Famous bassists who use picks

[SturmUndDrang]

I don't think anyone has mentioned Peter Cetera of Chicago, Leon Wilkeson of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Felix Pappalardi of Mountain.

 

[bass71]

Are bassists really famous like pop stars, movie actors...I mean Sting is very well known but do the public actually know what instrument he plays?

Anyway. Carol Kaye....and try playing the Kojak theme with a pick.....boy she's good.

 

[bluesdogblues]

Are bassists really famous like pop stars, movie actors...I mean Sting is very well known but do the public actually know what instrument he plays?

Anyway. Carol Kaye....and try playing the Kojak theme with a pick.....boy she's good.

Yes

 

[wolfkeller]

Geezer did use a pick on occasion in sabbath, watch some videos from the later Ozzy era. Jpj said he used a pick and 8 string on whole presence album.
Duff mckagan
Mike Inez
Mike Starr
Nikki sixx
Peter Steele.
I use both. For softer parts or high on the fretboard I'll palm it then switch back to dig in. I started out with maiden stuff and feel it can't be played w a pic!

 

[wolfkeller]

Sid vicious used a pick, so there it is!

 

[willeb]

Entwistle is one of the rare cases of a player that sounds fantastic with pick or fingers and his rhythmic approach and note choices were very different depending on which he was using. Just brilliant... Wish he was still around

John Paul jones has the same trait.

 

[KingKrabb]

Justin Chancellor. No further proof needed.

I've always used both, it really depends on what the song calls for.

 

[vasilio]

I'll pull or pick - Whatever the song calls for.

 

[obimark]

I do both- and so did JPJ and many others. There is a cool video where JPJ shows his picking and finger technique- he is VERY heavy handed with his pick surpisingly. I mean he beats his bass into submission when he plays WHole Lotta Love with a pick...which if you want to cover it right, you HAVE to use a pick to do the chords correctly.

 

[SteveV74]

Peter Steele( Type O Negative) and Chris Squire actually used a pretty unique technique where he uses the bigger side of the pick and edge of his thumb to get slight pinch harmonics while hes playing.

 

[Mikey_B]

Paul Hinojos

 

[billgoodwin]

Julie Slick

 

[Kaa]

I'd say from the lists of players who have made groundbreaking music, and a whole lot o' dough, that playing with a pick is A-OK to do.

 

[iriegnome]

This thread has been done a thousand times. I'll play though.. IMHO as a bassist who does not (in general) use a pick, find this whole debate a joke. Straight up a joke. If someone really think that because you use a specific tool to play you are less of a player, then I say screw them. I have seen bass player who do not use a pick that I just wanted to give them a pick because they were so awful. Again, I have seen players with a pick and thought they would be so much better without it. Come on kids. This argument is almost as bad as Fender or Gibson..

 

[SolarMan]

A really good fingerstyle bassist is always more fun for me to watch. Maybe because I'm pickstyle and only OK with finger.

And, as a picker - I only get jealous of fingerers when they can make it sound like my pick (which is very rare indeed).

 

[Kaa]

This thread has been done a thousand times. I'll play though.. IMHO as a bassist who does not (in general) use a pick, find this whole debate a joke. Straight up a joke. If someone really think that because you use a specific tool to play you are less of a player, then I say screw them. I have seen bass player who do not use a pick that I just wanted to give them a pick because they were so awful. Again, I have seen players with a pick and thought they would be so much better without it. Come on kids. This argument is almost as bad as Fender or Gibson..

Just out of curiosity, which is better Fender or Gibson?

 

[iamthebassman]

This thread has been done a thousand times. I'll play though.. IMHO as a bassist who does not (in general) use a pick, find this whole debate a joke. Straight up a joke. If someone really think that because you use a specific tool to play you are less of a player, then I say screw them. I have seen bass player who do not use a pick that I just wanted to give them a pick because they were so awful. Again, I have seen players with a pick and thought they would be so much better without it. Come on kids. This argument is almost as bad as Fender or Gibson..

Yep, I don't even know why I look at these stupid-ass threads anymore. I must say you're the first "fingers" player I recall NOT putting down pickers.

 

[Lobster11]

Yep, I don't even know why I look at these stupid-ass threads anymore. I must say you're the first "fingers" player I recall NOT putting down pickers.

I used to feel that way too, but my impression has been that this has been changing, for the better, over the last year or two. Maybe we've been watching different threads, but I really can't remember the last time I saw one of those "real-bassists-don't-use-picks" posts other than in jest. It seems to me like the norms have shifted, and that now it's much more common for folks to say "use whatever works for you" or "be able to play with our without a pick, whichever works better for the song." I've also seen -- believe it or not -- plenty of fingerstyle players making it a point to emphasize that this is only a personal preference, "to each his own," etc. I've even seen a number of posts by fingerstyle players confessing that they wished they were able to play with a pick as well, but either haven't tried or haven't been successful. (I always notice these because I'm one of them.)

I suppose I might be imagining all this, or maybe I need to cut back on the sauce, but that's been my impression of late.

 

[socialleper]

Geezer Butler plays with a pick from time to time, though never with Black Sabbath/Heaven And Hell.

I've seen footage of Sabbath during the Technical Ecstasy/Never Say Die period where Geezer looks like he is using a pick on a Rickenbacker bass. That's about the only time I've seen though.

 

[Gluvhand]

Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy played with a pick. There is some footage early on of him playing finger style but I 'd say he was almost purely a pick player.