Added: 5 years ago
From: Alvabass
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  • you should play with the mars volta :)

  • Whoever thinks this is sped up is probably jealous. I can play faster than this on my fretted bass, and i'm not the best player out there. keep it up good sir!

  • This is a hell of a sound you have OO

  • Nice playing. I think you may have the only fretless bongo on youtube, I'd love to see more of it.

  • I think Jaco is spining in his grave! This is awful!

  • @taiotishi

    Are you serious? If you think this is awful, put up a damn video of yourself and play this song. Stop being a troll. There are many ways to play a song. These damn critics. Have no balls whatsoever and yet they will bark at anything they see is incorrect.

  • @DivineWindOfTheSnow First of all it is not a song, but an instrumental composition. Second of all many ways to play, but butchering it does not do Justis.Third of all you seems to be pretty thin skinned. Fourth of all calling people names for being critical, only shows your juvenile and limited mind. Go to see an ear-specialist an have your ears cleaned! It might help. But I seriously  doubt it!

  • @taiotishi I love your hypocrisy. And I hear no butchering. I thought he did well. No one is Jaco. Now stop complaining. I actually take criticism very well, if you give specific reasons to help the musician. That way, you can make them even better.

  • @DivineWindOfTheSnow Like I sad you're deaf. Neither can you read & comprehend what I've written a few weeks ago.I pointed out all the valid reasons to the man that played the music on the tape. He listened and understood the constructive criticism.On the other hand you've been whining like a girlie man. Don't kid yourself your not a musician & will not be anything, with mind set like yours. Me hypocrisy ? No! You clueless..? ... Yep!

  • @taiotishi

    I've only read the comment that I've replied to. You are clueless. I wasn't whining, I've made a point. And I don't really care if I'm a true musician or not. I respect criticism and I take it well with valid reasons. LOL.

  • @taiotishi

    And by the way, what comments are you referring too?

  • You have to ask yourself why 32 people would dislike this video. I think that is really petty and spiteful. This guy is a wealth of talent.

  • You are older than death

  • You are old as death

  • sexy bass man. where did you get that and how much did it cost

  • @chapanese96: Thank you for your comment! I bought that bass brand-new in early 2006 through a store called Consolidated Music in Miami. I paid 1450 USD plus shipping to my country.

  • SWEET!

  • great

  • Why articulate every note? It's bop!

  • @mackyouaccount yeah i agree. slur some notes its gonna help lots and its gonna sound better

  • you lack sustain. are you using flatwounds? If so, get some roundwounds! but i cant exactly tell right now. sounds like youre playing bebop by the way.......

  • nice, but swing tempo

  • niceeee

  • Donna Lee is a swing tune. Jaco did it with straight 8ths because he had a conga player as a partner.

  • Bongo sound..Love it

  • I don't really like the sound myself...there's not enough mwah for a fretless and it sounds too...

  • Change pickups for Dimarzios jazz V

  • shhh its like burf

  • ma chi sei toto cotugno?

  • Don't beat your self up bro- i think it took Jaco like 7 years to perfect so that there was no excess vibrations in the solo. In my opinion you did a great job

  • you have officially made me want a fretless :D

  • how much would roundwounds hurt a fretless? bcuz i dont really like the sound of flatwounds. I could be wrong but i think jaco used roundwounds on his fretless

  • You are right. Jaco always played Rotosound roundwounds (probably the roughest rounds, IMO), but he applied several layers of epoxy coating on his fretless fingerboard. More info at fretlessbass(.)com(/)spotlight­(.)html (without parentheses). Thank you for your comment!

  • don't judge flatwounds on this video, though this is played very well, imo it sounds pretty bad. flatwounds usually have a lot more character, no offense to the creator of this vid -- it's very good playing.

  • Beautiful Playing!!

  • I like using nylon tapewounds on a fretless. They're even warmer sounding than flats. GHS tapes are what I use.

  • Looks kinda sick...awesome job!

  • Fantastic job on the intro especially. Do you use flatwounds or roundwounds on that? I think it's time I try learning at least some of Donna Lee on my fretless now after seeing this.

  • Thank you so much for your comment! Those are Ernie Ball flatwound strings. :)

  • ive found not many people use rounds on fretsless's, chew's up there fretboard...wait, fretless board?

  • round wound strings eat up the the fretboard on fretless bass', flatwounds don't have the ridges and " roughness " like round wounds. I put flatwounds on my fretless Jazz bass :)

  • THANK YOU for not rushing through the rests at :26! Awesome job, great intonation at that quick tempo!

  • dude i just wanna say its players like you who make me want to constantly get better and be able to play stuff like your doing here. absolutely amazing, just mind boggling

  • My friend, you are an inspiration, and I am so glad you like our basses! Have you ever spoken with the artist reps? It would be great to have you as a signed artist!

