Fingerstyle or Pick technique???

[motionkid]

Ive been switching back and forth between playing with a pick and plucking the strings with my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd fingers on my right hand. Its comfortable to play with my fingers but I hate the sound... playing with the pick is uncomfortable but I love the sound.

So Im trying to figure out which one to play...

Help...

[brotherdoc]

Same here. As a guitar player, I really want to use a pick but I'm so heavy handed I can't seem to hang on to one. I'm getting better w/ my fingers but I'm like you, can't seem to find a tone I like.

[AxtoOx]

I started out on guitar, so I have been very strict about not depending on a pick. It took some practice, but I play everything w/o a pick even if the original artist may have used one.
I find I can have more control and a wider variety on sounds using my fingers. Someday I'll add a pick to the arsonal.

[makinbakin]

I like fingers better. It gives you more control over the kind of sound that the strings produce. And you can't very well drop your fingers in the middle of a set.

[JTE]

Use the one that sounds better to you. Just make sure it's really about the sound and not comfort. My personal feeling is that you should be able to play either way as some songs might work better wtih one than the other. It'd be NICE to be like Anthony Jackson who's killer with both...

The only time I suggest anyone use fingers exlusively is guitarists who are just learning bass. That NOT because fingers are better, it's simply to help ensure new learning. Despite the obvioius similarities, electric bass and guitar are not really the same instrument. So, if you're an experienced guitarist, if you carry the pick over it's very likely that your hands will go on sort of "auto-pilot", using your established guitar skills. So if you're just learning bass, making yourself use just the fingers breaks up the old habits and makes it easier to learn BASS.

After you're comfortable with the bass function and you start to learn how to THINK like a bassist, then going back to the pick is always a good option.

jte

[SSINTENSE]

How are you holding your pick? You want the pick motion to be as fluid and with least resistance against the string as possible. I used to have trouble playing pick because I would expose too much pick and cause alot of drag. Try minimalizing the surface area of pick extending from your fingers. This will decrease that drag and make the motion more natural and more comfortable.

Hope this helps.

[SSINTENSE]

And how are you playing fingers? Try striking through the string with your fingers rather than plucking parallel to the fretboard. Try going TO the fretboard. This tends to make a much more conventionally bassier sound. I used to play the guitar way and the notes didn't sound as clear and thumpy. What I did to learn a few years back was to strike through the string and have that striking finger land on the next string down (up if you're looking from a perspective that someone is watching you). Alternate between your index and middle and practice this slowly.

[Rando McNally]

Grow those fingernails boys!

[lousybassplayer]

The techinique advice offered for both may help, and I know your pain. However, I think it is valuable for a bassist to be fluent with both. I will continue to monitor this thread for advice I can use, so keep it coming, smarter than I am bass brethren!

[CharlieCraver]

I switch back and forth now, it just depends on what i'm playing, I play some Jazz and some Indie Rock, I use a pick when I play indie and fingers for Jazz and anytime I am practicing scales are anything like that I use my fingers.

[msiner]

I find that the strap length makes a big difference with both comfort and ability to execute a style properly. For finger-style, I like my bass nice and high so I can kind of rest my wrist on the top of the bass and get my hand in a good position to pluck the strings with more lateral movement than downward. With a pick I prefer the bass to be a little lower so I can use more of my arm and my arm rests in a more natural position. Conversely, playing finger-style with the bass low puts my hand in a position that promotes more downward motion which causes a lot of banging on the frets. This might not be new to you, but I thought I would throw in my 2 cents.

[Ubersheist]

Originally Posted by lousybassplayer

The techinique advice offered for both may help, and I know your pain. However, I think it is valuable for a bassist to be fluent with both. I will continue to monitor this thread for advice I can use, so keep it coming, smarter than I am bass brethren!

This is the way, the truth and the light! USE BOTH!

If you look at almost every great bass player, they all have multiple techniques - picking, slapping, and a slew of finger picking styles (standard, floating thumb, thumb picking, etc.). I think there's a ton of exceptions amoung jazz bassists (i.e. Victor Wooten, Jaco, etc.) since jazz really lends itself to some sort of fingerpicking style. However, lots of other great bass players switch it up depending on what tone and style they want for a particular song.

Don't limit yourself to one style of anything - whether it's how you pick the strings, or even the style of music that you play. Then you limit your sounds and your options!

I promise you that even if you only stick to playing one style of music or one "tone" while playing in a band or in front of people, you'll become a much better overall musician if you broaden your horizons, both with picking style and with musical style. Guaranteed or double your money back!

[Rando McNally]

Hey, my last post was maybe a little brief.

Honestly, don't ever try to be a "pick player" or a "fingerstyle player." Be a bass player.

You need to develop a wide arsenal of string attack abilities, and practice each equally. Have your favorite, but be able to to the others easily. Practice scales and drills with both.

Then you'll start expanding. I have this thing going now where I use my indx finger as a pick and hold the tip of it out with my thumb and middle finger. Cool sound cos it sounds like a finger on the up stroke and a pick on the down.

Work your thumb in once your fingers are working nicely.

To get a more percussive tone out of fingerstyle strike down on the string so that the string's is stuck perpendicularly to the fretboard (strik down, as in moving the string toward the pickup), as opposed to parallel (normal fingerstyle).

If, as a beginner or intermediate you play solely with one or the other you will lean on that style when perhaps you shouldn't. When I first started playing I had an experienced player show me the ropes. He played with a pick, and he insisted that I do so as well (I dunno, he really likes Paul Mcartney). So a couple years down the road I'm playing a gig and one pick after another goes flying out of my fingers into the audience, and I'm left with nothing but useless meaty nubs I can't do anything with. Worst gig of my life.

I didn't buy another pick for over a year, and basically had to re-learn my right hand technique.

I wish then that I had worked up both styles together. I'd be farther along now in developing this idea I have where I play slap (thumb, index, middle finger) with a pick held toward my palm between my ring finger and pinky. It's even harder than it sounds, but I think maybe I'll fashion myself a ring with a pick attached, then I could flip it back and out of the way.

Anyway, now I'm going off on a tangent.

[DustinRinehart]

I do about 98% of my playing with a pick. I like to keep it simple and driving. However, sometimes the song will call for you to use your fingers if it's a more mellow and/or smooth piece. I think it just boils down to whatever is best for the song, really.

Dropping the pick when you're in mid-rock out does suck, though.

[Rudreax]

You can get any sound out of either medium, thumb or fingers, if you put enough practice into it. Just focus on what you like more for now, but remember to try out both as much as you can.

[DreadyDiggs]

I don't use a pick, have never used a pick. My fingernails are cut close, so pure fingers haha.

Being uncomfortable is something you can probably fix easier, where forcing youself to like a sound you don't like, as a musician, might be a little harder.

[Allmanfan456]

Im better with a pick then I am with my fingers but im working on my finger style. I started with a pick so im flawed with my fingers.