Carol Kaye still plays with a pick, so it's not a question of age
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Pick virtuosi?
- Thread starter Raman
- Start date
When I was in uni, my best friend got a fretless jazz bass. I picked it up and started playing it with a plectrum and he found it scandalous.
Edit: it was a lined fretless, btw. Don't go thinking I can play fretless. I can barely play fretted.
Last edited:
So don't show him this
I think it sounds awesome
I do to. To be fair, I don't think either of us had any idea who Franklin was at the time. I didn't know who he was until his signature bass came out and I Googled him. I would love to own one, but would probably give up trying to figure out how to play it after about 30 minutes.
I play comfortably with a pick or fingerstyle as the song demands, no problems. Can't slap to save my life though. I'd have to add a vote for Chris Squire as a top flight pick player.
For me though, the bigger question is where to pluck the strings. I tend to pluck them up close to the end of the fretboard, like Geezer Butler, and this seems to start even more intense discussions than the ancient - and rather silly- pick v fingers debate.
For me though, the bigger question is where to pluck the strings. I tend to pluck them up close to the end of the fretboard, like Geezer Butler, and this seems to start even more intense discussions than the ancient - and rather silly- pick v fingers debate.
You got it Jeff, pretty much spot on. The youngsters and the weekend warriors all think I'm weird, but it works for me. I prefer the tone with the strings plucked way up there.
I've gone higher, even, sometimes up to around the 12th fret depending on the tone I'm seeking.
Entwistle used a pick and fingers interchangeably on Live at Leeds and throughout the Moon era at least.
Last edited:
That very well could be, but I don't remember seeing a picture from the Leeds time period with him using fingers.
Really liked the Tony Franklin stuff posted above! I saw him around 1984-85 with The Firm in Cleveland.
Heaven and Hell was always played fingerstyle, check out and most of the rest of this show.
Well, he starts with a pick at about 1:24. Maybe he dropped it and only had one. 
(It also sounds like mud)
(It also sounds like mud)
Well, he starts with a pick at about 1:24. Maybe he dropped it and only had one.
(It also sounds like mud)
Guess I should have watched that video before linking, it's been a while since I saw that one. Obviously wrong, but in the rest of the show he uses his fingers quite a bit, Young Man Blues is for sure fingerstyle.
The sound is what it is; I'm sure your set in front of 600,000 people in 1970 was recorded much better, right? But seriously, the tapes were unearthed in 1996 and it wasn't like they set out to record a live album there as they had done with Leeds and Hull with a mobile truck.
There's also great video of their Tanglewood performance from July 1970 on YouTube with plenty of great picking and fingering by The Ox. But, I think this whole debate proves a great point: Entwistle was great with pick or without, and a lot of people mistakenly put him in the fingerstyle only camp post-Tommy. Similarly, I've seen videos of early Dead that showed Phil Lesh playing fingerstyle, where I thought he was solely a pick player. That both guys retained their same level of attack and signature sound with both is astounding to me.
Carol Kaye, a master of picked bass, has advised always picking close to the neck “for the best tone.” Joe Osborn picked up there as well; check out the old Ricky Nelson video clips on youtube. When playing live and for more growl I point to Roger Waters’ playing near the bridge in the Live at Pompeii. Serve the song, gang!
