Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread
- Thread starter ttasselm
- Start date
^^^This. If you own back issues of Bass Player Magazine from ~30 years ago you can probably find a letter to the editor from me where I implore readers and editors alike "Can we please stop putting Jaco Pastorius on a pedestal and just admire him for what he did?"
fwiw I have long contended that Jaco's contribution to bass playing is significanly important, in that there was a definite sea-change in what was generally thought to be possible on the instrument once he attained notoriety -- you can pretty much divide bass playing into the Pre-Jaco Era and the Post-Jaco Era, and it is rather easy to identify audibly where a particular player falls -- but that is not the same thing as saying that Jaco invented any of the stuff that defines those eras. He just popularized them.
Pretty sure O'Hearn played that fretless P on the entire Sheik Yerbouti album, as well as Live In New York and Zoot Allures and whichever cuts on Studio Tan he appears on (besides "The Ocean Is The Ultimate Solution" on which he plays upright). When I saw Zappa in concert in October 1977 O'Hearn played that same fretless P bass for the entire night.
Check out his work on "The Purple Lagoon" from Live In New York. Bass solo starts around 8:35 but the whole track is worthing hearing all the way through ...at least once
@Bob_Ross
glad you wrote that letter; sad they didn’t pay attention. (do/did we need to see him or stevie ray vaughn on at least one cover per year?)
i’m old enough where it’s sort of pre-stanley and post-stanley; however, there’s the truth that jaco hit me like a ton of bricks as well. and i feel that there were more than a few people playing jazz basses with the rear pickup dimed, playing a lot of busy lines and playing the heads on parker tunes, etc. (hell, i was doing it on fretless before i heard him.)
imo, the important thing about jaco (like stanley and mingus) is that *he wrote music for and directed bands from the bass chair*.
all the tone and lick and groove issues are much less important to me (i.e., i stopped wanting to do that about 45 years ago).
glad you wrote that letter; sad they didn’t pay attention. (do/did we need to see him or stevie ray vaughn on at least one cover per year?)
i’m old enough where it’s sort of pre-stanley and post-stanley; however, there’s the truth that jaco hit me like a ton of bricks as well. and i feel that there were more than a few people playing jazz basses with the rear pickup dimed, playing a lot of busy lines and playing the heads on parker tunes, etc. (hell, i was doing it on fretless before i heard him.)
imo, the important thing about jaco (like stanley and mingus) is that *he wrote music for and directed bands from the bass chair*.
all the tone and lick and groove issues are much less important to me (i.e., i stopped wanting to do that about 45 years ago).
^^^This. If you own back issues of Bass Player Magazine from ~30 years ago you can probably find a letter to the editor from me where I implore readers and editors alike "Can we please stop putting Jaco Pastorius on a pedestal and just admire him for what he did?"
fwiw I have long contended that Jaco's contribution to bass playing is significanly important, in that there was a definite sea-change in what was generally thought to be possible on the instrument once he attained notoriety -- you can pretty much divide bass playing into the Pre-Jaco Era and the Post-Jaco Era, and it is rather easy to identify audibly where a particular player falls -- but that is not the same thing as saying that Jaco invented any of the stuff that defines those eras. He just popularized them.
Pretty sure O'Hearn played that fretless P on the entire Sheik Yerbouti album, as well as Live In New York and Zoot Allures and whichever cuts on Studio Tan he appears on (besides "The Ocean Is The Ultimate Solution" on which he plays upright). When I saw Zappa in concert in October 1977 O'Hearn played that same fretless P bass for the entire night.
Check out his work on "The Purple Lagoon" from Live In New York. Bass solo starts around 8:35 but the whole track is worthing hearing all the way through ...at least once
100% agreed on Jaco
Same thing sadly happening to Dilla.
Sheikh is pone one of my favourite Zappa records, didn’t know there was fretless on it
Ok Patrick O’Hearn wins the interweb with this bass. Holy @:&;&:&: that thing is awesome.
I want it…..!!!
I real gig machine, it has the broken pick guard near the jack!!!!
True road worn
(I had to super glue mine on tour and messed up the job ended up scratching of the paint to remove drips on super glue, oh yes the fail is strong in this one)
I want it…..!!!
I real gig machine, it has the broken pick guard near the jack!!!!
