funk with a pick

[playibanez]

hey guys, i was just jamming/improv today and i found something out. i can play funky groove pieces alot better with a pick. i get that plucky poppy kinda of geddy lee sound. i feel like i can groove low bass grooves good with my fingers but when im playing stuff off the d and g and the a i can play some really funky stuff nice with a pick.

has anyone else tried this. call me crazy. i need to get a way to hook my rig up to my computer and il upload a lil improv stuff to see how you guys like it.

[hunta]

Depends what kind of sound you're going for. You're going to get a sharper, biting sound from a pick. If it works for you, go for it.

[kerryg]

Some very funky stuff has been recorded with pick.

I'll see if I can remember who particularly, but it's always a surprise to me to listen to old stuff I thought was really funky but assumed was finger style and hear it's actually picked.

[dodgy_ian]

Anthony Jackson......

[SmittyG]

Alan Gorrie of the Average White Band got his funk on with a pick.

[Jamie_Funk]

Check out Bobby Vega on Bass Player TV - damn funky! And in one bit he plays a Tower of Power song pickstyle - there's proof a pick can be funky....

Jamie

[BuffaloBass]

I've been playing with this myself, and I find I prefer thin picks so I can get some tremolo speed with them.

[guitfiddle0409]

If you can play a funky sounding guitar line with a pick, then why can't you do likewise with bass? Although I generally prefer to play fingerstyle, sometimes a pick gives just the right bouncy attack.

[kydnav]

Not a funk band, but I've always found the bassline in Golden Earring's Sleepwalking to be rather funky.. (and done with a pick)

[acleex38]

Wilton Felder with the Crusaders (especially "1" - shared bass duties with Chuck Rainey - and "The 2nd Crusade") and Mike Gordon's slinky tone and lines on Phish's "The Story of the Ghost." Picked and funky.

[Mr. Tree]

I always seem to come up with funkier parts when using a pick. Lately playing with a
pick is the only way I want to play. I am just digging it so much.

[JAUQO III-X]

Carol Kaye.

[LP75]

I've been doing a cover of RHCP's "Aeroplane" with a band lately, and doing it with a pick, with cool results. When I asked the band how they felt about my not doing it slap and finger style like Flea, one of the bandleaders said he liked it better the way I was doing it than the last guy they had trying to do it like Flea.

I have had better results funking out with a pick for years.

[playibanez]

so im not the only one!

its givin me a new liking to bass. i never really thought about it i always pick up a pick playing with my pop/punk band but solo its all fingerstyle.

but i find myself standing around jamming for an hour plus just funky stuff wit a pick. funk is lots of fun to play! never really thought about it before playing bass for a while

[thombo]

there are some funky bobby vega clips on http://bassplayer.tv/ where he is killin it with a pic!

[Kalyptic]

Cut the cake by the average white band, great example

[FaithNoMan]

I'm probably going to get shot for this, but sometimes, Larry Graham's thumb style reminds me of being much closer to pickstyle than what a fingerstyle technique would create.


Listen to his awesome tone and technique on "Dance to the Music":



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSiACMzEKRM

[rodl2005]

Pick-if it works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I been using a pick(& fingers & a bit o' slap) for funk for near 30yrs! It's good stuff@!

[Sneckumhaw]

I find funk (like most styles) a lot more natural with a pick. A ton of dead notes and a loose right hand rhythm and I'm a happy man.

[selfblessed]

Keep it up then.
I am in the process of getting over myself to even walk into a music shop and buy a pick. I get anxiety attacks. Like everyone in the music store is going to know. I can hear them in my sleep...huff "What a crappy bassist."
Ok that is kinda extreme.