wraub Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 I use a pick when indicated by the song or part I need to play. Sometimes I'll try one out when writing to see if a part benefits from it. I have a can in my recording space with many, many picks inside. Different thicknesses, materials, sizes, etc. Even some "celebrity" picks, including a Cottonmouth DN pick as mentioned above (and, again, rip Continental.) I've even had the same felt pick for over 2 decades. I am also pretty sure that is the most times I have ever typed the word pick. I have also used pencils (both ends), balls of paper, balls of plastic wrap, drumsticks, bones, and more to make sounds. Whatever works, man. wraub I'm a lot more like I am now than I was when I got here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottom End Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 Mario Cippolina of Huey Lewis & the News used a thumb pick; harder to drop, and leaves the fingers option open. "Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.'-Hamlet Guitar solos last 30 seconds, the bass line lasts for the whole song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b5pilot Posted May 30, 2013 Share Posted May 30, 2013 I've tried thumb picks and just didn't care for the feel of them. The only time I've ever dropped picks was either my hands were too sweaty or I was plucking too hard. Pointing the pick downward into the string. It catches and "boing" gets leveraged out of your fingers. Lighten up on your attack. If you switch back and forth from fingers to a pick the volume level will stay more even too with a lighter attack. For sweaty palms Dunlop makes those nylon ones with a rough grip built into them. They work quite well. Oh and yeah I've used a drum stick too. Lydian mode? The only mode I know has the words "pie ala" in front of it. http://www.myspace.com/theeldoradosband Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 After switching my maple P-Bass to flats a few weeks ago, I decided to try it again with a plectrum, and hated the sound even more than with rounds. I must be doing something wrong. I did buy some felt picks last year but they're in a box I couldn't find until this weekend. I'll give that another try, as well as palm muting. Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1, Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottom End Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Picks and palm muting on a P-bass, that is a classic sound! I turn the treble up a little bit for that, and it really brings out both the bass thump with a little treble top end. Listen to the original version for the song "Little Green Bag" for to hear it done right. "Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.'-Hamlet Guitar solos last 30 seconds, the bass line lasts for the whole song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rumpelstiltskin. Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 i use palm muting a lot with both picks and thumb plucking. because i like people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b5pilot Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 I always use palm muting in one form or another when I use a pick whether I rest my hand on the bridge or directly on the strings. It just depends on the amount of muting I require. Lydian mode? The only mode I know has the words "pie ala" in front of it. http://www.myspace.com/theeldoradosband Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Force Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Picks and palm muting on a P-bass, that is a classic sound! I turn the treble up a little bit for that, and it really brings out both the bass thump with a little treble top end. Listen to the original version for the song "Little Green Bag" for to hear it done right. [video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ixrvc-YDI0 Steve Force, Durham, North Carolina -------- My Professional Websites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jcadmus Posted June 3, 2013 Share Posted June 3, 2013 Wow, that's super-groovy. "Tours widely in the southwestern tip of Kentucky" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 great bass sound on that clip. not much of a song, though. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottom End Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Well, it's not Gershwin, but the riff is immediately recognizable, and the overall sound immediately places it in the lo-fi late 60's mastered for car radios sound. It's got a sort of Tex-Mex/Sir Douglas Quintet thing going, definitely not the 4/4 rock/pop of its time. It stands out from its peers for that reason. I admire the pick work, very clean, the engineer got a great sound, but it has a groove. IN a casual survery of rock bass players from the 1960's to the 1980's it seems like most of the Brits used plectrums, and most of the Americans used fingers. I wonder why that is. "Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.'-Hamlet Guitar solos last 30 seconds, the bass line lasts for the whole song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rumpelstiltskin. Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 this is what i think of: [video:youtube] because i like people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eric VB Posted June 4, 2013 Share Posted June 4, 2013 Mario Cippolina of Huey Lewis & the News used a thumb pick; harder to drop, and leaves the fingers option open. Like b5pilot I tried the thumb pick and didn't care for it. I even tried finger picks and those were an even harder pill to swallow. It just doesn't feel right to have something between my fingertips and the strings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Force Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 Another great bassist who uses picks is Dixie Dreg's original bassist, Andy West. Check out this video where he is making that Alembic sing! [video:youtube] Steve Force, Durham, North Carolina -------- My Professional Websites Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 If you are talking about pick playing, you have to mention Carol Kaye. [video:youtube] Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottom End Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 Solid grooves on both videos, and the tone on the Carol Kaye track is classic, old-school, AM radio, the kind of thing that made me want to play bass before I was old enough to know what it was. "Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.'-Hamlet Guitar solos last 30 seconds, the bass line lasts for the whole song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicklab Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 If you are talking about pick playing, you have to mention Carol Kaye. [video:youtube] I brought this up to Carol on Facebook because I love her playing on this. Oh boy, did that open a can of worms! Obligatory Social Media Link "My concern is, and I have to, uh, check with my accountant, that this might bump me into a higher, uh, tax..