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Jaco Pastorius Quotes

John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III was an American jazz bassist who was a member of Weather Report from 1976 to 1981. He worked with Pat Metheny, Joni Mitchell, and recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader. His bass playing employed funk, lyrical solos, bass chords, and innovative harmonics. As of 2017, he is the only electric bassist of seven bassists inducted into the DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame, and has been lauded as one of the best electric bassists of all time.

✵ 1. December 1951 – 21. September 1987
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Jaco Pastorius: 4 quotes0 likes

Famous Jaco Pastorius Quotes

“I was playing drums, and I had broken my wrist very bad playing football, and the bass player in the band… he wanted to split. So I just went to the bass; I went from Drums over to Bass. That was it. I was playing the bass within a week.”

Jaco Pastorius

On how he switched from drums to bass
Modern Electric Bass, Jaco Pastorius (1985)

“I never practiced a fretless ever, because the strings eat the neck up. So I would only play it on gigs.”

Jaco Pastorius

Modern Electric Bass, Jaco Pastorius (1985)

“I had an upright — it took me years and years to get enough bread to get it… I'm from Florida, so one morning I woke up, go in the corner and the bass is in a hundred pieces, cause the humidity is so bad, I mean, the upright just blew up. I said forget it, man, I can't afford this any more. So I went out, got a knife and took all the frets out of my Fender. That was it.”

Jaco Pastorius

Quoted in Michele Norris, "Jaco Pastorius: 20 Years Later," http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14578299&sc=nl&cc=mn-20071007 NPR: All Things Considered (2007-09-21)

“I took the frets out of my bass after I was getting into jazz a lot and I wanted to have that upright sound.”

Jaco Pastorius

On why he played a fretless bass
Modern Electric Bass, Jaco Pastorius (1985)

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