Pete Academy

Jeff Berlin once said that he doesn't play fretless because everyone just ends up sounding like Jaco. Apart from Pino, I think he may be right. Jaco's fretless playing was unique. I don't really care about his improvising. Don't you wish you'd written 'Teen Town'? It still stands as one of the best bass compositions ever, and is a bastard to play.

[quote name='Chris2112' post='1262843' date='Jun 9 2011, 04:04 PM']No, Miller is bad because he's been pedalling the same tired rubbish for years! My favourite Jaco recording outside of Weather Report would probably be the Trio of Doom record. I agree with John McLaughlin's stance that it should be heard because it's of historical value, but musically it isn't the train wreck it was made out to be. When the band gels it sounds great. Their version of Continuum is great. It's a shame Jaco's behaviour was so erratic, because if they had had time to sit down and rehearse or even write a record together I've no doubt it would be amazing.[/quote] No, no Chris...Miller is GOOD.

[quote name='Doddy' post='1262703' date='Jun 9 2011, 02:10 PM']It's well known that Jaco wasn't an improviser-he once said to Marcus Miller "You think you're bad because you can improvise". Take a piece like 'Continuum'...it's double tracked and it's note perfect. Even his 'Havona' solo was composed (including the Stravinsky quote). But to me,that isn't what Jaco is about. If I want to listen to a great electric bass improviser,I'd listen to Berlin or Patitucci. My favourite Jaco stuff is his big band. He really swings and his tunes like 'Liberty City' and 'Three Views of a Secret' are great.[/quote] Amazing compositions. I think people forget his composing abilities.

I've owned a load of basses over the years, but my Roscoe is the best ever. The 'B' string is amazing. The bass is effortless to play. And they are way cheaper than a Fodera.

Jaco's debut solo album is the finest bass album ever. I have to disagree with you, Chris...Portrait Of Tracy is an unbelievable piece of music. My opinion, of course.

Apart from his solo stuff, his groove was amazing.

My favourite band ever.

For anyone that's interested, there's a documentary about Santana on BBC4 next Friday at 9pm. Looks like lots of early footage and interviews with band members over the years.

[quote name='Johnston' post='1256802' date='Jun 4 2011, 08:43 PM']Your scientist buddy with the bushy moustache done a program on that. One of the episodes was with an Indian family and the dealt with learning languages. In the home the parents spoke their native tongue (I think it was the mother who didn't speak much English) and of course the young kids were learning it too. But the family as a whole were also learning English. IIRC and it was a few years ago so this might not be 100% accurate. The Indian language has no "V" sound. The child picked up English no problem and was bi lingual but the mother had difficulties picking up some of the finer points like pronouncing words with the V sound in them.[/quote] Talking about language, my parents are Italian and Yugoslavian. Everyone asks me and my elder brother why we can't speak those languages. My mum and dad only knew bits of each others' languages, so when we were young there was a mixture of Italian, Yugoslav and English, especially as my mum and dad started to pick up English. Had they both been Italian, say, we would have heard that language spoken constantly in the household and consequently picked it up. Since reading the aforementioned book, I am now sufficiently convinced talent is not genetic. But that 10,000 hours needs to be progressive, and you should always strive to learn something new and more difficult in order to progress. Going back to the post about being able to play proficiently in two weeks, there is always a confidence boost with beginners. Working in a music shop, I see this all the time. Beginners will play loud, proud and very wrong, whilst proficient players will turn down. I remember being like that myself when I was a kid. My brother sent me out to a local shop to test out and buy a Marshall Fuzz pedal. Armed with my Santana riffs I bowled in, expecting to impress the staff. Luckily, one of the staff players, who was amazing, demo'ed it and gave me a reality check.

Very nice version. Lovely playing and vocals throughout. Great use of space in the bass playing - complements the song perfectly.

[quote name='scottkincaid' post='1254070' date='Jun 2 2011, 02:49 PM']Troll king?[/quote] I was a puzzled about that, too.

[quote name='scottkincaid' post='1253441' date='Jun 2 2011, 04:34 AM']Some people are better or more naturally talented than others. For example, i have learned to play bass within two weeks, and i could now, pretty much play whatever you wanted; Funk, Indie, Rock, Metal ect. Whereas my friend has never had drum lessons, and he can play them better than most drummers i have seen. It just depends how musically inclined people are.[/quote] That's intriguing. To what standard would you say you can play those styles?

I can't tolerate a bad drummer.

I recall having to learn Steely Dan's 'Gaslighting Abbie'. It wasn't easy, but afterwards I felt my playing had improved considerably.

I think there's a lot of us that have accumulated the 10,000 hour mark, especially with gigging for many years. However, it's the type of practise that's important. We all love to play our favourite riffs over and over because we enjoy it. But we're not progressing by doing that. You have to practise something that you can't already play in order to progress. That's what has made world class musicians what they are.

[quote name='Mykesbass' post='1253062' date='Jun 1 2011, 07:38 PM']Altogether now - "There Is A Tavern In The Town" look out for that F7!! I started on guitar, started double bass at the age of 13, school bass teacher died and wasn't replaced (thanks Thatch) so gravitated back to guitar. Played rhythm guitar for years in a big band (probably had more in common with bass playing than being a lead guitarist in a rock band) then gave up for a while, opened a guitar shop and suddenly found myself far more drawn to bass than guitar so have been palying and giiging again for the last 7 years.[/quote] Cockles and Mussels was my favourite.

I started to play my older brother's acoustic guitar in my early teens. He had a copy of Bert Weedon's 'Play In A Day'. I remember being excited when I could change between C and G chords. Eventually he bought an electric guitar and turned up one day with a used Vox bass he'd bought for ten quid. I played along with him and picked it up quite well. I was hooked from then.

After I had set up and lifted my gear up to ear height. Soundman: 'You can't do that. It needs to go on the stage.' Me: 'I can't hear it very well like that.' Soundman: 'It sounds better on stage.' Me: 'Who's doing this gig?'

Excellent stuff. Great sound.

[quote name='arsenic' post='1250768' date='May 30 2011, 08:45 PM']Sounds like a Dalek shagging a dustbin in a skip.[/quote] I'm liking this one.

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1250281' date='May 30 2011, 01:51 PM']Here's the REAL deal. Mr Mark King. I'll always love this fella. It's quite a long video but worth watching.[/quote] Loved this. Nobody does it like MK.

Someone once had a great one involving cutlery.

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1250537' date='May 30 2011, 05:40 PM']A journalist, , from the NME said to me, "you had that shirt on last night", I replied, "do you see a f***ing washing machine in the back of our bus?"[/quote]

The old workingmen's club story. 'As you know, one of our best loved members died yesterday. In these tragic circumstances, I would ask everyone in this club for a minute's silence in honour of Ernest.' A minute later. 'Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome tonight's band!...'

[b]You know that thing where a bluebottle goes mad when it's stuck between the two halves of your sash windows on a summer afternoon? This is what it hears in its little bluebottle head. The reason it goes mad is because it can't get away from the sound. I went a bit mad just now because my mouse stopped working for a few seconds and I couldn't turn the f***ing thing off. That was truly one of the most hideous displays of musical instrument operation I have seen. He makes Wooten look as clever as he really is, and the guy's pulse and timing in that vid was all over the place in parts. Outrageous indeed. [/b] Excellent entry, Nige.