    I have no control in this area, but it would be an honor to set up your basses!

  • Wow, it would be such a honor, Jon! I mean, I'm not a famous artist. Just a bass player who loves the instrument so much. I had no idea that something like that can be done.

  • Alvaro....I am a guitar player, but your stuff inspires me to try and play bass. I am so happy you play our instruments!!!

  • Thank you one more time for your kindness, Jon! You can't imagine how happy and proud I am of having the almighty EBMM Bongo as my main bass. Words are not enough to describe its greatness. Thank you for such a fine work of art! :)

  • ahhh I love it. I actually have a fretless Bongo 5 in that same color on my list as well! Only one humbucker tho! Im a simple kind of guy. Love that pau ferro. Keep up teh good work

  • again its me and i know how a frettless bass feels because i play my bass teachers frettless Ken Smith Burner all the time and i was wondering about my Music Man Stingray 5 because im not sure how it will feel and play frettless and since you play a music man yourself i was wondering if you think that it would be a good decision to defrett my bass Im asking because i dont want to mess it up

  • Hey man, you won't mess your bass up if you leave that job to a professional (The guys at HG Thor are the best, as far as I've seen), but in all honesty I wouldn't do it, just because I want to have both worlds, which are very different. That's why I have both fretted and fretless instruments. But if you are sure you won't miss the frets (And I'm not talking about safe intonation but missing that metallic feel that frets give to the instrument), then go for it. Let me know! :)

  • Defret it if you have another fretted bass. I find fretless MMs more difficult to play because the best guide you have is the dot on the side of the neck. Atleast if you defret your bass you can see the dots (if it has them) or atleast the scars, for lack of a better word, that are remaining from before it was fretless. But if you don't have a fretted bass, I suggest you don't defret it unless your sure that your only going to play songs that would song better on a fretless.

  • you have no swing feel yo,

  • i just wanna say damn dude nice job and also did u gut the frets on the bongo or did it come fretless. and also i have a music man stingray 5 string and i was wondering if you think it might be a good idea to gut the frets on my stingray because i have been thinking about it for a while

  • Thank you for your comment! I didn't defret this bass, man. I bought it as a companion to my fretted Bongo.

    I think that defretting a bass (Or making any mod to an instrument) is an extremely personal decision. You must think that your bass will change its character dramatically. I mean, playing a fretless bass isn't just about "not having frets". The fact that the strings are in direct contact with the fingerboard gives a completely different character to the instrument, (Continued...)

  • which may be a good thing or not, depending on what you're looking for. Besides, notice that Music Man uses a different wood for fretless fingerboards (Pau Ferro) instead of rosewood or maple, used for fretted instruments. That's because Pau Ferro is a harder wood that can take the string abuse (Again, the strings are in direct contact with the fingerboard) much better. Hope this helps. :)

  • fretless bass e,u are very skillful how many years do u play bass?

  • I made my first noises with a bass guitar back in 1986, man. With such amount of playing time over my shoulders, I should be a really awesome player. Anyway, I keep trying to improve. Thank you for your comment! :)

  • your the best on the tube

  • I think it looks futuristic. I do not know the song, but its interesting.

  • yea it's not swingin and that bass sounds horrible. Seriously, i'm sorry you dropped so much money on that thing.

  • its not swingin at all man

  • woow !! your right hand is extremly well !

  • very gooooood what kind of bass do you play?? bongo??? what is it?

  • Can ppl just stop comment the bass? I know it's ugly but you got to concentrate on how fucking good this guy is!

  • Great but I would add tu-da-di-ta instead of ta-ta-ta-ta. Sorry for my opinion.

  • you look pretty painful when playing it fast..

  • The bass is pretty ugly

  • Wow, thats bass in incredible....and your a great bassist!

  • No disagreement here... Super job and great time...

    It is much harder to play it slow, without a click track and your fingering choices are beautiful.

  • Nice playing! Also as nice as that bass sounds and it is probably one hell of a bass but imo it looks damn ugly XD! Sorry! Nise playing though!

  • thats a Honda Element bass LOL

  • Great! Lol....I'm not saying anything bad about it...it just looks ugly!

  • buen sonido!!

  • wow that was great and i love the basss nd the tone, im currently tryin to learnthis, i have so far manged the first 8-9 bars i think up to simular speed, but its taken me ages to get that far and dats only probably 10-20 seconds, o well i can't wait until i get it all:) nice one well done!

  • you'll get there. i remember the days when i thought "intifada" or "hump de bump" were like impossible for me. :)

  • really nice sound! also very skilled playing! geeze how do people learn this? it's incredible!!

