ARGH! TEEN TOWN!

[SlapPopBass]

For the past 2 months I have been constantly trying to get down teen town, with little to no avail. I am able to play along to slower tempos such 80bpm and 100 bpm, but for some unknown and immensely frustrating reason, when I try playing at the actual full speed, 128bpm, everything goes to bits. My hands freeze up; my right hand misses strings while my left cant fret the notes properly. Its become more and more infuriating, because I have a personal standard for myself being a player for 1.5 years, and this seems to be the only damn song I can't get right. I really want to get down this song, but it's seems the harder I try to the harder I **** up. Any advice that can help me with this conundrum would be greatly appreciated.

 

[bucephylus]

Keep practicing. You're doing great. Seriously.

 

[SAlcott]

If you can play it ten times in a row without a mistake, speed it up to 104. When you can play it ten times in a row at 104, speed it up to 108. Etc.

 

[matthewbrown]

You may be trying to apply brute force where it won't make much headway. I suggest watching someone play it and shooting for economy of motion.

 

[dwjazz54]

Keep practicing. You're doing great. Seriously.

Yep.

You've only been playing a year and a half - may seem like a long time to you, but it ain't!

As has been mentioned earlier, play it a few times cleanly at a tempo that's manageable, then progressively speed it up. I've been (and many others as well have been) playing a lot longer than you, and "Teen Town" still gives us fits - don't be discouraged!

 

[smeet]

If you can't play it fast yet, work on getting it REALLY clean at slower tempos. That will do you more good as a player. Also look at other Jaco recordings like Come On, Come Over. Or River people. That should get you learning simpler examples of his phrasing. Jacos right hand coordination and delicacy was incredible, so don't expect to get it right away. Even after you can play teentown, it will take a lot of work to make it sound right.

 

[Groove Master]

Check at what tempo you are able to play it without mistakes!!!

Then go up by only few bpm at the time. That will do it.

 

[joe vegas]

a good way to break it down it from scratch is to jazz-swing it at a crawl..
jaco's machine-like staccato execution is half the 'terror' in this great beast of a piece.

also, break down each 2 or 4-bar phrase and repeat them separately until you've got a handle on them. master each phrase, slowly.

it'll all start to come together in blocks that way, instead of as a daunting wall of fast lines.

keep it up! good luck!

 

[matthewbrown]

Brian Bromberg's version is a whole lot slower, but he's playing it on DB

 

[Lownote38]

Check the fingering you're using too. It might work at slower speeds, but cause issues at faster tempos. I've had that problem a few times. Teen Town is by far not an easy tune to play, so just keep on trying. You'll get it. Try to understand what you're playing too. (How the notes fit in with the 4 chords in the song).

 

[smeet]

To me the important thing is to maintain control. Jaco always had complete control over how loud and how legato/staccato each note was. He could bring out accents anywhere or play evenly no matter how complex the line was.

The OP's post inspired me to dig out Teentown again and work it up. Once again I am struck by how much technical subtlety there is to the phrasing and dynamics of the piece. Definitely not easy. Obviously, play over the bridge pickup, and pluck with fingertips, with not too much finger meat. Luckily the whole piece divides up nicely into a bunch of seperate licks that can be easily isolated and practiced.

I think 100bpm is a sort of breakpoint for this piece. To go faster than that you have to start to think about it a bit differently, and relax more. Just remember, your fingers are probably more than fast enough, it's your brain that has to get faster. If you can't get it up to tempo, there is almost certainly some aspect of the playing that you have not internalized mentally.

 

[ArtechnikA]

Taylor Lee (from whom I bought my Roscoe) posted a video of himself playing Teen Town.
Decent views of the fingering - I don't recall much detail on the right hand but the left is there...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUifrncJLas

 

[the explode man]

All of these guys are offering great suggestions, and I think you personally are approaching it the right way - you can't play something fast if you can't play it slow.

One other method might be to leave the song for a week or two and work on something else. You might be over-thinking it right now, so when you come back, your head will be clear and it'll just happen.

 

[Kragnorak]

Also look at other Jaco recordings like Come On, Come Over. Or River people. That should get you learning simpler examples of his phrasing. .

Isn't River People the song with all the octaves? I found Teen Town to be much easier than that! Just goes to show that everyone focuses on different things...

 

[smeet]

River people is harder for me too. But it's very focused on one technique, so it's almost like an étude. Once you do that even at a slow tempo, Teentown gets much easier. IMHO.

 

[davidhilton]

If you can play it ten times in a row without a mistake, speed it up to 104. When you can play it ten times in a row at 104, speed it up to 108. Etc.

Yeah....what he says.
www.basslessonslosangeles.com
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[davidhilton]

a good way to break it down it from scratch is to jazz-swing it at a crawl..
jaco's machine-like staccato execution is half the 'terror' in this great beast of a piece.

also, break down each 2 or 4-bar phrase and repeat them separately until you've got a handle on them. master each phrase, slowly.

it'll all start to come together in blocks that way, instead of as a daunting wall of fast lines.

keep it up! good luck!

JACO the TERROR!!! lol
www.basslessonslosangeles.com
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Invalid Link Removed

 

[1958Bassman]

For the past 2 months I have been constantly trying to get down teen town, with little to no avail. I am able to play along to slower tempos such 80bpm and 100 bpm, but for some unknown and immensely frustrating reason, when I try playing at the actual full speed, 128bpm, everything goes to bits. My hands freeze up; my right hand misses strings while my left cant fret the notes properly. Its become more and more infuriating, because I have a personal standard for myself being a player for 1.5 years, and this seems to be the only damn song I can't get right. I really want to get down this song, but it's seems the harder I try to the harder I f**k up. Any advice that can help me with this conundrum would be greatly appreciated.

Don't try so hard.

If you're playing it after 1.5 years, consider that a good thing. The thing to remember- Jaco practiced all the effing time and he didn't reach that level instantly, either.

Can you sing the notes without playing? Memorize the whole song- I find that this helps me learn songs.

 

[Lee Moses]

You've been playing for 1 1/2 years, and you can play Teen Town at 100 bpm? Quit bragging.

But seriously . . . move on to other things, and revisit Teen Town in another 6 months.

 

[bass12]

It's a difficult one. I "played" it years ago for an exam and man did I not do it justice! I haven't tried playing it in a while but maybe I will, just to see what happens.