daz Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 (edited) I was right up front to observe Jah wobble on sunday and I noticed something. When he played the riffs from two of his old tunes ,Public image, and Poptones. For both of them he used only one finger to pluck with. This is presumeably the way he learned them and it appears to have stuck with him and comes up automatically when he plays them, even decades later. In fact he seemed to favour the James Jamerson method for a lot of his stuff and only for newer more complicated stuff did he ever use two fingers. I cant recal seeing him use three at any time. If my damn camera hadnt knackered I would have videod the entire set. Anyone out there video it ? I want to see if I imagined it ? I am starting to wonder now, but I promise you as he is a personal hero of mine I did pay rather [i]close[/i] attention. Edited November 8, 2011 by daz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tdw Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 Interesting post, its my personal opinion that you get a slightly different timbre depending on which finger you use, could just be the fact that each finger contacts the string in a slightly different place, i often use one finger to play a fairly easy line where consistency of tone (or possibly attack) is important. I think that in terms of sound rather than ease of playing one finger can actually be better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Len_derby Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 Jack Bruce is often a 'one finger' player too. I recall some mention of an Indian sitar player's technique that he favours. Maybe another BCer has heard more about this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apa Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 [quote name='Tdw' timestamp='1320763831' post='1431037'] Interesting post, its my personal opinion that you get a slightly different timbre depending on which finger you use, could just be the fact that each finger contacts the string in a slightly different place, i often use one finger to play a fairly easy line where consistency of tone (or possibly attack) is important. I think that in terms of sound rather than ease of playing one finger can actually be better. [/quote] Very true. It all adds to your 'tone' BTW which finger is best for metal? A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz Posted November 8, 2011 Author Share Posted November 8, 2011 At the gig there was just one guy in front of me at the front of the stage. It was great to go to a gig and get a real in your face view of the artists. Just like the old days at Erics in Liverpool and Smartyz in Chester circa 1979 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highfox Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 Interesting topic and something I'm trying to work out myself. I have seen Wobble live a fair number of times and he's normally been galloping with both fingers and.. I recently started having bass lessons (after 30 odd years of playing) and my Teacher picked me up straight away on my only using one finger most of the time to play, I hadn't even realised it myself till he pointed it out! I think on my part it was/is lazyness and have now made myself aware of this and tried to go back to using a 2 finger technique. With Wobble I don't know why it is, but I do know he's dead tight on his [i]rhythms [/i]no matter how many fingers he uses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz Posted November 8, 2011 Author Share Posted November 8, 2011 [quote name='Highfox' timestamp='1320779222' post='1431358'] Interesting topic and something I'm trying to work out myself. I have seen Wobble live a fair number of times and he's normally been galloping with both fingers and.. I recently started having bass lessons (after 30 odd years of playing) and my Teacher picked me up straight away on my only using one finger most of the time to play, I hadn't even realised it myself till he pointed it out! I think on my part it was/is lazyness and have now made myself aware of this and tried to go back to using a 2 finger technique. With Wobble I don't know why it is, but I do know he's dead tight on his [i]rhythms [/i]no matter how many fingers he uses. [/quote] Yeah, as i said it was only two early tracks, the rest were two fingered. I myself have tried one finger or a thumb and can get a pretty decent speed from them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 [quote name='daz' timestamp='1320778775' post='1431345'] It was great to go to a gig and get a real in your face view of the artists. Just like the old days at Erics in Liverpool and Smartyz in Chester circa 1979 [/quote] Yup, used to frequent Erics around that time too, and even with a name band (Joy Division etc) you'd be right up close. Still got me card! You must have gone to Deeside Leisure Centre too??? Out of interest, what bass was JW playing on Sunday - his old Ovation Magnum? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 I don't know about Wobble but I often play with one finger if I can. I definitely get a different tone with index finger and with middle finger and much prefer index finger. I think what causes it in my case is that, although I keep my nails extremely short, with index finger I'm playing with finger pad only but with middle finger my nail still catches the string however short the nail is. I never use three fingers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz Posted November 8, 2011 Author Share Posted November 8, 2011 (edited) [quote name='Shaggy' timestamp='1320781919' post='1431417'] Yup, used to frequent Erics around that time too, and even with a name band (Joy Division etc) you'd be right up close. Still got me card! You must have gone to Deeside Leisure Centre too??? Out of interest, what bass was JW playing on Sunday - his old Ovation Magnum? [/quote] yep saw quite a few bands at Deeside leisure centre including the Clash and Mikey Dredd, with my mates band the Jiving Daleks supporting them on the Londons Calling tour. Did you ever go to the weekend Futurama festival they had there in the autumn of 1982 ? They were the days, hire a few local hardmen as bouncers but they would stay outside and let five thousand people get on with it. Funnily there was no trouble whatsover. Yes he had his Ovation Magnum "I nicked this of a dutch geezer in the 1980s" Edited November 8, 2011 by daz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spike Vincent Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 [quote name='apa' timestamp='1320776250' post='1431309'] Very true. It all adds to your 'tone' BTW which finger is best for metal? A [/quote] Index finger and little finger at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz Posted November 12, 2011 Author Share Posted November 12, 2011 (edited) Just re-reading hisvery funny and informative autobiography[size=5][b]*[/b][/size]. I'd forgot that [i]he used to use a pick! [/i]for the first 6 moths of bass playing. He was already using finger(s) by the time Rotten phoned him and asked him to join P.I.L. though. [size=5][b]* [/b][url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/69061-pass-it-on-memoirs-of-a-geezer-by-wah-wobble/page__st__40__p__1210292__hl__wobble__fromsearch__1#entry1210292"][size=4]Here is a copy in the re cycling thread[/size][/url][b].[/b][/size] Edited November 12, 2011 by daz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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