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Brown Posted June 8, 2013 Share Posted June 8, 2013 What did she say???? "When I take a stroll down Jackass Lane it is usually to see someone that is already there" Mrs. Brown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicklab Posted June 9, 2013 Share Posted June 9, 2013 It's best to just leave it alone. Trust me. Obligatory Social Media Link "My concern is, and I have to, uh, check with my accountant, that this might bump me into a higher, uh, tax..." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JTC Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Hey everybody, my name is John. I'm new to this forum and I just got a new stingray classic 4. I'm working on my fingerstyle chops, you know, everything from Bernard Edwards, James Jamerson to Steve Harris. Bernard Edwards uses a unique "pickless" technique to get the tone and speed for his lick in "Everybody Dance" and Steve Harris just has jackhammer finger drum speed in "Wrathchild." I remind myself that I have to practice slowly at first using the proper (artists'original) technique, but I'm already up to tempo with my thumb or with a pick. Obviously the tone isn't the same, like it's not even the same song without the fingers. Even with my thumbnail trimmed way down, I'm still getting too much pick-like nail sound. I'm going to try a set of flats on the stingray anyway when I get it set up and keep working on that lush finger technique with foam mutes to get that P bass tone. One day I'll just get a P bass, too, so I'm not trying to put off proper finger technique. Billy Sheehan said in one of his bass instructional videos that, "Communication comes first, technique comes second, so as long as you're communicating, you're doing it, no matter what your technique is." Who am I to argue with Billy Sheehan? But faithfully reproducing tone is everything to me. If I settle on pick or thumb when fingers are called for, I'm just faking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Welcome, John. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul K Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Right on, JTC. Welcome aboard. Technique just make sit easier to say what you gotta say. We haven't had much of a "string war" here in a long time. Me? I'm about the only one partial to halfwounds. Things are just the way they are, and they're only going to get worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b5pilot Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Welcome JTC! It's good to learn as many techniques as you can. They can open doors to new ways of thinking. Lydian mode? The only mode I know has the words "pie ala" in front of it. http://www.myspace.com/theeldoradosband Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimberWolf Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 Transitioned from guitar as a teen with a little talent, lots of enthusiasm and no patience - and without lessons or a mentor to set good examples and flag the bad habits. Picks worked, and fingers were there if I dropped the pick, but it didn't feel "natural". Made some bad life choices, lost most of my gear, enthusiasm, and interest in playing. Fast forward 25 years: my young son asks for a guitar after seeing the Stratocaster I managed to hang onto, and I credit him for reigniting the flame. After I scored a deal on a couple of cheap basses, and without any conscious decision I just started playing without a pick, with fingers that seem to know what they should have been doing all along. Older now, a bit wiser, more patient - somewhere along the way I learned that the music tells me what I need to be doing; fingers, thumb, pick - it's all good and proper. Me? I'm about the only one partial to halfwounds. You are not alone - but I use flatwounds on my fretless basses; and tapewound on a violin Hofner copy . . . TimberWolf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bottom End Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 It's good to learn as many techniques as you can. They can open doors to new ways of thinking. +1 I remember watching Tina Weymouth play bass with the Talking Heads in the movie "Stop Making Sense". She alternated between fingerstyle, thumb plucking (not slap) and a pick, whatever fit the song. Another plus about this switching off is that your hand and fingers don't cramp up. John Entwhistle and Graham maybe were both pick players who adopted fingerstyle, BTW "Call me what instrument you will, though you can fret me, yet you cannot play upon me.'-Hamlet Guitar solos last 30 seconds, the bass line lasts for the whole song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 John Entwhistle and Graham maybe were both pick players who adopted fingerstyle, BTW Graham? Not Larry. I've got round wound strings on all my basses except my fretless. That one has flatwounds....I call it the anti-Jaco bass..you can't get that sound at all on it. I get a sound much closer to an acoustic instrument. I've played with my fingers for my whole life, but I can play with a pick and many years ago took some lessons from Carol Kaye on pick technique. Once in a while I will use that technique and play with a pick when that seems to be called for. To answer the question in the thread title, I feel more connected to the instrument when my fingers are touching the strings. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard W Posted July 17, 2013 Share Posted July 17, 2013 To answer the question in the thread title, I feel more connected to the instrument when my fingers are touching the strings. This for sure, though I am starting to practice with a pick. Just because. "Everyone wants to change the world, but no one thinks of changing themselves." Leo Tolstoy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rumpelstiltskin. Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 John Entwhistle and Graham maybe were both pick players who adopted fingerstyle, BTW Graham? Not Larry. i think he meant Graham Maby. but maybe you realized that and are making fun of him. because i like people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeremy c Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 I don't know who Graham Maby is. Free download of my cd!. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJR_Bos Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 I don't know who Graham Maby is. With Joe Jackson. Great pick player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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