Sting's bass playing technique

[Max Taffey]

Hi everyone - I wanted to post on this site a while ago when I first saw saw the "So Lonely....Seattle Jun 7-Complete" thread, but unfortunately, it took several days for my account to be activated. Sorry to dredge up a now old subject, but I just HAVE to comment on the misconceptions some posters were putting out there re: Sting's bass playing.

I almost sprayed my drink all over my monitor when I read one comment saying Sting must have "started out on guitar, switched to bass never learned the proper technique". Sting was playing double bass with a jazz group years before The Police (I'd like to see someone try and play that like a guitar ) and has played bass for probably 35+ years - kind of hard to imagine he never picked up the proper technique!

Anyway, rest assured, his method is completely deliberate, not because he doesn't know any other way, and not because he thinks it "looks cool". He's using a technique called "palm muting" in which he places the the side of his right hand across the strings while picking with his thumb. The result is a sound closer to a double bass, which is obviously what Sting is looking for.

Anyway, thanks for indulging me on this little detail folks!

[jeffdaweasel]

Thanks Max. Good points. I like his palm mute sound very much.

[Kalypso]

M'question is: going back to Sting after having played with Les Claypool. Discuss.

[DirtyMartini]

Thanks, Max, and welcome!

(You must have just been chomping at the bit there. )

[New Zealand Promoter]

Thanks Max, although there was little doubt that Sting knows what he's doing. For my money, it doesn't matter if his technique was patented by the best bass player in the world. It sounds too soft and paddy on some songs, compared to the nice clean, high attack delivery the use of a pick gives songs like 'Synch II'. Just my opinion, don't flame me....

[aceface]

Years ago... around 1991 and The Soul Cages tour, String appeared on the Arsenio Hall show. All the goofyness that comes with that aside, Arsenio did ask Sting a question that I've never heard any other interviewer ask. He asked quite seriously, "I've seen many bass players play like this (wiggles right hand fingers), but you play like this (wiggles right hand thumb). Why?" Sting said that when he was in his teens just learning bass, he bought a Mel Bay (sp?) book and went through it page by page. The upshot (as others in this thread have pointed out) is that the thumb technique *is* in fact an orthodox technique.

[Divemistress of the Dark]

He's also got a few lines in "Broken Music" to the effect that it's hard to sing and play bass at the same time, so he's developed something of a spare strumming technique.

It'd be fun to see him play bass in a group in which someone else is doing the singing. I bet he'd be terrific. (Anyone here seen Mike Watt lately? He's touring with the Stooges. It's just sick, in a good way.)

[Max Taffey]

[quote="tj7"]Thanks Max, although there was little doubt that Sting knows what he's doing. For my money, it doesn't matter if his technique was patented by the best bass player in the world. It sounds too soft and paddy on some songs, compared to the nice clean, high attack delivery the use of a pick gives songs like 'Synch II'. Just my opinion, don't flame me....[/quote]

No worries tj7. I wouldn't flame anyone over a matter of taste/opinion. I was only trying to address some of the misconceptions I read about why he choses to play the way he does.

[phaty]

[quote="tj7"]Just my opinion, don't flame me....[/quote]

No that is my job ... ! Crocodile Bootleggie

[BinaryXtreme]

I think one of the things especially in Police songs is that there is such a strong emphasis on the bass line. It's not gentle in any of the Police's recordings. With that in mind I think it can be easy to analyze it and tear it down. I can tell you this much from a personal experience. Years ago, late eighties, I was at "Tapestry and Talent" in San Jose and I remember the jazz musicians talking about Sting's bass playing and a few claimed they were blown away when they saw him live. I know one of the musicians we were crowding around and listening to him rave about some musicians including Sting was Pete Esposito, I think his last name was. He was an extremely talented musician and the father of Sheila E. Great memory.

[blueboy]

The point is not whether or not Sting knows what he is doing in terms of technique, but whether or not the technique he is using is appropriate in the context of the song (which is of course based on personal opinion).

It is pretty obvious that Sting "knows" what he is doing, and that everything he does is totally deliberate. That's also why I posted the youtube video of him using proper finger technique, and you can see where he clearly switches between the 2 techniques depending on the context within the song.

The problem is that by playing with his thumb and muting the string in the context of a "rock" band...his sound becomes very muddy and indistinct, especially in an arena. He is also pretty sloppy when playing parts with his thumb that he previously played using a pick. There is NO reason to be emulating the sound of a double bass using a palm muting technique on "Next to you"!

Most guitar or bass players are familiar with all these playing techniques, and there is no right or wrong way in any case. I don't care if he plays using his big toe, it's all about the end result of the sound that is produced.

But I WILL stand by my assertion that a lot of what Sting does is firstly dependent on whether or not he "looks cool" doing it. Unfortunately his version of cool, is not always in synch with everyone else's...as evidenced by his clothing choice in my avatar!

[BinaryXtreme]

Just to clarify. Sting first cares how he looks as opposed to how the music sounds?

[blueboy]

No....he writes cool music....

...and then makes sure he looks cool when he goes out to play it.

Your post seems to imply that I am a Sting basher, which couldn't be further from the truth. I just like to poke a little fun at him...because he often deserves it.

[BinaryXtreme]

I implied nothing. There was a question. <

[phaty]

[quote="blueboy"]...as evidenced by his clothing choice in my avatar! [/quote]

Is that the fire of the sun coming out of his butt in the background?