Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Jeff....I understand where you are coming from. For me playing with a pick seems impersonal. I have found that I can get everthing I need from using various techniques with a bare right hand. If I need a pick type tone I'll just use fingernail strikes every now and then. I'd work on using a pick more if I felt that I needed it but I don't so I'll dedicate my Ric time to other more pressing needs.

Yeah, Jeff, you should have seen what Picasso used to pick his bass with.

What's a pick? Isn't that one of those things that the dentist uses?

I can get lots of different tones using only three fingers by changing position and attack technique. Picks are for guitar players.

Oh and having a "cranked up high it sounds like it's gonna explode" '73 SVT and 810 doesn't hurt the tone any, either.

My humble opinion...

I can get a very pick-like tone on an SVT with the bright switch and treble cranked with flats, especially with TI's. Picks do impart an especially clear tone though for certain types of music. I use them when I play surf music. Try playing the guitar-bass part of Pipeline on a bass, pretty hard to do. Does that guy from The Chantays still work at Rickenbacker? If he does he is owed about ten million dollars in performance fees. It was one of the first songs I ever learned on guitar, that and Walk Don't Run.

I'm partial to playing with fingers too but do have to say that playing with a pick can lead to creating certain basslines that otherwise would not have developed the same way. I'm sure the names Chris Squire, Paul McCartney, Greg Lake, Roger Waters, Roger Glover, Mike Rutherford, Phil Lynot, all ring a bell.

"For me playing with a pick seems impersonal."

Oh geez, not this lame, boring, done to death, do whatever the hell you want, I'll do whatever the hell I want, no correct answer, discussion again.

No wait, it's been a couple weeks since we discussed it, that's about right, please continue.

How do you REALLY feel about it Ronn?

"Oh geez, not this lame, boring, done to death, do whatever the hell you want, I'll do whatever the hell I want, no correct answer, discussion again."

Don't blame me.....I didn't bring it up......just responding

Brian ... if you don't like picks ... then you have 4 fingers and a thumb on the right hand ... spread the work around ... and maybe you won't bleed ... also the 8/12 string bass lends itself to picking ...

John ... I never really understood Picasso and the cubists ... I go more for impressionists ...

pipeline ... cool 60's surf music ...

Hey Jeff, I am now in the process of reforming my old surf/spy/spaghetti trio! We used to play Pipeline closer to Dick Dale and Stevie Ray Vaughan's rendition.

I was just suggesting a way for Brian to get thru while his fingers heal! Either that, or get those bandages that cover the fingertip completely...they make them for people with poor circulation, like little fingertip sleeves, go down to the middle knuckle.

I am pretty sure Monet used his fingers!

Damn, Brian! Hats off to ya but hat must have hurt like hell. My S8 hurts me after just about 30 minutes of practice. I can't imagine playing the bulk of a gig with it yet. I can only play it for a few songs before I have to switch to one of my 4 stringers. I still have girly fingers I guess.

I started playing upright about 6 or 7 months ago, no blood but man you should have seen the blisters I had. Now those things are work, some nights I felt like I had chopped wood all night. I can really go like a maniac on my Rics now if I want haha!

Ted, if that 8 string ever needs a workout, send it my way!