Is that why they say certain basses have a "thuddy" sound?
I'm going to sig this, it's just too good!
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Only with pick
- Thread starter gai113
- Start date
Is that why they say certain basses have a "thuddy" sound?
I'm going to sig this, it's just too good!
are you kidding? she's a jazz musician. of course she's played fast walking bass lines before. all jazz musicians have. just because she recorded mostly pop music doesn't mean she's never done it. can't point you to any recorded examples, but all jazz musicians do it at some point. is there a point to your asking or are you just trying to put pick players in their place?
I think flangers sound great when the bass is played with a pick. That trebly attack of the pick really accentuates the "jet plane" sound of the flanger.
You can slide on a low string and let it ring while you pluck a higher string.
one of the few things im still having problems with
one of the few things im still having problems with
Why would you say that when I said I play with a pick?
I just don't know of any examples of Carol playing straight ahead jazz.
Steve Swallow is more of a jazz musician but he doesn't tend to play real hard bop style.
My point being, walking is the one style that just feels weird with a pick. I think there's a reason you don;t hear too many people do it, therefore I was asking the poster if he felt comfortable doing it.
sorry, bro...had a horrible week culminating in a power struggle with the dolly on my b-15 cab, which i lost. i've really been a bastard on here lately. i need to calm the hell down!
anyway, i honestly don't see it as being so hard for walking bass lines to use a pick. but i started out using a pick so i got used to it. i don't play bebop at all, so maybe that could explain it, but i do some pretty quick walking lines. given my choice i'll use fingers, but i can still bang it with a pick.
Personally I think it takes just as much talent to play with a pick as it does with fingers. I learned both ways when I started out (Carol Kaye books 
) I think it's just insecurity with the pick nay-sayers. Like bass is inferior to guitar or something. We KNOW that's not true.
) I think it's just insecurity with the pick nay-sayers. Like bass is inferior to guitar or something. We KNOW that's not true.Here's a vote for playing with whatever the song calls for. I use fingers, thumb, a pick, slap and pop... Whatever sound I need for the song. If you need to use a pick, because of an injury, roll the tone back or mute with your palm to smooth out the sound a bit.
Is that why they say certain basses have a "thuddy" sound?
Perhaps, though I believe it's just bad technique. You need to hit the string with the curvature of your forehead, then pop another string with your incisors. But I'm still working on that, so for now I just use my head to hit my drummer's crash cymbal.
just thought i'd mention your posts are a lot better now that you've calmed down with the trying to school everyone...i give you an E for effort!
I, for one, never have heard an electric bassist best exemplify the hard bop style better than Steve Swallow. His walking tone and touch is unparalleled. Ever hear the album "Real Book"? All of the tunes from that are pure contemporary hard bop, and the opener "Bite your Grandmother" is walking up tempo the way its meant to be done on electric. Pick playing over the neck is a great way to get the large and round sound needed for a walking line combined with the attack and grit of the attack of an upright bass (the "thump"). It's a great tool.
That's what I do. I have a problem in the tip joint of my right index finger, so I now use a pick 90% of the time. I use light palm muting much of the time, and it works great. On a P-bass, that's a righteous tone IMO.
Before the injury, I played fingerstyle almost all the time, but did use a pick when I felt the song called for it. It was a regular feature of my playing, and I play guitar as well, so I've been surprised how difficult it's been to switch over to a pick almost completely. Even after a year, I sometimes feel restricted by it, especially rhythmically, and the rare switch to fingerstyle (as on a reggae-tinged track) feels liberating.
But I am getting used to it, and it's sure better than not playing at all.
Pick it, finger it, slap it, pop it, or thumb it. It's all good.
If using a pick means you can keep playing, and using your fingers means you can't, there is no question to be answered. Keep playing.
If using a pick means you can keep playing, and using your fingers means you can't, there is no question to be answered. Keep playing.
just thought i'd mention your posts are a lot better now that you've calmed down with the trying to school everyone...i give you an E for effort!
WHOO!
Good question! I can do 'most' fast walking lines with a pick, and the ones I can't I can modify pretty good. A few, however, do require fingerstyle, and those are a bit of a struggle for me, but it's all fun!
I experimented in a studio (at the producer's request) with finger style and three types of flat picks, on a P Bass type with flats. The picks were plastic, stone, and felt, and the felt pick, with a mute, had a very upright sort of envelope, and was hard to differentiate from finger style, especially when played slightly in front of the pick up.
On my BB5000 with flats, I play finger style (most of the time), flat pick, and slap. What I like about the pick style is how easy it is to rake going both ways, and how I find myself think low string to high string more (pick style is mostly a downstroke), than with fingerstyle, which, because we pluck upwards, is more high to low.
On my BB5000 with flats, I play finger style (most of the time), flat pick, and slap. What I like about the pick style is how easy it is to rake going both ways, and how I find myself think low string to high string more (pick style is mostly a downstroke), than with fingerstyle, which, because we pluck upwards, is more high to low.
