Who's Jaco Pastoriwhoever?

[Lowner]

That was my friend's brothers reaction when I played Jaco for him. He does not know who Cliff burton is, Victor Wooten, Geddy Lee or any of the great bass players of all time are. This is an 18 year old who plays bass becasue his older brother plays. But he is much better than his brother however. He reads no bass magazines, listens to no bass players music, reads no instructional books, has one bass nad one amp. He has never changed the strings on the bass and never practices on his own only with his band, which plays all original songs. He knows no scales and does not even know the notes on the guitar neck.

But back to the subject, when i asked him if he has ever listened to great bass players he said why. they are not my tastes in music so why should I listen to them? I aways thought that every bass player heard of Jaco.

Jaco Pastoriwhoever was a famous actor in the 1920's, son of the great Jacob R. Pastoriwhoever. Seriously, he didn't know that?






[edit: can't splell to wlell today]

[Chunk-O-Funk]

Welp, Jaco is not currently recording or touring so he may not be in the mainstream any longer.

He's still young as far as being a bassist and if he seeks no education in learning how to play music he will never know who Jaco is until someone introduces him to his music.

If it's not his thing, that's okay. We know there has been countless threads on that subject.

[Dbassmon]

This young guy is not currently interested in music. He has some god given talent that allows him to play without working at it. (I hate those people) If he found some passion for music and gave the smallest effort, he would probably rise quickly up the ranks. Unfortunately, he has no passion. He is not a musician.
That can of coarse change. For now, he could care less about Jaco, bass, theory, groove and the study of such. It's all good. I feel sorry for his brother how is trying to improve but doesn't have the talent of the younger brother.

[vindy500]

i hate people who are good at things but have a different attitude to me..... what the heck dude, who cares if he doesnt know who jaco is, he should spend countless hours on the internet researching everything about the bass shouldnt he, no he shouldnt he should do what he wants and if hes happy about his one bass and one amp (oh my gosh he doesnt have enough gear!) then just get over it. i mean really.

[SamJ]

I had a friend who insisted he didn't need to hear anyone else, as he was able to learn all he needed on his own... he developed a very odd, and almost useless style of bass playing that made it very hard for him to get steady work as a bassist with "commercially viable" bands.. Had his self taught talent lead to him being another Jaco, he could have been famous today, but his closed mindedness has been his downfall as he showed a lot of potential in my view.

Music, like it or not, is made for a "consumer" and if you can't make music that appeals to anyone, you're really not making music in my view.

I consider myself influence by a wide range, from Bach and BB King to Iron Maiden and Earth Wind and Fire.. I don't lift my nose up at any particular genre, on the contrary I find amazing talent and sound in all of them.. (other than maybe hip hop!).

[mrdspecs]

In my opinion listening to music is as important as playing music. The more styles of music you try, the more likely you are to find something that inspires you to play in a way you haven't before. If you don't spread out, you're going to be playing the same licks for the rest of your life. Yuck.

[Adam Barkley]

Originally Posted by Lowner

That was my friend's brothers reaction when I played Jaco for him. He does not know who Cliff burton is, Victor Wooten, Geddy Lee or any of the great bass players of all time are. This is an 18 year old who plays bass becasue his older brother plays. But he is much better than his brother however. He reads no bass magazines, listens to no bass players music, reads no instructional books, has one bass nad one amp. He has never changed the strings on the bass and never practices on his own only with his band, which plays all original songs. He knows no scales and does not even know the notes on the guitar neck.

But back to the subject, when i asked him if he has ever listened to great bass players he said why. they are not my tastes in music so why should I listen to them? I aways thought that every bass player heard of Jaco.

I would say he is marching to his own drummer and applaud him for it. I don't like listening to Jaco, Victor, or Geddy; why would the world need another botched clone. An original voice on the other hand; the world can use all of those it can get.

[john turner]

Originally Posted by Lowner

That was my friend's brothers reaction when I played Jaco for him. He does not know who Cliff burton is, Victor Wooten, Geddy Lee or any of the great bass players of all time are. This is an 18 year old who plays bass becasue his older brother plays. But he is much better than his brother however. He reads no bass magazines, listens to no bass players music, reads no instructional books, has one bass nad one amp. He has never changed the strings on the bass and never practices on his own only with his band, which plays all original songs. He knows no scales and does not even know the notes on the guitar neck.

But back to the subject, when i asked him if he has ever listened to great bass players he said why. they are not my tastes in music so why should I listen to them? I aways thought that every bass player heard of Jaco.

at 18 it doesn't matter. check him again when he's 30.


bet he won't even be playing.

[SamJ]

Originally Posted by john turner

at 18 it doesn't matter. check him again when he's 30.


bet he won't even be playing.

so true.. of the whole gang back in HS in the mid 80's that used to play bass/guitar/drums that I used to know (we'd all jam with one another on different occasions), only I and my friend Greg remain standing.. both bassists!

