Ed Bickert in His Hipster Days

[jmgalich]

He also has that Howard Roberts vibe with the shades.

Anyway, two short videos from his pre-Telecaster days (1963-ish), playing his ES-175 with what look like some seriously heavy strings.

John Galich

[Doctor Jeff]

Well now we know where he got the thunk from.

[Peter C]

Unmistakable comping and voicing, sounded practically the same on a Tele with light roundwounds. Go figure.

[sgcim]

With Bickert, you never miss the piano. He was playing the same voicings, the Tele and the lighter strings, just made things easier to play.

[Greentone]

Looks like he's using .14s. Not at all uncommon at the time. Just set the action low. You won't get fretboard slap because the .14-gauge flats are pretty stiff. It's not uncomfortable to play a guitar set up like that.

You sure can train yourself to play more lightly and use a lighter gauge set of strings. EB did this...as did Jim Hall and others.

(I can't seem to do this, however. I play upright bass most days. If I set up a guitar too light, I just push the strings all over the place.)

[mayrandp]

Bickert getting funky with a phaser!

[mayrandp]

The Tele before the nicotine stains: