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RE: A brief history of bass guitar virtuosity...
Jaco Pastorius I've heard is the best bassist ever, but I did not find the video above that great. I like flea better!!!
Jaco Pastorius I've heard is the best bassist ever, but I did not find the video above that great. I like flea better!!!
There is no best guitarist of best bassist ever. It all depends upon what point in time you pick, and which style/genre of music. Jaco Pastorius and Flea are both pretty bad ass, but there is not best ever. This is due mainly to different people being good and perhaps the best at specific genres of music, and not the best at others. This is also because musicians inspire the next generation of musicians that tend to learn from them and take it further. So you might be able to find a BEST at a specific point in time, and based upon a specific genre, but I seriously doubt we'll find a best ever. There are bassists I like better than Pastorius, but he is indeed bad ass. When I say I like them better they tend to be a very different style from Pastorius.
Interesting. How would you describe Pastorius' style?
It's been awhile since I listened to him and I can't listen at the moment. I'd say it was kind of a Jazz fusion if I remember correctly. Yet really a lot of these instrumental virtuosos don't really have a STYLE you can label as one thing. They have their own style. Yet I have NEVER encountered or heard a excellent player that appears to be a master of all styles of music related to their instrument. They are usually exceptional at one or two, good at maybe a couple more, and there are some that they are typically not so good at.
When I say good it is about MORE than knowing the scales, chords, and techniques. Every style of music seems to have some nebulous FEELING which I tend to call "The groove" that you either have it or you don't.
For example: I know chords, pentatonic scales, modes, bending, sliding, etc and all the techniques required and utilized by Blues guitarists. Yet no matter how much I play it, it always sounds like rock, and is lacking a nebulous FEELING/GROOVE. I've hit it once in my life but couldn't determine how I did it later. So if you want me to shred some blues along the lines of Yardbirds, Cream, Clapton style I can probably pull it off. If you want me to pull of Hendrix, or Vaughn then I can hit the notes and techniques, but something is missing.
Yngwie Malmsteen is a monster when it comes to Neo-Classical and is almost untouchable in that genre. Yet I've heard him try to play blues and he has the same problem I do.
From what I've seen every musician seems to have something like this.
Yet, regardless... BEST EVER is a crock. They may be the BEST OF THEIR TIME because other people watch, listen, and learn from them and then they take it beyond where they found. So there is always someone watching and learning from the greats that takes it further.
Thanks for sharing this useful information!!! Very interesting, I am taking the courses on www.studybass.com have you checked it out?
Nope I haven't checked it out. I started playing before there were web pages, so by the time their were web pages I was off and running. I wish there were web pages back when I was learning it would have made things a lot faster.
The teacher on there basically says the electric bass is very unique and its best to learn it differently. He says that you need to think of yourself firstly as a musician/artist who simply uses an instrument to express himself/herself.
Wise advice. I agree.
Cool....why did you start playing electric bass?