  • nice. thanks for posting this.

  • esta es la version mas acorde a la trasncripcion original que hay en youtube. me gusta...

    se sienten las cuerdas un poco altas... quizas es solo idea mia

  • huevo ti igraeh lox

  • weird bass

  • B-E-A-UTIFUL bass. Try one, theyre fantastic.

  • yeah not bad. Donna Lee is techinically one of the hardest bass solos I've ever heard

  • very impressive! i have great respect for anyone that can play this song the same speed jaco did with almost or the same accuracy. well done!

  • excellent, now work on smaller chunks, like 3 notes at time for the more difficult passages. cheers, pat

  • sry it's not what i want to say nice job !!

  • nice tone!

  • Every time I see this guy he has a different bass....wonder if he has as many new suits....LOL

  • its sped up fool!

  • man can you teach me how to play fretless!

  • thank u for responding and for the advice!

  • how do memorize this song?

  • To me, the best way to do it is taking it phrase by phrase (just moving to the next one when you are perfectly sure that you've memorized the one you're practicing), and then putting it all together. Thank you for your comment!

  • which you like more, your fretted or fretless bongo ?

  • It's hard to tell, really. I love them both equally. What I can say is that my fretted gets the most gigs, but it doesn't mean that I like it more than my fretless. Thank you for your comment!

  • I love bongo!

  • i must say you have a fine collection of basses

  • dude all i have to say is insane. if i close my eyes i can hear jaco. i own a fretted bongo but now i want a fretless. ur an inspiration

  • Though I learned this song from my bass teacher, Joseph Patrick Moore, I think it's awesome that you're slowing it down for people to learn. Keep up the great playing!

  • Awesome job, but what impressed me the most was how slow you could play it. I can't seem to play it slower than 100 bpms.

  • they sound like flat wounds

  • Awesome job! What kind of strings are those?

  • Thank you for your comment (and thanks everybody again)! Those are Ernie Ball flatwounds standard gauge (.045).

  • Those strings sound sublime. The only (and very minor) downside of Bongos is that it's a little uncomfortably to play double thump (Victor Wooten's technique) because the knob is in the way. Other than that, any tone can be dialed with Bongos.

    BTW, how many Bongos do you have? I've seen your fretted 5 stringer in red finish.

  • Just those two, man. I also have a FireGlo Rickenbacker 4003 and I'm waiting for an old Peavey T-40 that got through eBay last week (because of nostalgia, since I started with one of those basses 21 years ago).

  • flatwounds for sure!

  • I was wondering what brand they were.

  • Impossible to tell, i guess you gotta check w the author

  • Nice work! ya gotta get that swing in there, charlie swings like a mofo

  • i saw your talk bass profile. im part colombian. but dont speak any spanish lol. yeah well great job i been watching your videos all day they are very intruguing i hope to put some of mine up very soon.

  • awesome playing. now just make it swing man!!!!

  • Amazing playing!!!

  • i think the stingray owns the bongo see

  • Great!!! Freaking great intonation ! you really have a talent to make the triolet so tight! Next step for you: writting your own songs.

  • this dude has a great ear, however, he should have someone giving him head while he plays.....maybe that would wake him up....... watching shit dry would be more interesting

  • heyy you speaded up the start lol, never mind still good mate lol

  • i'll say this guys doin a mint job, yea its not 100% right but its a fuck load better than u could do ciolamorta, it makes me sick and wtf is wrong with a 5-string u narrow minded fuck,

  • whoooooo cares if its a five string for the love of gooooddddddd, just because its not four strings, it does not mean that its not a bass, it still has the four strings ...plus a low b...thats it. or depending on how you string it the high c....bass players should be open to new things, it makes me sick when i see others freak out about the number of strings music is music reguardless of how its created, so long as its true music

  • what are you doing?................

  • Read his posting...he plays it at different speeds so you can pick it up :P

  • YES EVERYONE CAN PLAY A FRETLESS WITH GOOD INTONATION ITS EASY

    you a so ignorant its rediculous give up on life

    this guy is amazing even if he does speed up a little bit its still an amzing job

    IF EVERYONE CAN DO THIS WHERES YOUR VIDEO OF YOU PLAYING THIS

  • If everyone can do it,...

    Then where's your video?

    This guy is really awesome man... fuck you.

  • pfffff

  • Hey man thats pretty good,even w a 5 string your all over the place!!

  • WTF do u mean even with a 5 string....your an idiot u dumb fuck

  • 1st things 1st texan homo hill billy,go feed ur pigs is lunch time.2nd of all i ment it as a compliment. u figure on a 5string he woulndt have to move so much!3rd takes alot of balls to say that behind a computer were u hide to curse at ppl u dont know.u fucking slack yall yuckle.!fuking bitch.

