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Jaco Patorius Bass Method by Ray Peterson

#6
JimmyM said:
That's a bummer. We have enough bad Jaco clones out there. Picking up stylistic things from Jaco is cool, but there's no point in imitating anyone. You'll always be in that person's shadow.
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We are all influenced by other great players, jaco is a must for evreyone, I doubt you know that...but you are jimmy a good source here, can you explain it better
 
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#7
Jaco is not a must for everyone. I spent 5 years playing bass before I even heard of Jaco. Jaco was fantastic, but being a Jaco clone does not appeal in the least to me. What appeals to me, however, is learning from the sources that Jaco learned from, which were mostly from other instruments.
 
#8
I think the difference is that one can try to learn to "play like Jaco", or can learn LIKE JACO DID to play like yourself. Sure there are things you can use from his playing to help you find your voice, but those are pretty well covered in the DCI Video. The key to me is that I don't want to play like Jaco, Jamerson, Duck Dunn, Nathan East, and/or Jack Bruce. I want to learn what lead to them sounding like that and use it to create the voice I have in me.

As Jimmy says, lots of what Jaco (and Jack Bruce) have going for what they sound like is ideas from other instruments. If you mush up Charlie Parker, Frank Sinatra, Bach, Mingus (the composer side more than the bassist side), Jerry Jemmott, Jimi Hendrix, Stravinsky, and Dizzy Gillespie, you'll get closer to what Jaco was about than copping some licks from him.

It's like guitarist when Eddie Van Halen came out. I managed a guitar store in those days. So many guys who wanted only to learn to play every EVH solo there was. But too few wanted to learn from EVH's primary influence, Eric Clapton. See, EVH doesn't sound at all like Clapton. AND THAT'S THE POINT. Van Halen learned some Clapton stuff and used it as the template for what rock guitar should sound like. But that was combined with EVH's love of melody, his knowledge of Mozart, and his dad's jazz clarinet influence, etc.

So while I think that there's good stuff to learn from Jaco, it's information that's out there in other sources too.

John
 
#15
For what it's worth. I actually took a lesson or two from Ray way back after watching him week after week playing at a local clubs Sunday jazz night when he was playing with steel drummer Othello Molineux who was on Jaco's solo album. Ray kinda cloned the Jaco style but also was from the UM School of Music as well. Jaco would show up every once and a while and sit in. Good stuff. The lessons never panned out for me as I have a little dyslexia and learning from the Simandle book was too much for me at the time. Ray had some great chops though. Haven't seen him in years.
 
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#16
Hey All,
As there seems to be a certain lack of understanding here regarding the Jaco book in question, I'd like to clarify things a little. I was commissioned to write the book by the publisher at the recommendation of the estate. A couple of the members of Jaco's family had suggested that I should be the author. The book represents a distillation of over 10 years of studying and hanging out with Jaco. Much of the real value of the book lays in the written text, wherein I explain a lot of Jaco's philosophy of music and what kind of concepts he taught, as well as what materials he used. This is vitally important to both an understanding of his music, and his teaching methods. There are numerous quotes included which only I was present to hear, and great stories which you won't get anywhere else. This book offers a totally unique perspective into what it was like to study with him over a long period of time. The transcriptions of the solos are not mere transcriptions, they were meticulously checked against Jaco's transcriptions in his own pen. You're getting the right notes, devoid of the numerous errors found in other books. I break down the solo excerpts phrase by phrase to explain their harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic content. As explained in the book, Jaco did this with me, so I have a little bit of an idea as to how he thought harmonically. There is also a CD which includes all the examples, with the solos and grooves played at slow tempo in order to aid the student. The scale and chordal material is presented in order to ensure that the student has the necessary technical knowledge to approach the material in the later chapters. Every player should know his scales and chords; not everybody knows that stuff. The book is not about me teaching anyone how to be creative per se, it's a presentation of Jaco's craft, a first-hand account of his teaching methods, and hopefully a little insight into what he was like as a man. Two virtuoso friends of mine, Roy Vogt and Edmond Gilmore, as well as Bass Frontiers Magazine, have given the book rave reviews. Oh yeah, it also contains two pages from his personal practice book. BTW, mtb777, I never went to UofM, but thanks for the kind words.
 
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#19
JimmyM said:
Jaco is not a must for everyone. I spent 5 years playing bass before I even heard of Jaco. Jaco was fantastic, but being a Jaco clone does not appeal in the least to me. What appeals to me, however, is learning from the sources that Jaco learned from, which were mostly from other instruments.
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Then i guess this book (and thread) is not for you
 
#20
odin70 said:
Why are all bassists influenced by the great Jaco called "clones" ? I never hear that when it comes to players influenced by Jamerson, Marcus Miller, Anthony Jackson, Geddy Lee..the list goes on.
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I think that the consternation comes when people push the boundaries farther than some are comfortable with. For the people who weren't around in the early '70's, its hard to really understand the impact that Jaco had; not that he was the ONLY player that had an impact. Of course that's just the opinion from some guy on the internet.
 
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