did sting always play thumbstyle?

[these_go211]

any of you guys in oakland last nite for the police show? overall it was a great show at the coliseum. one interesting thing is that i never knew sting played thumbstyle. very old school cool. and especially so playing that beat up p-bass. did he always play that way? i think he played that way the entire show.

but very shaky start for andy summers. they opened with 'message in a bottle.' summers sounded absolutely horrific. i'm not talking like his guitar was just slightly out of tune or something like that. it sounded like he was playing one position up/down from where he should have been AND he was bending notes sharp and flat. it was painful. but then he corrected himself by the chorus and sounded great. the second song went off without a hitch. the third, 'spirits in the material world' had some more bad guitar in it. very noticeable. he just wasn't hitting the notes right, period. very off. the weird thing is that his soloing sounded fantastic. he was really ripping. but those song that had a lot of picking in it were not agreeing with him. for the rest of the show he calmed down and sounded fine.

i was impressed with sting. his voice sounded very strong and he was playing bass with authority. he's lost a little bit of range but that's to be expected after 20+ years. it was barely noticeable. copeland was *THE MAN.* he was en fuego! he drummed amazingly and it was like it was 1980 all over again. he hasn't missed a beat (pardon the pun). great light show as well. the re-arranged some of the songs to so it wasn't like listening to a carbon copy of the record.

[Christopher]

Sting plays with his thumb most of the time. I think he's been doing it since the Police's early days.

[MonetBass]

Sting used a pick almost exclusively on their first four albums (Outlandos D'Amour, Regatta De Blanc, Zenyatta Mondatta and Ghost In The Machine). IIRC he started using more thumb on Synchronicity. Somebody please correct me if I'm wrong.

[Eminentbass]

I think I've seen him play thumb style and also adding upstrokes with his index finger on some parts. It was the "All This Time" dvd.

[MammaryVest]

On the recent videos I've seen, he plays with his thumb, but whenever he has to do chugging strait 8th notes, he uses regular finger style, except replacing his middle with the thumb so it's this weird claw thing. Back in the old days he used a pick though.

[20db pad]

Yep, pick player back in the day, at least up to the Synchronicity tour.

[JimmyM]

Interesting tidbit...Andy Summers is almost 70. He's ten years older than Sting and Stewart. I'm not sure, but I think he's 67.

[Chili]

just a question about the thumb technique, do you always go down with the thumb, or up and down like a pick?

[kevin_lindsay]

Sting played with a pick and normal fingerstyle for most of the Police's stuff - he started using the "classical guitar" type approach when he went solo.

As for the old P-Bass - Sting rests his fingers on the underside of the body next to the G string and usies his thumb and a couple of fingers most of the time. This wears the finish. My mate Paul was playing bass with Annie Lennox when she and Sting did the double headliner tour a few years ago, and Paul told me how much the bass was worn away in that position.

I had visions of the wear being through the lacquer - I had no idea at the time the wear was as bad as this!!!!
http://www.rocknroll.net/gallery/sti.../img_9720.html

The strange thing is that the bass was originally bought used by Sting's guitar tech, Danny, for the video shoot for the Demolition Man video, and according to Sting, the wear was already there! Kinda like a handle for him to anchor his hand. So, there must be someone out there who played in exactly the same style as Sting (and presumably with emery paper equipped fingertips!! hahahahaha)

[MonetBass]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Interesting tidbit...Andy Summers is almost 70. He's ten years older than Sting and Stewart. I'm not sure, but I think he's 67.

He's actually 64.

[MammaryVest]

Another tidbit, Andy ofter uses the exact same thumb/finger technique, so their both up there doing it. And to answer someone's question, he only goes down with the thumb, and when nessessary up with the index.

[these_go211]

thanks for all the feedback.

[Mojo-Man]

Originally Posted by JimmyM

Interesting tidbit...Andy Summers is almost 70. He's ten years older than Sting and Stewart. I'm not sure, but I think he's 67.

In Guitar Player, they said Andy is 64?
It wqa 2007 GP.

[Oratorio]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnnUDGLnUzE

Check out this one, you can see him use his thumb-technique here, plus normal finger-technique, sometimes. It's interesting to me why he would choose to play like that; I use my thumb (not slapping) sometimes, but in my opinion it's not like it becomes more tight or gets a better sound. But atleast it looks cool.

