I listened to 2 hours of Gino Vannelli music, and every single song featured a synth bass. I think electric bass players are a dying breed.
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Are finger players a dying breed
- Thread starter motoman
- Start date
Literally every cover band I've seen around here in the past 3 years has had a finger/thumb/slap style player.
Previous band, all fingers; "classic rock" genre. Current band, all pick; "post-hardcore/punk." While I cannot play all current original material all fingers all the time, I am working on it. Why? Not because my current band compositions don't lend themselves to it and deserve the attack and tone of a pick, but because I can't do it yet. With that said, I think it is prudent for a player to have the foresight, especially if they use a pick, to have the accumen/ability to immediately transition to fingers AND basic sub-division skills to pluck/strike the appropriate root/note/5th for examples, at the appropriate time should the pick be dropped etc. No matter how "cool" it looks to "look" prepared with sticky tape and 3 or 4 picks affixed, "ready for use," you never know where/when one will be dropped and how "dead" the music sounds in the venue when it is dropped. Alot more difficult to notice the "dead zone" when the time delay in dropping, transitioning to fingers is .25 seconds versus even .5 seconds to drop and re-acquire new pick IMO. Tone will change a bit, but the skipped beat won't be missed/noticed as much as missing potentially a complete half-measure(except by you) IMO. Don't worry, Billy Sheehan's job is safe...for now LOL
Fingers are the obvious and organic method to play a bass. In general, the less "stuff" between you and your instrument the better.
No. See Vulfpeck.I just watched 2 hours of rock videos and not one bass player used his fingers. All pick players I have nothing against pick players I think it looks cool.i play only fingers the only picking I do is my noseI did notice that all of them were under 40 years of age. I guess a new generation thing or they were guitar players at one time
Ric5
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- Jan 29, 2008
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- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
I just watched 2 hours of rock videos and not one bass player used his fingers. All pick players I have nothing against pick players I think it looks cool.i play only fingers the only picking I do is my nose
I started playing in 1968 … back then there were a lot more pick players than today … Finger players are in the majority
As for me I do both
Ric5
Inactive
- Jan 29, 2008
- 29,772
- 30,452
- Disclosures
- I like 5, 8, 10, and 12 string basses
Nope. But It just works well for rock.
If anything, there are more players using picks AND fingers nowdays.
If anything, there are more players using picks AND fingers nowdays.
I just watched 2 hours of rock videos and not one bass player used his fingers. All pick players I have nothing against pick players I think it looks cool.i play only fingers the only picking I do is my nose
Hard workers are a dying breed. Why put time into learn the instrument properly, thats takes effort and years...shortcuts always for these new kids.
Seems like a genre thing. I don't see very many modern funk, pop, country, etc... players using a pic. Nothing wrong with a pic, it is just another tool, but has somewhat of a narrow stylistic window.
If Chris Squire was alive would you tell him that he didn't learn the instrument properly and took a shortcut because he uses a pick?
It's just another tool to use. I really don't understand the hate one way or the other. Our sets typically involve 150 minutes of music. I probably use a pick for about 35% of that, because it's what sounds best with the music. I can play our entire repertoire with a pick or fingers, but yeah, "shortcut".
If being "organic" was really the goal, we should all play uprights unamplified.
No, we would all be singing and clapping our hands.
