OMG, He's using a PICK!!!!

[stevieg]

One very important one you left off your list: Bill Carter of the Screaming Blue Messiahs...

Sorry, I'm not familiar with the Screaming Blue Messiahs.
stevieg

 

[SPIDERFINGERS]

Sir Paul uses a pick. Berry Oakley used a pick. Leon Wilkeson used a pick....

So I figure I'm in a good crowd.

Entwistle too......

 

[stevieg]

There's nothing wrong with simple. I haven't kept up with Thorogood since his heyday in the early '80s, but the original Destroyers were a powerful band. I thought their bass player had a great groove.

Noel Redding was a guitarist who took up bass to play with Jimi and always seemed to resent playing second banana to a black American. But the way his and Mitch Mitchell's playing pushed Hendrix was part of what made the original JHE as exciting as it was. Noel was the right bass player for that band whether he liked it or not. I also love the later music Jimi made with Billy Cox on bass, but it's very different.

I just think Thorogood"s rhythm simplified things far too much. On some songs the bassist played the root. Only.

Regarding Hendrix, I think Mitchell was an exceptional drummer. Noel Redding just did about nothing. It surprised me very much when Fender issues a Noel Redding SignstureJ-bass.

Speaking of bassists I just don't "get", will someone please explain Phil Lesh to me? I listen and don't hear anything exceptional. It seems to me that what he was best at was following Jack Casady's lead for instrument selection for much of his early career.

 

[Ramonesfan59]

Sorry, I'm not familiar with the Screaming Blue Messiahs.
stevieg

One of the great lost bands of the 80s. Never broke through because they were too hard to figure out...and not pretty enough. Devastating live band.
Here's another live clip...

 

[stevieg]

I know him for his work with Jimi, and he was phenomenal in the Experience.

I don't see anything in his discography about working with George Thorogood, I think you may have him confused with someone else

Hey there,
Sorry for the coinfusion. I intended to post two on two subjects. Redding's adding about nothing to the JHE. Secondly the over-simplification of Thorogood's rhythm sections.

 

[NZBassman]

when I started playing about 25 years ago I used a pick and almost never used my fingers..... but I was playing in cover bands and playing on stage usually under lights, I would get hot and sweaty and would have trouble keeping hold of my pick..... half the time my pick would slip out and I'd be forced to play the rest of the song finger style.
So in the end I just gave up the pick and use my fingers 99% of the time now.
some faster songs like Billy Idols 'Rebel Yell' are harder to do finger style as they are quite fast, so I use a pick for the 2-3 songs like that, but otherwise finger style.

 

[Bassbeater]

I've never had an engineer at a studio ask me to play with a pick, then send me packing. That's ludicrous. They are paid to engineer and capture your sound in a session, not tell you how to play. -I've been payed to play bass in many sessions, and worked as hired gun in Hollywood club circuit. Finger playing is a big plus, not a detriment in the studio. Again, I've recorded many bass lines, got paid, never once used a pick in a paid session. Never lost a gig or session pay for finger style playing. Absurd.

 

[Bassbeater]

I always thought what made Noel Redding great was his fine timing. He played a solid pocket in a pretty hectic band.

 

[MDBass]

I've never had an engineer at a studio ask me to play with a pick, then send me packing. That's ludicrous. They are paid to engineer and capture your sound in a session, not tell you how to play. -I've been payed to play bass in many sessions, and worked as hired gun in Hollywood club circuit. Finger playing is a big plus, not a detriment in the studio. Again, I've recorded many bass lines, got paid, never once used a pick in a paid session. Never lost a gig or session pay for finger style playing. Absurd.

If you're being paid to be there, and you can't (or won't) produce the sound the artist or producer is looking for, you have no business being there.

Suggesting that an engineer who asks you to use a pick isn't a real engineer is silly when some of the most recorded bassists in history have only used picks.

I've been working as a session bassist myself in Los Angeles for over a decade, and making it sound "right" is all that matters; sometimes that means fingers, sometimes that means a pick, sometimes that means slap, sometimes that means rounds, sometimes that means flats, sometimes that means foam mutes, etc.

Being combative about only playing fingerstyle does you no favors at all; refusing to be proficient at pick playing only serves to preclude you from getting hired by people who want that sound.

 

[ChrisWright]

A good musician should be prepared to use any technique that makes the song sound right.
Picks, fingers, fingerpicks, slapping, tapping, harmonics, ebow, broken bottle, funk fingers, etc.
You can't cling too preciously to one.

Largely agree for cover bands, studio musicians, etc. But - if one helps best to define your sound (ref: Mr. Squire), then the “full toolkit” argument means less. To me anyway.

 

[MDBass]

Hey there,
Sorry for the coinfusion. I intended to post two on two subjects. Redding's adding about nothing to the JHE. Secondly the over-simplification of Thorogood's rhythm sections.

What's "good" in art will always be subjective.

My only real point was that some of the most famous and recorded bassist in the history of recorded music only used a pick, so it shouldn't really be surprising to find that the pick style sound is sometimes what works best for a track

 

[Pops OB]

"LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!"

 

[stevieg]

I always thought what made Noel Redding great was his fine timing. He played a solid pocket in a pretty hectic band.

No disrespect intended. When I listen to Noel Redding, I just don't hear much. Great timing is what every bassist should just intuitively understand. If it's not there, perhaps bass shouls not be his instrument of choice.

 

[Bassbeater]

IMO Noel Redding deserves a trophy or public statuary for making Jimi Hendrix sound in time with the drums. I think he might have played with a pick to distance himself from the decision of where to place the "one".

 

[stevieg]

Hey Bassbeater,

Point taken.
stevieg

 

[stevieg]

Don't underestimate Mitch Mitchell.

 

[B-Mac]

One of the covers bands I was with played a number of Yes tunes. For all of them I played pizzacato. No problem or questions from bandmates. Also I read somewhere, I think, that Squire actually used a filed quarter for a pick. Veracity check may be needed.
-stevieg

Actually, it’s in a YouTube video where he said he’s done that, but I don’t believe on a regular basis.

 

[B-Mac]

Steve Swallow always uses a pick, which for a jazz player is unheard of. So he's a jazz rebel in two ways: electric, though that is not looked down upon so much. Particularly since Miles gave electric bass his imprimatur, secondly Swallow uses a pick. And he is an outstanding musician, and probably underrated.

Steve Swallow actually uses a pick made out of copper

 

[Callused Finger]

It's whatever you want to do. No one dictates whether or not you should be using a pick.

 

[stevieg]

Steve Swallow actually uses a pick made out of copper

Really? I did not know that. I winder what that does to his tonality. I think the real story though was the Parker Fly. I know he no longer uses that (are they still made). Anyone know what his current rig is?
stevieg