Portrait Of Tracy [BASS COVER] - with notation and tabs

THANK YOU SUBSCRIBERS!!! We hit 500 subscribers last week - the 30th week of this channel's existence. I'm blown away by the support, and awesome comments/suggestions. Much more to come!!!

As a thank you, I wanted to do a tune that a lot of you have been requesting - Portrait Of Tracy. This one may just be Jaco's crowning achievement. Sure, almost all of his other tunes are more technical, but I challenge you to find a tune of his that shook the bass world more (and got more radio play, I might add!!) than this one. People just didn't think about the bass this way, before Jaco released this. Afterword, they did. It's hauntingly beautiful and boundlessly creative.

A bit about this tune/how to interpret the chart:

- I roughed in all the rhythms, but take them with a grain of salt, as most of the tune is rubato (out of time).
- All tabs with parentheses - () - are to be played as harmonics, on that fret
- The notation with diamond noteheads shows the actual pitch that the harmonic creates
- Jaco uses a few "false harmonics" in the tune, and these are denoted as a fret number to play and then another fret number in parentheses, for the harmonic. Ie 2(6) means press the 2nd fret, and while doing so, play the harmonic on the 6th fret. 9(13) - press the 9th fret, and play the harmonic on the 13th fret.
- One set of harmonics in the tune is played from a location half-way between two frets. In this case, there's a "1/2" above that chord in the tabs.
- Jaco overdubbed the last chord of the song, and so did I! It's three false harmonics plus the open E string.

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Gear/settings:
- 2011 Fender American Deluxe Pbass
- D'Addario nickel (round) wound medium gauge strings
- Pickup knob: Full back
- Treble: way down
- Bass: nutral
- Avalon U5 D.I.
- Protools 11 (minor compression, EQ, and a subtle bit of reverb)

[CalebMaSmith]

After dozens of hours, I can proudly say I have done this song

[stringjazz]

The bass solo that changed bass guitar forever.

[mah]

If Claude Debussey wrote a solo piece for electric bass, it might sound like this.

[xaza]

this is one of the songs that future me will take care of XD

[IntoTheBass]

Of all the available YouTube videos pertaining to this "Jaco Master Piece, A Portrait of Tracy, " this is the very best lesson/tutorial I've seen yet.

[kobeoncount]

Thanks for the lesson.I've been working on it and here are some tips.The note 2(6) is very hard to play if you don't have really big hands.You can play it like this:Put your finger normally on the 2nd fret, and with the plucking hand use your thumb to mute the string and pluck it with the index finger.The positioning is important, find the best position for the plucking hand by listening, it should be beyond the 24th fret and somewhere around the 27th.

If you can not get the right sound by the harmonics, try plucking harder and don't forget to let the strings go after you played the harmonics.

[BRIGGSdylan]

That last fake harmonic is crazy. Insane how he got it so clear in the original recording

Sorry meant to say false harmonic, sorry for comfusion!

[EwanLynch]

That 2(6) harmonic stretch always gets me. Great playing.

[gnukev]

Nailed it. Couldn't believe it was one guy on bass with no overdubs, when I first heard it on Jaco's first solo album 1976. I bet back then, he was the only bassist who could play it. But we evolve. The final chord is so incredibly lovely. So great to see the notation, as well. Thank you.

[スパルタ-sy]

I don't think I've ever heard a performance this beautiful! Excellent!

[jaaz.handss]

man, after three years of playing this song and not knowing that section from 1:37, somebody, SOMEBODY has finally figured how to play that damned part! I can now officially play the entirety of the song thanks to you, and I can die in peace now :) absolutely perfect job man, thank you so so much for the time and effort put into this man, you have no idea how much I appreciate it.

[kylerharris]

If anyone’s trying to play this and struggling to get the third fret harmonics to ring out it really helps if you play close to the bridge.

[Muppio]

This is how good Jaco was, i legit thought he was doubling the bass the first time i heard this.

[dennistzo]

I've been playing the bass for 1 year and I can proudly say that I can play the intro

[hans-christianherbig]

From measure 23 (I hope I counted correctly) Jaco plays the harmonics doubled. E.g. d on the g string at the 7th and simultaeously on the d string at the 5th. Similarly he plays the a harmonic on tha a and d string. This gives this bell like sound. It took me years to realize this.

[hatrian]

dont think I ever commented about it but I played this at my 11th grade school band performance and this video was a great help! That was like 3 years ago and I still know this song by heart on the bass.

[basscubs]

Sounds great, man. God damn, this takes patience, even 15 years later.

[Blahaj]

Tip: If you're playing on a PJ or jazz bass, turn the bridge pickup all the way up and the other one down, and boost treble.

[crimeraaa]

Small tip for anyone struggling to play the 2(6) harmonic on the A string! If you can't reach it (I certainly can't) you can do a sort of pinch harmonic instead. You can press down either B (2nd fret), D# (6th fret), G# (11th fret) or high D# (18th fret) on the A string, very liightly dampen your right thumb's side slightly where the high D# harmonic is (for my P-bass it's a little past the neck pickup A string poles) and use your index/middle finger to pick it. It's important to dampen lightly! If you do it too much you'll just get a muted string. I personally use a little bit of my right thumbnail as I feel I can get a more consistently light enough dampening with it.

If you do it right you can let the low E string and high B harmonic ring out nicely similar to how Jaco does it. I personally prefer pressing down either the 2nd fret B or the 6th fret D# for the harmonic, as those frets let me leave the harmonic to ring while I play the open E and the high B harmonic on the G string.

Alternatively, if you don't mind not being able to let it ring nicely, you can press B natural on the E string (7th fret) and stretch your pinky to the D# (11th fret) and play the harmonic from there.

[redvine]

Very nicely done 👏. that final harmonic is just freaking impossible