‘A Portrait of Jaco’ was written to reflect the work of legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius, both as a solo artist, and with pioneering fusion outfit Weather Report. The bassline for this piece is a busy, syncopated part that is very challenging to play up to tempo. As well as the groove elements, it also features […]

This challenging study piece was written as a resource for working on up-tempo fingerstyle funk grooves similar to those played by bassists such as Jaco Pastorius and Rocco Prestia. In addition to these complex fingerstyle lines, the piece also includes unison sections and chordal parts. Don’t forget to hit the Download Resources button above to […]

This exercise is a slow bass groove that combines harmonics with fretted bass notes to create chords. The inspiration for this piece was Jaco Pastorius’s renowned composition ‘Portrait of Tracy’, which is highly recommended as a study piece if you enjoy using harmonics, or playing solo pieces. This piece opens with a melodic motif of […]

This exercise is a slow-tempo chordal lines that uses open string tenths and harmonics. This line begins with a hammer-on from D to E at the twelfth and fourteenth frets of the D-string. This is immediately followed by a pull-off from A to G# at the fourteenth and thirteenth frets of the G-string. With the […]