Pete Coco's hat in the ring

**Damon Rondeau** · #1 07-28-2005, 08:04 AM

TBers! Friends! New material on the sampler page today from Pete Coco, aka Pcocobass.

Your direct flight link is located: here.

Marcus Johnson · #2 07-28-2005, 02:13 PM

Very nice! You slappin' mofo....

Pcocobass · #3 07-28-2005, 02:36 PM

Thanks Marcus!

Marc Decho · #4 07-28-2005, 03:44 PM

Hey Poco, I totally digs the slappity slap slap....nicely done....makes me wanna go slap somebody

Pcocobass · #5 07-28-2005, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marc Decho

Hey Poco, I totally digs the slappity slap slap....nicely done....makes me wanna go slap somebody

Thanks Marc. Glad you dig...

jtlownds · #6 07-28-2005, 06:19 PM

Hey Pete,

I really enjoyed the slap. I did some slapping 40+ years ago, and haven't done it since. I think I still have the bruises, but it really sounds great.

Pcocobass · #7 07-28-2005, 07:31 PM

Thanks, Jim. Glad you like.

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #8 07-29-2005, 12:11 AM

Sounds good Pete. I've heard Milt do his slap thing a few times before and always enjoyed it, but never really heard anybody else give it a go. You sound like you studied at the feet of the master. Could you describe the technique you use on the first cut for those of us (like me) who can't really picture what's going on physically with the right hand on this kind of stuff?

Aaron Saunders · #9 07-29-2005, 02:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Fitzgerald

Sounds good Pete. I've heard Milt do his slap thing a few times before and always enjoyed it, but never really heard anybody else give it a go. You sound like you studied at the feet of the master. Could you describe the technique you use on the first cut for those of us (like me) who can't really picture what's going on physically with the right hand on this kind of stuff?

+1

Very cool, I really enjoy that. Like Chris, I'd enjoy hearing about that technique. That track'd be a great way to open up a record as a leader with a small group.

Paul Warburton · #10 07-29-2005, 05:27 AM

Yeah Pete, the slap thing is great and alot of fun. I also dug your playing on the other things. I downloaded one of you and the guitar off the website where you and he were trading some fours or eights. You did one particular thing with your left hand ( maybe a triplet?) that knocked me out.
Nice sound too...is that a Kay? Yeah, that's what it says on your profile.....WOW
Keep on keepin' on.

I just happened to see your ad for the Kolstein...is that the bass on your TB download? Or a bit of both? Or?

Pcocobass · #11 07-29-2005, 08:23 AM

Thanks guys, glad you dug.

As far as the slap thing goes, yes, Milt is my main inspiration. In order to learn to do it, I transcribed Milt's slap solos and isolated all of his rhythmic figures and made seperate exercises out of them. Then, I took these examples and played scales incorporating each until I could play it well. Once I felt comfortable with one, I started incorporating others and making my own combinations, using the basic quarter-note pluck/eighth-note slap combination as a "bed" to work from. So, for example, I would pluck beat one, do an eighth-note slap on beat two (which is kind of the basic slap rhythm), pluck beat three, and then slap a more complex Milt rhythm on beat four (in 4/4 time). This way, I always had a reference and framework to jump from. Eventually, I was able to combine these rhythmic devices to make a solo.

Also, with Milt, one of the best part of his slap solos is the melody he intertwines with the slapping. This is something I'm working, too.

Technically, what I did was watch clips of Milt to see what his hand was doing. Eventually, I realized that I couldn't do it! Something about his technique just didn't work for me. So I just did what felt the most natural to me. I think that with the actual slapping, you gotta find what feels good to you. I don't think there's one gospel technique to use. But, anyway, when I slap, my hand is almost perpendicular to the strings and I use mostly my first two fingers up to the second knucle joint (from the finger tip). Milt used almost his whole hand, which if you ever saw it, looked like a glove!

You're probably bored to tears by now, so I'll digress. But, again, thanks for all your kind words guys.

Craig Garfinkel · #12 07-29-2005, 08:46 AM

Fantastic Pete! Swingin' man!

