as I play finger style I do need a pedal that can be used to simulate various pick attack sounds, I seem to recall some compressors being fairly good at this. The sounds I'm after is a Steve Harris type attack
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Need a stand some pedal that can simulate pick attack
- Thread starter KillerEddie
- Start date
You know Steve Harris plays with his fingers right?
boost 1kHz and play harder. Lower action and thinner strings may help. Just look at what Geddy Lee has been doing since the 70s. He has got a pretty pick-like tone with fingers in my book.
Though like everybody else has said Harris plays fingerstyle and I am pretty sure he has gotten pretty thick flatwound strings too. I think getting the sound you are after is a question of technique first and foremost.
Though like everybody else has said Harris plays fingerstyle and I am pretty sure he has gotten pretty thick flatwound strings too. I think getting the sound you are after is a question of technique first and foremost.
yep - SH plays with a hard, percussive finger attack that bounces the strings off the fretboard making that "clank" sound that is somewhat like a pick attack. Geezer Butler and Alex Webster (Cannibal Corpse) do something similar.
low action helps. there is thread in "Technique" about it somewhere that I'll link to when i'm not rushing...
EDIT: here it is:
Demystifying Metal styles, how to make fingerstyle playing heard in Metal
low action helps. there is thread in "Technique" about it somewhere that I'll link to when i'm not rushing...
EDIT: here it is:
Demystifying Metal styles, how to make fingerstyle playing heard in Metal
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A lot of players these days are attaching small containers, like an empty Altoids tin, to their pedalboards, to store their spare picks. That is the best way I can think of to get a pick sound from your pedalboard. 
It's been mentioned before but I'll say it again: Steve Harris is a fingerstyle player. A good teacher can show you right-hand and left-hand techniques to get a wide range of tones from your bass. It is possible to make your bass sound warm and sweet, or clanky and aggressive, or lots of other sounds in between those extremes, simply using your hands.
It's been mentioned before but I'll say it again: Steve Harris is a fingerstyle player. A good teacher can show you right-hand and left-hand techniques to get a wide range of tones from your bass. It is possible to make your bass sound warm and sweet, or clanky and aggressive, or lots of other sounds in between those extremes, simply using your hands.
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Don't look for gear solutions to technique issues, unless you have a physical disability.
If you want to sound like you're using a pick, you need to learn how to use a pick.
- Feb 16, 2008
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- John K Custom Basses
+1 on the steel leather. i have one and it simulates a pick attack pretty well.
"I want to sound like I use a pick without using a pick. What can I buy?" Land o' Goshen! Kids today.
I considered that but I've heard stories of that pedal being pretty harsh on speakers. Is that true?
- Feb 16, 2008
- 21,240
- 23,638
- Disclosures
- John K Custom Basses
I don't know about an effect that simulates pick attack, but I use different picks to change up my pick attack.
When I use picks that is.
When I use picks that is.
IMO, Steve Harris sound is different than a pick sound. Learn the technique, and also learn with a pick, it will give you new tools and a broader palette of sounds to play with. Then you will be able which technique gives you the best sound for each song.
How much stuff are you playing that needs a pick sound? If it's a lot, then just put in the time to learn a pick. If not much, then why drop a hundred or so dollars on a box that will at best marginally make fingers sound like a pick when you could spend $5 for a handful of picks and 30 minutes a day woodshedding and actually be a picked bass?
I mainly really want that pick attack type sound when playing rock and metal but I prefer the low end beefiness of fingers so in order to get that pick like high end bite I use fresh roundwound strings and an overdrive. A really thin/flexible pick will have some characteristics of a compressor because as you play harder the pick flexes more. So in that way a compressor can get you half way there. But an overdrive can change the characteristics of the attack and most overdrives tend to add a little compression as well.
This is a song I tracked with a darkglass b7k ultra and a sans amp running parallel into two tracks. Check out the verse at 27 seconds into the song for an example.
