Yes he does on Run To the Hills.
He says he grow his nails only for studio recording, otherwise they break on tour.
I tried to grow them and they broke.
I bought the Tech 21 Sansamp SH1 , and that definitely gives the right sound.
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Steve Harris - bass rig / sound
- Thread starter NZBassman
- Start date
He says he grow his nails only for studio recording, otherwise they break on tour.
I tried to grow them and they broke.
I bought the Tech 21 Sansamp SH1 , and that definitely gives the right sound.
Harris does NOT use long nails for his tone, at all.
Fret clank-low action. Period.
Fret clank-low action. Period.
You can clearly hear it on Run To The Hills, can't do much more for you ... ho yes I can !Here is an interview of Steve Harris !
Interview: Steve Harris on Iron Maiden's Foundation | Bacon's Archive
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Nope, no nails.
The quote in the interview, I believe, is referring to the more recent "chordal" playing he was citing as an example.
I hear no nails in the Run to the Hills iso. None. That's not what nails or pick playing on flats sounds like.
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Yes he does on Run To the Hills.
He says he grow his nails only for studio recording, otherwise they break on tour.
I tried to grow them and they broke.
I don't hear the type of sound that playing with long nails produces on this track. It's the sound of fresh Rotosound Jazz flats.
Steve Harris has also said in interviews he doesn't use 3 fingers and you can watch him do it on live videos... So unreliable narrator at best...
No it's not refering to chords, you are not breaking nails doing a few chords here and there.
He says the too long nails break live so he cut them.
Songs with most chords they played live before the interview was made, are Holy Smoke or Running Silent Running Deep from No Prayer For The Dying released in 1990.
Some On Mother Russia first guitar solo.
You are not breaking nails on that.
About Run To the Hill that's nail+finger tip.
I have the Rosound flats 55 110 Steve Harris on my PBass for many years now with low action for the clank, run to the hills is more nails than fret clank on the record.
No ! He doesn't uses 3 fingers ! he confirmed it saying videos can be misleading.
And in 2023 he said in that interview that he could cut the ring and pinky fingers off.
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Well, at least on the "Run To The Hills" isolated bass track, I don't hear much clank and buzz, so I assume the action is not very low. It's all in the hands of Steve Harris and his unique technique. No one can sound like him, even with the same setup. Give him a J-bass with light gauge rounds, and he would still sound like Steve Harris.
That's the main reason I never bought signature instruments, effects, premaps etc. of my favorite players. I'd never sound like them. I rather sound like me.
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About nail playing, I don't think it's only striking with nails like an acoustic guitar player could do.
It would not give enough power on bass and a weak sound.
I think more like when your nails are a bit too grown and you accidentally hit your nail on the string, which is usually annoying, but can be used if done with consistency.
I think it's a bit like fret clank, which is annoying if it accidentally happens, but can be part of the sound if used with consistency.
3 months ago I tried to do it for a while, and after a week, a nail split in half, exactly like he describes.
Now I agree that playing with nails shouldn't be considered a requisite to get his sound, unless trying to emulate a precise song recording.
He says himself he doesn't rely on that at all for live playing, but that answer some questions about some records.
There is also one very controversial thing about Steve technic it's that uses one finger more that we can think of.
For instance the Killers intro is done with only index finger and raking, we can see it in an old live video from that era.
I think this helps to understand how he thinks rythmically and how he uses jmnot just the finger but also the whole hand to strike.
This is almost against anything one could be told when starting bass and every myth about how things should've done right.
I can't understand why there is no master class, why no one managed to interview him stating down with a bass, like Jerry Jemot did with Jaco.
I also wish I could put a hand on his bass to understand exactly his bass setup and how much strength or little strength he uses.
What is sure is that he uses his hand and forharm a lot to whip the strings with his finger.
No one taught him that, I think it's just the result how he says of trying to play harder and faster than bands like led zeppelin black Sabbath and such as he says on an interview.
So yeah I started bass because of him mostly, and my practice habit this last 6 years is to play pick one of the 8 first record and play it from start to finish, so I really had to research, and adapt the technic and understand how he can do that.
I don't understand why we now so little about this guy playing.
They sell Iron Maiden beers and video games, yet there isn't one instructional video for bass.
It would not give enough power on bass and a weak sound.
I think more like when your nails are a bit too grown and you accidentally hit your nail on the string, which is usually annoying, but can be used if done with consistency.
I think it's a bit like fret clank, which is annoying if it accidentally happens, but can be part of the sound if used with consistency.
3 months ago I tried to do it for a while, and after a week, a nail split in half, exactly like he describes.
Now I agree that playing with nails shouldn't be considered a requisite to get his sound, unless trying to emulate a precise song recording.
He says himself he doesn't rely on that at all for live playing, but that answer some questions about some records.
There is also one very controversial thing about Steve technic it's that uses one finger more that we can think of.
For instance the Killers intro is done with only index finger and raking, we can see it in an old live video from that era.
I think this helps to understand how he thinks rythmically and how he uses jmnot just the finger but also the whole hand to strike.
This is almost against anything one could be told when starting bass and every myth about how things should've done right.
I can't understand why there is no master class, why no one managed to interview him stating down with a bass, like Jerry Jemot did with Jaco.
I also wish I could put a hand on his bass to understand exactly his bass setup and how much strength or little strength he uses.
What is sure is that he uses his hand and forharm a lot to whip the strings with his finger.
No one taught him that, I think it's just the result how he says of trying to play harder and faster than bands like led zeppelin black Sabbath and such as he says on an interview.
So yeah I started bass because of him mostly, and my practice habit this last 6 years is to play pick one of the 8 first record and play it from start to finish, so I really had to research, and adapt the technic and understand how he can do that.
I don't understand why we now so little about this guy playing.
They sell Iron Maiden beers and video games, yet there isn't one instructional video for bass.
My opinion is that on this track, the use of a bit of nails mitigate the fret clank.
Also honestly the clank tends to appear more like on piece of mind and power slave, as the sound settings tends to be brighter and brighter and more metallic.
I tend to think his action setup isn't made to have clank on any finger stroke, but when there is a bit of accent.
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I don't understand why we now so little about this guy playing.
They sell Iron Maiden beers and video games, yet there isn't one instructional video for bass.
Quite a bit is known about Steve's stuff. Throughout the years he mostly (but not always) played P-basses, strung with heavy gauge (50-110) Rotosound Jazz Bass Flats. He even has his signature set, that is identical to 50-110 JB, but with custom color silks. These are high tension strings that are very bright for flatwounds, especially when fresh. It's known that he changes them often, like rounwounds. The rest is his technique. Because of his wrist and forearm movement, people thing that he has a heavy touch, but it is quite the opposite. He strikes the strings lightly.
The bright, percussive attack of the notes comes from the fresh, bright Roto flats and his tone settings. Also his P's are all maple FB, that sound a bit brighter. All isolated tracks I've heard have very little in terms of clang or buzz, which is expected given the very high tension and the light touch.
I have this signature set on my PBass since many years.
It's true the strings go dead quickly but thankfully the 2 minutes technic I posted to undead the strings works VERY well.
With the 55-110 you need low action first and foremost for the fretting hand, other technical stuff are too difficult.
And right hand clank is a consequence of that necessity anyway, but you don't necessarily get clank on each finger stroke, depending how much you attack the strings.
I am not sure what you mean about not hearing clank, it's pretty much always there on isolated tracks.
On 2 minutes to midnight you can hear the clank pretty much all the way except on the more quiet part after the solos.
He voluntarily strike the strings less to avoid clank.
Otherwise he uses clank for accentuations.
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