Deathmetal, Pick or Fingers?

[St Jimi]

im in a new band with some freinds and we're tryin to get a sound similar to "bring me the horizon" or "parkway drive". will i get a better sound off my fingers or is it worth learning to use a pick?

also, is it worth me investing in a distortion pedal? if yes, which one?

edit: thanks everyone

[Metalbasshippy]

It really all depends on what you feel more comfortable doing, if you're used to playing fingerstyle by all means play fingerstyle but in the same breath playing with a pick generally makes for a tighter bass sound that would probably fit in better with death metal

As far as the distortion pedal is concerned I don't think t would be the best ideal to play distorted in a death metal band because you want your bass to really cut through the mix and a distortion pedal would just make the sound very muddy and dull

Hope this helped a little
Good luck with your band

[KratosNL]

I would stick with fingers, since that's what you're already comfortable with. And like metalbasshippy said, it's imo the best to keep you're signal as clean as possible when going up against 2 distorted guitars. Started a band in that genre myself just a while ago and fingers work out just fine. You might look into 3 finger technique however, if you don't do that allready. Might help you with fast runs or pounding out straight 16ths.

[thefurioushost]

You could do both? I play prog-Black Metal and some of the songs that are all out speed or punky sounding I use a pick for and some of the songs that are a bit weirder and more rock orientated I use my fingers.

[AcidFripp]

Pick is the obvious choice.

Fingers, however, can be very versatile and convenient. Alex Webster uses them and I think Steve DiGiorgio has been known to use them, too...

[ShredderMaximus]

If you can pull it off, fingers all the way! But if you like what you get with a pick, stick with that.

[rockstarbassist]

Why not just try them out?

:idea:

[DwaynieAD]

do what you feel is right.. if you try to do what every other band emulating parkway drive and bring me the horizon is doing your gonna sound liek the other 10 thousand bands doing just that..

[Pollinator95]

*Holds back primordial desire to start a debate about genre-classification*
You should try it both ways on your own, and then both ways again with your band. Which feels better? Which sounds better?
As for dirt, you could get a cheap (Behringer) pedal and try it. With two distorted guitars you won´t want it on all the time, but maybe on choruses and to support solos better. I recommend a BDI21. It´s a Tech 21 Sansamp Bass Driver rip-off, if that flies your boat. Even if you end up not using dirt, it´s got a DI, which is always useful.
Edit: floats your boat. I realise not all boats are magical flying ones like mine.

[codync]

If you're trying to sound like them, play with a pick and use a little overdrive, but not full on distortion.