Somewhat of a beginner

[SolomonsMarbles]

I've played bass with a pick for a few months now, and I am now learning with my index and middle finger. I was wondering, if I'm planning to eventually move on to four, should I start with this technique or will it be suitable to just play with two, then move on to three, etcetera?

[owensea777]

If you are talking about your right hand, I would first become proficient with two fingers, then move to three. Using four seems like too many to me. I don't plan on using more than two to pluck because I need to help mute the other strings with my ring and pinky.

[EmperorDoom]

I suggest you throw away the pick right away and really feel your instrument.

sure there are some styles of music where a pick is appropriate but with proper plucking technique you can make it sound like a pick plus you can get a variety of other sounds too (slapping, false harmonics, double stops, etc.)

Two fingers should be plenty as long as you groove, and it should be fast enough for you too...

[magnusdeus123]

....and three should be enough for shredding and melodic metal . Unless you are trying to invent some new 'hyper-fast-dimensional-warp-with-my-pinky-finger' technique , the index , middle and ring are plenty on the right hand .

And get rid of the pick like Emperor said.......

[ThatGermanDude]

let the guy use his pick if he likes it. i'd say continue with practicing two fingers and pick-style. once you feel really comfortable with 2 fingers and want to expand start with 3 fingers (but keep the pick-style in there, always good to know as much as possible)

[MacNilly]

I suggest you keep playing with a pick.

One day while you're playing you'll wish you had a "rounder" tone, then you can start playing with your fingers. For example, any Black Sabbath bassline is fat and round played with the fingers right where the neck meets the body.

I'm frankly sick of pick-haters. They think their way is the only way.

[nasaldischarges]

right, not that i'm any good with a pick, but if someone is i can dig it.

billy sheehan plays with 4 fingers

[SolomonsMarbles]

Elitist players don't need to tell me to quit playing with the pick... I was just using one because I was already proficient with it and I was playing some fairly difficult progressive rock early on... I also stated that I'm learning with my fingers already, so the advice to stop using my pick and get good with my fingers is a bit unnecessary, because that's exactly what I'm doing... Squier and Lesh both pick, and I'd say they're both brilliant.

And I'll never play shred... perhaps some breed of prog metal. I'll take it into account that four fingers is unneccessary as well, thank you. I thought it might be, but I'd like to be efficient as possible in my playing. It was kind of something I planned to learn in the next, ten years or so.

[magnusdeus123]

How about playing classical fingerstyle like they do while playing classical guitar ?? .

[Qvist]

Originally Posted by magnusdeus123

How about playing classical fingerstyle like they do while playing classical guitar ?? .

That sounds horrible, my guitarist friend does it all the time when he feels like playin' on my bass, the sound gets all clanky in a not-cool-slappin'n'poppin'-kinda-way!

[meev992]

Originally Posted by magnusdeus123

How about playing classical fingerstyle like they do while playing classical guitar ?? .

totally viable and encouraged. The local music store owner....man, sometimes I pay for setup job, just to watch him play one of my basses. AMAZING

i guess I should go resurrect my old classical guitar now.

[aceshigh92]

i think the pinky is pointless cuz its too short but play how you play. u should do wat u want to do.

[FireArm]

I think people should learn how to use a pick and a fingers, My motivation for learning how to use a pick was when I almost broke my middle finger.