Hi everyone:

My name is Dave. I currently have one Alembic, the slick looking '90 EVH-4 Signature Deluxe in my profile photo.  Unfortunately, some recent circumstances led me to sell my beautiful '85 Persuader.  The EVH was recently listed for sale, but I decided to keep it.  It is capable of such beautiful and expressive tones, but the tighter than a F*nder string spacing at the bridge has led me to list, remove, list, and again remove the bass from various for sale sites.  Recently I have begun using a light nylon pick with the bass, and now I am really getting inspired.  I used picks a lot in high school when I had this a red BC Rich Warlock (and the requisite long hair - hey it was '89), but have been primarily a finger style ever since.  My playing style is most heavily influenced by Bernard Edwards, George Porter Jr., and Geezer Butler.  Of note, I have long held a particular affinity for that oh so tasty 1974-1978 Phil Lesh tone (and playing, of course), so I am not sure why I didn't come realize this magical equation sooner: Pick + Alembic = Tonal Paradise!  Sure, Stanley Clarke and many others achieve equally amazing tones with their fingers, but I could not make it work for me.  Give me a pick please.

-Dave

Welcome to the Alembic Club, Dave.


Beautiful EVH you have... been personally tempted by it many times. Glad you decided to keep it; Good Call. 

Thanks Edward!  Me too!!

Welcome!

It may be that your EVH has the Classic (narrow) neck taper, and your Persuader most likely did as well.  There are lots of Alembics out there with Comfort (wide) tapers that you may find fit your finger style playing.

Thanks David! I do want to get back into playing a fiver at some point in the not too distant future, so now you've got me thinking. Thanks again.

Dave, welcome to the camp!

Paul (I went through a Chris Squire phase and played a pick a lot on my Distillate).

Thanks Paul, your Distillate looks sharp!

Funny you should mention Chris Squire, as I recently swapped the strings from flats to rounds and am really enjoying the picked tones. I always felt pick & rounds was too much of something (clicky maybe), but the Alembic flexibility has changed my feelings. I can dial in the sound in my head! Thanks again.

Dave

I remember doing a gig about 10 years ago and one of the more mature guys in the audience came and spoke to me after the gig and told me that the sound I was getting reminded him a lot of Chris Squire. At the time I knew who he was but didn't know anything about his playing or sound so wasn't sure if that was a good thing, but I thanked him all the same.

I just wanted to check back in with an update on me and my Alembic.  I spoke with Mica last month regarding some noises it had recently been making, and she quickly diagnosed the likely cause.  When I got the bass two plus years ago I found a superb tonal mix of the two filters and Q switches, and never really moved anything around after that.  As a result, the pots did not do their self-cleaning thing.  She suggested I rotate the filter knobs from open to closed a bunch of times, and this worked magic (thanks Mica!!).  Anyhow, this inspired me to hide my P bass and focus on the Alembic.  My hands got used to the spacing, and I actually got rid of the P.  I'm also using both filters wide open quite a bit now to clean up my technique, and of course the slap tone absolutely kills.  I still want a 5 string Alembic one day...

Dave

Hi Dave, I have also been using a pick a lot lately, on my 5-string Alembic Stanley Clarke - I was playing exclusively fingers for the past 2-3 years but am really enjoying going back to the pick. Like you say, it's a sound all its own!

Harry - I just checked out your Stanley 5 in the showcase, it is quite beautiful.  Thanks for chiming in!

Glad that the exercise plan worked on the pots!

When I first started playing (a long, long time ago) I only used a pick. As my playing progressed I started using my fingers depending on the song we were playing. Then I somehow developed a way to hold the pick in my hand with the ring and pinky and use my fingers. I could go back and forth from pick to fingers pretty fast. Other bass players who saw me do that told me they had never seen anyone play that way. I could slide back and forth within a song. But that was a long time ago before the arthritis set in. Give it a try. It was a lot of fun for me mixing different tones within a song.

I played with a pick for the first years of my playing (Ages 13-20). With a hollow body Gibson EB2D. Then, I decided to apply to the Berklee College of Music and started practicing with my fingers because I thought they would laugh me out of school if I showed up with a pick. A couple semesters before graduating, I discovered that one of the designers of the bass department, such as it was when I was there, was Steve Swallow who also played with a pick and started out on an EB2D. I had also started playing slap a lot, so have developed all three techniques. Never really got tapping under my belt, but there is that. I've always thought it would be cool to work out a tapping arrangement of the Bach Cello Suites.

Thanks again Mica.  Cool trick Pete, I tried it a little, it's pretty slick.  Edwin, thanks for sharing on Steve Swallow, how cool is that!  Good luck tapping - I am better with "ensemble" playing, if you catch my drift.