[KenToby]

Originally Posted by these_go211

any of you guys in oakland last nite for the police show? overall it was a great show at the coliseum. one interesting thing is that i never knew sting played thumbstyle. very old school cool. and especially so playing that beat up p-bass. did he always play that way? i think he played that way the entire show.

but very shaky start for andy summers. they opened with 'message in a bottle.' summers sounded absolutely horrific. i'm not talking like his guitar was just slightly out of tune or something like that. it sounded like he was playing one position up/down from where he should have been AND he was bending notes sharp and flat. it was painful. but then he corrected himself by the chorus and sounded great. the second song went off without a hitch. the third, 'spirits in the material world' had some more bad guitar in it. very noticeable. he just wasn't hitting the notes right, period. very off. the weird thing is that his soloing sounded fantastic. he was really ripping. but those song that had a lot of picking in it were not agreeing with him. for the rest of the show he calmed down and sounded fine.

i was impressed with sting. his voice sounded very strong and he was playing bass with authority. he's lost a little bit of range but that's to be expected after 20+ years. it was barely noticeable. copeland was *THE MAN.* he was en fuego! he drummed amazingly and it was like it was 1980 all over again. he hasn't missed a beat (pardon the pun). great light show as well. the re-arranged some of the songs to so it wasn't like listening to a carbon copy of the record.

I too have to admit, the show was very inconsistant - hit and miss all night. The bass and guitar sounded like they were a half step off of one another at times and just down right sloppy at others. I can't honestly say that either Sting or Andy showed any real command of their instruments at all.
Stewart was indeed the driving force however. He did his homework and it showed!! He played confidently and with authority all night; I understand why he was upset about the Vancouver show. I was upset that I paid $225 to see what I saw. Yes, It was cool to see the guys again, but the show was worth about $60 tops for me.

Just my personal take; I'm not looking to argue.

Thanks,

KT

[Colonel Monk]

I saw the show last night.

My seats sucked, but it was a great show. Just having the opportunity to see it was great.

I didn't really catch that Andy was messing up. I've been told that the melody on Message is a pretty tough reach -- I'm sure age isn't kind to something that was difficult to play 25 years ago.

Hell, I'm only 37 and I have some arthritis in my pointer finger knuckle which makes it hard to play sometimes.

Hell of a show despite what all the critics are saying. I wish these wannabe fans would just stay home and leave the good seats to the real fans.

Stewart was out of control. Awesome. I saw him with Oysterhead 5 or so years back - that was the first time I saw him perform and what a genius.

out

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

Take into account that much of their output has lots of reggae influences, and the thumb/palm muting approach works best for that genre. I don't think Sting uses it for their "punky" stuff.

BTW, Andy Summers was born on Dec. 31, 1942.

[Sneckumhaw]

Originally Posted by Alvaro Martín Gómez A.

I don't think Sting uses it for their "punky" stuff.

He used that technique for nearly everything when I saw them. I think he used a pick for nearly everything back in the day.

[iamthebassman]

Originally Posted by Christopher

Sting plays with his thumb most of the time. I think he's been doing it since the Police's early days.

Really? The two times I saw The Police in the 80s he played with a pick the whole time('cept of course when he played EUB).

[DinoSco]

Originally Posted by Colonel Monk

I saw the show last night.

My seats sucked, but it was a great show. Just having the opportunity to see it was great.

I didn't really catch that Andy was messing up. I've been told that the melody on Message is a pretty tough reach -- I'm sure age isn't kind to something that was difficult to play 25 years ago.

(...)

Stewart was out of control. Awesome. I saw him with Oysterhead 5 or so years back - that was the first time I saw him perform and what a genius.

Message is a tough reach -- it's a stacked fifth so you have to stretch your hand to cover the space of five frets instead of four. I'm not a good guitarist, but even if I was, I think it'd still be a challenging line to play.

As for the thumb style, Sting has been playing that way for years. Another thing he'll do, at least from what I can tell from videos, is occasionally use his thumb on his left hand to fret certain notes on the E string (wrapping it around from under the neck). A bit odd, but unless I'm mistaken, he does it with some regularity.

I was at the Oakland show, too, fulfilling 20+ years of waiting to see them live. Good show. Sting and Andy were fine, but Stewart makes the whole outfit. That guy just kicks ass, plain and simple.