McCartney playing finger style?!

[apollo bass]

Watching The Beatles on Record tonight on the History Channel and just saw some short clips of McCartney playing finger style?! Don't think I'd ever seen that before - thought he was the ultimate pick player?

[J. Montgomery]

Sweet. I think I've always seen him play bass with a pick too. Though he does play 'Yesterday' fingerstyle on guitar . . .

[Dondabass]

We surely are quite a bunch! Watching Macca play bass and commenting at the same time on the forum. My wife thinks we all need to get out more...

[Alvaro Martín Gómez A.]

The 1963 BBC program "The Mersey Sound" features McCartney playing his Hofner fingerstyle (mostly with his thumb):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyXO5p74pEI

Maybe it's the same footage you saw on TV.

[phillipkregg]

I'd rather see him throw down Larry Graham style.

[James Judson]

Sir Paul has probably experimented with most methods. My observation is he uses a method of putting his thumb and index finger together (looking like he is holding a pick) and using his finger nails. I have only come across a couple people using this method. They are basically self taught. My guess is Paul is largely self taught.

[fish552]

Here is a great tune without pick http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJuTJNZ_dk8
Also video I have seen from "Hello Goodbye" he is playing with fingers.

[warnergt]

Originally Posted by apollo bass

Watching The Beatles on Record tonight on the History Channel and just saw some short clips of McCartney playing finger style?! Don't think I'd ever seen that before - thought he was the ultimate pick player?

I saw that show, too, and noticed the exact same thing.
I don't remember seeing him use his fingers before.

[Floyd Eye]

There are a ton of clips of them lip syncing where he "appears" to be playing fingerstyle. Are you sure it isn't one of those?

[PopaWoody]

Sounds like what I do sometimes, that is how I get a faux pick sound. Also largely self taught.

Originally Posted by James Judson

Sir Paul has probably experimented with most methods. My observation is he uses a method of putting his thumb and index finger together (looking like he is holding a pick) and using his finger nails. I have only come across a couple people using this method. They are basically self taught. My guess is Paul is largely self taught.

[mccartneyman]

In concert, McCartney plays entirely with a pick and changes picks when he goes from guitar to bass -- i imagine he uses bigger/heavier picks for bass. He has played with his fingers, as some videos attest, and in his brief instructional vid posted for "It's A Fine Line," he used his thumb -- not slapping, obviously. Simply, he does whatever he feels fits the song. In outtakes from the "Get Back" sessions, you'll her him struggling to play a different version of "One After 909" without a pick. It's a simple straight 8ths line, but he apparently is so uncomfortable that he can't keep up with his fingers. Someone asks if he has a plectrum, and he replies that he left it in the truck. It's somehow comforting to know that even Beatles sometimes carry only one pick.

[darkhorse9]

Originally Posted by mccartneyman

In outtakes from the "Get Back" sessions, you'll her him struggling to play a different version of "One After 909" without a pick. It's a simple straight 8ths line, but he apparently is so uncomfortable that he can't keep up with his fingers. Someone asks if he has a plectrum, and he replies that he left it in the truck. It's somehow comforting to know that even Beatles sometimes carry only one pick.

That actually is an outtake from 1964, when the song was first considered for recording. They discarded it until it was revived as a joke during the Let It Be sessions.

McCartney was more comfortable with a pick because he was never trained in bass. He went straight from guitar to bass so he simply did what he was used to.

He did learn how to play finger style, but always preferred the pick.

[WhoFalls]

I actually saw this program last night and I specifically watched his finger during. He played three different ways, a traditional two finger approach, a pick and one where he was hitting the strings with his thumb as if he had a pick. It seemed like most of them he was doing the latter two.

[Ric5]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uzC5KC_260

[GianGian]

I remember seeing him playing with his index finger on a lot of pictures, mostly early ones, and I remember watching a video of Love Me Do live too I think.

[apollo bass]

Originally Posted by Alvaro Martín Gómez A.

The 1963 BBC program "The Mersey Sound" features McCartney playing his Hofner fingerstyle (mostly with his thumb):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyXO5p74pEI

Maybe it's the same footage you saw on TV.

Nope - that wasn't it. In this video he seems to be playing more with a thumb. The video in "On Record" is primarily in studio - either recording or rehearsing - which were often one and the same to the Fab 4. The show gives a great 'behind the scenes' look at many of their albums.

[kful]

I'm pretty sure I saw him playing finger style in Beatles Rockband

[odysseios]

[Jim Dep]

By the late 1960's, Paul had begun to use his fingers more than his thumb. Today, he still prefers to pick over other methods.








sorry Paul...........

[GianGian]

Originally Posted by darkhorse9

That actually is an outtake from 1964, when the song was first considered for recording. They discarded it until it was revived as a joke during the Let It Be sessions.

Link? I really would like to see this conversation.