A question about Jaco

[oscarmeyer777]

Maybe some oldies can help me out with this, as I wasn't around. Did Jaco start the whole playing with your right hand over the bridge pickup revolution? Just something that I'v wondered for a while.


Thanks,
Seth Waldecker

[Roy Vogt]

For a lot of us, yes. I was mystified by how he got his sound, and then I saw Weather Report in concert at NTSU in 1976 (Al Dimeola was the opening act). I sat on the floor 10 feet in front of Jaco and checked out everything he did.
After the concert I talked to him and thanked him for the bass lesson. He laughed and said, "That was a lesson in being tired!" He sure sounded great to me.

[rarisgod]

That's the first place I heard of doing that, or the first place I've heard of why it was done anyway. I imagine for many that it was.

[PJSShearer]

Originally Posted by oscarmeyer777

Maybe some oldies can help me out with this, as I wasn't around. Did Jaco start the whole playing with your right hand over the bridge pickup revolution? Just something that I'v wondered for a while.


Thanks,
Seth Waldecker

Well, if you take the ashtrays off a 60's Jazz bass then the three choices of places to park your right thumb are:

1. The end of the neck.
2. The neck pup.
3. The bridge pup.

Then select the position that gives you the tone you're looking for.

Revolution? - I'd say it was just a natural way to play the instrument.

Anbody else?.

[DukDukGuus]

I've seen Bill Frisell play a few times over the years, and the last time I watched his picking hand. He was playing a Telecaster, and depending on the sound he wanted (I'm assuming) he would pick directly over either the bridge or neck pickup. I never thought that much about it until then, but your question about Jaco reminded me of that.

I wonder if that isn't a conscious decision, to make sure that whatever over-tones you might get would be split right at the pickup? Let me know if I understand this right. I just pluck the string where my thumb is anchored, right at the end of the neck, so I'm right over the neck pickup. The rare times I use a pick, though, I'm way down by the bridge.

[odin70]

Originally Posted by Roy Vogt

.. and then I saw Weather Report in concert at NTSU in 1976 (Al Dimeola was the opening act). I sat on the floor 10 feet in front of Jaco and checked out everything he did.
After the concert I talked to him and thanked him for the bass lesson. He laughed and said, "That was a lesson in being tired!" He sure sounded great to me.

You lucky lucky bastard..

[Roy Vogt]

Originally Posted by odin70

You lucky lucky bastard..

I guess that's one advantage to being an Old Guy

[Mojo-Man]

I seen Jaco before Weather Report in Fla. 1974-1975.
I was blown away by his tone.
Got to talk to him a few times.
He may not have been the first guy to do the back pickup thing.
But he was the first to relize importance of tone variation of right hand.
Regarding playing over each pickup.
I was playing a P-bass at the time.
And he told me, get a Jazz bass there is more than one good tone there.
Jaco new his s**t.

[Ewo]

I'm an Old Guy(tm), too. So my memory might be faulty, but...

IIRC, Harvey Brooks was the first guy I knew of who picked back toward the bridge, some. Not as far back as Jaco--true. But that's what came to mind, regarding where electric bassists plucked.

That's not to take anything away from Jaco, needless to say!

[ahc]

Another "olde pharte" here. I remember seeing lots of players in the 60's and 70's, not all "famous", who picked near the bridge... and not all on a Jazz, either. I know of several who did it on P-basses and other types. Done it a few times myself then and now and in between on various types of basses. So, no. I don't believe Jaco invented it. But what he did with it was incredible. Also consider myself lucky in that I got to see him several times and talk to him once. The conversation (on my part) was someting like : "Habbada habbada habbbbbuhhh huuuuuhhh uhhhhhhhhello".

Al