Does STING use a pick?????

[Bassline1414]

Ya, I saw him on SNL, and he's cool, writes some good basslines, but I couldn't tell if he was plucking with his thumb or if he using a pick. I myself do not use a pick cuz I don't think a bass is meant to be played that way, but if your good at it, by all means use a pick.

[Tony746]

Sting's been using a modified classical guitar right hand technique for a while. It was mentioned in Bass Player magazine when he had the cover story. It seems to be a right-hand plucking tecnique without the right palm muting.
I saw Sting use a pick live in the 80's during his Police days.

[Tony746]

oops! I meant"right thumb plucking technique w/o the palm mute"!

[Peter McFerrin]

Sting used a pick in the Police days. There's no way he could have produced lines like the one on "Shadows in the Rain" or "Driven to Tears" with his fingers--the attack is all wrong.

[Dox]

Yeah. In his Police days he did use a pick a lot. But now he mostly uses his thumb like Tony said. Very smart bassist I must add.

[ToNe45]

sting's major bass is his vintage telecaster style bass. Tony476 is right, ESPECIALLY WITH HIS BABY, his uses the classical right thump style. in his recent year i have seen him occasionaly pull a pick out but that was always on a different bass.

[Bassline1414]

I like Sting a lot, unfortunately I haven't had to time to buy one of his albums, but I will. I am getting a bit tired of the Desert Rose song though, it's on like VH1 and the radio ALL the time.......

[neptoon]

hmmmm...I wonder how Sting held up in that chess game against Garry Kasparov??? but, yeah...he's come around....he no longer uses a plectrum....a strange right hand technique he's adopted, I must say though...

[Brad Johnson]

I just found the 4 disc Police collection cd set at a pawnshop last week for $20. Sweet.

[in_exile]

I saw that SNL performance. He used nothing BUT his thumb. He was using all four strings, walking with his thumb.

-MCE

[Christopher]

If you listen to the "Message in a Box" Police compilation, you'll hear him play with a pick a lot on the earlier material. "Dead End Job" and "Masoko Tanga" have some nifty plectrum work by Sting.

[Bassline1414]

McCartney uses a pick don't he?

[reedo35]

Originally posted by in_exile
I saw that SNL performance. He used nothing BUT his thumb. He was using all four strings, walking with his thumb.

-MCE

That is the way that Monk Montgomery used to play.If you don't know who he is,He was one of the very first guys who actually performed with a fender bass in 1951. he is also Wes Montgomery's brother, a guitar player who also played with his thumb.

[CROZ]

Wasn't the electric bass intended to be played with your thumb? Isn't that why Fender put those worthless finger rests underneath the g string on old p and j basses?