Learn both, you will find that you'll get a different tone from each. JPJ did both. You could also grow your fingernails longer on your plucking fingers.
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Beginner - pick or no pick?
- Thread starter SteveXFR
- Start date
"Police Truck" was my jam for a while lol
.Definitely good to learn both though. I started with fingers, but have more recently been learning/practicing pick technique. Really, any song could be played with any technique and be made to sound nice, but there's nothing like the sound of a pick for certain songs. That attack sets the whole song off. In the same breath, fingerstyle compliments a ton of songs/genres too. Again, it's great to be able to do both with good proficiency.
Yes and yes. Do what you feel most comfortable with. Maybe you'll learn both in time, but don't let anyone tell you that one is better than the other.
I've been pretty much a 50/50 player for over 20 years.
For covers I always use whichever technique the player who wrote the line used.
For originals I find that I write differently depending on if I'm using fingers or a pick. I usually will first draft a part with one and than revisit it with the other. Sometimes it stays the same and sometimes the revisited part blows me away. I have writen, recorded, and perform dozens of songs where I use both, even switching back and fourth multiple times throughout a song. Having learned and honed both techniques from the start has always served me well.
For covers I always use whichever technique the player who wrote the line used.
For originals I find that I write differently depending on if I'm using fingers or a pick. I usually will first draft a part with one and than revisit it with the other. Sometimes it stays the same and sometimes the revisited part blows me away. I have writen, recorded, and perform dozens of songs where I use both, even switching back and fourth multiple times throughout a song. Having learned and honed both techniques from the start has always served me well.
Learn both. When you get into a band, make sure that you can play everything both ways. There’s nothing wrong with playing with a pick- a lot of great players do. And yeah, most in the punk genre do.
But there will be nothing worse than playing a gig with a pick, dropping it, and then not being able to keep up with your fingers.
Beginner - pick or no pick?
I'd start without. Get the basics covered first.
Not because playing with a plectrum is difficult, which it isn't, but because I think you should know your way around the bass before looking for gimmicks that distract you from what is basic and all you'll do is based around.
I'd start without. Get the basics covered first.
Not because playing with a plectrum is difficult, which it isn't, but because I think you should know your way around the bass before looking for gimmicks that distract you from what is basic and all you'll do is based around.
If you drop your pick during a song you better have some decent fingerstyle as a backup to continue the song. "Don't put all the eggs in one basket' is the proper saying for this I believe
Learn both dude, there's so many ways to play the same thing and it'll all sound different.
My recommendation as a beginner is, first just figure out how to play by any means, and then to try and emulate whatever you're trying to sound like. If you're learning a song where the bassist used a pick, learn the song with a pick, if the bassist used his fingers, then learn the song with fingers... Once you've learned the song, try and play it with the opposite method.
Playing with a pick might be useful down the road; I absolutely love the tone. For me playing with my fingers gives me so much more articulation, tonal variety, and control; there's also so much you can do with your fingers. I usually play with my fingers, but sometimes a song calls for that pick tone.
My recommendation as a beginner is, first just figure out how to play by any means, and then to try and emulate whatever you're trying to sound like. If you're learning a song where the bassist used a pick, learn the song with a pick, if the bassist used his fingers, then learn the song with fingers... Once you've learned the song, try and play it with the opposite method.
Playing with a pick might be useful down the road; I absolutely love the tone. For me playing with my fingers gives me so much more articulation, tonal variety, and control; there's also so much you can do with your fingers. I usually play with my fingers, but sometimes a song calls for that pick tone.
The most “punk” thing one could do may be to play punk rock without a pick.
So...both.
From somebody who has been playing for 37 years exclusively finger-style - no picks, no slapping - learn all three, give equal practice time to all three. My hands turn into idiots when I hold a pick, and forget about slapping. I can slap like one note, but any bass line is impossible. My brain has been wired to think about playing bass just one way.
I started on upright and was instructed to practice everything both arco and pizzicato equally. When I started bass guitar, I threw away that advice and never looked back - until it was too late.
I started on upright and was instructed to practice everything both arco and pizzicato equally. When I started bass guitar, I threw away that advice and never looked back - until it was too late.
Definitely play with a pick if you dig it. I try to and it frustrates me but I keep giving it a go and I’m getting better at it. Like others have said, the more techniques you have the more versatile you are and the more valuable and in demand you will be.
Now, define “hardcore bassist”
I play guitar in a punk rock band (Coice) and the bass player (Marcus Bettioli) plays amazing bass lines with the fingers. I play bass in another punk rock band (Aparelho) and I play with a pick. I play bass in another band with punk influences (Gooks) and I play with the fingers or with a pick, depending of the tune.
My advice is: Learn both techniques. This is a trick that I stole from Geezer Butler.
My advice is: Learn both techniques. This is a trick that I stole from Geezer Butler.
As others have said, both. You will need both techniques. Nowadays, I have a thumb pick on all the time, and will switch from pick to fingers mid-song when needed and that works for me. Plus, I've yet to drop one!
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