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The ampunt of time spent praticing

#21
Mushroo said:
Conversations about Jaco Pastorius often drift into hyperbole and misinformation. Jaco could easily stretch a major 3rd (possibly more) and yet, in the lower positions, he used Simandl 1-2-4 whenever possible. Probably because he thought it sounded better (the whole entire point of playing music).

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To the original point, Jaco became a great bassist by spending as much time as possible playing with other musicians (especially those who were better than him or had something to teach him).
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Jaco played simandl in the low position??? Thats news to me and I studied him a lot when I started on bass. Can you point me to your source.
 
#22
basst scho said:
to me this "you must this and that, and only that one way" isn´t the best approach. (never was for me, thats why school wasn´t able to teach me ;))

sometimes i play 1 3 4 if it feels right and works. :woot:
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IMO....Play what works for you.

Fingering technique on electric is flexible, much less so on upright or if you are in music school. Doing things right is the easiest way, but not the only way. lf you can get the right sound at the right time and you dont cripple yourself, enjoy.

In classical piano, my instructor sits right next to me and flags any deviation from the "correct" fingering and there is a reason for that ( you want to do it the same way and in the same fingering system.)
 
#23
IamGroot said:
Jaco played simandl in the low position??? Thats news to me and I studied him a lot when I started on bass. Can you point me to your source.
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Watch any video where he is grooving instead of soloing, such as "The Chicken" or Joni Mitchell's "Shadows and Light" concert.

Jaco started out on upright, so why wouldn't he know Simandl?
 
#24
Mushroo said:
Watch any video where he is grooving instead of soloing, such as "The Chicken" or Joni Mitchell's "Shadows and Light" concert.

Jaco started out on upright, so why wouldn't he know Simandl?
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Jaco started on EB, not upright. After a couple of years, he saved up for an upright, but it imploded with the humidity changed in Florida. Thats when he dug out the frets on his electric yo get the upright sound.

His method book and video clearly show him ofpf all the way.
 
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#25
IamGroot said:
Jaco started on EB, not upright. After a couple of years, he saved up for an upright, but it imploded with the humidity changed in Florida. Thats when he dug out the frets on his electric yo get the upright sound.

His method book and video clearly show him ofpf all the way.
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I've watched the instructional video many times, and my take on it is that it is not a complete "bass method" to learn the instrument. Rather, he is demonstrating advanced options for players who already know the basics. Jaco assumed the viewer already knows the standard 1-2-4 technique, and might be looking for some alternatives.

Watch until the end of the video when he jams with Scofield and Dennard. His actual playing while he's grooving with the band (not soloing) is very different than what he just taught.

In any case, I've decided through the years to study how great players really play on the gig, not from their instructional videos. Keeping it on topic with this thread, solitary practice time is good, watching videos and reading websites is good, but getting out there and playing with people is where the "rubber meets the road." :)

Jaco-Pastorius-Jazz-Bass-Year.jpg
 
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#33
First, and most important, as other have said, get a good teacher, through multiple recommendations. Second, understand what practice time is. It's not sitting on the couch noodling, it's not playing with other people, it's not playing a song you know for the 500th time. If you get a good teacher and actually practice 2 hours a day, you will be amazed at the progress you make in as little as a year.
 
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#37
Bass player of about 10 months, here's some stuff that made a huge improvement to my playing.

1. Do some warm-up scale and arpeggio practicing. Just play some major\minor scales, and practice some arpeggios from different chords. (Major 7th, Dominant 7th, Minor 7th, and Minor 7th Flat 5 is a good start) This is something that is good to start with to get your fingers moving.

2. Make time to play music that you enjoy. Try to read chord charts before reading tabs. It will help you start to memorize the notes on your fingerboard faster.

3. Make time to learn theory. Be that the different types of chords, scales, and arpeggios. There are some great online lessons, but don't hesitate to reach out to an instructor. I took Scotts Bass Lessons for a couple of months and it really helped my music theory.

4. For learning the notes on your fingerboard, sometimes it helps to play a song following a chord chart, by playing on one string. Yeah the song may song funny jumping around octaves, but this was HUGE in helping me memorize where the notes were.

5. Don't hesitate to reach out to TB for questions. This place has a fantastic group of people willing to help you out.

Tools like Riffstation are great for helping to map our Chords. You can also slow the song down. A must have tool.
 
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