teen town weather report

[staindbass]

to whomever learned this song on the bass, how long did it take to learn/master it? i play mostly simple rock, dont read or have any real musical skills. in the past i have suprised myself by learning most of the school days solo, and far beyond the sun (y.malmsteen). i have a interest lately in learning teen town. its out of my league but so wasnt the other stuff before i learned it. seems like a really tough track to learn. johnny a

[webbyv2]

IMO teen town is one of the 'easier' jaco songs to play, but its definately one of the best. hhm lets see...it took me about 2 nights to learn the song off by heart, but i have been playing for 7 years. You should definately learn it, you get a great buzz when you can play some of jaco's work. Just start off slow and y'all get it.

Matt.

[Thunderthumbs73]

It is a tough track to learn, but if you spend enough time with the CD player, you can do it. It's tough for the ears to pick up all the notes as they flow by, and technique-wise.

Everyone learns at a different pace, and I don't want to say you'll learn it in X number of hours. Just keep on plugging away at it.

There are CD units which can slow down the music. Those never existed when I learned the tune, but I understand they're available now, and apparently work well enough. That might be an option. It's not "cheating", at least in my opinion, as you're still doing the mental and physical work, and will ultimately play it up to speed with the recording or with a band.

[Rickett Customs]

I've played through it, but by no means "mastered it".
Jaco was real colorful on this particular track (IMO).

[staindbass]

thanks for the replies. yes, im aware its one of his less complicated pieces, ive been a fan since about 1986. i had learned a few joanie mitchell songs,and the first 20 seconds of portrait of tracy. just like i would not attempt to build a space shuttle with my workshop downstairs with the tools i have, most of his stuff i am to smart to even consider attempting . sometimes you just have to stand back and be amazed. johnny a

[jady]

The first phrase is the hardest IMHO. The octave C's and Bb's are a bitch to pull off clean. You should be able to find a transcription on the net.

[tomvelsor]

its a hard piece to learn...but not hard to play compared to jacos other stuff. just take your time..it took me a while to get it to what i thought was perfection, but later when i started studying with mike frost, former student of jacos, i got to learn the exact correct way to play it- same fingering and all..i think i only had like 3 wrong notes in the whole thing, but still- it just goes to show you its not easy to figure out jacos songs.

one thing i'll have to tell you is dont be afraid of open strings. jaco very often uses them and its key to getting the fingering correct and make the phrase sound right.

once you get down teen town i strongly reccomend learning continuum, note for note, solo and all. its hard but worth it..and just plain awesome to play live

[gre107]

This is a good piece to start reading with. It's not that hard to read and most of the tab's I have seen have mistakes even when they have the notes printed above them. Once again, another reason not to waste too much time with tabs...

Peace,

Gerry

[radmin]

There are two issues here:
1. figuring out the notes. This will be especially hard without reading.
2. actually playing it to speed. This is hard because he was Jaco!

The song has nice short phrases so that helps.
Brian Bromberg has a slow version that he did on upright for his "Jaco" record. It may be a good track to help figure out the notes if you're picking it up by ear.

[jgroh]

Originally Posted by jady

The first phrase is the hardest IMHO. The octave C's and Bb's are a bitch to pull off clean. You should be able to find a transcription on the net.

Big +1 there!

I learned this song recently, but used tabs to help me along. No way I would get most of that by ear and I have a good ear and can figure out most stuff that way. I have a hard time playing at his tempo...like I can play it solo at a decent pace but if I try to play along with the song it totally throws me. Probably because the opening part is hard and I am immediately trying to catch up. Great song to learn and ease into Jaco with.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by jady

The first phrase is the hardest IMHO. The octave C's and Bb's are a bitch to pull off clean. You should be able to find a transcription on the net.

I've found the accuracy suspect in the "Teen Town" transcriptions I've found. Can anyone confirm that the first five notes are indeed C-c-C-Bb-C ?

[jgroh]

Originally Posted by Hoover

I've found the accuracy suspect in the "Teen Town" transcriptions I've found. Can anyone confirm that the first five notes are indeed C-c-C-Bb-C ?

I think its C-c-C-Bb-G (or at least thats what it says in the tabs I have and it sounds correct to me)

[JimmyM]

r-C-c-C-Bb-C-G-C are the first few notes, the R, of course, being a rest.

[tomvelsor]

Originally Posted by Hoover

I've found the accuracy suspect in the "Teen Town" transcriptions I've found. Can anyone confirm that the first five notes are indeed C-c-C-Bb-C ?

the last note is a G...off to a bad start already!

ill record the phrases played slowly if youd like. i know i play them correctly.

[lbanks]

About, 22 years ago,(groan, I'm old) it took me a about a week. Had it pretty good, but now, I don't think I could play the whole thing, without getting a killer cramp. I've tried a couple of times, but I hit a certain point and sorta drift off into 'Stormy Monday'. But I'd say you could learn it in about, two weeks.

[DaneB]

This is the hardest Jaco song for me. It's just the first phrase with the octaves that screw me. I saw Victor Wooten play it with a different fingering to what I was trying though, so I might try that.

I advise getting a program called Powertab and the file for Teen Town, which you'll find around. I find it really helps learning songs, because it has the tab and notation, and you can edit it on the fly, change the tempo and whatever. When I find myself playing something I particularly like, I'll quickly plug it into powertab so I don't forget it :P

[LifeIsBass]

I really think the hardest part of this song is the timing. I didn't have much of a problem playing all the notes but I've found it tough to start each phrase just at the right spot. It sounds fine playing it solo, but getting the timing perfect to play with a band is another story. Guess it's something I should work on more. If you don't challenge yourself, you'll never progress.

[stanknuckle]

I use this tune as a "warm up" before a gig. If I can play it to speed before I gig then I'm ready. I always play one phrase at a time very slowly over and over then speed it up a little. How I learnt it was by studying each phrase, played very lowly, differnt positions on the next to see which one was most comfortable and economical. Once I found somewhere that I liked I played it over and over again slowly. Then learnt the next phrase the same way till I learnt the entire tune and pieced it together with a metronome/drum machine. I'm still learning it, don't worry about that. He was Jaco; I'm crap...

[JimK]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

r-C-c-C-Bb-C-G-C are the first few notes, the R, of course, being a rest.

Right...it doesn't start on "1", it starts on the "e of 1".

This book has a ball's on transcription-
http://www.halleonard.com/item_detai...aco+pastorius+

Same goes for this one (+ you get "Barbary Coast")-
http://www.halleonard.com/item_detai...t&refer=search

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by Hoover

Can anyone confirm that the first five notes are indeed C-c-C-Bb-C ?

Originally Posted by JimmyM

r-C-c-C-Bb-C-G-C are the first few notes, the R, of course, being a rest.

Cool, that's what I thought.

Originally Posted by tomvelsor

the last note is a G...off to a bad start already!

Um, actually not; see above. It was the first five notes I was asking about, not the first six!