Jeff has never changed his stance on proper bass education and the difference between practice and performance. He is right on so many levels

This is one of the best interviews Jeff has done. Btw, Jaco knew his notes. He knew his chord tones, arpeggios, chord progressions, how to read and write music, etc. He was what Mr. Berlin has been preaching to be for decades. A total musician. Now go practice

Jeff Berlin is a true teacher: this interview, like so many of his other ones, shows how patient and how much he wants to INSTRUCT, GUIDE, AND UNLOCK the student in his or her path. This interviewer was literally “schooled, and hopefully thanked him for the lesson! Lol

Listen to Jeff folks he's the real deal.. Jeff know better than anybody about music education and he can back it up with his fantastic compositions and beautiful playing..

Thank you to everyone involved for taking time to make and share this.

I'm a guitar player, but I LOVED the exploration and interaction of this interview. Jeff is a really deep thinking teacher as well as a great musician, and I enjoyed the way he deconstructed many aspects of learning, particularly of how to come up that can become "something original"as part of your own playing. Very thought-provoking. Thank You also to the interviewer who did a fine job adjusting.

There are so many bassist with a collection of instruments and this is sometimes overwhelming. Jeff has I think only 2 basses that he works with and he has no problems. He keeps things simple and always plays amazingly! I love his bass tone and the melodic clarity in his solos.

Legendary musician, wise man, fantastic teacher

Good interview!

Jeff Berlin is a genius. Teaching and learning is equally as difficult, yet Jeff is able to take both aspects into regard when processing and answering a question. His words are so inspiring, and provide knowledge to the extent that I always learn something new when he speaks. Incredible interview, thank you!

His 5-second rendition of Cream's "I'm Glad" is worth sitting through the first ~8 minutes just to hear!

All the following comments, I cannot add to but I thank you for teaching me to separate practice and music. That one thing changed everything for me. THANK YOU.

I love it how Jeff „destroyed“ the mainstream mindset of the interviewer haha.

This was wonderful! Thank you and thank you Jeff for the education and the great music throughout the yesrs.

what an amazing interview! I loved every second of this!

You've gotta love Jeff!! He's so honest in his approach and unapologetic about it. Jeff Berlin and Victor Wooten should team up because their approaches are so on opposite sides of the spectrum that musicians would benefit to the fullest.

At 1:00:10 - that awkward silence after the joke about going for coffee during the sustain had me in stitches. HAHAHA!

This was wonderful! Jeff is such a cool dude!

You can say the same exact thing Jeff about most of the great jazz musicians that ever lived, not just rock musicians regarding being self taught. The innovators of bebop, post bop, hard bop and beyond didn't learn or certainly shape, these musical vernaculars in a school or as a direct result of a curriculum they learned in a conservatory or music school. Miles Davis attended Julliard for a short time, but was very vocal about not learning in Julliard what he REALLY wanted to learn which was bebop and jazz. For that knowledge he went out every night to 52nd street in NYC and learned DIRECTLY from playing the music itself on GIGS, with its master, Charlie Parker. John Coltrane, Joe Henderson, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, Bud Powell, Joe Pass etc etc PRIMARILY learned how to improvise, and the language of jazz from PLAYING, not from a music school.

This interview was awesome. Thank you 🙏

Great chat

fantastic interview!

the 5 J's: Jack-JPJones-Jamerson-Jeff-Jaco...and the best teacher/improviser is Jeff, but it was Jack who, like many of us, got me playing bass.

This is an incredible conversation. Around 34:00 they talk about mistakes, KZfaq performances, etc, and THAT is what makes me feel inferior. I always think they got it on the first take and why am I not that good after 35 years. Nope, it's NOT the first take.

Got to agree with Jeff.

4:50 Jeff Berlin: "Well I know the 15"s can produce the highs"! Jeff's thinking, kid.... I've toured the world many times over for 40 plus years. LOL

Awesome interview!

Jeff 👍 Common sense 👍🙏

Jeff è un bassista felice! Jaco era un bassista felice nonostante la sua malattia... Ci sono solo due tipi di bassisti! quelli infelici che non accettano la verità come quella di jeff berlin, arroganti e saputelli che danno lezioni di vita sui commenti e scrivono in stampatello maiuscolo. Poi ci sono quelli felici che accettano la verità superano i loro limiti imparano dai migliori... A chi devo credere a jeff o al primo signor nessuno di turno che si arrabbia per nulla quando gli dici un po' di verità. Io mi sento un bassista migliore solo vedendo la grande onestà, la grande dignità e la grande esperienza esprime il signor Berlin con il suo basso. Spero di poterlo vedere ora che passerà dall Italia.

Thelonius Monk didn't learn how he composed or how he played in a music school Mr. Berlin. it's not just rock musicians that are primarily self taught.

Jeff

Jeff’s the best! I remember in the 70’s he just kicked my EGO to threads I was never the same. I thought I was hot Stuff. They didn’t have KZfaq then a band member gave me a tape.I never had the right teacher an didn’t want to put in the time. Now at 65 I grew up and willing to learn just because I love it. Working thru Jeff’s book. Ow and will do the next. PS What a tone he gets!!!!!

This guy spent too much time asking repeatedly about Jaco!

