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

[Blankandson]

I've been off the pick for too many years. I don't 'need' to use one, but a year or so ago I though I'd pick one up and start playing it again. Wrong! I couldn't do anything with it. Possibly because I'm almost 70. But 2016 I broke several tiny finger bones around my pinky and that put the scare in me about finger playing. Anyway I tried - and couldn't do it again.

 

[Tynker]

I am no doubt in the minority here if not completely solo. I do finger and haven't used a pick in many many years, altho I keep considering it, however, I do "thumb" play too which I find has a different tone to it, deeper as compared to finger picking which I like more for certain songs.

 

[B-Mac]

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

Here's some info. He's been playing Citron 5 stringers for a bit now tuned E A D G C

Link Removed

Kurrent Music. A Collaborative Music Blog

Steve Swallow

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Steve Swallow (AE5 Swallow Signature Custom) : Harvey Citron

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[B-Mac]

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.

I have no idea what your situation is, but if you are hired for session work, or even as a musician in an orchestra pit for a musical you play the way they tell you to play. Period. You're a hired contractor doing a specific job. I'm not talking about some gig in a local club or playing in an actual band where the band is calling the shots. I'm talking about a gun for hire, or in this case a bassist for hire.

 

[Bassbeater]

I am no doubt in the minority here if not completely solo. I do finger and haven't used a pick in many many years, altho I keep considering it, however, I do "thumb" play too which I find has a different tone to it, deeper as compared to finger picking which I like more for certain songs.

Fred Thomas played with his thumb (James Brown Band). He has one of the nastiest funk pockets that ever was. I seem to recall that was a very early technique in electric bass history. I play like this sometimes too for the deep tone you describe.
-I have never played bass for hire in an orchestra. I played as hired gun for about 8 years. Rock, punk, pop, country, hip-hop. Studio playing and live playing. The pick was never an issue. Playing 5 string was. On stage some bands or managers wanted the look of a 4 string. The solution to that was hanging the 5 string lower than normal to de-geek it. Some finger players wear the 5 string like a choker chain and that's a no go in popular music on stage. You have to look cool during live performance and that can be an ergonomic challenge. Finger style was never an issue though, you just need to let your junk hang low on stage for the visual. That might be the real issue because it's more ergonomically correct to play with a pick when the bass is slung low.

 

[Stevevisits]

I have to say all the studios I've been to none have ever asked me to use a pick...I can see sometimes its easier for people to get in the same time as the guitarist if its that style of music where your just playing the same exact thing as the guitarist.I've never had trouble keeping up with real fast riffs...when I saw Alex Webster didn't need a pick I was motivated to make my fingers as fast as I can! I guess for tone purposes I could see getting that sound.

 

[hombass]

In my 35 or so years of playing I started as a pick player and stuck to that until @ 10 years ago, when I put the picks away and forced myself to develop a finger style. I have stuck with playing almost exclusively with my fingers ever since.... until @ 3 months ago.

I haven't really played in a cover band in @10 years, but now I'm playing some songs that simply don't work as well with fingers, they need that attack and precision of a pick. So now I'm at @50/50 fingers/pick during my bands sets.

Anyone else coming to this realization?

Fu uh huck no!!!! I bought a fancy sunset orange transparent ash body p-j fender terribly beautiful bass guitar and banished the pick after 37 years of using a fender thin and sometimes a brass pick. Just couldnt stand to see that 1500$ bass scratched with a pick. Now i have 257 different picks including the orbitz kind that wraps around your index finger and i do NOT play any of them. About 29 seconds into a song with a pick and im dropping them on the floor. If you want the hard attack of a pick, smack the string against the upper frets, if you want a pinched harmonic pinch it with your index and f**k finger, you can get anything you want at alices restaraunt, and also with your fingers, fingernails, hammering, tapping, anything you feel gets you your tone. My homemade basses will get you any tone you want, you just have to hit them just right!!!! So smack it pluck it bash it slam hammer it anyway you want and it should sound like you wannna it toos! Loool

 

[hombass]

Oh, I won't stand for that nonsense...
NO RULES, It's MUSIC, and if we had to follow rules for music we'd still be smacking tree trunks with rocks and be satisfied.

Nuthin wrong with a tree trunk! Should see the african aboriginals carving cool stuff out of EBONY logs!

 

[hombass]

I have to say all the studios I've been to none have ever asked me to use a pick...I can see sometimes its easier for people to get in the same time as the guitarist if its that style of music where your just playing the same exact thing as the guitarist.I've never had trouble keeping up with real fast riffs...when I saw Alex Webster didn't need a pick I was motivated to make my fingers as fast as I can! I guess for tone purposes I could see getting that sound.

