Some people say "play to your strengths" rather than "work on your weaknesses". Case in point: Billy Sheehan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv7RfMwF4Vg&feature=fvw

Who cares about reading music, "proper" technique and upper chord extensions...when you can play triplets and rake a bass like that!
(Not to mention fit in those pants ).

Cheers,
Andy

I love that!!! I came to a Steve Vai show with Billy Sheehan, it was pure fun, very entertaining and rock and roll!!!

I got to see Mr. Big, back in the day, and have a great Niacin video.

Billy can rock hard for sure. But I also remember an interview where he talked about J.S. Bach, and practicing Bach cello pieces.

Jaco and Jack Bruce also talked about the importance of Bach to bass players.

Lee

There were two people on the staff at Musicians Institute in 1986-87 who couldn't read music, and they were both bass players; Tim Bogert and one of his biggest fans - Billy Sheehan.

Billy certainly put in the hours when he was young, and learned a lot of stuff by ear (just like Jaco and most great players have done). He also spent his life working towards a very specific style and sound. Bach may be a common denominator for a lot of musicians, but there are many ways to learn the same thing.

I've always enjoyed the way Sheehan seems to bring out the humour in Steve Vai, whom I must admit I find awe-inspiringly talented as a player, but generally boring as a writer.

Cheers,
Andy

Man! Impressive and entertaining to watch but to me ... completely unlistenable. I don't know too much of Sheehan's stuff but I hit about a half dozen other vids of his on YouTube and they were all exactly the same.

Well, I guess you would find my cd collection completely unbearable, this video sounds like elevator music compared to the cds I own!

This is how I was raised!

Loud and fast!

But I admit that I did the classical thing as well! A LOT of classical - thing.