Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I just bought the Beatles anthology dvd this week.
Talk about amazing footage. It was interesting to check out Pauls technique. He seems to hold the pick in an unusual manner..any thoughts on this?
His pick motion as well seems very economical...from what i can tell he tends to use downpicking as opposed to alternate picking...i also noted that he does indeed use fingers on some songs (the slower ballady stuff)positioning his thumb on the actual fretboard ala Stanley Clarke and upright bass players.
His right hand technique is also interesting..he tends to play in a very unique way. Im interested to hear your thoughts on Maccas left and right hand technique.
On a random note listened to the song Nowhere Man last night...superb melodic bass playing...forgot how much i love that song.

During the 60's when I was a young aspiring bass player, he was the king, he influenced everyone just about back then which of course continues to this day. There aren't many bass players playing today who don't have at least a small part of McCartney in their playing whether they know it or not.

I'm almost positive that Paul used alternate the picking technique on most of the faster bass lines...I am amazed at his right hand movement up and down the fretboard!! It seems his fingers show hardly any movement other than sliding back and forth across the fretboard, it's hard to tell which finger is pressing what string/fret....amazing...

He had a great fretting style, very unique especially for back then. He also started the whole boomy one octave up high note thing IMHO.
Like in Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.

I agree Bob....
I especially like the bass line from "A Little Help From My Friends".....

"A little Help From My Friends" What a tone too!
"Penny Lane, Hey Bulldog"
I like all those little fills in "I Want You (she's so heavy)"!!!
There's just too many to name!

"Hey Bulldog" is one of his finest lines IMO.

I was just listening to "Hey Bulldog" this morning on my commute to work....It is an especially cool riff...

If you have a copy of the Anthology DVD, check out the Lady Madonna clip. They are actually working on Hey Bulldog while filming. They show a shot of some notebook paper laying on a mic. If you stop the disc you can read some of the lyrics to Bulldog!

"Rain" really caught my ear the first time I heard it, the 60's were a great time for bass players, the bass was often times the loudest thing in the mix (that is until John Bonham came along), and there were also a lot of one line solos in pop songs.

Paul being primararly a guitarist who switched to bass played with a very guitaristic flair and coupled with the short scale and thin hofner neck led him to play in way "normal" bass players may not have played. His lines higher on the neck like Rain are especially attributed to this.

It seems to me that he didn't really start going high until he got the Ric. The Hofner would play out of tune up high.

If you watch the anthology dvd, Paul mentions the fact that he watched footage of Let It Be and attributed his playing guitaristic lines up on the neck to the Hofner being "a light little bass".

Having had a Hofner, I might add that high notes have a nice ring and sustain to them as well as a natural overdriven sound. I am completly enamoured with these little guitars.

P.S. I'd assume on a lower powered amp, the high notes would be the only way of being heard, as I assume Mr. Mac might not have had a lot of juice to cut through in the early days. Higher notes on the Hofner cut through better.