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Green Day tribute - pick or fingers?

neurotictim

neurotictim

Jan 2, 2008
2,637
2,101
Virginia Beach, Virginia
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#1
I'm putting together a Green Day tribute band, as I have always loved them. I've found some people interested in participating in this as a side project, and we're almost set to start booking, with the intent of playing out maybe once or twice a month.

The question is, do I use a pick, play fingerstyle, or does it really matter?

The band isn't a "perfect" tribute band - no one is wearing guyliner, or black and red outfits (though that's not 100%). We've got four members and may add a fifth, if we can find a better "Billie Joe" vocalist. If we do, he's not gonna play the guitar - two is enough - and my backing vocals aren't anywhere near the range of Mike Dirnt's.

I can play virtually all the tunes we're gonna cover (the fast ones, the hits) fingerstyle, more or less note-for-note. I'm still cleaning up some things here and there, but I've got it covered.

I've been working on upping my game with a pick, but after a while my pick hand starts to cramp, and I'm nowhere near as clean with the pick.

I feel like the "P-bass with a pick" tone is the essential Mike Dirnt sound, and am willing to continue working on it, but the others think it doesn't make that much of a difference. When you factor in the relative ease with which I play the tunes sans pick, the seemingly obvious choice is that I should just go with what sounds better, yet I still feel like I would capture that sound if I worked more with my right hand technique.

I'm leaning towards playing what I am capable of playing cleanly with a pick, and for the more questionable or difficult songs switching to fingers, but even that has it's problem - the change in tone from one song to the next.

So, oh mighty TB brethren, what say you?
 
#2
The cramping goes away eventually. You already answered your question by saying "but even that has it's problem - the change in tone from one song to the next."

If you can practice enough so the cramping goes away and you like the tone better with a pick....go for it!

If not...I would get a pre-amp or something like a sansamp rack amp emulator and crank the mids and play with your fingers!
 
#4
Get the tone, doesn't matter how you play it. My cover band does a green day medley, some older and newer tunes mashed together, and I play it finger style. It works best for me that way. I use a p with the volume and tone wide open with a little overdrive for certain parts. Works for me.
 
#5
Maybe, because it is pop music after all, looks should be a factor too, at least if you're into that sort of thing. You might look a little cooler making huge, over-dramatic strums like bassists on TV do, but again that's up to you. I know I wouldn't do that, just an option.
 
#6
I actually just got done going through the set list - just a touch over an hour long - and played the whole time with a pick. It's still rough, but I just think it's going to sound better that way. The tunes I'm having real trouble with picking are the more acrobatic songs - Minority, Longview, and a couple of others. I was practicing on my RUmble 100 combo, though, so I'm going to hold off till I hear my playing through my gigging rig.

Looks are a factor, to a point, but the main goal of this project is to faithfully reproduce the sound of Green Day with a high-energy show - with the high-energy part being the key. We can tweak the look as we go, but I will say that it's a lot "cooler" looking to bang away with the pick.

Some good points here, I'm still open to suggestion.
 
#7
I think the songs should be played with a pick. It might be hard at first, but I think you will be glad that you learned how to play that way. I have found a few things that help with right hand endurance when playing with a pick. First, don't squeeze the pick. Second, don't anchor your right hand to the bass. Don't play too hard, and avoid the temptation to use the heaviest pick you can find.
 
#13
Good luck with your project. The band I'm in right now was a Green Day tribute band before I joined. They had positive reception but "do you play anything else" became too much of a theme I guess.

I say play it with a pick since it's a tribute band. I hate playing with a pick but I would do so if I was in your position.

I think my favorite thing to play out of all their songs is that really fast bridge\bass solo\break down in Welcome to Paradise or Holiday. Longview got so old before I even gigged it, haha.
 
#14
do yourself a favor and learn the carol kaye method of using a pick. your hand should never hurt when using a pick EVER. it does not get easier along the way...it gets much harder and can lead to crippling injuries. i had to totally quit playing with a pick until i learned carol's method. there are instructions on here, and some youtube examples of her playing where you can see it in action. best thing you can do in your position.
 
#18
I was in the same situation when I started my Guns N Roses tribute band and was having the same issues. I took some lessons with a teacher that specialized in pick technique. Now I play with a pick almost exclusively as in three years of using one, I've far surpassed my fingerstyle ability that I had worked on for the previous ten (mostly due to a heavier current gigging schedule).

I don't have any discomfort, cramping, soreness etc. after playing with the pick now. During a show I can tell right away if I'm holding the pick too tightly because it makes the picking motion much less fluid.
 
#19
zephyr_words said:
Good luck with your project. The band I'm in right now was a Green Day tribute band before I joined. They had positive reception but "do you play anything else" became too much of a theme I guess.

I say play it with a pick since it's a tribute band. I hate playing with a pick but I would do so if I was in your position.

I think my favorite thing to play out of all their songs is that really fast bridge\bass solo\break down in Welcome to Paradise or Holiday. Longview got so old before I even gigged it, haha.
Click to expand...

We're planning a roughly hour-long set, with one "encore" tune, and one of the big, key points of this band is that we're going to put a lot of energy into the show - only doing the faster GD songs, ideally rolling from one song to the next so fast that people don't have time to fit a request in before the count in to the next tune. We'll also be playing with a split bill - it'll be us and a couple of other bands - so hopefully that'll cut down the "do you play anything else" trend.

I actually love playing the newer, American Idiot stuff much more than the older stuff - the bass isn't as complex, but the songwriting is SO much better, IMO - but really I love it all. My current "I'm so over it" song is She, but that's balanced out by four tracks from AI - Holiday, AI, Jesus of Suburbia (what an awesome prog song!) and St. Jimmy. I'm also currently digging the heck out of Minority.

As a side note, I'm slinging the bass low - not super-duper Mike Dirnt low, but just below my waist - and I'm having a really hard time getting the palm muting for some songs - Holiday comes to mind, and one other (whose name I can't quite remember at the moment) - any tips on that?

:bassist:

JimmyM said:
do yourself a favor and learn the carol kaye method of using a pick. your hand should never hurt when using a pick EVER. it does not get easier along the way...it gets much harder and can lead to crippling injuries. i had to totally quit playing with a pick until i learned carol's method. there are instructions on here, and some youtube examples of her playing where you can see it in action. best thing you can do in your position.
Click to expand...

I'll definitely do some searching after work - the cramping isn't bad, and if I play a song or two fingerstyle when I start cramping it goes away completely, but I am worried about permanent damage or having to try to un-learn bad habits. Thanks for the tip!
 

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