thumbslam wrote:
Well I know this is a subject that get’s tossed around a bit, too many or too little strings. I have a 4 string Spector fretless that I love. I have a 6 string Roscoe that I love and 4 other basses all 5 strings. I guess I was for some God awful reason reading threads on Talkbass which I’m no big fan of anymore and this topic came up and somebody always feels the need to remind us that Jaco only needed 4 strings and I love this picture so I thought I would share it.
I only need 1 pair of underwear but it’s better to have more than one right?? I love bass and I love playing it even more and I play what I like for the right situations. I have different basses so I use them like different tools. I have no problems with someone who likes playing 4 string basses all the time. Actually I am jealous because I think you have to be a killer player to be able to navigate different styles of music with the octaves spread out farther. I think it’s awesome. I personally like the tighter string spacing and I don’t like my E string out in the open on a 4 string but it’s just my opinion.
Anyway Jaco did play other basses than 4 string Jazz basses. I played in a studio he used to jam in and there are pictures of him there and many stories about him from one of the guys that manages the place. It’s in Newtown Square outside of Philly and actually his dad is a good jazz drummer and still lives in Norristown as far as I know. There is a cemetery in Norristown near the family house before Jaco moved to Florida and on this stone wall was spray painted Jaco Lives. It was there forever I wish I had a picture of it.
By the way anyone here know what kind of bass he is playing. I know there are some really sharp guys here that might be able to pick it out.
Wow, super rare photo! No idea what kind of bass that is, though.
In his later years, (Especially when he was too far gone to take care of his basses and thus would lose them or just leave them on park benches, only to have someone bring them back to him), he ended up playing whatever bass was available and/or borrowed instruments. I did a gig with him around '84/'85? and by then he didn't have a bass, so he ended up playing my lefty '72 jazz UPSIDE DOWN! He also had a Guild endorsement around that time and did play a Pilot bass on occasion. (Somewhere in one of my old guitar mags there's a picture of him in a Guild ad playing the Pilot). He also owned a Steinberger L2 that apparently he never paid for.
