Top bassists who use a pick

[whoatherechunk]

joe lally of fugazi!!!!!!!!!

 

[20db pad]

Cliff Williams - AC/DC
Mario Cippolina - ex Huey Lewis and the News
Carol Kaye - studio player (Beach Boys, Van Morrison, a zillion more)
Joe Osborne - studio player
Carmine Rojas - David Bowie
Tony Butler - Big Country
Adam Clayton - U2
Dave Ellefson - Megadeth
Nikki Sixx - Motley Crue
Rick Danko - The Band

 

[Gonz]

Heh, pick playing is something that will fit all styles if you know how to do it, my top pick players are Chris Squire, Justin Chancellor and Anthony Jackson, They all play pretty diferent styles of music, and i like flea as well.

 

[Ric5]

Chris Squire
Adam Clayton
John Entwistle
John Wetton


Don't be ashamed of the pick ...

but also work on your fingerstyle.

 

[colorblindbass]

*GASP*!!!!!!!!!

how can you forget,

LEMMY!!!!

 

[hieronymous]

Phil Lesh - Grateful Dead
Mike Gordon - Phish (pick, fingers, and slap)
Dave Schools - Widespread Panic (also pick, fingers, and slap)
Roger Glover - Deep Purple, Rainbow
Glenn Hughes - Deep Purple, Trapeze
John Wetton - King Crimson

Those are the ones I think of off the top of my head that I don't think have been mentioned yet.

I like to be able to do all three, depending on the situation or the sound I'm going for.

 

[Sneckumhaw]

Lots!

Greg Lake, Rick Danko, Chris Hillman, Phil Lynott, Felix Pappalardi, Mike Rutherford, John Glascock, Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond, Ronnie Lane, Roger Waters, Rob Wright, Joe Osborn, Carol Kaye, Klaus Flouride, Dee Dee Ramone, Ron The Ripper, Roger Glover, Phil Lesh, Lemmy, Paul McCartney, Ray Shulman, Tom Evans, Peter Cetera, Ron Blair

to name a few very cool ones.

 

[Ric5]

Phil Lesh - Grateful Dead
Mike Gordon - Phish (pick, fingers, and slap)
Dave Schools - Widespread Panic (also pick, fingers, and slap)
Roger Glover - Deep Purple, Rainbow
Glenn Hughes - Deep Purple, Trapeze
John Wetton - King Crimson

Those are the ones I think of off the top of my head that I don't think have been mentioned yet.

I like to be able to do all three, depending on the situation or the sound I'm going for.

John Wetton didn't use a pick until UK and Asia ... as far as I can tell the crimson work was all fingers ... but he turned out to be a damned good pick player.

 

[hieronymous]

John Wetton didn't use a pick until UK and Asia ... as far as I can tell the crimson work was all fingers ... but he turned out to be a damned good pick player.

You could very well be right - I always assumed it was pick on the Crimson stuff, but in a quick perusal of the live photos from the Collectors' King Crimson box sets that I have, the only pictures that clearly show his right hand (and there are a bunch that are cropped right above! grrr...) show him playing with his fingers. Interesting...

 

[bottomend!]

Gene Simmons
I never had the privilege of seeing John Entwistle, but the videos I've seen show him playing with his fingers. Which songs did he use a pick?

Uhhh... only the best live rock album ever recorded.... The entire LIVE AT LEEDS !!!!!

 

[Hoover]

^^^ yeah, I had always seen Entwistle playing with his fingers, but then just recently saw a PBS broadcast of a 1977 Who concert, and he was playing exclusively with a pick!



No one's mentioned Jerry Peek yet?

 

[*smb]

Nick Oliveri

 

[mrkreuzschlitz]

I use a pick, and I do finger style when I want a more "subtle" sound, but I play rock so I usually use a pick. I'm not too good at slapping, but I'm working on it!

 

[Richo]

ROGER WATERS!!!!!!!!

 

[BassMaster4s]

Mike Dirnt from Green Day too

 

[SwamiRob]

I can answer the age old question of which is better.....


but i choose not to.

Show me someone who can play hardcore punk without sounding really boring and weak with his fingers and I might believe there was a definitive answer

Anyway there's a whole lotta guys that are good with a pick. Matt Freeman from Rancid is a good example of really good technique and fast playing (although some of it is a bit repetitive of some of their albums), but I think I've seen him use his fingers a couple of times.

Post Hardcore bands like Fugazi and At the Drive in are good examples bass playing where there are some really good baselines played with picks and not just rock out in straighforward 4/4 beats. People bang on about the guy from the Minutemen who can do that kinda thing really well, although that's more Post Punk then Post Hardcore if were gonna get into that silly debate.

 

[Basslice]

Gene Simmons
I never had the privilege of seeing John Entwistle, but the videos I've seen show him playing with his fingers. Which songs did he use a pick?


Also, if I recall correctly, John was very ANTI slap. I remember hearing him say that slap bass was complete SHITE (I do not share that opinion)

 

[mambo4]

Glad people mentioned Carol Kaye and Joe Osborne.

Between those two session players are more recorded hits than all the other pickers mentioned, combined (possibly excepting Paul MacCartney)

I think it's important that bassists who only know about the 'bass heroes' (Entwistle/Squire/Geddy/Burton-Newstead/Jaco ect) be made aware of the less visible but more varied and influential contributions of the great session players like Kaye and Osborne.

YMMV

 

[j-raj]

OMG it takes 39 posts before some mentioned Steve Swallow!?!

 

[mooney]

Caleb Scofield - Cave In, Old Man Gloom, Zozobra

i recently switched to pick after over 10 years of finger style. for heavy rock music anyway. it just sounds better, to me, and feels better too. more fun, and makes singing easier too i think....