Alternate Playing Techniques

[ibescotty]

After watching Standing in the shadows and wondering at how Jamerson played all of those lines with one finger I got to thinking (Scary isnt it). How many other renowned bass players out there have invented their own personnel technique?

 

Some of these techniques have become a standard like Larry Grahams slap and pop technique. Others just had a nuance to how they went about creating notes with the bass guitar like Jamerson. Some even still have merely expanded on existing techniques. So who else out there has an interesting technique?

 

I suppose some people have been able to define a whole genre while some people just have little quirks to there playing.

[rumpelstiltskin.]

i think it's a technique that is not often used in rock, so it stands out, but playing chords (even just power chords and I-V doublestops) on bass has really changed how i think about what i'm playing.

 

go pickup any album by "failure", though "fantastic planet" is generally considered their best. gregg edwards plays a lot of power chords in their music, and it's so powerful and simple. i think and play a lot differently since i listened to them.

 

try it sometime, and not just to mimmick a pedal tone (thanks, jeff! -- i end songs all the time on a power chord!).

 

robb.

[Lawnmower8]

I read that Chris Squire (Yes) plays with a pick but the way he holds it he actually strikes the string with the pick and the tip of his finger at the same time, giving him the benefit of both a picked and plucked string...

Not sure how he does it...

[ibescotty]

We have a song that I currently end the progression in Root - V chords. The key boards come in just at the end with an airy feel to them. I fill it up with some rumble and it sounds right. I use them very sparingly though.

 

I meant in this discussion more of a how you get there. Like playing with one finger or something.

[orphan wells]

Many people use the I-V chord when playing bass chords. Try using the chord starting on the V and then play the octave of the I. It's a little cooler on big endings and other various stops or even in the chord progression.

[BenLoy]

Chuck Rainey has the "back and forth" one finger technique...where he plays up and down strokes using his index finger to get sixteenth notes.

 

Then there's Victor Wooten, with his "double thumb" technique and tapping.

 

Mark Sandman played a 2 string bass with a slide...sounded very cool.

 

Jaco introduced the world to how cool harmonics sound on bass.

[Travis Harms]

Les Claypool plays with 3 fingers when he plays finger style, as do a few other players. It is really apparent in the Primus song "Toys Go Winding Down" off of the Frizzle Fry album. You can get some cool triplet sounds with that technique, but other than that it isn't much different than using 2 fingers.

[Wally Malone]

Here's one of my post after last year's Monterey Jazz Festival. It refers to Alex Blake.

 

Wally

[bassingeorge]

Well, I'm trying to figure out a way to play fast picking techniques with 3 fingers! It seems possible, but has this gallopy effect I can't seem to correct, it seems it just natural movement of the fingers; anyway, I'm practicing.