jaco frets B (2nd fret) on A and lightly touches D# (6th fret), generating a D#.

Originally Posted by Cix

Third part in question is the first measure of the 12th line, where it tells to play
* A
---(7)-----6---
---(5)----(4)--
---------------
-4-----4-------
* G#
I can't figure out what's going on with that 6th fret. Where does that really high pitch tone come from that makes the chord so dissonant?

The guy who tabbed it out missed labeling the 6th fret on the G string as a harmonic. It should actually be:


* A
---(7)-----(6)--
---(5)-----(4)--
----------------
-4------4-------
* G#

[groooooove]

he was fretting the 2nd fret and playing up near the 6th fret (or maybe its between frets, or a differnt fret, i dont have an instrument handy to check.)

i doubt anyone is "challenged" so much that they cant pull off that. i couldent for the life of me for a really long time when i tried learning it. i,too, tried to get the harmonic with the thumb closer to the bridge. its unrealistic though, IMO.

if you keep screwing around with it and trying to get that note, you will.

that being said; jaco's hands were tremendous. according to a buddy who studied with jaco, and one-on-one jammed with him, jaco was *litterally* able to be playing a groove by the 3rd fret, and jump up to the 7-8th fret, without his thumb moving on the back of the neck. his fingers themselfs were plantains. getting that harmonic was much easier for him than it is for most of us. but i tink we're all capable of it.

[Erick Lam]

There's more than one place where you can do a D# harmonic. Learn how harmonics work and find out yourself.

[Eric!]

The D# isn't awful for me.

What gets me is the very last chord. Still can't play that bugger..

[santucci218]

Originally Posted by halfjackson

Hey man, there's another, much easier way to pull that harmonic. Fret the B on the A string as you normally would, and instead of your pinky on the 6th fret, use your thumb to mark the harmonic closer to the bridge. It's approximately where the...29th fret would be, but with a little searching you should be able to find it easily.

I hope that helps.

just going to quite this. the 29th fret, on my 34 inch scale fender jazz, is right above the neck pickup. so its really easy for me to pull it off quickly when playing the song.

[giacomini]

Originally Posted by Eric!

The D# isn't awful for me.

What gets me is the very last chord. Still can't play that bugger..

+1...

"Nice" to see this thread! I thought I was the only one that couldn't reach it properly... I mean, I can reach that D# artificial harmonic in my 34" scale basses, but my left hand goes to the maximum stretch so if I keep on trying it, I almost get cramps! (on a sidenote, I must say I don't have small hands, and my left hand span on piano reaches over a 11th, but that includes the thumb)

But it is a different story with that last chord. You fret the A, D and G strings on the 9th and touch them in the 13th. I know the fret spacing up there is smaller, but no way I can get all 3 notes to ring out as loud as Jaco does... The best I can do is to fret at the 9th with my thumb and use the pinky to touch the harmonic on the 13th fret.

Another thing I find really helpful in this song is to have the gain and volume cranked up in the amp, so the harmonics get louder.