PICK or PLUCK

theleteri · #1 08-24-2008, 01:51 PM

I am curious what playing technique you all use when playing your bass...

Do you use a pick, use your fingers to pluck, or do both to get different sounds?

I pluck only but am trying to work out how i can have a pick attached to the side of my thumb so i can get the picking sound in the middle of a song.

Calvan · #2 08-24-2008, 01:54 PM

hold the pick with your lips then snag it when its needed. with a little practice its not hard.

i use both depending on what i'm goin for sound and feel wise. no reason not to.

hate to be the one to say it but, seeeeeeaarrrrrrrch

Ampeg SVT · #3 08-24-2008, 01:56 PM

ah yes the weekly picks or finger thread.

this might get ugly

spade2you · #4 08-24-2008, 01:56 PM

I use a plick. Very expensive and not legal in all states.

NKUSigEp · #5 08-24-2008, 01:59 PM

I use a pick. Anyone who doesn't pick is not a REAL bass player.

crazyguy832 · #6 08-24-2008, 02:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calvan

hold the pick with your lips then snag it when its needed. with a little practice its not hard.

i use both depending on what i'm goin for sound and feel wise. no reason not to.

hate to be the one to say it but, seeeeeeaarrrrrrrch

Only problem with that is you look like an absolute moron with a pick in your mouth.

Depends on the music for me.

bfc · #7 08-24-2008, 02:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NKUSigEp

I use a pick. Anyone who doesn't pick is not a REAL bass player.

I couldn't disagree with you more.

NKUSigEp · #8 08-24-2008, 02:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bfc

I couldn't disagree with you more.

Hey Einstein, I was being sarcastic.

manutabora · #9 08-24-2008, 02:29 PM

For the longest time I refused to play with picks. Never bashed anyone who did, just not my thing. Until...
I was listening to one of my bass heroes. Most of you probably don't know him, his name is Emanuel Espinoza, he's the frontman and bass player for a Mexican Christian rockband called "Rojo". He also used to play for Marcos Witt, a big time Christian singer.
Long story short, this guy gets a really cool tone by playing with a pick and at the same time muting the strings with his right arm. I really dig it and am starting to try to apply it to my own playing. I still use mostly my fingers, but I'm now convinced that there are some really cool applications for the pick

capnsandwich · #10 08-24-2008, 02:36 PM

I started playing bass with a pick, since I played guitar for 20 years and transferred over to bass out of necessity to meet the church's needs, and continued picking for a few years. Then one day I decided to leave my picks at home and just play with my fingers. I really had a tough time getting the same groove at first, but after a year it came to me and now I rarely use a pick. Sometimes I'll use one just for fun but it's not like I need it. I actually play better without one now.

Either way, if you're making music and not noise then you're playing it right.

GreggBummer · #11 08-24-2008, 02:40 PM

I saw Asia a few months ago and John Wetton uses a thumb pick when he plays. I thought he used his fingers but an interview (in Bass Player?) said that he has some pretty bad carpal tunnel and stopped using his fingers and started picking. He prefers that the thumb pick to be taped (it looked like electrical or gaffers) to his thumb.

I bought a small pack of them (six for $5... overpriced) and I have given it a try. I don't use the tape, but I have been able to switch between finger plucking and picking mid song very easily.

All of that said... I still prefer to just use my fingers in performance. That is my "sound". However, I still play around with the picks.

I once saw a guy busking on South Street in Philadelphia playing an upright using a dime as a pick. He is still one of my heroes.

Oric · #12 08-24-2008, 02:44 PM

I play mostly fingers, but I've started picking on my '63 Dano, just because it sounds so good.

phatbass · #13 08-24-2008, 03:03 PM

Mainly fingers but if the song seems to call for it I use a pick.

ibanezcollector · #14 08-24-2008, 03:06 PM

all fingers, cant stand the tone of my key word "MY" basses with a pick.. Plus it feels un-natural to me

Mr_Sore_Fingerz · #15 08-24-2008, 03:15 PM

Most any versatile, experienced bassist will at least KNOW how to play both ways proficiently in proportion to the other...IMO =/

JazzyJames · #16 08-24-2008, 03:15 PM

Finger style. Stronger dislike picking.

PSPookie · #17 08-24-2008, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NKUSigEp

Hey Einstein, I was being sarcastic.

Hey Sarcastic, I was being einstein.

hey · #18 08-24-2008, 03:38 PM

I pick for high-energy songs that benefit from the attack that you can get from a pick, and I use fingers for songs that require a warmer bass sound.

Sufenta · #19 08-24-2008, 03:45 PM

I almost always use a pick but I've made myself learn fingers incase of the (never happened yet in 30 years) mid-song dropped pick.

mwhite89 · #20 08-24-2008, 03:50 PM

Hi, I once had a dream that I was at this great concert featureing Stanly Clarke, and James Jamerson. They were both using picks. It was horrible! I woke up screeming in a pool of sweat!

It was sooo comforting to realize it was just a dream. I droped to my knees and thanked god that all was still right with the universe, and that the bass is still as always to be played with the fingers. (to quote the great philoshipher Mwhite89 "the funk is in the fingers"!