Ack in the day, studios used to have a guy on doghouse bass and another guy on a fender bass or a detuned guitar, play doubled one guy with fingers, one guy with pick. (Jesus try and figure that one out) to get the pick sound with the low note of a double bass. I think on some early Marty Robbins tunes they did that.

 

[hombass]

Geezer used a pick........once.

Geezer hammers the string on the last frets the wqy i do!!! Get some really bitchin harmonic screamers on reverb and chorus thatmakes the guitar guy cry and whine that youre up in his frequencies! Looooool actually had a guitar guy quit playing during a hellecious jam, when i asked him why he quit, he said "you were up in my range of frequencies" whahh! Smoke a bowl and get over it! Loool

 

[hombass]

In my 35 or so years of playing I started as a pick player and stuck to that until @ 10 years ago, when I put the picks away and forced myself to develop a finger style. I have stuck with playing almost exclusively with my fingers ever since.... until @ 3 months ago.

I haven't really played in a cover band in @10 years, but now I'm playing some songs that simply don't work as well with fingers, they need that attack and precision of a pick. So now I'm at @50/50 fingers/pick during my bands sets.

Anyone else coming to this realization?

No. Fingers for---ever. Cant play with a pick.

 

[hombass]

In my 35 or so years of playing I started as a pick player and stuck to that until @ 10 years ago, when I put the picks away and forced myself to develop a finger style. I have stuck with playing almost exclusively with my fingers ever since.... until @ 3 months ago.

I haven't really played in a cover band in @10 years, but now I'm playing some songs that simply don't work as well with fingers, they need that attack and precision of a pick. So now I'm at @50/50 fingers/pick during my bands sets.

Anyone else coming to this realization?

No i play only with fingers aaaaaand here is a good place to put my advert in for string longevity! ALWAYS ALWAYS WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP AND WATER BEFORE PLAYING YOUR BASS, WHEN YOU GIG, GO TO THE CAN AND THEN WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP AND WATER AT EVERY BREAK!!!! Your strings will last longer your tone will be consistent and never EVER loan your 2100$ fender strat+ with lsr roller nut, schaller locking tuners, and hipshot tremsetter bridge to the guitar guy who hands the shager back to you after the gig and the fretboard stinks from his scurvy ass hands ever! Loool been down the road on some of this stuff guys and it dont pay to let ANYONE ELSE EXCEPT YER MAMA HANDLE YOUR AXES!!!! LOL

 

[hombass]

Fred Thomas played with his thumb (James Brown Band). He has one of the nastiest funk pockets that ever was. I seem to recall that was a very early technique in electric bass history. I play like this sometimes too for the deep tone you describe.
-I have never played bass for hire in an orchestra. I played as hired gun for about 8 years. Rock, punk, pop, country, hip-hop. Studio playing and live playing. The pick was never an issue. Playing 5 string was. On stage some bands or managers wanted the look of a 4 string. The solution to that was hanging the 5 string lower than normal to de-geek it. Some finger players wear the 5 string like a choker chain and that's a no go in popular music on stage. You have to look cool during live performance and that can be an ergonomic challenge. Finger style was never an issue though, you just need to let your junk hang low on stage for the visual. That might be the real issue because it's more ergonomically correct to play with a pick when the bass is slung low.

The big deal here is playing lapped as opposed to playing standing up. Bass guys and guitar guys who where an axe like a necklace are used to playing sitting down. Key to this is play standing up even at home on your own. Then you wont look goofy or have carple wrist from hand dangling over the top of your bass.

 

[Captain Comet]

I started on guitar and picked up the bass much later. I was married to using a pick for the first 5 years. I also was in a rock/metal band at the time. One thing I noticed is that the tendon that runs outside of my picking elbow got huge compared to the other one, because some of the effort came from there.

I asked a good friend, who also is a bass player, how to learn to play fingerstyle, and his reply was "put the @#$#ing pick down!" That was his sage advice. It worked. Within 2 months I was pretty much up to speed. It certainly felt like it too less effort to play without the pick, focused more in the hand. I haven't wanted to use a pick since. I became a "pick snob" ....

Then I see videos with Chris Squier and Roger Glover using picks .... arghhh! I love these guys. When you listen to some of the pieces they play, you kind of know that most everyone would need a pick to duplicate what they do. I have relaxed my point of view since.

 

[stevieg]

Here's some info. He's been playing Citron 5 stringers for a bit now tuned E A D G C

Link Removed

Kurrent Music. A Collaborative Music Blog

Steve Swallow

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Steve Swallow (AE5 Swallow Signature Custom) : Harvey Citron

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Thank you, B-Mac,
Swallow's Parker Fly was also tuned C-G-D-A-E. I have a Carvin fretless with the same tuning. I was inspired by Swallow. The difference however is that Swallow's Parker had piezo pickup whikle the Carvin has magnetic pickups. In retrospect, I should have had my Rob Allen MB-2 tuned that way instead of with a low B. Since the Rob Allen also has a piezo pickup I think it would have been closer to the tone Swallow got with his Parker.
Occasionally I put on a Swallow disc and ask a musical visitor to guess the instrumnent. Very few guess electric bass. Many think it's a lute (?!?). I think the combination of a piezo pickup and a high C make Swallow's tone so unique.

