Jaco's muting technique
Andrew Hoyt
I am a guitarist and I am curious about something I read in Milkowski's
Jaco Pastorius autobiography. It describes Jaco's fast staccato runs as
being produced by a "left hand muting technique". Guitarists can produce
a similar muted sound by placing the heel of their picking (right) hand
near the bridge. Is this what is meant here or is it something else?
Thanks,
Myles
Andrew Hoyt
Andrew Hoyt wrote:
>
> Ooops......I meant "biography" (how embarassing).
> Myles Andrew Hoyt
Steve Pretti
and not a pick. When I first started playing 16th note groupings (15 years
ago), I was frustrated by the mess of noise. You learn quickly that you need
some muting technique. Actually on a shitty dead bass, it works pretty good
without muting, but when you get a good bass that has some tone and sustain
you learn to mute, or add a muting device (some basses come with these).
Unless you are thumping 16ths on every tune, for the whole tune, mechanical
muting devices are useless.
Andrew Hoyt wrote in message <3635F690...@jhu.edu>...
>Hello,
>
>I am a guitarist and I am curious about something I read in Milkowski's
>Jaco Pastorius autobiography. It describes Jaco's fast staccato runs as
>being produced by a "left hand muting technique". Guitarists can produce
>a similar muted sound by placing the heel of their picking (right) hand
>near the bridge. Is this what is meant here or is it something else?
>
>Thanks,
>Myles
>
Steve Pretti
It is the left hand, I seem to use any fleshy part under the finger
articulating the note, it comes naturally after a short period of practice.
I Imagine a left hand muting technique would not work too well on a guitar,
except for may be a nylon classical. I dodn't know though.
Aidan
Andrew Hoyt schrieb in Nachricht <3635F690...@jhu.edu>...
>Jaco Pastorius autobiography. It describes Jaco's fast staccato runs as
>being produced by a "left hand muting technique". Guitarists can produce
>a similar muted sound by placing the heel of their picking (right) hand
>near the bridge. Is this what is meant here or is it something else?
One of the many muting techniques used on bass is to lift the left hand
finger after playing a note so that it rests on the strings but does not
fret them (or press on the fingerboard in Jaco's case) then pluck the
string. You have just played an on note and a muted note.
Using this technique you can build steady 16th note pulse accented with
on-notes that make rhythmic patterns that function a little like a drummer
playing a hi hat - closed open closed closed etc. This is the escence of the
16th note funk Jaco pioneered (together with the Tower of Power bass player
whose name escapes me for a second). The tack Barbary Coast on Black Market
by Weather Report is a good example of this style.
Aidan.
THE DRIVERS
ever see Dave mustane play closely... allot of his muting and most of his
weird effects are done with this type of stuff
when I play cords and stuff I just drape an unused finger to stop any
ringing and in quick playing this type of muting is essential because even
with a pick right hand muting is difficult because of where we pick is so
far from the bridge....
peace d
Andrew Hoyt wrote in message <3635F690...@jhu.edu>...
>Hello,
>
>I am a guitarist and I am curious about something I read in Milkowski's
>Jaco Pastorius autobiography. It describes Jaco's fast staccato runs as
>being produced by a "left hand muting technique". Guitarists can produce
>a similar muted sound by placing the heel of their picking (right) hand
>near the bridge. Is this what is meant here or is it something else?
>
>Thanks,
>Myles
>
Aidan
THE DRIVERS schrieb in Nachricht <3637b...@206.103.97.91>...
>when I play cords and stuff I just drape an unused finger to stop any
>ringing and in quick playing this type of muting is essential because even
>with a pick right hand muting is difficult because of where we pick is so
>far from the bridge....
Arn't you talking about right hand muting which is a different technique to
the left hand muting refered to in the book?
Right hand muting is used to stop ringing open strings. Left hand muting is
a technique for producing tonal variation, just like slapping. (OK sometimes
RHmuting is used in reggae for tonal variation but it is mostly a silencing
technique).
Aidan
DAVE DRIVER
quasi-harmonic type L-hand muting stuff
the other stuff was just sort of an aside that fell out (probably because
that sort of cleanliness is what I've bee working on) but it was late and
I'm easily distracted... and sometimes it takes me a while to tell my left
from my right because I do just about everything with both and just don't
take time to tell which is which when I write........ I should be more
responsible and take a little more time before responding like that!!!!
love and peace yall
d
Aidan
DAVE DRIVER schrieb in Nachricht <3638f...@206.103.97.91>...
Aidan wrote:
>>Arn't you talking about right hand muting which is a different technique
to
>>the left hand muting refered to in the book?
>the other stuff was just sort of an aside that fell out ... I should be
more
>responsible and take a little more time before responding like that!!!!
No, it was a genuine question. I wasn't sure if you were refering to the
left or righ hand mute. Hope I didn't write so badly as to make my follow up
look like a smart ass comment or something.
Peace and love
Aidan.
Sarah Thompson
>Jaco Pastorius autobiography. It describes Jaco's fast staccato runs as
>being produced by a "left hand muting technique". Guitarists can produce
>a similar muted sound by placing the heel of their picking (right) hand
>near the bridge. Is this what is meant here or is it something else?
Years ago I saw a training video produced by Jaco himself in which he
explained his muting technique. As I was starting to learn bass at the time
I followed his technique closely (and still do). He used a combination of
left hand muting (i.e. keeping a finger on the string after releasing the
string from the fret) and right hand muting. His right hand technique was
essentially to use his first two fingers for plucking the strings (sometimes
a third as well I noticed, but rarely). He used the 'spare' fingers to damp
strings he wasn't playing. If he was playing a pattern on the E string
(say), he would rest a couple of fingers on the next two strings up to damp
down their resonance.
Another thing that is striking about his technique is a strict adherence to
the 'one finger one fret' principle, always fingering scales fully rather
than using an ad-hoc approach which seems more common. I followed his scale
fingering technique too, and certainly didn't regret it. In combination with
the damping technique, it makes it much easier to play very cleanly, quickly
and accurately, but it does cost in terms of the amount of time it takes to
get used to.
Sarah
Dave
> finger after playing a note so that it rests on the strings but does not
> fret them (or press on the fingerboard in Jaco's case) then pluck the
> string. You have just played an on note and a muted note.
>
> Using this technique you can build steady 16th note pulse accented with
> on-notes that make rhythmic patterns that function a little like a drummer
> playing a hi hat - closed open closed closed etc. This is the escence of the
> 16th note funk Jaco pioneered (together with the Tower of Power bass player
> whose name escapes me for a second). The tack Barbary Coast on Black Market
> by Weather Report is a good example of this style.
>
> Aidan.
Being mainly a fretless bassist, Jaco played on the fretlines. When he used a
fretted bass, he would play on top of (or just behind) the frets. What's
interesting about this technique is that very little pressure is need to sound a
note. This is important to keep the hand from fatiguing when rapidly alternating
between muted and sounded notes.
8^) Dave
Taihen1
the 16 notes in a bar, even when only about 6 are pitchs ... the rest are muted
notes (ghost notes). Just apply left hand pressure and push a left hand finger
down when you want a note to sound. Let the others sound muted by relaxing the
left hand on the strings.
example ( N = actual note x = muted sound)
NxxN xxNN xxxN xxNx <--- typical Jaco rhythm in a 16th note funk groove
It's possible to play only the notes (N) with 16th rests between .... but it's
easier, and has a better feel to add some or all the ghost notes (x)
here's just a couple of a million possible exercises:
Nxxx Nxxx Nxxx Nxxx
NxxN xxxx NxxN xxxx
NxxN xxNx xNxx NxNx
try it out, you'll see