Thumb Picking Bassist on Midnight Special

[jerry]

Funny coincidence: I was sitting in the root canal chair for two hours yesterday. It would have been torture if they were playing their usual spotify channel. But it was a 70s "station" and so I heard of lot of stuff I hadn't in a while.
What I was not prepared for was the powerful hit of hearing the Marshall Tucker Band again. And all the associations that it dredged up, those years, the people, so many gone.
Those guys could play....

That original Tucker band was special!

 

[DownRound]

That original Tucker band was special!

Living where I was, it was one of those bands that became the soundtrack to people's lives.
That's why emotions and memories come back and hit in that way.
In a really good way.
Especially this one.


Toy and Tommy Caldwell, both thumb picking here.

 

[Paul New]

I remember reading that the original place of the thumb rest on the P bass came from Leo Fender's belief that players would play with the thumb and therefore need somewhere to keep their fingers. Spurious? Maybe. I don't know.

Yes, that’s true, and a few did play with their thumbs, but by 1960 most were playing with index and middle fingers. Or a pick.

 

[mikeoso]

The rest on the treble side of the strings was referred to as a "tug bar", the idea being that you would hold the fingers on it to allow a stronger thumb pressure on the strings. Check out early Beach Boys live gigs.

 

[deepsounds]

Wow! Awesome thread. I thought I was the only thumb-picking bassist.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

I was too young to be watching the Midnight Specials when they aired in the 1970's. So I'm watching alot of what they post on their YT channel and learning about bassists that were previously unknown to me. Then there are some techniques that I don't see employed much today, such as Tommy Caldwell's very fast thumb combined with chucking. There's a video of Bonnie Bramlett from an April 11th 1975 (I'm 12 years old....) show and I can't figure out who that is on the bass. And he seems to be using a thumb pick with a lot of finger picking which would lead me to believe he comes from a guitar backround. I just have not seen a thumb pick being used on bass until I saw this video. Anyone know who this guy is?

He is actually using finger picks. He has a thumb pick on his thumb and a finger pick on his index finger. That's why there is such good attack on his bass notes. I actually tried that once back in about 1967 or so and couldn't really get it to work well for me. That bassist on the other hand has it down!

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Yes, that’s true, and a few did play with their thumbs, but by 1960 most were playing with index and middle fingers. Or a pick.

I started playing with my thumb in 1965 and there were a LOT of folks who played that way. Then in 1966 I went to using a pick and finally in 1968 I started playing finger-style because our new drummer kept asking me to try it. Finger-style is still what I primarily use today but I'll pull out a pick if the song needs it. Some folks were still playing with their thumb in 1968.

That "tug-bar" that was below the G-string was specifically so you could put the tips of you fingers on it. You would tug slightly on it and that made it far easier to use your thumb than to just have your thumb hanging out there with no anchor point for your hand. My 1965 Jazz that I bought in 1966 had one, as did all the 60's Fender Basses.

 

[Paul New]

I started playing with my thumb in 1965 and there were a LOT of folks who played that way. Then in 1966 I went to using a pick and finally in 1968 I started playing finger-style because our new drummer kept asking me to try it. Finger-style is still what I primarily use today but I'll pull out a pick if the song needs it. Some folks were still playing with their thumb in 1968.

That "tug-bar" that was below the G-string was specifically so you could put the tips of you fingers on it. You would tug slightly on it and that made it far easier to use your thumb than to just have your thumb hanging out there with no anchor point for your hand. My 1965 Jazz that I bought in 1966 had one, as did all the 60's Fender Basses.

My 67 Jazz that I bought in 68 had a “tug bar” too, and I started off playing with my thumb too. But none of my bass heroes at the time were playing with the thumb, nor any of the few electric players I knew in my area, so I quickly learned alternating technique.

I sometimes revert to thumb playing even now, and like the result too.

George Porter Jr plays with his thumb, or used to. When Monk Montgomery picked up the electric, he used thumb technique like his brother on guitar. I think he switched to pick later.

I’m really kind of surprised that more players don’t play thumb technique. A nice fat sound is possible, and wrist angle is better too. Of course many bass players use it when palm muting.

 

[Pocket Dave]

My 67 Jazz that I bought in 68 had a “tug bar” too, and I started off playing with my thumb too. But none of my bass heroes at the time were playing with the thumb, nor any of the few electric players I knew in my area, so I quickly learned alternating technique.

I sometimes revert to thumb playing even now, and like the result too.

George Porter Jr plays with his thumb, or used to. When Monk Montgomery picked up the electric, he used thumb technique like his brother on guitar. I think he switched to pick later.

I’m really kind of surprised that more players don’t play thumb technique. A nice fat sound is possible, and wrist angle is better too. Of course many bass players use it when palm muting.

I started with alternate plucking because all my mostly-local heroes in the '70s played that way, adding thumb-style later when palm muting, and slap/pop even later when called for in the song.

IMO they're all valid, though I'm still primarily a Real Mutha Plucka

 

[zombywoof5050]

This was not an uncommon style of playing bass in the '70s. Check out Tommy Caldwell on this cut:

I spotted two Alembic F-2B's at around 7:48.

 

[Pocket Dave]

I spotted two Alembic F-2B's at around 7:48.

Yep - A stripped down Dual Showman preamp section was the leading edge of bass preamp tech back in the day.

I've played through them, even gigged through one. It was great in an old school way, but we've come along way in terms of lower mid boosts.

 

[Aberdumbie]

This was not an uncommon style of playing bass in the '70s. Check out Tommy Caldwell on this cut:

And watch his brother, Toy's uncanny ability to finger pick some of the finest lead guitar to ever come out of the south.