Goed interview Hidde👌

What a nice person Jeff is in fact. I do appreciate the simplicity of his approach to teaching, learning and playing the bass guitar. What I don't agree with, though, is omitting a whole strand of musicality of playing one type of instrument as he and many others do with not following up with playing the fretless bass after Jaco. Trying to deny the laws of physics like playing a fretless instrument in tune or using the harmonic series that's inherent to a vibrating string might lead you to finding some new and unique to you thing, but it doesn't serve music in general.

So I love Jeff as a personality and a generally convicted teacher. I Agree with him entirely as a teacher although not in his theory of art. Why are there artist who know nothing about music and brilliant musicians who can not create one thing memorable about what they do. I can not teach you a triad or chordal anything (can't instantly find every G up and down the bass I play for pure pleasure) yet if you ever want to learn how to create art call me. It is not inside you or in reverse, learning something is teaching your biology to do something to become habit or habitual. Learning art is to experience which is at the core all we are. That which experiences this shared reality. You can learn how this reality works or you can learn how to allow this reality to to deliver your experience. It is different. Art is not your thoughts your thoughts are simply what you feed your biology… Art, real magic, is communing… from the tide of death come the expression of knowing… That is ART! Meant to write depth not death (auto correct, God corrected or simply a happy accident that simply requires I judge its goodness)… Now I will never be asked to play on anyones record and likely my life work inside the arts will end up lost for ever yet in some small way the ethos will be forever change artfully for my existence… be a tool for others art or awake to become the tool to inspire or deliver…

liked Berlin and Bruford live at "My Father's Place".. New York City 🇺🇸

Jack Bruce played a fretless for a long time. But, he didn't solo the bridge pickup & do the harmonic thing.

Excellent debate on matters that should concern all musicians; pro or amateur, formally or self-taught, serious gigger or full loving garage-jammer. Thought provoking.

The " " -sign with the hands should be forbidden (50:24). It speaks of self-indulgence and arrogance in general. Great lesson from Mr. Berlin.

the thing about the 15" speaker and no tweeter the way I see it: (don't misunderstand me, I have a lot of respect for Jeff!!): if you put this kind of PU as close to this modern bridge as on this Cort bass, you don't use the other PU, you put steel roundwounds on it, than the bass in itself has a lot more highs than you would have with something like a P bass with flatwounds ... This means you don't need an amp that will make it sound even more clear, smaller speaker with tweeter would just be over the top with this bass ... (and this amp would probably be over the top with a P with flats ...)

Super interview. Bravo to stand in front of Jeff Berlin, Super impressive :D

I love Jaco tremendously, but on a personal level I think Stanley Clarke was equally if not more influential. No one has played as much bass as Stanley.

i wish they'd offer it with the ebony board, their site says ebony but all the sellers say rosewood

Wow Jeff has patience with this KID plus wisdom. Jeff is it possible you could teach me how not to sound like him. As Pat Matheny said “ many bass players try to be a Jaco but never get there”.

I think Jeff has a very good point when he defends that learning music (learning the notes, melody, harmony, rhythm....) is far more essential and important than learning technical tricks or "chops". Because the technical approach to a certain music piece is part of the subjectivity of the artist. However, the interviewer has a good point, when Jeff criticizes Rock Schools. Then, by the same token, why are Jazz School good? And Jeff gave a poor answer. It took many many years after Jazz became a popular music style, for Jazz Schools to thrive. The same happens to Rock. Learning music on the context of classical music, is different from the Jazz context and from the Rock context. I don't see anything wrong with that. Again, Jeff has many good points. However, the way he makes those points sounds almost like dogmas.

Who is Mark?

Practising your look onstage... every music shop should have a big mirror to see how a bass looks on you! ;)

Oh, that Jeff's face at 31:11 minutes, thinking "This kid needs to take some real music lessons"...haha

He basically said jazz-taught musicians are taught music and rock musicians aren't.

Why did this dude put his fingers in quotations at 11:24 when he referred to Jeff being trained as a "classical musician"...as if it's something artificial? This dude pisses me off and u can see his ego and lack of humility while interviewing this legend.

Huh, how many percent of the people educated in a jazz school "succeeded", relative to the discussion of the European rock schools? Being taught academic musical content, with the addition of the genre specific techniques and pitfalls seems like a good choice for one who isn't into jazz per se, but only studied it for the mathematical/musical content.

If you dont know about music history and how music evolves. Its a problem.

Interviewer 'yeh' 'wow' yeh' 'ok' 'yeh' 'right' 'uh-huh' PIPE DOWN

Arriving on time was taught to me by my parents... Such weirdos... Lol

The young guy is so obsessed with trying to put himself in the same level as mr. Berlin that he comes across as foolish. Instead of looking so much at the ceiling, he should study harder and try to someday play, compose and arrange as good as Jeff, as well as play with the best musicians in the world as Berlin has.

Miles Davis defined the sound of the muted trumpet.

Wtf with this kid doing the interview?, and he calls himself a "teacher" haha. Mr. Berlin showing wisdom and patience, respect 👊🏾.

Arrogant interviewer

My advice to Jeff: don't take life, or bass playing so serious :) Many of his statements are self invented dogma's, to be easily contradicted.

What the hell is that guy looking at