Something That jaco Did

[JackColtman]

For a while Ive been trying to figure out one of Jacos particular techniques, its a kind of rythmic slide pattern, he uses it quite a bit in solos, but you can here in most predominantley in the song 'Brown Eyes' in the isntrumental break, im not sure if he's slapping or what, my guitar teacher thinks so, ive never seen a movie of him slapping, just using his thumbs once or twice to get presence, ive tried it this technique fingerstyle and slap and cant get the phrasing right, im pretty sure a fretless helps alot, but its the sequence of notes that gives it the conga like rhythm, can any Jaco followers help me out ?

[skewh]

I'm not sure what pattern you are talking about, but I can tell you that the only type of slapping that Jaco did was on the neck with his palm, so as to get a percussive sound, which he would usually loop and play over. Most likely what you are hearing is aggressive, fast finger-style playing. If you could think of other examples of the same type of rhythm or phrasing, I would gladly help, but I haven't heard any song called "Brown Eyes" with Jaco playing bass.

[JackColtman]

'Brown Eyes' was on Jimmy Cliff's album 'cliff hanger' and the technique appears at 2:13, thetechnique also appears on the 'Honeslty' recording at about 5:05 on 'part six' and at about 3:03 on 'part 2'. I know the palm technique you mentioned, Im pretty sure its some variation on it as the sound is altered, and ive seen videos of the oopen palm stuff, and the sound doesnt match this particular technique im searching for, im sure theres a thumb involved somewhere....

[Dbassmon]

Jaco was not a slap bass player. The percussive conga sounds he is known for is bassed on 16th notes played with the right hand. Some notes are fretted with left hand and speak with a note, others are ghosted or muted notes where no disernable pitch can be heard but rather a rythmic "bap". He would sometimes use the heel of his right hand and smack the neck and slide with it. No thumb or pop as is associated with slap bass players. Many available transcriptions have these ghost notes charted out and it's not that difficult to see what he's doing when the each note is transcribed.

Check out Jaco's Video "modern electric bass" very helpful.