I studied Flamenco (and classical). I use classical and Flamenco on guitar and bass. I cannot see why people wouldn’t apply the techniques. Cliff Burton studied classical guitar then applied the techniques to bass; it worked out great for him.
Actually, this picking technique isn't really anything to do with flamenco. Geddy Lee named it that way. I tend to call it flutter picking. All will be revealed in the video! See you there!!
I'm another nylon string guitar player that just naturally started doing this after picking up the bass. I can understand that "flamenco" is not really an accurate name for the technique, but I think there's definitely some connection to nylon playing there.
I started being a Rush hardcore fan of their 70's job. Then I explored the 90's. And I could notice the change in the bass sound. Very evident in "Animate". Or "Cold Fire" chorus. Omnipresent in Vapor trails. But it was just when I saw them live and I was just metres away from Mr. Lee that I could see what was he exactly doing. My jaw literally dropped. I mean literally. The guy sounds like a steam powered 10.000 hp train! Insane. My admiration increased even further for a guy who doesn't stop learning his instrument.
This was the first technique I figured out on my own and felt like a genius and was going to change the bass. Then I heard Iron Maiden. The depression almost made me become a guitar player. Almost.
Never heard of Steve using the flamenco technique, but he does gallop with 2 fingers quite often which in itself is absolutely insane on their higher bpm songs. He's made mention he only ever triple finger gallops during chorus's. The man's technicalities after only several years of playing bass on their first albums is nothing short of incredible.
Have played bass for 20 years, self-tought. Been using this all this time for playing fast and double notes, and I was today years old before I found out this was a thing😂 Funny thing is I have been playing The Big Money by Rush the past months, and I use this "flamenco-picking" heavily on that song.
🐂Toro toro! I will be hearing that today thanks for your suggestion. Rush ROLL THE BONES' "Show Don't Tell" may have some flamenco, Geddy's flutter if I recall...
Animate has always been one of my favorite songs both to listen to and play. I have used the traditional two-finger method so far but you have inspired me to learn the Flamenco style now.
I used to play fast notes on the guitar (I never used a pick even on the electric guitar) using my index finger. Still sometimes use it on bass, but you can also do it with two fingers (index+middle) for groupings of four.
Play enough Rush and you'll probably end up picking this up purely on accident. I love Rush but I never knew exactly what Geddy meant when he talked about flamenco picking. Still ended up picking up the technique by pure chance. It's really handy, and I find myself doing this way more often (when I stick to mostly one string anyway) than alternate picking
I always played the flamenco technique the Claypool style - attacking with the whole hand and moving the whole arm, hitting the strings with nails for the downstroke, but with the fingertips for the upstroke. It looks like a fist opening and closing using all the finger. The technique is great for playing the chords on the top 2 or 3 strings. Since I started to obsessively listen to Rush a couple of years ago and bought a Jazz Bass, I wanted to learn the Geddy Lee's technique, but could not get it right. With your tip about using a different angle it's became so much easier. Thanks!
This picking technique is very different from Les Claypool’s strumming. That’s strumming. This is picking. Les strums chords (see Stanley Clarke for the inspiration behind his playing style). I’ve got a whole other lesson devoted to that. This is more in the Chuck Rainey style of picking individual notes.
I use this technique with floating thumb while keeping my thumb a bit diagonal. Using floating thumb makes muting and string skipping a lot easier than locking to strings. Another famous bass player who use this is Robert Trujillo of Metallica.
very like what Bernard Edwards called " Chucking" technique. hold thumb and forefinger together like you are holding a pick . downstroke back of nail /upstroke with fingertip. depending on how tight you curl finger and length of nails you can either nail down nail up or nail down pad up . I often play guitar like this when I can't find a pick
I always wondered what this technique was called and how to learn it - thanks so much for the great lesson Mark! I first noticed it from paying attention to the bass in Coheed and Cambria when Michael Todd was still the bassist - always loved the sound and feel (and look) of this kind of attack.
Who would have thought that a little cheat finger flick I have used for years to be less terrible is actually a bona fide technique! Every day is a school day
I used this on a song a while back because I (still) stubbornly refuse to learn to use a plectrum and I wanted to play Mrs. Robinson by the Lemonheads. At the time I had no idea it was a thing and I thought I was either very clever or being a complete dork. Now it is my most watched video with 3K views on my channel that averages around 20, LOL. Thanks for your hard work and great videos, Mark!