Do the Harvey Citron's have piezo pickups?

 

[Andrew 17]

Interesting, relevant thread. Clearly, how each of us approaches playing is unique and variable, and there is no ultimately "correct" answer. That said, over decades I have adopted a core philosophy of serving the song, playing what is most appropriate, if not what is required for this. Players that I admire such as Jamerson, McCartney, Dee Murray, Colin Moulding, Bruce Thomas, Leland Sklar, (and many more), embody and model this approach. As such, it seems important to be versatile and adept with different techniques depending on musical context. Personally, I had exclusively played bass finger style for many years, along with some slapping. More recently, after hearing artists such as Bobby Vega and Cody Wright, I realized that using a pick provided an additional pallet of options, and have been working on this consistently. Both a humbling and enjoyable process. While just learning, I am also enjoying palm muting, harmonics, tapping, etc., along with more seriously taking up fretless bass a couple of years ago. As I move through my 60s, I am increasingly interested in growing and expanding what is possible on the bass! Happy holidays and happy playing to all....

 

[stevieg]

Interesting, relevant thread. Clearly, how each of us approaches playing is unique and variable, and there is no ultimately "correct" answer. That said, over decades I have adopted a core philosophy of serving the song, playing what is most appropriate, if not what is required for this. Players that I admire such as Jamerson, McCartney, Dee Murray, Colin Moulding, Bruce Thomas, Leland Sklar, (and many more), embody and model this approach. As such, it seems important to be versatile and adept with different techniques depending on musical context. Personally, I had exclusively played bass finger style for many years, along with some slapping. More recently, after hearing artists such as Bobby Vega and Cody Wright, I realized that using a pick provided an additional pallet of options, and have been working on this consistently. Both a humbling and enjoyable process. While just learning, I am also enjoying palm muting, harmonics, tapping, etc., along with more seriously taking up fretless bass a couple of years ago. As I move through my 60s, I am increasingly interested in growing and expanding what is possible on the bass! Happy holidays and happy playing to all....

Andrew 17,
Dee Murray and Lee Sklar (with whoim I share a birthday by the way)! Good call. Particularly Murray, who I see very rarely mentioned. He is a fantastic player and is very worthy of more mention. One more who should get far more recognition is Graham Maby, who plays with Joe Jackson. He never fails to impress me with his note selection and technique, well presented on "Steppin' Out".

 

[B-Mac]

Thank you, B-Mac,
Swallow's Parker Fly was also tuned C-G-D-A-E. I have a Carvin fretless with the same tuning. I was inspired by Swallow. The difference however is that Swallow's Parker had piezo pickup whikle the Carvin has magnetic pickups. In retrospect, I should have had my Rob Allen MB-2 tuned that way instead of with a low B. Since the Rob Allen also has a piezo pickup I think it would have been closer to the tone Swallow got with his Parker.
Occasionally I put on a Swallow disc and ask a musical visitor to guess the instrumnent. Very few guess electric bass. Many think it's a lute (?!?). I think the combination of a piezo pickup and a high C make Swallow's tone so unique.

Do the Harvey Citron's have piezo pickups?

I believe the Citron’s have a piezo and a small magnetic pu at the end of the neck similar to an Epi Zenith

 

[Funky Ghost]

I was watching a vid this morning and was surprised to see Tommy Shannon using a pick. I didn't pick up on that until this morning. He's such a beast so I'm not surprised that he was equally as adept but in my mind I had him firmly in the finger only group. My mistake clearly!

 

[Andrew 17]

Andrew 17,
Dee Murray and Lee Sklar (with whoim I share a birthday by the way)! Good call. Particularly Murray, who I see very rarely mentioned. He is a fantastic player and is very worthy of more mention. One more who should get far more recognition is Graham Maby, who plays with Joe Jackson. He never fails to impress me with his note selection and technique, well presented on "Steppin' Out".

stevieg,

Thank you for your reply. Yes, on several counts. Dee Murray was, indeed, a fine player with wonderful melodic sense, feel, timing, dynamics. So much admire his work with Elton John, as part of the rhythm section with Nigel Olson. Agreed about Graham Maby as well. He is very much worthy of mention in any list of tasteful, creative players. Recently learned the bass part to Stepping Out, a masterful part. Started with finger style, and noticed on a video that he plays this with a pick! Wow, much to work on there. Lastly, I found a great interview with him in the archives of BassPlayer Magazine. Very much worth the read.