True road worn
(I had to super glue mine on tour and messed up the job ended up scratching of the paint to remove drips on super glue, oh yes the fail is strong in this one)
Attachments
Last edited:
those are two people who i would've never put together.
that being said, i liked that a lot.
they went into a lot of stuff that i think about, which makes me happy.
i have a lot more respect for him than i did from some of the other things i've seen of his (not to say he's "bad" . . .)
i was already a fan of her and now i'm even more so.
thanks for posting it.
Last edited:
I liked it too. He’s actually quite thoughtful, he’s just chosen an online persona / style that doesn’t speak to our crowd. Definitely preferred to the 1,000,000 Moog Muse demo videos out there.
Rather nice new poly synthMoog muse?
Enlighten me please. I’m lazy and having my 2nd morning coffee with my bass outside.
Yeah, looks and sounds nice. As with all such things I can only judge it if I'm in the room with it. InMusic really bombed the internet with promotional videos.
Just to go on my previous statements
I did play lined fretless for 5 years… but in a thrash band where I was practically only using it for the fast notes on the first five fret possibilities hah
Trying to play unlined technically using “other” notes is what made me do a arg need to relearn a bit!
I don’t think I’ll EVER get to forest ability though… lines or unlined hah
He and Steve di gorgio and Sean Malone (rip) are just on way different levels / practice regimes
I did play lined fretless for 5 years… but in a thrash band where I was practically only using it for the fast notes on the first five fret possibilities hah
Trying to play unlined technically using “other” notes is what made me do a arg need to relearn a bit!
I don’t think I’ll EVER get to forest ability though… lines or unlined hah
He and Steve di gorgio and Sean Malone (rip) are just on way different levels / practice regimes
un/lined fretless
since my first fretless was unlined, lined feels really weird.
remember when we talked about playing with your eyes closed? to me, that was really the key to getting a feel for intonation without lines.
and . . . there's a maxim in the classical world that no one has perfect intonation; they have really good skills at fixing bad intonation almost immediately.
most of the metal guys playing fretless are not to my taste due to their generally clacky sound or sound with too many highs; just sounds brittle to me. but that's just me.
since my first fretless was unlined, lined feels really weird.
remember when we talked about playing with your eyes closed? to me, that was really the key to getting a feel for intonation without lines.
and . . . there's a maxim in the classical world that no one has perfect intonation; they have really good skills at fixing bad intonation almost immediately.
most of the metal guys playing fretless are not to my taste due to their generally clacky sound or sound with too many highs; just sounds brittle to me. but that's just me.
i was thinking about his fretless sound (he does play fretless on one korn tune) when i wrote that.I bet you LOVE Fieldy
i think his thing works on fretted and i think the band basically had one or two good albums spread over four or five). yes, i own korn records. imo, like a lot of bands, they had one good thing, but didn’t have the capacity to grow beyond it.
I’d agree with this - the first is good, the second was very hit and miss with some good (I think that was their excess of alcohol and drugs there) and the third was mostly good… after that I pretty much just gave up…
Reminds me of red hot chilli peppers or pearl jam. I liked all the early albums, I almost didn’t even know they now have 10 albums or some thing crazy.
i think “issues” has some really strong songs.
the chili peppers are a weird band. i was at their second gig (knew friends/band members of those guys). they put on an amazing show, but i found their first two albs really lacking, so i was done after that.
pearl jam’s first alb (radio play only), after that eddie’s vibrato just does me in.
I have Korn Issues somewhere on CD. Even back then the misogynist lyrics were too much for me but the music I found quite interesting.
Speaking of interesting music, my instrumental post-rock band, Volte, just released our second record, Vrittis. Vrittis are the thoughts that ripple across and disturb the otherwise calm mind.
On this record you get a bit of everything I do. Touch guitar pretending to be a P-bass with occasional explorations into the higher ranges. Lots of distortion and effects. Linnstrument playing a Micromonstra 2 and a modular, and me playing some extremely simple piano. Our drummer is one of the best I've ever played with, and our guitarist is an effects genius. These are my honest opinions.
Vrittis be out on the usual capitalist platforms as well, August 19th.
Speaking of interesting music, my instrumental post-rock band, Volte, just released our second record, Vrittis. Vrittis are the thoughts that ripple across and disturb the otherwise calm mind.
On this record you get a bit of everything I do. Touch guitar pretending to be a P-bass with occasional explorations into the higher ranges. Lots of distortion and effects. Linnstrument playing a Micromonstra 2 and a modular, and me playing some extremely simple piano. Our drummer is one of the best I've ever played with, and our guitarist is an effects genius. These are my honest opinions.
Vrittis be out on the usual capitalist platforms as well, August 19th.
