What technique do you use?

[amacintosh]

I was just wondering what technique everybody uses most often, don't say all 3 if you tried playing with a pick once or twice, or if you do slap bass every 2 months or something like that.
Post and give reasons for your choice.

I personally use all 3. I use pick when playing songs the artist played with a pick, slap if the artist did slap, finger if they did. But when I do my own stuff, I almost always use fingers.

[Libertad]

I never use a pick. I love to slap and pop. I also use my fingers.

The reason I do not use a pick is because I feel like it takes away from the overall groove of the music I play. IMO using a pick is more of a straight approach, where I like to have more of a fluid finger approach. Easier for me to be more dynamic.

[amacintosh]

I never used to use a pick, I felt bass should only be played with fingers and thumb, but after listening to System of a Down for a while, and recently listening to the bass parts specifically, and analysing it, I realised that a pick can give a bass a nice sound, but it isn't for everything, some people only use a pick and it ruins many good songs

[keb]

Fingers and slap, and sometimes a carrot.

[amacintosh]

carrot eh? usually when I use produce, I use a kumquat, but I'll try a carrot

[Bass]

I find the fingers can be more rhythmic (for me). I often practice when I don't have a bass in my hands by tapping my index and middle fingers on the desk / table to music. I like the tone I get with fingers, and I think I can get a broader range of tone and dynamics with the fingers.

I like the pick for some songs - it has a different sound that seems to suit some songs better than others.

[labgnat]

i slap my pick with my fingers

[Flintc]

I selected "Fingers and pick", but I understood this to mean both at the same time, not pick sometimes and fingers other times. I pluck and pop with my fingers for sure, but I never set the pick down. I'm also learning to slap without setting the pick down.

[bassbengoa]

Originally Posted by keb

Fingers and slap, and sometimes a carrot.

Yep, thats the way i like it

[dewbass4]

Fingers or pick, the song always dictates. I’m old school and the bass is a string instrument not a percussion instrument.

[Bottom Feeder]

I'm about 80/20% fingers/pick respectively. Some songs were recorded with a pick so I use one. Some songs having alot of 1/16th notes or extended 1/8th note passages I just can't keep up so I use a pick. Some stuff just grinds better with a pick. I'm much more tonally expressive with fingerstyle though. Can be warm and deep and more fluid.

I use a thin nylon pick when I use one so it doesn't have such a harsh sound. It's nearly fingerstyle sounding but with a little more grind. I don't play alot of slap style stuff so I kinda suck at it but I'm getting there.

Ironically, I use my fingers to pick my nose.

[BrandonBass]

Mainly fingers and slap, i practise with a pick sometimes too cuz it gives the bass a cool sound

[joebingo]

well, very rarely do i use a pick (i think i've never used one outside of my band practise, and that was only because I had the hugest blisters on my right hand cos of a boiling water incident)

I'm starting to do some slap bass, so at the moment, it's a mixture of fingers and slapping. serves me well.

[steve21]

Fingers, pick, carrots.

[Zephyrtexan]

I'm straight up fingers. I played other stringed instruments for awhile, but when I switched to bass I just used fingers and have ever since.

Whenever I try to use a pick I can't quite get into it as much, and I've never been able to slap so much.

Especially since I fractured my thumb. <grin>

[The BurgerMeister]

fingers and pick.

fingers usually, but when the song calls for it, i go with a pick.

i don't slap in the band i'm in now. but i like to slap in the privacy of my own home....

[Swimming Bird]

*sigh* I am a lonely ebow player... I guess I should've picked carrots?

Slap + fingers + ebow + funk fingers + cello bow + feedback + zippo lighter... essentially everything but a pick or a violin. You wouldn't believe how a zippo lighter sounds as a slide with the proper effects

[iplaybassguitar]

Originally Posted by amacintosh

I was just wondering what technique everybody uses most often, don't say all 3 if you tried playing with a pick once or twice, or if you do slap bass every 2 months or something like that.
Post and give reasons for your choice.

I personally use all 3. I use pick when playing songs the artist played with a pick, slap if the artist did slap, finger if they did. But when I do my own stuff, I almost always use fingers.

thats a greeat way to produce cover songs that sound exactly like the origonal....not to be a jerk, but whenever i hear that.....yawn.

[tradition_2kill]

the steve di giorgio technique

[Spencer!]

I'm primarily a fingerstyle player, but I've been known to slap or use a pick occasionally.