getting pick tone while playing fingers possible?
 

hello fellow talkbassers! i was curious if theres a way i can get a tone similar to the tone of using a pick while playing finger style. i like playing finger style because i can do a lot more technical stuff while doing it but i really enjoy the attack of using a pick. is there any pedals or anything that would help me get that tone?

Fresh roundwounds and strong right hand attack with a little bit of fingernail on your plucking fingers should help.

No. And vice-versa.

Fingernails. I try to keep two of them on my RH long enough for just this reason.

Greetings from the North,

+1 Grow those fingernails and you'll get there ;)

Rezdog

This is 100% correct. They are completely different animals and both should be mastered IMHO.

The fingernails will chip and break pretty quickly if you use the technique often. I once even tried getting acrylic nails and they wore out in about a week. There is nothing like a pick. Just practice.

I learned how to play classical guitar back in the 80's and have been playing bass with my fingernails ever since, the tone is practically exactly like that of a pick. My nails never break because they are very thick but if you have problems you can always put on some clear nail polish to toughen them up.

Or just take vitamins for growing stronger nails. I've noticed a difference

EHX Steel Leather. I've never tried it and not heard great things about it but that's what it's meant to do.

+1
You can get close but never all the way there. A distortion with a bit of presence, like an Agro, can help though.

Do the Geddy Lee and bash the strings into the frets with every pluck.

Or get a bluegrass thumb pick like Barry Oakley used. Best of both worlds- Oakley had the pick sound on his downstroke from the thumb, and pizz sound from his fingers.

I play with a pick and with fingers but usually only on roundwounds... recently I have been enjoying a set of flats on one bass as an experiment, and I was surprised to discover that digging in hard with fingers towards the bridge kinda sounds like a pick, more so than on rounds, just my opinion... I do have fairly hard calloused fingertips, oh, and I did say kinda... ;)

I sometimes hold a pick with my thumb and pointer finger and play finger style with my middle and ring. Get both of best worlds at the same time.

The best you can possibly do is increase your attack and add a little more highs to your amp, but it only gets you partly there. You should try your best to improve your pick playing dexterity, especially since it allows you to also incorporate palm muting. Palm muting is an essential technique IMO.

Yep its nails. But just don't go for it too hard or you'll break them. Let the amp do the work and play easier.

Secondly you might want to try playng with fingeres AND put a small length of sponge underthe strings in front of the bridge to damp the strings. You can get an uber thump this way without doing the string damping with your hand as you can when using a pick. Try a piece about half the size of one of those washing up scouring sponges - about 1" square and 2 1/2" long. Works like the old style bass bridges with built in damper.

Oh BTW, I've always found a light pick works better than one of those heavy ones we are suppossed to use on the bass. I really like a .41mm thick pick - lots of click, no resistence as it bends easiliy.

I hold my thumb and first finger together, and play, using the back of my first fingernail, a technic I developed years ago due to my tendency to drop pics onstage.

I play like that all the time, been doing so for the past seven years, never had so much as a chip. On the other hand, a friend of mine who's recently become a bass player has brittle fingernails so he has either play full fingerstyle or with a pick, not both.

And if you want to play with a pick but can't get a firm grip on one, use a thumb-pick. Works wonders, sits on your thumb like it's nobody's business, and the motion is the same.