Alright,let's start taking advantage of the new forum additions such as polls!This would show up eventually...so how many of you use pick,fingers or both?

C'mon everyone! 100 views and only 16 have voted?

I think you should use the technique that best supports the sound you want! Why limiting the possibilities you have!!!

Originally posted by techtone
I think you should use the technique that best supports the sound you want! Why limiting the possibilities you have!!!

Yes,but still,don't forget that there are some who haven't mastered one technique,like me.I intend to learn how to use a pick in the future,and I fool around with one sometimes,but I feel that I have more important things to learn first.Important to MY playing,I haven't been in a situation yet where I wanted a pick sound.

I replied to the poll but I've got to say that I ONLY use a pick when the piece calls for it!

Kinda interesting to note that no one so far uses a pick exclusively.

I've always been mainly a finger man. I can't get any feel with a pick, and I just can't play with the emotion I need, or hit the right string half the time. Also I always got very tin twangy sound when I tried picks and didn't care for it much. But hey, thats just me, as long as your making music, keep on doing whatever you need to do


shawn

I actually enjoy picks more. Everyone else makes me use fingers, probably best for learning pieces or deciphering tough lines. But I just like the way things feel and the sound is when I use a pick. And besides, it's tons of fun to lower my bass down to my hips and just go ballistic on it like Dee Dee Ramone. I know there are some people out there that are rolling their eyes at this, but I sometimes feel that not enough people give pick playing a fair chance, when it's used in the right spot it sounds awesome.

I love using my fingers. One time the guitar player in my band handed me a pick and told me that the song sounded better with it, but I ended up throwing it on the floor 3 seconds later. I just love getting a certain feel for a song. I can usually determine how I want to play it and what sound I want and use it by using my fingers. Never too successful with a pick though.

i think it feels way cooler and way more in control when your just usin your fingers. its more real, to me that is

I have learned to play bass with my fingers and I never really tried to use the pick. A pick is something for guitarists!

I played pro with a pick exclusively for a few years. There was no way I could get as clear and punchy sound out of my Precision and SVT with two bottoms playing finger style so I learned how to pick. The most thunderous pounding off stage bass I have ever heard was a Jazz through an SVT played with a pick. With the technology these days, though, finger style is more of an option. I don't use a pick much anymore, trying to minimize my gear. hahahahhohoh ouch

Originally posted by Don Fabrizio
I have learned to play bass with my fingers and I never really tried to use the pick. A pick is something for guitarists!
There is no such thing as "something for guitarists",IMO at least...why should someone be constricted like that?Thinking like that you only have less choices.If it sounds good to you,then use it.If it doesn't,don't.But don't reject other players who may find playing with a pick interesting,just because "it's for guitarists".

It's funny how attitudes dictate whether to pick or not more than the end result. A guitarist I was playing with was somewhat disappointed that I switched to a pick because he said "there was just something about a bass player using their fingers". I was just trying to get a certain attack and punch that would cut through gymnasiums and arenas with wild booming acoustics. Besides the end result I was after, I didn't have a problem using a pick because I always thought it was cool the way a guitarist would pick out lines on a bass. So in a way I was imitating a guitarist playing the bass, even though guitar was never my instrument. I don't know how it ever became so unfashionable to use a pick. Is versatility uncool?

I basically only use my fingers, but voted for both because I wouldn't hesitate to do it if the tune called for it.

Will C.:cool:

Qintar- I'm right here!!! (the pick players). Im glad to see im in good company with another Meat Puppets Fan.

I dont know I made the switch from Guitar to Bass, and was very impatient (I know its wrong) to start from Square One (not that I was much further along) and play with my fingers. Dont get me wrong I'd love to do both, but at this point I am trying to excel on my bass the best I can, and devoting all my attention to one style of hitting the strings, the pick is getting me their faster, letting me spend my time on other areas that are more fundamental.

i use a pick, i screw around playing with my fingers every now and then, but when playing in front of people or with others, im definetly using a pick.

also, i was very surprised after i voted to see only 1 other person voted for pick. where are all the pick players at?

I never said, that I reject players, who use the pick, Dragonlord!

When playing w/ my band I always use a pick, I've tried playing with my fingers many times, but there's no way I can do it, we have some VERY fast thrash songs. But when I'm practicing by myself I almost always use my fingers, especially when noodling around and doing theory, etc. I don't really like the sound of bass with a pick, but it makes playing so much easier.

I use whatever the song needs, and since Im in a punk band, its usually a pick, but I play much better with my fingers

I'd have to say that I'm "Bi-Plectral" . I swing both ways.