You can use this for normal pick like playing, use floating thumb and rest strokes when going towards your hand to be more consistent, because of the floating thumb string crossing is a lot easier just shift your hand and strike the string on the way up or down the strings, think of it like raking, if going up is too awkward consider climbing the strings with normal fingerstyle technique but with your nails to match the tone
love your lessons! I will be really happy if you do a video where you explain some of the most famous basslines of rush like yyz or leave that thing alone
I've been struggling with the intro to Whipping Post using two finger picking style, (Barry Oakley played it with a pick, I think) -- this might come in handy for that...
I started doing this with slap so I could use double thumb with my fingers. But now I'm revisiting the technique from a finger to style perspective. I'm trying to use this with my other fingers so I can get a seemingly infinite fingered flourish of notes like in Wynona's Big Brown Beaver.
I recall doing this a few decades ago, resulted from desire to double the notes in a given phrase during some faster passages or when the inspiration hit
Interesting. I've so far used every type of playing you've shown except slap but you do them better. One thing I've used is a pick and fingers all at the same time. Sounds weird but it works for some songs I used to play in cover bands. The only problem I have with this so called Flamenco style is kills your fingers and nails but I've used it on occasion back when. SUGGESTION if you take them. Berry Oakley from the Allman Brothers Band and his bass work from various songs. Most notably his bass solo in MOUNTAIN JAM and the bass lines from HOT'LANTA and Les Brers in A Minor Berry was my first serious influence when I started learning to play bass back in 1969. Would love to see your take on his work. He, Jack Casady from Jefferson Airplane and Bob Mosley from Moby Grape were where I learned to play bass. SO if you haven't already I'd love to hear your take on these early pioneers of using the bass as more than a single note background.
Come to think of it, when you are strumming chords on bass, you are kind of doing that as well. Basically your fingers become like picks. Am I right about that?
Kinda yeah, I do a sort of flick with my middle three fingers when I do chords, making sure that the top of my nails catch the strings to make the chords pop
Playing a lot of rush while first learning bass gave me a bad habit of always trying to pick that way with my pointer finger. You can get crazy speed and control tho. It's really helping with prog
It’s an OK technique for tremolo picking but I wouldn’t advise it for more intricate lines that cross strings. Remember Geddy only started using that technique in the 90s. He didn’t use it in the classic stuff.
Does anyone else play plectrum style, but without actually using one? By that I mean holding your hand pretty similar to how you would if you actually had a plectrum, thumb and pointer together, but hitting the string with the tip of your pointer. Started doing it just because I was always losing plectrums, but it's turned out to be great for when you want to quickly alternate between "plectrum" and other right hand styles.
@@talkingbasslessons Thank you so much! Not just for your amazing collection of lessons (that I'm very slowly getting through) and wealth of knowledge, but also for giving me a nice excuse to watch Chic videos all day. I'd forgotten how great they were. Looks like various people are (mistakenly?) calling the technique "chucking"... but clearly it should be called "chicing".
Sometimes animate sounds better pushing the string, sometimes pulling. I am trying to figure out by myself. I try to play all notes, four notes per beat, probably I am wrong, I have zero talent, just training. Songs like enemy within and new world man, at least for me, have very fast notes more easily played with this one finger trick. I love rush since 1985.
When I was a beginner I used this technique. I actually thought I made it up, well turns out no. Also I started playing BASS in may 2020 and well I have just been trying to get girls. (please mark reply I love you and I love channel)
I know flamenco well and I think it’s a bad nickname given by guitarists not familiar with flamenco. No renown guitarist is using this nor any amateur I’ve seen. They use picado or i and m rest stroke - and some players are shockingly good at it even compared to master classical players. The only thing that’s vaguely familiar is using the thumb to do things like this as part of alzapua.
You can get some very interesting rhythms going if you can use two alternating fingers... you can also get some terrible "rhythms", but practice practice practice.
It really has nothing to do with flamenco but it gets that flamenco label simply because of the similarity to 'rasgueado' picking (the back and forth part of it).
tu traduiras mais ça sonne comme un lapin qui se coince les couilles dans une porte .inspire toi donc de ceux qui connaissent le flamenco au lieu de faire le blaireau qui se raconte une histoire .
I studied Flamenco (and classical). I use classical and Flamenco on guitar and bass.
I cannot see why people wouldn’t apply the techniques.
Cliff Burton studied classical guitar then applied the techniques to bass; it worked out great for him.
Actually, this picking technique isn't really anything to do with flamenco. Geddy Lee named it that way. I tend to call it flutter picking. All will be revealed in the video! See you there!!
So, it’s not rasgueado or picado?
@@ThrashRebel Aye. It looks like 1 or two finger rasgueado to me too. The only thing it's missing is a pulgar bass line to go with it.
