did paul mccartney use a felt pick??

[bon viesta]

picks have a sort of “cutting” sound. you hear that plastic hit those strings, and it moves the string in a certain way. but… what’s up with paul mccartney? i have never been able to get his sound out of a bass when using a normal plastic pick, even when using sponge mutes. did he use felt picks at some point either in the early to mid 60s, or late 60s and early 70s? that would probably explain his sound.

 

[LBS-bass]

picks have a sort of “cutting” sound. you hear that plastic hit those strings, and it moves the string in a certain way. but… what’s up with paul mccartney? i have never been able to get his sound out of a bass when using a normal plastic pick, even when using sponge mutes. did he use felt picks at some point either in the early to mid 60s, or late 60s and early 70s? that would probably explain his sound.

I don't know, but it would not surprise me. When I first started playing in the late 70's, every music store wanted to sell me felt picks for my bass. They were always there next to the bass strings and it seemed like pick players used only felt for bass in those days. They were ubiquitous. Perhaps someone knows for sure, but it would be a fairly safe thing to say it might have been likely.

 

[DGilpatrick]

Yes he did.

From Quora:

"He’ll usually use just a typical Fender (the 351 style) heavy pick. As a Beatle, he’d use a heavier felt pick as well as a Bert Weedon brand “home base” shaped pick.

As for strings, he was using Pyramid flat wound (they’re the original manufacturer for Hofner strings). He then went to Rotosound with their flats by the mid-‘60s, then went to Rotosound Tru Bass nylon black strings during the Let it Be sessions.

By the time of the late 80s and early 90s, he went back to the Rotosound flats. By the late 90s and into the early 2000s, he was using LaBella flats. Then as of 2010, he’s gone back to using Pyramid flats.

*once in a blue moon, he did use round wound strings, but never for a long amount of time as opposed to him using flats. This was told to me by Will Lee when he was actually holding Paul’s Hofner."

 

[bobyoung53]

picks have a sort of “cutting” sound. you hear that plastic hit those strings, and it moves the string in a certain way. but… what’s up with paul mccartney? i have never been able to get his sound out of a bass when using a normal plastic pick, even when using sponge mutes. did he use felt picks at some point either in the early to mid 60s, or late 60s and early 70s? that would probably explain his sound.

You could definitely hear his pick sometimes when he started using the Rickenbacker and the Jazz, you can hear the slap on this tune:

 

[ShoeManiac]

You could definitely hear his pick sometimes when he started using the Rickenbacker and the Jazz, you can hear the slap on this tune:

I always got the sense that "You never give me your money" might be one of the tunes where George was playing bass. Since it's one of Paul's piano-centric songs, George would play bass while Paul was singing and playing piano. There's certainly a number of photos of George in the studio with a Jazz bass from the 'Abbey Road' sessions.

 

[bobyoung53]

I always got the sense that "You never give me your money" might be one of the tunes where George was playing bass. Since it's one of Paul's piano-centric songs, George would play bass while Paul was singing and playing piano. There's certainly a number of photos of George in the studio with a Jazz bass from the 'Abbey Road' sessions.

Could be although I was never impressed with George's bass playing nor Lennon's.

You can hear it especially here too: