Yeah, I was just wondering whether Paul from Tool uses a pick or his fingers, especially on Sober.

Thanks in advance.

picks on sober but uses bith styles I think:confused:.

No, I think he uses mainly a pick

In sober he uses a pick for sure and in a book i bought it says he just switches whenever he feels like it!!! fingers to pick!! just have to add that his chorus sounds awesome, Paul's bass sound made me buy a chorus pedal!!!!!!!

does anyone know which amps paul used live and/or on record? which basses?

All I know is that Paul used Rickenbacker basses.

check out the bass player mag that featured him.. :)

hmm...didn't he play a Wal????

Originally posted by relman
hmm...didn't he play a Wal????

You're thinking of Justin Chancellor, who replaced Paul D'Amour. Mr. Chancellor always uses a pick, FWIW.

D'amour often used a Music Man Stingray, didn't he?

D'Amour used mainly Rickenbacker, but probably had a Stingray also.

Justin Chancellor (their current bassist) uses Wal as his primary but also has a Stingray.

btw this thread was started 10 months ago :eek:

I saw Tool several time way back when... Paul always used Rics, and always used a pick. His cabs were Mesa Boogies (often with a picture of Jack Nicholson hung over 'em). I couldn't see what his amps were...

paul has never been in bassplayer mag.

did you happen to notice what configuration the mesa cabs he used were (2x15, 8x10,etc.)?

i'm suprised there isn't more info on paul around, he's a great player and seems popular enough to have the dirt on his gear listed somewhere.

On Sober it sounds like he is using a pic,nice and crisp!:)

I noticed in the Sober video it has some breif overlays of the band members playing.Yes,I perked up when I saw the familiar profile of a Ric!!:D

Not sure what he uses on his other recordings or if he favors pic above fingerstyle.

One thing that keeps me from learning Tool songs(forgive me Father!) is that their time sigs. mess me up!!!:confused: Also they play a lot in dropped D tuning(call me lazy :o )

Originally posted by andrew
paul has never been in bassplayer mag.


Sorry.. I'm slow. :)

Originally posted by Usul
On Sober it sounds like he is using a pic,nice and crisp!:)

I noticed in the Sober video it has some breif overlays of the band members playing.Yes,I perked up when I saw the familiar profile of a Ric!!:D

Not sure what he uses on his other recordings or if he favors pic above fingerstyle.

One thing that keeps me from learning Tool songs(forgive me Father!) is that their time sigs. mess me up!!!:confused: Also they play a lot in dropped D tuning(call me lazy :o )

I thought he played a Stingray at least a bit, but I might be confused since that is what Justin had at first (David Bottrill had him try a Wal). I have a bootleg that's got a picture of Paul playing something odd, definitely not a Rick, might be a modified Stingray (I'll have to look at it more closely, obviously), but I got the feeling it was home-made or something.

The funky time signatures are the best part! :)

I also don't know about drop D, I wondered why bother with a Hipshot it only takes me about 5 seconds to drop down or back up (hit a 12th fret harmonic on the E string, then the open D, then crank the tuner down until they're in unison, that has worked great for me for years).

It's always sounded to me like Paul used a pick. However, I've been playing stuff off of Undertow a lot lately with fingers. With the EQ right, if you're fairly aggressive with the RH it sounds fine (think Geddy Lee). For the strums (at least in Sober) I'm just using my nails a la Les.