Alternative materials for picks?
 

I use a pick when i play, but was wondering if anyone has used felt or other material for a pick that gives more of a using your fingers tone?
Please no just use your fingers responses, for reasons i dont care to get into it isnt possible.

Felt?

--Silvie

saw them for banjos and it got me thinking.
since i cant use my fingers to play, was wondering if they made picks in different material that would resemble it more.

I've tried playing with a felt pick. I didn't like the way it felt (ha!), but the sound was decent. It could be a workable alternative to fingerstyle.

I bought a 'pick punch' through Amazon and punched out a couple using dead credit cards. If you find a shape you like (they have a few) you can experiment with different materials until you find one that works for you. Last time I saw a felt plectrum it was for an autoharp but they do exist.

Could always try rolling off the highs on your bass. It's a more artificial way to do it and won't be as convincing as actual flesh on strings, but it does take some of the "plug" off of the sound that the pick makes.

For an example, the tone knob on my Precision rolls off the top end, and when played with a pick, sounds at least a little more like aggressive plucking than a pick, but depending on your amp and whatnot, YMMV.

When I started playing bass (1969) all the instruction books said to use felt picks. I didn't like them.

Lots of classic recordings were done with regular celluloid picks.

Have you tried rubber picks like Wedgies? I've never tried them so can't give you any info about them

I've played with a felt pick and to me it did sound closer to fingers. I like them, but don't really have a need. I want my pick to sound like a pick and I just use my fingers if I don't.

never heard of them, but will look for them

You can still get felt picks at GC, just gotta ask for them cuz they keep a loose Baggie of them behind the counter. They sell them individually.

I love the pick sound too, but sometimes if im with certain people it isnt. And since i cant play with my fingers do to reasons i want to get close to it

I'm really digging the TUSQ picks that I got as a sample from Graph Tech. I think I had to email them for the samples.

They have this weird ringing quality to them. If you drop them on a hard surface, they sound like porcelain.

I've seen picks made out of marble, wood, and dinosaur fossils

Not all on the same pick of course.

I've used a pick made of polished stone before. It rang more than a usual pick though. I bet you if you look hard enough you could probably find bone or something of the sort. They can expensive though. The pick punch is not a bad idea to try different materials. I have one, I'm gonna try that myself. It's funny cause I'm not even a pick player primarily. There's certain passages I like picking though. I also use this one pick made by dava. It's half rubber half plastic. It doesn't sound as plasticky and I can play with the rubber part on it too. Good luck. Just try all kinds of different ones. Google alternative picking or plectrum devices.