approaching the chicken

[karlplaysbass]

hi everyone im currently learning pee wee ellis the chicken (jaco version) and just wondered what best the approach was?

[Dad3353]

[quote name='karlplaysbass' timestamp='1429698907' post='2754009']
hi everyone im currently learning pee wee ellis the chicken (jaco version) and just wondered what best the approach was?
[/quote]

Try not to cock it up..?

Sorry; coat got...

[RhysP]

Listen to it, work out what the notes are & play them in that order.

[toneknob]

Get a transcription, read along while listening. Don't try to learn it note for note, just nick your favourite bits.

[toneknob]

Here's someone's photocopies of the relevant pages from The Essential Jaco Pastorius, this is the version originally from Invitation:

http://www.youbioit.com/es/article/imagen/4045/imagen19

(click back a couple of pages for Soul Intro if you need that as well)

[Rich]

[quote name='karlplaysbass' timestamp='1429698907' post='2754009']
hi everyone im currently learning pee wee ellis the chicken (jaco version) and just wondered what best the approach was?
[/quote]
Play along to a cluck-track and don't try to over-egg it.


Sorry. I couldn't help it.

[CamdenRob]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1429701071' post='2754037']
Listen to it, work out what the notes are & play them in that order.
[/quote]

Sound advice...

[seashell]

Working out the notes just from listening to them is not that easy. Although I have discovered the more you do it the easier it gets (like everything really!). I think your approach may depend on why you are learning it and how long you have got. If you need to do it quickly, you may need all the help you can get, so toneknob's link will be really useful. If you've got plenty of time to sit down and work it all out for yourself, that might be a learning exercise in itself.

[Cairobill]

I would also recommend playing the chord changes on your bass along to the tune, then picking up the baseline after you've got the harmony in your head...

[ianrendall]

There's a cracking version on Pee Wee's MySpace page.

[gafbass02]

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1429701690' post='2754051']

Play along to a cluck-track and don't try to over-egg it.


Sorry. I couldn't help it.
[/quote]

You win the internet today

[interpol52]

[quote name='Cairobill' timestamp='1429703292' post='2754073']
I would also recommend playing the chord changes on your bass along to the tune, then picking up the baseline after you've got the harmony in your head...
[/quote]

I like this one, I have been guilty in the past of just learning the notes to songs without understanding the chord changes that are happening.

[Cairobill]

[quote name='interpol52' timestamp='1429704195' post='2754091']
I like this one, I have been guilty in the past of just learning the notes to songs without understanding the chord changes that are happening.
[/quote]

A good starting place to learning how the chicken 'works' harmonically is to play the chord tones of each chord (root, third, fifth and seventh) as they cycle along through the song. If you do that, your ear will get a fix on many of the notes in the bass line (particularly the third, fifth and flattened seventh) that jaco plays over the changes which (I think) are all dominant 7th chords.

A looping pedal is (I recommend the TC ditto) so useful in this respect.

It's a great tune...

Edited April 22, 2015 by Cairobill

[Cairobill]

Here's the chord chart...best place to start

http://overdrive.music.free.fr/audio/Tab/TabBasse/Chicken.jpg

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1429701363' post='2754045']
Here's someone's photocopies of the relevant pages from The Essential Jaco Pastorius, this is the version originally from Invitation:

[url="http://www.youbioit.com/es/article/imagen/4045/imagen19"]http://www.youbioit....n/4045/imagen19[/url]

(click back a couple of pages for Soul Intro if you need that as well)
[/quote]

I play it starting at 5th position, so 2nd finger on the b flat. That way you keep the same pattern as you move around the neck.

Live Jaco used to play harmonics in time with the brass stabs, but I haven't got the hang of that yet.

Edited April 22, 2015 by MacDaddy

[lonestar]

Im trying to nail the soul intro version of this and even with the score its a real mare.
I dont really struggle with the head just the intro.
Happy to send the tab that i have or post a scan on here if it helps.

[PJS]

Just don't fowl it up

[ras52]

Some of these comments belong in the Bad Yolks thread...

[Drax]

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1429706236' post='2754125']
Some of these comments belong in the Bad Yolks thread...
[/quote]

Eggsactly what I was thinking

[barneyg42]

Don't choke it!!!

[karlplaysbass]

[quote name='lonestar' timestamp='1429705638' post='2754121']
Im trying to nail the soul intro version of this and even with the score its a real mare.
I dont really struggle with the head just the intro.
Happy to send the tab that i have or pos;t a scan on here if it helps.
[/quote] cheers man that come in handy

[toneknob]

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1429704971' post='2754111']
I play it starting at 5th position, so 2nd finger on the b flat. That way you keep the same pattern as you move around the neck.
[/quote]

Same here, but maybe third or fourth time around there's some raking down to the F on the E string that works best playing the B flat 1st fret on the A string. Move positions and some different note choices will jump out at you.

[toneknob]

If you're feeling adventurous, try it in 7/8:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckp8mJN5ojI

[karlplaysbass]

i think i may have got the groove now

[yorks5stringer]

When I approach a chicken I use a handful of corn: it seems some of the contributors to this post have done the same!

I regularly play this at jams, I think I learned it from Youtube videos both of Jaco and others.