@@charlesblanchard3372 rasgueado uno dedo I guess as you’ve said but it’s not something done on one string. You’d just just your thumb or picado.
I'm another nylon string guitar player that just naturally started doing this after picking up the bass. I can understand that "flamenco" is not really an accurate name for the technique, but I think there's definitely some connection to nylon playing there.
I started being a Rush hardcore fan of their 70's job. Then I explored the 90's. And I could notice the change in the bass sound. Very evident in "Animate". Or "Cold Fire" chorus. Omnipresent in Vapor trails. But it was just when I saw them live and I was just metres away from Mr. Lee that I could see what was he exactly doing. My jaw literally dropped. I mean literally. The guy sounds like a steam powered 10.000 hp train! Insane. My admiration increased even further for a guy who doesn't stop learning his instrument.
Love your channel! But I'd like to see a little bit more about Geddy and Rush😄
Already done a couple of Geddy vids. Just search on the channel
We'd love to have a Geezer Butler video. An analysis of his technique and the way he comes up with bass lines.
Thanks!
This was the first technique I figured out on my own and felt like a genius and was going to change the bass. Then I heard Iron Maiden. The depression almost made me become a guitar player. Almost.
Never heard of Steve using the flamenco technique, but he does gallop with 2 fingers quite often which in itself is absolutely insane on their higher bpm songs. He's made mention he only ever triple finger gallops during chorus's. The man's technicalities after only several years of playing bass on their first albums is nothing short of incredible.
Bro you're like my favorite bass tutorial guy I can't thank you enough for what you do
Have played bass for 20 years, self-tought. Been using this all this time for playing fast and double notes, and I was today years old before I found out this was a thing😂
Funny thing is I have been playing The Big Money by Rush the past months, and I use this "flamenco-picking" heavily on that song.
🐂Toro toro!
I will be hearing that today thanks for your suggestion.
Rush ROLL THE BONES' "Show Don't Tell" may have some flamenco, Geddy's flutter if I recall...
@@wglenbatemanjr9729 I don't think so, he does have fast fingers. Live during the Counterparts tour he definitely used the technique for that song
Just wanted to say thank you mark..I almost fully can play dean town because of you..I’ve come a long way watching your lessons seriously thankyou
The "angle" technique is also used in mandolin picking, to get speed and smoothness. Good tip!
Animate has always been one of my favorite songs both to listen to and play. I have used the traditional two-finger method so far but you have inspired me to learn the Flamenco style now.
Your girlfriend will love that you learned this technique... Unless you have long nails.
I wondered who'd be the first to comment on that.
😂
Platinum comment!!!
LMAO! Hey diddle diddle w/ your squirty in the middle.
SLAP
I can’t play with long nails ...
B r u h
Thank you for clarifying this. Great video, great example!
Geddy Lee explanations, ROGER THAT, but anything to EXPAND👁️. Glad I found your publication! 🙏 A'Ho
Nice job Mark! Animate is one of my favorite Rush tunes. :) Kind regards- Brent, VT USA
I used to play fast notes on the guitar (I never used a pick even on the electric guitar) using my index finger. Still sometimes use it on bass, but you can also do it with two fingers (index+middle) for groupings of four.
Play enough Rush and you'll probably end up picking this up purely on accident. I love Rush but I never knew exactly what Geddy meant when he talked about flamenco picking. Still ended up picking up the technique by pure chance. It's really handy, and I find myself doing this way more often (when I stick to mostly one string anyway) than alternate picking
I always played the flamenco technique the Claypool style - attacking with the whole hand and moving the whole arm, hitting the strings with nails for the downstroke, but with the fingertips for the upstroke. It looks like a fist opening and closing using all the finger. The technique is great for playing the chords on the top 2 or 3 strings.
Since I started to obsessively listen to Rush a couple of years ago and bought a Jazz Bass, I wanted to learn the Geddy Lee's technique, but could not get it right. With your tip about using a different angle it's became so much easier. Thanks!
This picking technique is very different from Les Claypool’s strumming. That’s strumming. This is picking. Les strums chords (see Stanley Clarke for the inspiration behind his playing style). I’ve got a whole other lesson devoted to that. This is more in the Chuck Rainey style of picking individual notes.
John Entwistle of the Who , he's the king of this technique.
Copy that, thanks for the tip
Awesome looking technique! Being a huge Rush fan, I will have to learn it
I use this technique with floating thumb while keeping my thumb a bit diagonal. Using floating thumb makes muting and string skipping a lot easier than locking to strings. Another famous bass player who use this is Robert Trujillo of Metallica.