[nad]

I had played bass for 10 years before ever hearing Jaco, although I had heard his name a few times starting about 5 years in. Not really a fan, who cares.

[superbassman2000]

i never heard of jaco until i came onto talkbass...

i don't know why everyone considers it essential to know who jaco is to be a great bass player...did jamerson know jaco when he was first starting? Did stanley clarke know who jaco was when he started bass?

i believe that jaco is an amazing bass player, and would definatly be a good inspiration and influence, but there are a lot of jaco-inspired bassists who are also good influences

[SamJ]

Originally Posted by superbassman2000

i never heard of jaco until i came onto talkbass...

i don't know why everyone considers it essential to know who jaco is to be a great bass player...did jamerson know jaco when he was first starting? Did stanley clarke know who jaco was when he started bass?

i believe that jaco is an amazing bass player, and would definatly be a good inspiration and influence, but there are a lot of jaco-inspired bassists who are also good influences

I don't think anyone says you have to know, or even like him to be great bassist.. but the pretentiousness of not listing to another bassist, especially one with his level of fame will likely yield little for your personal growth as a musician...

After all, Jaco may not have had an influence on Jamerson, but Jamerson certainly did on Jaco. Oddly they both died with in a year of one another even if at completely difference ages.

[tZer]

Originally Posted by john turner

at 18 it doesn't matter. check him again when he's 30.


bet he won't even be playing.

+1

[begin snark]
I believe he will have either quit bass altogether and will be involved in some other activity where he is 'unaware' of any others in his current field, thusly proving that he is truly an original and uninfluenced by anything other then himself - or he will still be playing and really bumming that he ignored so much valuable source material and insight by believing in his own superpowers for so many years.

Let us know what you discover in 2018.

[/end snark]

--tz

[Freaky Fender]

I could see his point in saying "It's not my style of music" but I think he should at least listen to them once to know what they did for the instrument, but honestly I don't listen to Wooten that much just because I don't dig his solo bass genre that much, but I respect him for his playing.

[SamJ]

Originally Posted by Freaky Fender

I could see his point in saying "It's not my style of music" but I think he should at least listen to them once to know what they did for the instrument, but honestly I don't listen to Wooten that much just because I don't dig his solo bass genre that much, but I respect him for his playing.

+1

I'm not a Wooten fan either, but I know who he is, and I respect his style and contribution to the bass.. even if I'm not into his style.

[superbassman2000]

Originally Posted by SamJ

After all, Jaco may not have had an influence on Jamerson, but Jamerson certainly did on Jaco. Oddly they both died with in a year of one another even if at completely difference ages.

well, my point was, jamerson didn't know jaco when he was just starting, and jamerson has turned out to be one of the greatest bass players around imo...

but it still wouldn't hurt for that kid to at least be familiar with jaco...

[SamJ]

Originally Posted by superbassman2000

well, my point was, jamerson didn't know jaco when he was just starting, and jamerson has turned out to be one of the greatest bass players around imo...

I know what you meant, and agree with it 100%, look at my profile, JJ is one of my major influences as well

I was also just trying to add, that even though great bassists existed well before Jaco, he did add to the instrument in ways that cannot be ignored by anyone trying to seriously master the bass. It's not just in his fast fingers either.. it's his mastery of the Jazz improvisation.

[tZer]

I don't think you will find a musician of note today that will claim to be completely oblivious of other musicians who either play the same instrument they do or not. He may be a 1 in a million player who can exist in a vacuum, however I believe deluding yourself into believing you do not require knowledge of those who have gone before you to truly become a musician is foolish - possibly a sign that he is more interested in impressing you with his, "I don't care" attitude - very punk, but then punk was originally noted for being purposely 'un-musical'.

[john turner]

just want to clarify, my point was not to be snarky (although i love that word, and completely agree with the snarky post above ) but rather just to point out something that a lot of folks (especially younger folks) seem to not really understand, and that's that what is going on when you or your peers are 18 is only a very small percentage of your life, and of very little consequence to the rest of it.

there's a lot of folks who i knew who were the schoolyard n1nj4z on their instruments in high school, who now don't even play. on the other hand, i know of a few folks in bands signed to major labels who participate here at talkbass who didn't even pick up the bass until they were in their 20's or older, and are now pros. da bastards. heh j/k.

unfortunately the conversation comes up in times of snarkiness the most often, but something that i think a lot of our younger members would do a service to themselves to remember is that their experience so far is just a very small percentage of their total life experience yet to come. that's not directed to you lowner, but rather to the individual you are talking about, and others like him. it can take a lifetime to reinvent the wheel - why not spend that one lifetime trying to invent something new? you only know if you are doing something new if you know what everyone before you spent their lifetime trying to invent.