Best fun you can have for under $2!
So, at present here in Sydney we’ve been having a bit of a cold snap (for Sydney Winter standards at least). So much so, that putting in my customary daily practice on the bass guitar has not been something I’ve been looking forward to- as finger plucking on cold steel strings with equally cold fingers is not a pleasant experience. So, I’ve resorted to using a bass pick to get through these practice sessions. Shock-horror!
To this point, it has been close on 2 years since I last used a bass pick. The last time was when I was first starting out on bass on an instrument which was lent to me. This bass had super thick gage strings, and an unforgivingly high action. I remember at one point I was using two fingers to hold down the E-string on the fretboard, while I was almost in tears from plucking the pencil thick like strings as I hadn’t developed any calluses yet. Thus, I resorted to the use of a pick (which my wife had found from a box of spare picks from church) just to get through a 15 minute session on that bass. So, after being traumatized by a full-scale bass, I resorted to the short-scale bass, and due to the lighter gage strings and reduced string tension on shorties- so since making the switch I hadn’t needed to use a pick again! Until this week…….
I guess I’ve avoided the pick, as it reminds me of my failings in those early days, when I couldn’t handle the pain and discomfort of playing. And taking up a pick again felt like I was giving in and being weak. Although pick playing on a bass is used to obtain a different tone and style which opens a whole new world of bass playing! But for me, I just associated the pick with being “soft”, unable to handle the hard work which goes into being a bass player. But this week was just too cold to play finger style (as I should say, in most Sydney houses, we don’t have efficient cost-effective central heating, thus everyone just layers up at home, but you can’t do much for cold hands).
But OMG! How much fun have I had this week playing pick style on my bass! If you’ve been following my posts, you’re probably aware that I have amassed a few bass guitars in a relatively short period of time. And I have fondness for my very first bass, as it was the instrument which started it all! But man, it sounds bad though. Just because at the time, I thought a $1,150 bass was already quite expensive, so I ended up with a budget model Fender. It feels fabulous to the touch, as the finish on the body is super smooth so I find myself always buffing the horn and curves closest to me. However, being the import line bass, it has cheap pickups and electronics, so much so that 9 out of 10 times when you attempt to switch to the bridge pickup, all sound is cut as the circuitry is so poorly installed that the circuit is broken each time you toggle the switch to J-pickup. And aside from this obvious flaw, the bridge pickup itself isn’t strong enough so the sound is barely audible when it does work. While the neck-pickup is booming, however there are several frets which hit a sound frequency which literally hurts the ears (C and C# on the A-string). So, because of these problems in both the P and the J setting, I hardly play this guitar much. But with a pick and using a scooped tone (eliminating the MIDS), suddenly, my Fender Player Mustang PJ sounds awesome!
The outcome is that it has a warm almost acoustic sound to the guitar, and with the pick the notes ring out more brightly, so it worked brilliantly when my wife and I decided to have an impromptu jam session, her on her old acoustic guitar which she is rediscovering and me on my cheapo Fender (relatively speaking).
However, pick playing on the Mustang still has a sweet spot, that spot being in the middle of the neck not going any higher (or is it lower) than the 3rd fret. But when you start to play back towards the neck, some of those unpleasant frequencies return even with a pick and MIDS scooped out. But remaining in the MID end (I’m calling myself the MID End Lobster now!), all sounds good baby!
So, Mustang bass toggled to P-pickup, with a pick, bass amp MIDS Scooped out, and playing only between frets 3 – 7 is a winner! The best fun I’ve had for under $2 (pack of 6 bass picks cost around $10). But since we found this pick that I’m using now, I guess that’s the best fun I’ve had for $0!
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