I liked that's lessons in the year's 2014 & 2015 .
very like what Bernard Edwards called " Chucking" technique. hold thumb and forefinger together like you are holding a pick . downstroke back of nail /upstroke with fingertip. depending on how tight you curl finger and length of nails you can either nail down nail up or nail down pad up . I often play guitar like this when I can't find a pick
I always wondered what this technique was called and how to learn it - thanks so much for the great lesson Mark! I first noticed it from paying attention to the bass in Coheed and Cambria when Michael Todd was still the bassist - always loved the sound and feel (and look) of this kind of attack.
Who would have thought that a little cheat finger flick I have used for years to be less terrible is actually a bona fide technique!
Every day is a school day
James Jamerson was a player who used one finger all the time, it became known as the Hook
Great work Many thanks for the explanation and demonstration.
I used this on a song a while back because I (still) stubbornly refuse to learn to use a plectrum and I wanted to play Mrs. Robinson by the Lemonheads. At the time I had no idea it was a thing and I thought I was either very clever or being a complete dork. Now it is my most watched video with 3K views on my channel that averages around 20, LOL. Thanks for your hard work and great videos, Mark!
here's the video. (please note I'm a newbie amateur at bass...) ua-cam.com/video/1a7eBKvtNzE/v-deo.html
Excellent lesson!
Your tone is phenomenal
Cool! I just started to learn limelight on bass...
Hi Michael. Limelight is better with traditional 2 finger picking.
You can use this for normal pick like playing, use floating thumb and rest strokes when going towards your hand to be more consistent, because of the floating thumb string crossing is a lot easier just shift your hand and strike the string on the way up or down the strings, think of it like raking, if going up is too awkward consider climbing the strings with normal fingerstyle technique but with your nails to match the tone
Go Geddy go
Mark thanks for this, I think I finally found a fingerpicking I can use.
Excelent been waiting for somone to do a more indepth exlination on this
This is how I have played for the past 40+ years, without even thinking about it.
love your lessons! I will be really happy if you do a video where you explain some of the most famous basslines of rush like yyz or leave that thing alone
Guess you’ve not seen my other Rush vids. I’ve done a couple. One on the top riffs and other on the la villa strangiato solo. All here on Yt
I've been struggling with the intro to Whipping Post using two finger picking style, (Barry Oakley played it with a pick, I think) -- this might come in handy for that...
I started doing this with slap so I could use double thumb with my fingers. But now I'm revisiting the technique from a finger to style perspective. I'm trying to use this with my other fingers so I can get a seemingly infinite fingered flourish of notes like in Wynona's Big Brown Beaver.
I recall doing this a few decades ago, resulted from desire to double the notes in a given phrase during some faster passages or when the inspiration hit
I used all four finger for this technique. Applying each finger per string which allows for easy string skipping
Brilliant!
great sir
Thank you
Interesting. I've so far used every type of playing you've shown except slap but you do them better. One thing I've used is a pick and fingers all at the same time. Sounds weird but it works for some songs I used to play in cover bands. The only problem I have with this so called Flamenco style is kills your fingers and nails but I've used it on occasion back when.
SUGGESTION if you take them. Berry Oakley from the Allman Brothers Band and his bass work from various songs. Most notably his bass solo in MOUNTAIN JAM and the bass lines from HOT'LANTA and Les Brers in A Minor Berry was my first serious influence when I started learning to play bass back in 1969. Would love to see your take on his work.
He, Jack Casady from Jefferson Airplane and Bob Mosley from Moby Grape were where I learned to play bass. SO if you haven't already I'd love to hear your take on these early pioneers of using the bass as more than a single note background.
any video including geddy is great
can you do a full tutorial on how to play yyz with where it is used please
i love your les Claypool content i would love to see a Wynona's big brown beaver break down if your open to it
I been trying to nail this for a while, and i cant get it at all
We should let the fisherman have the word bass and we will call it a Geddy. Sounds reasonable to me 🙂
Come to think of it, when you are strumming chords on bass, you are kind of doing that as well. Basically your fingers become like picks. Am I right about that?
Kinda yeah, I do a sort of flick with my middle three fingers when I do chords, making sure that the top of my nails catch the strings to make the chords pop
I usually use this technique when I play riffs that needs palm mute. often minute long 16th riffs
Playing a lot of rush while first learning bass gave me a bad habit of always trying to pick that way with my pointer finger. You can get crazy speed and control tho.
It's really helping with prog
It’s an OK technique for tremolo picking but I wouldn’t advise it for more intricate lines that cross strings. Remember Geddy only started using that technique in the 90s. He didn’t use it in the classic stuff.
