Question about Jaco's 'Birdland'

[loinmute]

In the intro to Birdland, Jaco plays a (38). What is that? How is it executed? The transcription is from The Essential Jaco Pastorius. I am assuming it's a harmonic of sorts, but which/what kind?

thanks

[cjmodulus]

It's a false harmonic. Basically you fret the first note with your fretting hand and place your thumb where the hypothetical 38 th fret would be and pluck behind it. After plucking you bring your thumb up and let the note ring. I'm pretty sure that's how jaco did it. There are other ways to play false harmonics, do a YouTube search and there are all sorts of tutorials. I have the same book and the transcription confused me at first, but I looked up a vid of him playing it live and that cleared things up for me.

[dougjwray]

A "38"? I have no idea. But if you're talking about the upper register melody that he played (I think it's 16 bars), he fingered it on the G, D and A strings, on the 12th, 14th and 15th frets, simultaneously playing the artificial harmonics one octave, and then two octaves above. Sounds hard, but it really isn't. With your plucking hand, you lightly touch the string with one finger and pluck it with another. If I remember correctly, Jaco liked to touch the string with his thumb and pluck it with his index finger. In Birdland, he's finding the place (the "node") one octave above the melody, and then two octaves above, while fingering the melody in the same place throughout. Hope this helps... it's easier to demostrate than it is to describe in words.

[loinmute]

Thanks guys. Awesome explainations.