When he was invited to play in Chick Corea’s Elektric Band in 1985, John Patitucci decided it was time to move from four strings to six. “Anthony Jackson inspired me,” he says. “And I felt like the new music we were playing with Chick would benefit from having a low B string. At that time, the synthesizer players were trying to take over the world, playing lower notes than the bass players, so I thought, I need that B. And also, because of my interest in becoming more flexible as an improviser, the high C string would give me some tenor saxophone range.” Patitucci went to Ken Smith’s shop in New York City, played a 6-string bass, and ordered one, which he played on three Elektric Band albums and his first two solo albums, John Patitucci and On the Corner. Patitucci’s growing mastery of the instrument caught the ear of legendary Yamaha artist-relations man Takashi Hagiwara, who contacted Ken Dapron, a guitarist who was working as a Yamaha product manager, and told him to g