bassists who don't like jaco

[cowsgomoo]

The ignorance you demonstrate when imparting your perception of shred is shocking.

To be a shredder, and indeed, to be a good shredder, an advanced knowledge of music theory* is required, as well as a flair for technical playing skills. Not serious musicians you say?

*apart from Yngwie, he's done alright with the Harmonic Minor scale!

(thats a joke, I know Yngwie is rather good with his theory, it's his phrasing thats limited!)

you're absolutely right... I should have centred my dis of 'shredding' around the words 'tasteless' and 'juvenile'

 

[Tom]

J.S. Bach was known primarily as an organist while he was alive; he was only very well-known as a composer after he died. Make no mistake, he could shred up a keyboard no problem.

Shredding isn't as mindless as everyone assumes. People usually use it as a pejorative, as if one can't be musical and also play a lot of notes.

 

[Jazzosaurus]

Jaco could play as fast as any fingerstyle bassist
if he wanted to, and he only needed two fingers. I've heard him play ridiculously fast on several of his live solos, one
that comes to mind is when he played with the
Dixie Dregs in 1982.

 

[MikeyFingers]

Jaco is not a shredder. He was a great bassist, well-rounded musician, and just happened to have an unbelievable ability shred.
And besides, Cromatic Fantasy is a Bach song, classical music hardly qualifies as shredding.

 

[metalguy2]

If you look at the intervals he uses... it is something a horn player would be more likely to use. None if it is mindless.

 

[Halftooth]

Jaco could shred, but I wouldn't cal him a "shredder." To me, the ultimate shredder for bass is John Aldrete when he was in Racer X.

 

[Suckbird]

Jaco could shred, but I wouldn't cal him a "shredder." To me, the ultimate shredder for bass is John Aldrete when he was in Racer X.

What' up with Juan being a shredder?

Did he have dedicated bass solos during shows or what?

I've heard scarified and i dont know if that's what i would call shred... it's pretty much just 16th notes spiced up with three 16th note triplets every one in a while, even the bass solos...
if he would do straight 16th note triplet patterns then i would call it shred...
in my eyes, billy sheehan is the ultimate bass shredder...

 

[Halftooth]

What' up with Juan being a shredder?

Did he have dedicated bass solos during shows or what?

I've heard scarified and i dont know if that's what i would call shred... it's pretty much just 16th notes spiced up with three 16th note triplets every one in a while, even the bass solos...
if he would do straight 16th note triplet patterns then i would call it shred...
in my eyes, billy sheehan is the ultimate bass shredder...

I will first say that "Juan" is not a shredder, but "John" was a shredder. Anything on either Live Extreme Volume albums is pretty good. "Scarified" isn't on the top of his super technical stuff, IMO. Life when he traded solo spots is where John shined.

 

[Sandman1278]

damn i need to hear this song now!

 

[kenlacam]

when I think of "shredding" I think of a guitarist playing a bunch of meaningless notes super fast to impress people, and with that being said, I don't think of Jaco as a "shredder" at all

 

[flatwoundfender]

jaco=melodies

 

[Harps]

I downloaded 2 videos of Jaco solo's called "Montreal Jazz Festival 80" and "Live under the sky 84" and all he does for 5 minutes is play some little tunes that only last about 3 seconds. Then he slaps his bass a bit and goes for a wonder around for a bit,then plays some more random 3 second tunes. I thought he was supposed to be good but although his songs are good these solos are terrible.

 

[Tomass]

hm you really need to get songs like Chromatic Fantasy and Portrait of Tracy, simply amazing. Portrait of Tracy is pretty much all harmonics and Chromatic fantasy as the name suggests is all over the fretboard in chromatic patterns. Get those songs and you will be amazed

 

[dabass]

Hey,Jaco is probably one of the most influential, talented composers and bass players of our life time. Listen to Heavy Weather, Word of Mouth stuff and "Jaco". Also check out the amount of influence he has had on players like Richard Bona, Jimmy Haslip, Gary Willis, Mark Egan, Gerald Veasley, Christian McBride to name a few, the list goes on and on....Anyway, read his biography an get a sense of what was going on in his life.....He is a legend in music.. I think you will gain more appreciation for Jaco as time goes on, just listen to him..

 

[Fred Hammon]

Are you posting this to express your disappointment about his performance on these 2 particular videos or are you drawing the conclusion the he wasn't a good player in general based on what you saw/heard in them?

 

[Indi86]

I smell a troll.

 

[TMWPB]

This was the time when Jaco was starting "slip", as some people say. He was heavily into Cocaine and Alcohol at pretty much all times after late '78 and '79. This was when his self titled album came, Heavy Weather came out, and I believe a few other records featuring him on them.

I recently picked up two CD's with Jaco from before his real popularity. One is his with Herbie Hancock, Bennie Maupin, and some drummer I forget. The other is him in Trio with a Trombone player and drummer. Both show case Jaco when he is initally coming up with idea's.

 

[Harps]

Are you posting this to express your disappointment about his performance on these 2 particular videos or are you drawing the conclusion the he wasn't a good player in general based on what you saw/heard in them?

Dont get me wrong Ive heard some songs of Weather Report and think they are great, im just wondering why these videos are so bad, so Im expressing my disappointment about his performance on these 2 particular videos.

 

[fenderx55]

iirc, these performances were touched upon in Milkowski's book. Essentially, Jaco was manic-depressive and heavy into coke and booze and was basically just into pissing everyone off when he wasn't happy on stage. This is what you're witnessing. the canada one was with Joni Mitchell was it not? Yeah, they were pretty upset about that.

 

[Mark Wilson]

Dont get me wrong Ive heard some songs of Weather Report and think they are great, im just wondering why these videos are so bad, so Im expressing my disappointment about his performance on these 2 particular videos.

Have you ever been loaded up on acid, weed and coke and trying to play a performance?

You need to realize that what Jaco did was magic. sure, it'll sound like noise, but that is the most incredible noise you'll ever hear. And one day, you'll realize that.



-Mark