The fantastic, legendary, highly innovative, tremendously creative, and extremely technical American bass virtuoso Jaco Pastorius has influenced countless generations of fans worldwide. Best known for his time in the legendary American jazz fusion/jazz rock band Weather Report (with which he performed from the late 1970s up until the early 1980s), Jaco Pastorius was able to create an amazing and enduring musical legacy which still resonates with so many jazz fusion fans from all across the world and that is still very relevant for any aspiring bassist out there.
Image source: www.youtube.com
In the last regard previously mentioned in the paragraph above, his 1985 bass lesson ‘Modern Electric Bass’ showcases his musical path, his fantastic technique, and his harmonious tone on bass guitar. In this recorded lesson for bass, Jaco delves into his outstanding left to right hand techniques to harmonics and various finger exercises. In addition, he also shows his use of scales and arpeggios. At the same time, he performs a series of solos and a duet with Jerry Jemmott. Last but not least, a 20-minute performance with John Scofield and Kenwood Dennard is also included.
The following instructional video, produced and published by Manhattan Music (along with the following accompanying booklet with bass exercises), distributed by CPP Media, with Jerry Jemmott as interviewer, showcases Jaco’s exquisite talent on bass along with beautiful life stories on his choice for his electric bass guitar model.
Below you can integrally watch Jaco’s instructional video on electric bass with interviewer Jerry Jemmott:
- Interview and text – Jerry Jemmott;
- Revised edition transcriptions – Lincol Goines;
- Additional transcriptions and introduction – Mark Egan;
- Initial transcriptions – Jerry Jemmott and Kjell Benner;
- Editor – Dan Thress;
- Cover design and layout – Jack Waltrip;
- Music engraving – Bob Sherwin;
- Cover and inside photographs – Ebet Roberts.
If you’d like to purchase the instructional video in either DVD or VHS format, you can do so on Amazon right here. All the best and keep on listening to jazz fusion!