  • LOL yyuuupppp thats me.....i play 5 strings.....and just because u have a lower string doesnt mean u would move less considering most of what he is playing is on the upper register..yea im a TB member stanger503.....adding the low b doesnt change everything into "omg now you dont have to move" i dont even use mine that often except on a few of our songs....so lets put this behind im sorry i took it the wrong way,,,chill

  • thats a 5 string dude

  • and?

  • someone thought it was a 4 string...thats it. just helping out a viewer.

  • fuck u to

  • muy bueno man ... suena bastante parecido a jaco .

  • sounds like a trumpet lol

  • thats rly good

    but its a bit rigid.

    the song is necessaily swung, but just try swinging the tiniest bit.

    will sound alot better.

  • that's pretty cool. That seems and looks like a very expensive bass.

  • A fully loaded Bongo new runs about $1600-$1800. A little pricey, but not bad considering it will give more expensive botique basses a run for their money.

  • The only problem is, is it resembles a toilet.

    You a TB member?

  • you mute the notes way to much. but other than that it sounds pretty good.

  • Hey people!!!, stop criticize !!!!! - toxicity28, SHAME ON YOU!!!! can you walk the walk or just talk the talk?

    Alvabass did it for ALL of us from his free and good will - you should all appreciate him for that - by the way his playing is flawless

  • I recommend you not to mute notes that much. Let them go sustain a little bit. Take it easy.

  • kick ass bass, the harmonics it can get are incredible

  • Either you people are being Jaco purists, or you have too much earwax shoved up in your ears to hear well-played music.

  • hello sr , how are you , take a look my videos!!!! cya!

  • Hey! Good playing, keep it up. I'm a beginner and I need all the help I can get-your slowing the piece down has helped me immeasurably in my attempt to learn it. Thanks!

  • this is pretty kick ass, but i wish you didn't pick every single note. i'm pretty sure bird didn't tongue every note when he played the melody. you've got sweet technique, which is worth showing off, but this isn't how the song should be played.

  • Jaco Pastorius arranged this song for bass guitar and picked every note

  • do you have ears?? jaco uses hammer-on or slides into notes in several places, which is part of why i wrote my comment. after reading the description by the guy who is playing in this video, i understand that he's trying to improve speed, and he recognizes that it is less musical, which is all i was saying. if it's in a performance setting, don't ever play a song like this without using some legato phrasings where necessary.

  • that was pointless...

  • aperantly you havent heard of jaco...or listen to donna lee ...sad

  • heeps good

  • OWOW

  • great playing and good intonation.that bongo sounds cool but damn i hate how it looks!!!

    anyway it's your bass so i should shut up, haha!!

  • you're talented.

  • is this a joke, a child could do a better version. give up.

  • i dont see you doing a better version. if a child could do one better, you should have no problem with it. so lets see it. put up or shut up, pussy.

  • your mum said that last night

  • wow, how amazingly clever. im still not seeing any better versions made by you. so i guess its safe to infer, then, according to what you said, that you cant even do something a child could do. you are whats wrong with youtube these days...subhuman.

  • lol

  • pretty good but i can't seem to find anyone that's attempted to try the solo

  • maybe not so straight is the only thing.. i do the same thing,you got to remember it is a bebop head, and those guys swing the shit out of everything

  • lol. I didn't even read your comment. I see you did mean to do it that way.

  • Good job on a tough melody. You have my respect spending the time learning it. But that doesn't mean its perfect. You had the same problem as I did when i figured it out. Your not swinging it, and the notes seem to be all staccato. try smoothing it out, and swinging it. Its hard to do at a fast tempo. Sorry to sound like a hard ass. But good job!

  • I just started learning this song day before yesterday, can play pretty flawlessly at 130 bpm.. but I have a long way to go before I have it down that fast. =(

  • Great intonation.

  • very very good job, easily the best homemade bass videos on the web alva, you must have alot of time on your hands, i dont, im still learning this monster of a tune, its tough, but rewarding.

  • thats a good job dude!

  • dude, play on the back pickup, why are u playin not on it???

    watch more of jaco and u should play the rest of the song!!!

  • he probably has his own sweet spot.

  • well if he does, he isn't using it

  • ok, and what about solos...?

    why playing on a fretless when you don't use it like a fretless?

  • your tone has no growl...I would trade that bass or maybe try a different set of strings. you have great intonation and chops, but it gets cluttered in the plastic sound coming out of that thing.

  • fretless? means with fingers? playing donna lee with fingers is normal for base no need to say that

  • it means that the bass has no fret man....

  • Hahahahaha, fretless means exactly what it's called = without frets

  • lol