Getting a Pick Tone playing with fingers?

[Bayonet]

Really,i Want to get a tone like i'm playing with a pick but playing with my fingers..
Anything?
I have some distortion here.. i think i could use that but i don't really know how '-'
And i already tried playing with a pick,i just cant.

[FretlessMainly]

It's likely that many or most will say you can't. I've used picks on my guitars for 33+ years, but never on basses. I do often hold my index finger and thumb together as if I were holding a pick and use the two nails to get a very pick-like attack.

Be prepared to bleed a bit though.

[MOEBASSPLAYER]

I try to play closer to the bridge to get a more trebly/percussive sound. Not sure if that is the tone you are looking for, but it may be.

[prd004]

I heard Geddy Lee say once that he loved the sound of a pick but couldn't get used to playing with one so he grew his fingernails long to get the sound.

Hope that helps

[Waterpilot]

Originally Posted by Bayonet

And i already tried playing with a pick,i just cant.

Practice.

[ThudThudThud]

Nobody going to offer up the ol' New-skin/crazy glue on the fingertips?

Okay, then. Neither will I.

[codeinedreams]

glue on fake fingernails, or grow your fingernails out

[fourfinger]

I cut my nails short, squeeze my thumb and forefinger together very tightly, and pick with the forefinger nail (using only downstrokes if possible). Left-hand muting, if the bass line is very simple, makes this sound a little better.

[BZadlo]

This technique works really well.
The previous bass player in my band plays like this and I always though that he used a pick on recordings. It turns out he didn't.
You don't have to play a heavy style but, notice how Bryan strikes through the string.

YouTube - ‪FPE-TV Dethklok Burn the Earth Bass Lesson‬‏

[Russell L]

I have that sound all the time because I play with moderately long fingernails. It's mainly because I'm also a guitar player, so I don't wanna lose my nails. I'll tell ya this, too, if you grow yours out and play with them you will also often want to lower your upper mids and highs sometimes to get a fuller, darker tone, like what you get without fingernails. Otherwise, your tone can get clacky. However, playing with nails (or a pick) has that sound anyway. You'd never know I wasn't using a pick. Try it. It takes about twoweeks to get enough nail.

[trunkshope6]

I too wanted pick like sound with fingers and honestly the way I've found that tone is with a stingray with the bass and treble boosted, sounds very punchy and has a rich high end like I would get with picking

[bass_snake]

I don' t know how to explain it but I use the end of my fingernails to get that pick sound.

Friedrich

[pbass2]

Fingernails will never sound like a pick, especially in the studio in the cold light of day.
Sure, Geddy sounds great, but he does not sound like he's playing with a pick.
There's much more to pickstyle electric bass tone than the fact that there's simply something harder than a fingertip hitting the string. It's in the way the energy comes from your wrist/forearm, how you grip the pick, how you vary the angle of the pick, the list goes on . . .
Just practice. Even very simple (but solid) pickstyle technique in your quiver will serve you better professionally (sessions, variety of gigs) than trying to replicate it with fingernails, fingerpicks(that's a different sound too), etc.

[Ric5]

About 2:54 into this video Geddy sounds like he is playing the bass with a pick.

YouTube - ‪Rush - Closer to the Heart (Different Stages)‬‏

[FaithNoMan]

Originally Posted by Ric5

About 2:54 into this video Geddy sounds like he is playing the bass with a pick.

YouTube - ‪Rush - Closer to the Heart (Different Stages)‬‏

I disagree, unless it sounds like a pick player going insane with force and trying to "pick through" the strings, rather than "attack" them with speed...which can work sometimes. But it sounds much "sloppier" to my ears than what you normally hear with a pick being used.

I know you play with both styles and Geddy is a pro, but I'm just going with what I hear.

[LennyPenny]

Listen to some Iron Maiden, Steve Harris uses his fingers and (to me) manages to get a pick-like sound. Maybe a light touch will help, and like someone already mentioned: try playing closer to the bridge.

[SLaPiNFuNK]

lighter strings...

[pbass2]

Originally Posted by Ric5

About 2:54 into this video Geddy sounds like he is playing the bass with a pick.

YouTube - ‪Rush - Closer to the Heart (Different Stages)‬‏

Sounds cool--of course it's Geddy--but doesn't sound like a pick at all IMO. Sounds like digging in really hard with fingers with a bright tone.

Harris actually, to my ears, DOES sound a bit more "pick-like" I suppose, but it's still more of that "snap" of hard fingerstyle, than a flatpick edge cleanly striking the string.

The physics of it all (the pick, the meat and weight of your thumb joint and wrist/forearm behind it, etc.)simply create a different kind of tone. Heck, even early on when first learning pickstyle it's challenging to get downstrokes and upstrokes to sound the same!

Again, to the OP, just practice it if that's the sound you want rather than trying to fake it. And watch players with good technique(not sloppy strumming). You'll see lots of variations on how people hold the pick, where they play on the string, etc.

[Russell L]

One thing that is really different sounding between fingernail playing and pick playing is the different types of emphases you get with each. There are things I can do with a pick that I can't seem to get the same feel on using my fingers. Then again, there are some finger licks I can't do with a pick. There is a difference (or can be) in articulation between the two.

[bass_snake]

Originally Posted by pbass2

Fingernails will never sound like a pick

Not in my experience.