Rickenbacker with a Pick - WOW

[Spectrum]

I was always a finger style player until a couple of years ago when I got my 4003. Something about Rics makes you want to play with a pick. I was also starting to mess around with guitar and there are a few bass lines that really need a pick to play right especially stuff by Tool with lots of drone and double stops, so it all came together eventually and now I can play pick style fairly well for a lot of tunes and go back and forth whenever it suits me.

 

[bobyoung53]

Ghastly -
Besides just putting in the time to just get comfortable with it, the other factor was learning how to hold a pick correctly.

My first inclination was to hold the pick with my index finger & thumb, with the rest of my fingers extended and dragging downward (think of doing the "OK" gesture upside down.") Luckily my son (who is a much more advanced bassist than I and very adept with both a pick & fingers) showed me the correct way to hold a pick - hold with index, middle & thumb with ring & pinky fingers loosely tucked under, more like a loose fist.

I'm certain others have their own techniques which work for them. I'm still working at it, but the rest of it has just been putting in the time. I'm fortunate that I have several weeks before our first rehearsal this year and before we start gigging, so I should be pretty well good to go by then.

Now that I'm getting this down, the coolest thing is how motivated I am to learn even more Beatles material. I've learned that playing with a pick is essential to nailing many of McCartney's bass lines. I learned "Hey Bulldog" last week, which features a very cool bass part (aren't most of McCartney's parts ultra cool?,) which scared the hell out of me when I first REALLY gave it a listen a year or so ago. It's not on our list of songs to learn yet, but I'll be ready as soon as it is. The technique has also helped me on parts I previously struggled reproducing accurately with fingers, like on the 3rd verse of "Taxman," intro to "Paperback Writer," and many others.

I've been mostly a finger player also for many years, would play the odd tune here and there with a pick but never got a punchy tone with them, kind of too clicky. I then read an article by Bobby Vega in bass player a few months ago and he recommended using the wide side of the pick rather than the narrow pointy end. Huge difference. Incidentally Fenders sound great with picks too. I play both Ricks and Fenders. Fenders are much easier to palm mute than Ricks.

 

[electracoyote]

Wow indeed. Especially on a Ric 4003, but pretty much on any bass.

Good skill, if developing new tones in your palette is a goal. Takes a little time, but give it 10 minutes a day for a good long stretch and see what happens. Run some scales, play some simpler phrases, and don't go any faster than clean accurate playing allows. In general, use a down-up-down-up stroke pattern on any notes shorter than quarters. You need to develop a little versatility while you're at it, this is the best way.

 

[Snowglo]

Like the OP, I was a finger guy (hahaha) since I began in the early 70's. Mainly because I learned on an upright before moving to electric a few years later. Anyway, it wasn't until I purchased my first 4003 in April of 2104 when I began the transition to a pick. I rarely play without one now. Really brings out the punch and tone of a Rick IMO.

 

[Spectrum]

I found jamming along to Pink Floyd's Money was a fun way to practice with a pick. It's not too fast, and it's repetitive enough to build muscle memory without being a boring line to play. Plus there's some string-skipping and even a little palm-muting in the middle guitar solo part for a few bars. You can palm mute with a Ric; you just have to work on the technique a little.

 

[nixdad]

Wow indeed. Especially on a Ric 4003, but pretty much on any bass.

Good skill, if developing new tones in your palette is a goal. Takes a little time, but give it 10 minutes a day for a good long stretch and see what happens. Run some scales, play some simpler phrases, and don't go any faster than clean accurate playing allows. In general, use a down-up-down-up stroke pattern on any notes shorter than quarters. You need to develop a little versatility while you're at it, this is the best way.

Agreed. I've been doing my best to work as much down-up-down into my practicing, and not do downstrokes exclusively. It's interesting to watch Will Lee in his Beatles band The Fab Faux - he seems to do upstrokes exclusively.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[nixdad]

Like the OP, I was a finger guy (hahaha) since I began in the early 70's. Mainly because I learned on an upright before moving to electric a few years later. Anyway, it wasn't until I purchased my first 4003 in April of 2104 when I began the transition to a pick. I rarely play without one now. Really brings out the punch and tone of a Rick IMO.

+100 on the Ricky with a pick.

Snowglo - I take it you have a Snowglo Rick?

 

[electracoyote]

Agreed. I've been doing my best to work as much down-up-down into my practicing, and not do downstrokes exclusively. It's interesting to watch Will Lee in his Beatles band The Fab Faux - he seems to do upstrokes exclusively.

Thanks for the advice!

Yep, Will definitely favors the upstroke. Proof that rules are meant to be bent and broken.

