I saw that yesterday- I had seen that a while back, but hadn't seen any of his recent vids since he's an adult now. Really mind blowing chops & musical & melodic at the same time.
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Is Jaco Paganini for Young Bassists?
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
I saw that yesterday- I had seen that a while back, but hadn't seen any of his recent vids since he's an adult now. Really mind blowing chops & musical & melodic at the same time.
I think Jaco Paganini can be enjoyed by bassists of any age.
...Wait, what?
...Wait, what?
- Aug 21, 2003
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My biggest influence and now someone that I call a friend...Mr. Jonas Hellborg
Check out the end of this tune if anything if you like Progy stuff
Check out the end of this tune if anything if you like Progy stuff
I go to the GC a hop and skip up Boylston St. by Fenway from Berklee and I Have heard what looked possibly like Berklee students reciting Portrait of Tracy and Donna Lee on the latest Ibanez. so maybe at Berklee Yes. Maybe it's become repertoire at Berklee. Probably other places too. It's teachable cannon, pedagogy
I've always thought highly of his musicianship.
His tone OTOH, I don't care for as much. It sounds like a big guitar to me.
I never liked Jaco, his albums tried to be cutting edge and just sound dated now. Same with Rory Gallagher and Danny Gatton.
Then because of this board I watched the Jaco documentary. It was a wild ride. I had no idea, I had never seen him play live, I had always tought he was "shaco, le artiste", not Jay-ko from Florida. Horrible tragedy the way lived and eventually passed. Unbelievable talent buried in dated mixes, but that seemed to happen to a lot of the best players.
Then because of this board I watched the Jaco documentary. It was a wild ride. I had no idea, I had never seen him play live, I had always tought he was "shaco, le artiste", not Jay-ko from Florida. Horrible tragedy the way lived and eventually passed. Unbelievable talent buried in dated mixes, but that seemed to happen to a lot of the best players.
So, if I can't play Jaco then I'm NOT an accomplished bassist?
Then, after playing bass since 1976, I should just hang it up because I can't play Jaco's lines?
I guess I just suck and have wasted all those years playing the music I like to play that did not include Jaco's lines.
Let me note, my brothers ex-wife was friends with Jaco's family and I truly loved his playing, but it wasn't what I wanted to play.
I feel so inept.....
Then, after playing bass since 1976, I should just hang it up because I can't play Jaco's lines?
I guess I just suck and have wasted all those years playing the music I like to play that did not include Jaco's lines.
Let me note, my brothers ex-wife was friends with Jaco's family and I truly loved his playing, but it wasn't what I wanted to play.
I feel so inept.....
Sounds like you are looking for an insult where there is none. Most formal education will include things that most students may not use or need, but are good to know because of the skills gained in learning them. I feel Jaco's music is in that category.
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I think that's a really good way of putting it. I wouldn't go so far as to say one must learn to play Jaco, but not to check him out at all is kind of a crime. If you decide his sound isn't something you're interested in learning, that's reasonable, but every bassist should at least hear what he did with the instrument to help form their idea of what the bass is capable of in the right hands.
That's not how music school works at all.
Did you attend college or music school as a bassist? No? Then this isn't about you. Not having studied at a competitive music school or mastered jaco doesn't make you less of a bassist, and nobody here would tell you it does... - music school at a college or university level provides a huge broad palate of education to the student to attends. Musicians who attend music school at a college level are competing at an extremely high level - and there is standard repertoire that everyone must be able to handle to graduate, and they're judged very harshly by their teachers (professors).
It's not in any way affecting those who don't go to music school.
Keep in mind that students at this level are spending 5 to 6 digits for 3 or 4 years of intense music education on their instrument and off, and practicing night and day, and had to already be at a pretty high level to get accepted in the first place, for the purposes of the curriculum discussed in this thread.
So yea, don't take it personally if the thread hasn't got anything to do with you. Just always remember that there are always much more intense levels of playing, and education, out there, and nearly every bassist did NOT go to university as a bass virtuoso, so it's a pretty niche discussion topic, really, this thread.
I went as a violinist - but I did bass also.
If you wanna cry, here's the same guy, at 13
Oh man that's that kid!?!?!? This warms my heart
Jonas has been my biggest influence since I found out about him my first year of music school. He's pretty well rated and known and I still would say he's underrated. The end of that Art Metal album... my lord...
The bass guitar isn't old enough to say Jaco is the next generation's Paganini. Paganini had much more history to draw on and develop from than Jaco ever did. Paganini grew up and toured in front of very conservative musicians as a virtuoso.
Jaco's genesis came about through bebop which, for the most part, was one of the most important jazz styles to be cultivated by the musicians who came before him. Bebop wasn't considered conservative in any books.
Now, comparatively, non-Jaco bebop actually sounds dated. Jaco's sound is the sound of a time, but no longer progressive. Even he admitted there were many "cats" who could play circles around him and impressed him.
Jaco's genesis came about through bebop which, for the most part, was one of the most important jazz styles to be cultivated by the musicians who came before him. Bebop wasn't considered conservative in any books.
Now, comparatively, non-Jaco bebop actually sounds dated. Jaco's sound is the sound of a time, but no longer progressive. Even he admitted there were many "cats" who could play circles around him and impressed him.
Traditions start somewhere. Jaco is a benchmark, Jamerson is a benchmark, Anthony Jackson, Stanley Clarke, Victor Wooten, Chris Squire, Steve Swallow, etc. have set benchmarks for bass guitar, an instrument that will never have the classical institutional foundation of the violin.
All of those players you listed either adapted from double-bass or electric guitar. Jaco chose to go forward on bass guitar shortly after his cheap'o double-bass fell apart and he couldn't afford to repair it.
To me, Victor Wooten is too late to be a benchmark. He has a style, but he is largely influenced by Larry Graham, and didn't set any benchmarks himself. He improved upon the techniques he heard before just like many other of his contemporaries. I'm surprised you didn't mention Larry's playing as a benchmark. He basically invented modern slap bass on bass guitar. Even Larry started as a guitar player.
