Sting's playing style

[Stingray89]

I've recently been getting into the playing style of Sting lately. He comes up with some nice basslines that go well with the music. I've watched some videos of him and I noticed that he uses his thumb alot going in a downstroke like fashion. Anyone else know anything about his playing style that they care to share?

[JimmyM]

Ya, use your thumb in a downstroke fashion.

[Thunderthumbs73]

I've seen/heard him do all kinds of techniques: thumb (as you mentioned), traditional fingerstyle, pickystyle and even a bit of slap.

[Widdershins]

Originally Posted by Thunderthumbs73

I've seen/heard him do all kinds of techniques: thumb (as you mentioned), traditional fingerstyle, pickystyle and even a bit of slap.

Yeah, and if you see enough videos he's not consistent with the technique he uses for any particular song.

Not that that's a problem by any stretch. He could play with his face and still come up with a catchy line.

[blizzard]

When I saw him live he used mainly his thumb on the downstroke and he would also often do like pop (not quite a pop but whatever) to hit the octave or a note the G string.


He did also use a pick and did normal finger style too but not as much.