I don't see how anyone can choose their fingers over a pick. Maybe it's just because I used to play guitar before I got into this lovely little twindler called the bass. With picks, you can go alot faster, and I feel like I have more control. And its louder. I like to be heard.

you can easily go just as fast without a pick, it just takes practice. i personaly do no use a pick, just not the sound im looking for.

I sometimes practice using a pick, but I've only ever played live or recorded using fingers.
I find I can play continuous 16ths faster with a pick, but triplets faster fingerstyle (w.three fingers) and generally play faster accross the neck with fingers.
plus I always tend to drop picks:)

I'd have to say, using a pick is the only way to go. It gives a way better sound then fingers, and its easier to go A-wall and make a phat riff. Plus, some of the best bass players ever use picks(Blink 182, Nirvana, Green Day) and you dont gotta get damn blisters on both your hands. Not that they hurt, but its a pain in the ass. Its also a lot faster (for me anyway) than fingers.

I use a pick all the time,
the stuff my band plays would be virtually impossible to play without a pick.
i think playing with fingers does sound good sometimes though, depending on what kinda song it is, some times you need the clear punch so u can hear the bass line better, and sometime u want a smoother sound, it just all depends, but most of the time i want that clear punchy springy sound,
but thats me,

by the way the bassist of greenday and blink aren't all that great, i think hoppus sucks, but mike is pretty good, but i'll have to agree with you, Krist Novoselic is truely great, he has the best tone i've ever heard. Nirvana will live forever.

Originally posted by FeTiS
I'd have to say, using a pick is the only way to go.Plus, some of the best bass players ever use picks(Blink 182, Nirvana, Green Day)
lol
excuse me but I couldn't help myself."Some of the best bass players ever"???Gimme a break.

I use whatever's needed in a particular situation. But it's 95% fingers and only 5% pick. I started out playing fingerstyle, so I'm more proficient with that particular technique. But I'm also able to shred if the need arises (sometimes it actually does :D )

Fingers, 100% of the time.

Picks are only faster if you have no control or finesse with your hands. If thats the case, why are you worrying about playing fast?

Using your hands is much more versatile, and thats NOT an opinion! You could play with your fingertip, fingernails, sides, or just the skin on the front (sorry, didnt have a better word for it, :rolleyes: ). Not to mention then you can tap, slap, strum, etc, and you dont have to palm the pick while doing it.

And its much easier to get faster speed with fingers. At most, on a pick, you can go up and down, similiar to playing with two fingers, but with hands, you can play with 2, 3, 4 or even 5 fingers. Thats like playing with 2 or 2½ picks simultaneously.

And this doesnt even get into range of dynamics, triplets (a bitch with a pick), etc.

Green Day, Nirvana, Blink 182...all have the best bass players? Wow, gosh, what was I thinking. Id like to see ANY of them play fretless like Steve Bailey, or make an interesting solo! But wait, theyre the best, and they play picks (therefore, picks _ARE_ the only option, right?)! VERY few of the highly regarded players play with picks, proportionally. Yeah, of course theres Jackon, Kaye, Squire, Osborne, Vega, etc, but they are a minority. Mark Hoppus...bass god? I think ill puke.

I had to learn to play with fingers since i started on guitar with a pick. My right index finger was smashed in bevel gears at age 4 (farm accident) and is a 1/2 " short so i use my middle and ring finger for bass and fingerpicked guitar, and i have got " good " at both only in the last year. I've played lead guitar for almost 20 yrs so i'm much faster/cleaner with a pick.My friend says " real " bass players use fingers only.....guess he never listened to Sir Paul or Mr Osborn!!

Both both both... Definitely both. Why would you want to limit yourself to one or the other? If you can do both, you wont have to worry about which one do use, because either is accessable. Both, always both...
(BTW...green day's bassist is alright, but the other two...well...lets just say they suck ass :eek: did i say that? :D)

i've started using pick a little bit now, but i perfer fingers

I prefer my Fingers, I play Faster and better with my fingers, use a pick if the song calls for it, or if my hands are a little dry, I'll use the pick until they sweat a little bit, so I can use my hands and fly all over the fretboard, wich I cant seem to do with a pick.

I hate using a pick, it makes me feel like a guitarist. I am a finger player all the way.

There is obvious advantages to using a pick, like better tone but I prefer to use my fingers because using a pick put a barrier between me and my bass. I'm a hands on kind of guy so I much prefer to play with my finger although I do use both.