Finger vs. Plectrum; Bass vs. Guitar

[Grimlock]

After reading this thread ( I am not ashamed of playing w/ a pick ), I was wondering how many Bass Players on this forum play regular guitar as well, and how they play it. Maybe there is a relationship there....

[Kronos]

I play both, but I usually use guitar to write parts, whereas the bass I play for writing and for fun. When I hear something in my head, there's usually at least 3 guitar tracks playing harmonies, and the bass line. So, I play one guitar part, record it, play 2nd guitar part over it, record, and so on.

[sunbeast]

I also use guitar to write parts- often bass parts. Especially if I have a recording of a part that I'm trying to write over/ under (I usually record practices with my Minidisc player)- I will play the disc and write parts with a classical guitar, as the higher pitch of the guitar makes it easier to hear how or if the bass line will jive with the other parts.

I play the classical guitar with my fingers only but play the electric with both (I will occasionally play guitar in a band, but they are usually just improv groups that will only play a handful of shows). I played bass with fingers only until the beginning of this year when I started using a pick, as it just fit with the band I'm in better (can play fast parts cleaner and cut through more "gracefully"- meaning that the attack of the pick adds a trebly definition to notes that I would have to EQ in if playing with my fingers- especially important when one guitar player uses a 300 watt all tube VHT power amp and the other a 150 watt all- tube Genz Benz!, oh yeah- the drummer beats the hell out of his drums, of course!).

I don't know about the relationship between how I play guitar and how I play bass. I definitely started playing bass first, I wasn't even interested in playing guitar until my grandfather and I would play music together (old blues/ bluegrass songs usually- with him on guitar, me on bass). I imagine the purists or whoever that think that bass should only be played with their fingers probably grew up listening to or gravitated towards music like funk or jazz (or wished that they did!- "Who's Electric Light Orchestra? I never heard of 'em!"), whereas I grew up listening to just about everything from bluegrass to the Beatles to jazz to classical to hip- hop to punk to hardcore to metal, etc.... and never developed a bias towards any one way of playing as I loved the way bass sounded no matter how it was played!

Karl Zickrick

[Poop-Loops]

I am learning bass and guitar. I play mostly fingerstyle on bass, but every now and then I'll fool around with a pick. On guitar I only use a pick. I want to learn classical guitar someday, though.

[markjazzbassist]

bass - fingerstyle
classical guitar - fingerstyle

[Richard Lindsey]

Bass fingerstyle; classical guitar fingerstyle; electric guitar with a pick (mostly).

I have played bass with a pick on a number of occasions, when asked to do so by the person who's hiring me; but never by my own preference. Nothing wrong with it; I always defend pick players. But it's just not for me.

[excane]

Bass - 60% fingers, 40% pick

Guitar - 80% pick, 15% fingers, 5% loose change lying around.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

It depends what im playing, i started off playing guitar, but not for very long

Then i got really into playing bass, and played finger style for a couple years, then started playing with a pick aswell, they both produce very different sounds

I play guitar alot more now, just started playing alot recently ish, and play mainly with pick, but fingerstyle alot too

[Alec W. Conway]

Bass = fingers

Distorted Electric guitar = pick

Clean electric or accoustic guitar = fingers

[Grimlock]

I noticed that there was one person that plays both Bass and Guitar with Picks exclusively. Who was it?

I'm not trying to single you out, but I was just wondering what your playing situation is like: is it because of the genres you play? The way you've always learned?

Out of all of the options I included in the poll, the "BASS=PICK only; GUITAR=PICK only" option was one I was expecting to result in 0 hits.

[ogrossman]

I mostly strum chords on guitar but I can do a little finger picking. I can play bass with a pick but very rarly do. I get way more expression from the bass with my fingers.

[James Hart]

Both = Both...

gotta use the right tool for the tune...

[Sandwich Man]

Bass - Fingers
Classical Guitar - Fingers

Never play no electric guitar. Only electric bass.

I only will use a pick with bass for some really melodic stuff to just mess around, and only with pick, oh maybe 2% of the time.

[Dash Rantic]

I use mainly fingers on my bass, but I use a pick every once in a while.

On electric guitar, I'm pretty much a pick-only guy. Distorted guitar sounds so much better with a pick than fingers IMO.

-Dash