The slap thing is nice...but "Accurately Misunderstood" blows me away. Swingin' yer ass off my friend. I gotta ask...who is that piano player? The way that cat comps, especially, is a bass player's (and everybody else's) dream.

Actually, everybody's smokin'. Nice work.

Pcocobass · #13 07-29-2005, 09:00 AM

Hey Craig, thanks much. I love playing with those guys, and I agree with you about the piano player. His name is Bobby Avey, and get this - he's 20 yrs old! He's in the undergrad program at Purchase College. The other guys are from Purchase too. The sax player is Sam Taylor, and he wrote that tune. The drummer is Israel Bannerman, another great player.

Jeff Bollbach · #14 07-30-2005, 09:54 AM

Wow, slap me silly and call me Sally. Hey Pete, how are the Animas responding to that tough love? BTW Pete's Kay has that quality where you just don't want to put it down. We don't need no stinkin' $80,000 basses!

Tbeers · #15 07-30-2005, 10:57 AM

Wow, that slapping is sick as hell. I have a good friend who is headed to Purchase next year to study jazz. An unbelievable guitarist.... I hear the program there is great, of course with Todd Coolman you can't go wrong.

Pcocobass · #16 07-30-2005, 11:44 AM

Hey Jeff -

Damn those strings sound good! You should hear it with the bow. It's the grittiest, nastiest in yo face arco sound ever... reminds me of PC...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Bollbach

We don't need no stinkin' $80,000 basses!

Amen, brother!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tbeers

Wow, that slapping is sick as hell. I have a good friend who is headed to Purchase next year to study jazz. An unbelievable guitarist.... I hear the program there is great, of course with Todd Coolman you can't go wrong.

Thanks, T -

Todd's my man. Amazing player, teacher, educator, and all around nice guy. I heard there was a swingin' guitar player coming to Purchase; what's your bud's name? I'll probably see him there...

Tbeers · #17 07-30-2005, 11:51 AM

Doug Ratner. Watch out for him, the guy is a beast. He's my age and he's already played a gig once at the Iron Horse in Northampton. You can't miss him either, he plays lefty guitar lol.

Pcocobass · #18 07-30-2005, 01:08 PM

He plays lefty? Oh... you mean he plays WRONGLY....

Paul,

No Kolstein stuff on the website. That's all my Kay...

Jeff Bollbach · #19 08-18-2005, 10:11 PM

Had an interesting experience with Pete that I'd like to share. My kid got involved in a jazz workshop that was hooked up with a local jazz festival. The kids were gonna ultimately be in combos to open up for a concert of The Trio, which was Bela Fleck, Jean Luc Ponty, and Stanley Clarke. Well I dropped my kid off and there's Pete, being all clinician-like. We hang for a while and Rufus Reid saunters over. He's the head honcho clinician for the deal. We say hey and Rufus proceeds to tell Pete that he was impressed with his album[he even listened to it!]. They start talking about the Judge and Rufus asks him to play. Pete launches into his Milt stuff and sounds killer. Rufus is just loving it and after Pete stops he says that he wishes he knew about Pete when they did the memorial for Milt cause he would've been playing at it. I thought that was pretty cool for Pete bein that he's only played the upright for a short while.

Pcocobass · #20 08-18-2005, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jeff Bollbach

Had an interesting experience with Pete that I'd like to share. My kid got involved in a jazz workshop that was hooked up with a local jazz festival. The kids were gonna ultimately be in combos to open up for a concert of The Trio, which was Bela Fleck, Jean Luc Ponty, and Stanley Clarke. Well I dropped my kid off and there's Pete, being all clinician-like. We hang for a while and Rufus Reid saunters over. He's the head honcho clinician for the deal. We say hey and Rufus proceeds to tell Pete that he was impressed with his album[he even listened to it!]. They start talking about the Judge and Rufus asks him to play. Pete launches into his Milt stuff and sounds killer. Rufus is just loving it and after Pete stops he says that he wishes he knew about Pete when they did the memorial for Milt cause he would've been playing at it. I thought that was pretty cool for Pete bein that he's only played the upright for a short while.

Aww, shucks Jeff... Thank's so much for the kind words! It was quite an experience. I actually got to hang with Rufus Reid, Stanley Clarke, and Drew Gress all in the same day!