Jaco Pastorius thing !!!!

[pete_the_beat]

This question is for Michael Manring.
You had Jaco Pastorius for teacher right, well then tell me how he plays the intro in "Birdland". First the man on the keyboard starts and then Jaco plays this riff with a sound i never heard before. I know it has something to do with your thumb and index finger. So if you could answer my question I would be gratefull.

[minkis]

the technique is called a false harmonic. you do it by placing your right hand thumb lightly on the string below the fretboard(just like you would for a regular harmonic) and then you pluck the string with one of the four fingers. a good example is if you put your left hand finger on A on the G-string and your right hand thumb about half way between the end of the fretboard and the bridge. its different depending on the bass, i have a jazz bass and a warwick thumb and the notes arent in the exact same spot. just think of your left hand finger acting as the nut and your right hand thumb being the fifth fret. you can move your thumb anywhere between the bridge and fretboard and even hold down different notes on differnt string. just explore it. if you want to spend $50 you can buy Jaco's Modern Elecrtic Bass video where he talks and plays examples of that technique, one of the examples is birdland.

[Steve Lawson]

A nice extension of this technique is to use it to play chords - hold the chord down with your left had as normal, but pick the notes individually using this artificial harmonic technique.

If you want to hear some of this - on my web-site, listen to the beginning of 'Drifting' the chiming notes on the intro chords are artificial harmonics. Then check out 'The Virtue Of The Small' the solo that sounds like a squealing guitar is just a four string bass through an SWR interstellar overdrive, using artificial harmonics to go about two octaves beyond the range of a bass...

cheers

Steve
http://www.steve-lawson.co.uk