How many fingers?

[NordLead]

If you couldn't tell by my other threads by now, I'm a guitarist, not a bassist

I was wondering how many fingers you usually use when playing bass. I've completely got the fretting part covered since guitar isn't that much different, so it's using my fingers that I'll have to work on. So far I find that using two fingers is much easier for me. However to get up there with speed I'm thinking three fingers may be necessary.

How many fingers do most bass players use?

[J. Crawford]

2 here, and a thumb.

Thats about it. No picks (unless its a cover!), and no more than two fingers.

[Billnc]

two

[PBass101]

I play right handed and use all my fingers except my right pinky.

[irishryno]

do all your exercises with index and middle finger. then index, middle, and ring. then thumb, index and middle, then pick. the more you practice the better you get and the faster you get. the more you you practice you get the more comfortable you get with certain playing styles and find your nitch. plus, i find that different songs may lend themselves better to certain playing styles. so the more varied you can play the more valuable you are to bands and you will have access to more bands.

[Hector_G]

The majority of the time I use two fingers. Faster stuff I use three, for the triplets and really fast runs. For a couple of songs I've written and when tapping I use the pinky as well. And of course the thumb. But 90% of the time it's just the first two fingers.

[TOOL460002]

Originally Posted by PBass101

I play right handed and use all my fingers except my right pinky.

+1

the pinky is a lost cause, and the rest can be tricky to get up to par, but well worth the effort (also not a fan of picks).

[Johnny Crab]

Playing right-handed:

Left hand = all of them.
On songs getting played for the 1000th time and minimal runs I alternate fingers just for fun and sometimes fret with the bottom of my palm(E string notes, hand over neck).

Right hand = 99% two, sometimes thumb, sometimes all(picking & chord strums).

[fivestringgecko]

Originally Posted by PBass101

I play right handed and use all my fingers except my right pinky.

+1, same here... but I'm slowly working on getting my pinky up to speed too.

5sg.

[HollowBassman]

I use all of my fingers and occasionally my thumbs. It seems most bassists don't pluck with their pinky, but I use it as much as, or even more than, my middle and ring fingers.

[NortyFiner]

I mostly use two fingers and thumb. For faster triplets (think Iron Maiden) I will use three fingers, and for really fast stuff (Motorhead) I'll use a pick.

[Bassman203]

2 fingers if your 'walking' with them. I don't mean walking like the 12 bar blues bass line walk, just the motion that you make with you fingers alternating fingers.

But I slap, pop, flick, pluck, whatever. And that requires different fingers and techniques.

[sloasdaylight]

I use 3 mostly, every once in a while I'll throw in my thumb, but that's for really kinda flow-y stuff that my band doesn't play a whole lot of.

Edit: That doesn't include when I'm doing my 2h tapping stuff, then it's whatever I need to form the image/pattern/sound the note.

[bl2112]

No picks what so ever. I play 3 fingers about 80 percent of the time. And thumb

[jmattbassplaya]

After seeing this a while back I realized that two fingers is all you`ll ever need:

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

Saved me a lot of time and effort by skipping three finger techniques and just sticking to two.

[RestInPieces]

Pretty much always with three. I dunno about being faster with three but it means less work than with two and
Less work = More Fun

[nysbob]

Put me down for three + an underacheiving thumb.

I reserve my right hand pinky for blood tests.

[ksandvik]

As many as you like or want, one, two, three, four, five!

[GrindYourMind]

Four

THUMB INDEX MIDDLE RING

or

THUMB DOWN/THUMB UP INDEX MIDDLE (sometimes RING)

[Rob_Destroyer]

Hey!

I first started off playing guitar for a few years and just this June I switched over to bass as my main instrument.

I decided to learn how to play w/ my fingers, and at first started off only using two fingers real slowly, but now I've progressed to using all five.

It's a bit unusual, but I never took lessons and just sort of went along with what felt comfortable at the time. I use my thumb to mute strings and just use the rest of my fingers to pluck the notes fast.