Playing bass with a pick

[SuperSluggard]

It seems as though bassists who use a pick instead of their fingers are seen as untalented and looked down upon by other bassists. Why?

I use a pick to play bass, and can go a lot faster, with better technique, when using a pick.

[Davehenning]

Pick.....fingers.... it does not matter. All that matters in the end is how well you make the music sound.

[nonsqtr]

Pick snobs suck. Finger snobs suck. Use whatever works.

[sunburstbasser]

I use a pick sometimes, for that pick tone. And when someone says "pick players suck," I like to point out that Chris Squire, JPJ, McCartney, and a host of other players all made good use of picks. Picks have their place and pick players should not be looked down upon.

[khay0s]

Using just a pick does limit what you can do. You have effectively just the one tone. The reason why finger style is preferred is because it allows you to slap/pop, double-thump etc. It's very hard to do any of those with a pick. There are benefits to using a pick for certain styles but using your fingers, in my opinion, gives you a far greater range over just using a pick.

However, this topic has been done to death - learn both and then you have the best of both worlds. Simple.

[k]

[Pöl]

Originally Posted by khay0s

Using just a pick does limit what you can do. You have effectively just the one tone. The reason why finger style is preferred is because it allows you to slap/pop, double-thump etc. It's very hard to do any of those with a pick. There are benefits to using a pick for certain styles but using your fingers, in my opinion, gives you a far greater range over just using a pick.

However, this topic has been done to death - learn both and then you have the best of both worlds. Simple.

[k]

Using a pick doesn't give you just one tone: you can play open strings, palm mute your strings with your hand at the brigde (very funky, IMO), downstroke and upstroke...

But at the end of the day, it's just another technique that can't be ignored when playing modern day music.
Just more ground to cover, more fun to have!

[Pacman]

Originally Posted by khay0s

However, this topic has been done to death - learn both and then you have the best of both worlds. Simple.

and with that.....