Pick Problem

[John Deacon]

When I play with a pick, I normally pick close to the bridge so I can rest my hand on the bridge. If I pick in between my pickups, I end up muting the E string with my hand. The only problem I have with picking close to the bridge is that it gives me a sound almost like a little distortion. Where do you usually pick?

[meev992]

My nose

J/k

I pick all over, in lots of different areas, for different sounds.

[MyUsernameHere]

Never even thought about this before. Actually had to pick up my bass and check.

Personally, I keep the part of my palm that would be used to mute the strings approximately two inches in front of the bridge (as opposed to even or just in front of the bridge on a guitar).

I very, very seldom use a pick, but I guess I end up picking almost exactly even distance between the pickups (at least in the case of a Fender PJ).

Don't know if I'd bother to pick in different areas on a bass to get different sounds. Never even found that to be particularly useful on a guitar...but that's just me.

[cowsgomoo]

normally in between the two pickups on a Fender Jazz.. but I vary it depending on what sound I want

[Gary Holder]

I use a pick a lot & rest the palm heel on the bridge, I use palm muting on all 4 strings often too.

When picking further up the bass I rest my inner forearm on the top edge of the bass to allow the picking hand to float above the strings.

Best wishes
Gary
www.myspace.com/garyholder

[Scionreality]

If I'm picking the E string, I rest the little finger side of the heel of my hand on the body, "above" the string (toward my head). Sometimes goes the same for the A. When picking the G string I stilt my hand above the strings buy puting my 3rd and 4th fingers on the body "below" the string (toward my feet) as an achor point. Somtimes same with D. The rest of the time I just rest my forearm firmly on the body where it curves back (toward my a... amp).

I pick between my two soapbars, but vary whn I want a more twangy or bellowy sound.

Actually, I don't put my hand on the body nearly as much now as I used to, since I've gotten the feel of the string height/spacing.

Edit: I actually payed attention, and saw that I really pick between the neck and the neck pickup.

[Siegy]

I usually pick between the edge of the pickguard and the bridge on my P. If I want a slightly different sound, I move up towards the neck, kind of between the neck and the pickup.

[ishouldbeking]

I'm a full time pick player: my hand moves around a lot, depending on the song, or the particular part of the song.

Basically I play up by the neck most of the time, which gives the warmest or fattest sound. I frequently move to the bridge when I want to cut through a bit more, or when I'm rocking out a little bit and I don't need quite the same amount of low end. On one song I rest my hand on the bridge and play literally as close to the bridge as possible, which, when combined with some light overdrive, gives me a sound similar to a baritone guitar. And on one part of that same song i do a weird alternate picking move where i slide my hand from the bridge to the neck and back as I pick... never really seen anyone else do it, but it kind of gives the sound a subtle, but slightly odd "phaser" effect. Maybe I'm weird.

I think the key is to experiment and see what works for you. Some pick players I know just find their favorite place and play there all the time.

[mattofash]

I normally have my hand down by the bridge with my little finger lightly hooked around for balance. I just find it a lot simpler and you have a huge amount of control

[Solarmist]

I pick between the PU's or over the neck PU. Where your forearm normally sits against the body-use that as your gauge, and lightly float over the strings. At the same time you can use the underside of your wrist lightly touching against the B string to serve as a gauge to play the upper strings (E thru G), and little finger touching the bridge PU or body next to the G string (as a gauge) to play the lower strings-simultaneously depending on what string[s] your playing. After a lot of practice-it will get so easy you'll never have to look at it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFhSA...eature=related