Troy Sanders - Fingers or Pick?

[JJT247]

Ive just been getting into the band Mastodon. On all of their earlier albums troy has been primarily a fingerstyle bassist until the newest album, crack the skye. All I see him using now is a pick.

Is this a permanent change or am I mistaken?

[Dave-Action-Fig]

I don't think it's permanent. He plays fingerstyle on the new album too. I think the only songs where he is using his pick is on Oblivion and Ghost of Karelia. Probably has something to do with the chorus sound he is using in both songs.

[JJT247]

Ok, thanks. The only problem is when I was watching live videos of mastodon he was even using a pick on other songs. I could be mistaken, when I get home I'l watch more of them live.

[zachoff]

He plays with both depending on the song.

[JJT247]

Ok, I see now. He uses both, but fingers mostly. Alright thanks guys!

[KFrost2008]

I have the deluxe version of Crack The Skye. On the DVD, which shows them working in the studio, it looks like he primarily uses fingers. It makes for an awesome sound when he's using his fretless.

[Leftybass12]

Originally Posted by JJT247

Ive just been getting into the band Mastodon. On all of their earlier albums troy has been primarily a fingerstyle bassist until the newest album, crack the skye. All I see him using now is a pick.

Is this a permanent change or am I mistaken?

I saw them back in October when they were touring with Dethklock, they played some older songs and then played the entire Crack the Skye album. It was a very cool set. To answer your question, I saw Troy using fingers primarily, there were a few songs that I saw him using a pick though.

[BKBassDude]

Originally Posted by KFrost2008

I have the deluxe version of Crack The Skye. On the DVD, which shows them working in the studio, it looks like he primarily uses fingers. It makes for an awesome sound when he's using his fretless.

I'm a huge Mastodon fan, but can't remember hearing nor seeing Troy ever use a fretless. Any examples?

[VincentGrim]

Originally Posted by BKBassDude

I'm a huge Mastodon fan, but can't remember hearing nor seeing Troy ever use a fretless. Any examples?

In the video some of the shots of him are at weird angles and make one of his basses ((his godlyke)) appear fretless...but if you look closely you can see the shadows from the frets on the high end. That being said, I don't believe Troy plays a fretless. He does use a pick rarely though...I have one from a concert last year

[chanson]

He has always used picks and fingers depending on the song. When I saw them live last year, he even switched between the two in the same song a few times. He definitely used a pick more in the past as far as I can tell, but he now uses them both pretty equally

[Deluge Of Sound]

When I saw them live ('04), he was just using fingers. That might've changed, of course.

[queevil]

When I saw them in '06 he used his fingers through the whole set.

[Greevus]

I think he uses dick. Wait a minute, that's Murderface.

[Demonator]

I'm learning a few of their songs, do I have to use a pick? I know it depends on the song but I looked up Blood and Thunder out of interest and saw most if it was simple minus what seems like tremolo picked line of opens, 3's and 1's. I can "gallop" fairly well but its extremely fast. help please. By the way reason this is here in a old thread, I searched instead of starting a new one. Thank You.

[PurpleGiant]

Nobody says you have to use a pick. In my experience, people would use a pick to play parts that are faster than their fingers can move. If you can play a really fast part with your fingers instead of a pick, then thats a big plus for you.