Anyone know if Geezer Butler used this technique?
Yes it change a bit the sound but pick is far better Thanks Mark
Normally when my bass sounds like that I cut my fingernails , still works with short nails but is not as bright. I also confess I use a pick at times.
Does anyone else play plectrum style, but without actually using one? By that I mean holding your hand pretty similar to how you would if you actually had a plectrum, thumb and pointer together, but hitting the string with the tip of your pointer.
Started doing it just because I was always losing plectrums, but it's turned out to be great for when you want to quickly alternate between "plectrum" and other right hand styles.
Bernard Edwards on Everybody Dance by Chic.
@@talkingbasslessons Thank you so much! Not just for your amazing collection of lessons (that I'm very slowly getting through) and wealth of knowledge, but also for giving me a nice excuse to watch Chic videos all day. I'd forgotten how great they were.
Looks like various people are (mistakenly?) calling the technique "chucking"... but clearly it should be called "chicing".
First time I've heard it called 'A bunch of other names'..;-))
I notice that STING from the police uses his thumb for most of his playing. Is that like this tech?
I learned this technique by practicing Animate. Geddy clearly uses it there
I got it from The Anarchist and Caravan
I practise using The Main Monkey Business
what kind of bass are you using it looks amazing
I do this technique cause I'm too lazy to find my pick. Also Counterparts is in my top 5 Rush albums
i'm a simple man i see geddy lee pictured & the word technique i click... 😆😆😆
I prefer to use 2 or 3 fingers like galloping, instead using just 1 finger (for me works better). Btw, nice video 👍
I wonder if this technique would be easier or harder on a 6 string, given the strings are closer together
I do have a 6-string. I haven't tried that yet. But I would imagine on a 5-string it would be nearly the same as a 4-string.
Harder yeah, but still no problem👌
Rudy sarzo did this technique on his video in the mid eighties
finding the last run down scale hard on yyz
Your strap looks suspiciously like an SBL one. Looks almost identical to mind except mine's two tone...brown and black. Excellent quality strap imo.
Nah it’s a good old Levy’s leathers strap. They are pretty much the industry standard. 4.5 inch.
Subtitulos en español, saludos desde chile
I'm surprised you didn't mention Les Claypool. Some songs he plays he uses a basic strum technique, slap, pluck and flamenco
Yes Les uses strumming techniques but this is a different technique. This is a single string alternate picking technique.
Sometimes animate sounds better pushing the string, sometimes pulling. I am trying to figure out by myself. I try to play all notes, four notes per beat, probably I am wrong, I have zero talent, just training.
Songs like enemy within and new world man, at least for me, have very fast notes more easily played with this one finger trick.
I love rush since 1985.
But after a while would you even have a fingernail left?
I’ve always called it “diddling”.😺
Naive comment: couldn't you get the same effect by alternate picking up/down real fast? Yeah, I don't think it would sound exactly the same. Comments?
When I was a beginner I used this technique. I actually thought I made it up, well turns out no. Also I started playing BASS in may 2020 and well I have just been trying to get girls. (please mark reply I love you and I love channel)
is this what Vic Wooten does, when he slaps?
MOAR SPEEEEEDD?!?! Ok let's actually watch the video...
Dude, what kind of bass is THAT???
I know flamenco well and I think it’s a bad nickname given by guitarists not familiar with flamenco. No renown guitarist is using this nor any amateur I’ve seen. They use picado or i and m rest stroke - and some players are shockingly good at it even compared to master classical players. The only thing that’s vaguely familiar is using the thumb to do things like this as part of alzapua.
Son of a bitch!! Animate was actually one of the reasons why i picked up a bass 🤣🤣. It's my white whale!!
"Moskau!" Pas, dva, tri!
He looks look the coffee shop manager from friends
Just use a pic ! Quicker and more attack
I just hold my first finger like a pick.
Plus you can palm mute at the same time
You can get some very interesting rhythms going if you can use two alternating fingers... you can also get some terrible "rhythms", but practice practice practice.
What a disaster!
what the F got this to do with flamenco?
It really has nothing to do with flamenco but it gets that flamenco label simply because of the similarity to 'rasgueado' picking (the back and forth part of it).
Great bass player and lesson , however it looks like your wearing make up and your eyebrows have been darkened , very distracting
tu traduiras mais ça sonne comme un lapin qui se coince les couilles dans une porte .inspire toi donc de ceux qui connaissent le flamenco au lieu de faire le blaireau qui se raconte une histoire .
Kewl!