As a teacher, I always start with "orthodox," but I'm not so stodgy as to deny that idiosyncrasies will occur with time.

I can't say for sure, but there's a chance that if the tempo was fast enough and he was required to play 16th or 32nd notes, Mr. Lee may hit the wall if he is not equally adept at both down and up strokes.

 

[Snowglo]

+100 on the Ricky with a pick.

Snowglo - I take it you have a Snowglo Rick?

 

[Snowglo]

What helps me palm mute a Rick;

1) with a stock bridge, remove the mute assembly, especially the adjustment screws

2) upgrade to a Hipshot bridge

 

[nixdad]

View attachment 821110

Man, that is a sexy beast!
For gosh sake, stop hiding her under those freakin' stickers.

 

[jacolyte]

Boy, did my world just open up. ... I've always enjoyed the tone from McCartney, Chris Squire, Lemmy and Geddy Lee, but WOW. This has opened up the possibilities for me.

your story really resonates with me; mine is similar. i, too, started playing in the late '70s, after hearing 2112. i had to have a rick, like geddy, and i had to play fingerstyle, like geddy.

a few decades later, i had long since climbed that mountain, and was finding it increasingly challenging to stay engaged and not bore myself. i was picking up the bass for maybe one 15-minute session a month, so i started searching for something to renew my interest. fretless helped for a while, and still does, but doesn't scratch all the itches. i played around with 6-string guitar, and that's fun, and i'll keep at that too, but again, a sense of fulfillment was missing. finally, after seeing chris squire from the front row in 2014, i decided to get serious about developing some pick chops on bass.

click! that was it!

playing is as much fun again as when i first started out. i can't wait to get home from work and strap on a bass; i'm playing almost every day again, at least a couple hours, sometimes all day on a weekend. started buying gear again - went from 9 basses to 21 and from 1 rick to 7! i still have a long way to go to get my pick chops up to gig standards, but that's the fun of it - the sense of terra incognita, and the feeling of reinventing myself is immensely satisfying.

i guess i just wanted to share my enthusiasm. thanks for your post. think i'll go play a bit...

 

[nixdad]

your story really resonates with me; mine is similar. i, too, started playing in the late '70s, after hearing 2112. i had to have a rick, like geddy, and i had to play fingerstyle, like geddy.

a few decades later, i had long since climbed that mountain, and was finding it increasingly challenging to stay engaged and not bore myself. i was picking up the bass for maybe one 15-minute session a month, so i started searching for something to renew my interest. fretless helped for a while, and still does, but doesn't scratch all the itches. i played around with 6-string guitar, and that's fun, and i'll keep at that too, but again, a sense of fulfillment was missing. finally, after seeing chris squire from the front row in 2014, i decided to get serious about developing some pick chops on bass.

click! that was it!

playing is as much fun again as when i first started out. i can't wait to get home from work and strap on a bass; i'm playing almost every day again, at least a couple hours, sometimes all day on a weekend. started buying gear again - went from 9 basses to 21 and from 1 rick to 7! i still have a long way to go to get my pick chops up to gig standards, but that's the fun of it - the sense of terra incognita, and the feeling of reinventing myself is immensely satisfying.

i guess i just wanted to share my enthusiasm. thanks for your post. think i'll go play a bit...

Great, post, and I absolutely agree.
9 basses to 21...1 Rick to 7? Man, you have been bitten big time!

It's all about the fun. Discovery like this is such a kick.

 

[flashgod]

I bought my Rick years ago because I was looking for the idea pick style bass. Playing pick with a P Bass sounds great, but the Rick puts it into another dimension, especially when you shape the sound with a little overdrive of the tupe amp. This sounds awesome and is still my fav setting. Rick rules the rock

 

[SirMjac28]

Congrats on joining the pick nation I play my Hofner and P bass with a pick.

 

[CORBS]

With a Ric, the pick can make a huge difference. Low output = high sensitivity so you can get a lot of different textures from the ric. when you slam it with a pick though, man does it sound good! i a glad i learned guitar and learned to use pick

 

[Nomogram]

I used to love playing a Ric with a pick for certain songs. My band used to cover this song, which features a really fun bassline by Mike Mills of R.E.M. (shown here on David Letterman's show playing a Jetglo Ric), and it's still my all-time favorite pickstyle song to play:



Rics rock, enjoy!

 

[theevilplankton]

My basses are 2 '74 4001 Rics.

Both strung with Fender 9050ML flats.

Both played with picks.

I don't need, or want, anything else!

 

[A. D. Fairhurst]

 

[nixdad]

Digging' it! Great, nasty tone.