Chucking or use a pick?

[Julius]

What would you prefer and why or why not? And in what cases?

 

[BassJuju]

I tried chucking, but never really liked it. It is a different tone, but I prefer the pick tone. It is an interesting technique.

 

[Julius]

Interesting. When I compared chucking to pick, I get the same tone. But I find chucking to be very hard, and pick playing is also quite hard for me, since I almost always play with fingers. But I want to learn both techniques.

 

[Watchootognbout]

Hmmmm.....index finger damaged and bleeding or a pick?
Hmmmm........

 

[Julius]

When Bernard Edwards uses it he switches fluently between chucking and fingerstyle

 

[Les Fret]

When Bernard Edwards uses it he switches fluently between chucking and fingerstyle

Now I know what you mean. Didn’t know it was called chucking. Where did you find this term?

I never use a pick on bass but sometimes do the chucking. The sound is less aggressive than with a pick though.

 

[Julius]

I found the term on Google!

 

[Les Fret]

I found the term on Google!

I call it the ‘fake pick technique’.

 

[5StringBlues]

We're gonna chuck to JAH music, chuckin'
We're chuckin' to JAH music, we're chuckin'

 

[Yools]

Huh.... I never heard the term "chucking" before I read this thread, despite the fact that I've been doing it for years. I grew out the nail on my index finger and I keep it filed down to a point like a pick so I can pluck fingerstyle on the side. It's like having a built-in pick. Last band had a song that I switched between the two for the various parts.

-Y

 

[vindibona1]

I hadn't heard the term "chucking" before either and still don't know the bass reference. When I think of "chucking" I think of sudden oral projection of partially digested food.

Edit: Now I know what bass "chucking" is. I think I would prefer to use a pick. I've got a couple rubber picks that work well without producing the type of hard attack you hear when using a plastic pick.

 

[lokikallas]

I would never chuck. I prefer the bounce the strings off the fingerboard/frets technique for aggressive finger style. I use a pick all the time too. It depends on the song.
Learning to play with a pick opens up a world of sounds and techniques. I would argue it can be just as useful as finger style. Learn both.

 

[RyoCanCan]

I use double thumbing instead of chucking or pick usually. Using a pick is totally fine, I just want to keep my hand free.

 

[cxcxcx]

I’m as big a Bernard fan as there is, and I never pursued chucking much. There’s only so many places to use it, and double thumbing can cover it when necessary. It’s rarely heard outside of CHIC tunes. Bernard used it on bass as a crossover technique from guitar and it was just part of his playing. It requires constant effort over time if it’s not a normal thing for you.

John Taylor was always a Bernard fan as well. He approximated the chucking sound with a pick with Duran Duran, and it seemed to work well.

 

[Les Fret]

I’m as big a Bernard fan as there is, and I never pursued chucking much. There’s only so many places to use it, and double thumbing can cover it when necessary. It’s rarely heard outside of CHIC tunes. Bernard used it on bass as a crossover technique from guitar and it was just part of his playing. It requires constant effort over time if it’s not a normal thing for you.

John Taylor was always a Bernard fan as well. He approximated the chucking sound with a pick with Duran Duran, and it seemed to work well.

I use it just as another tool in the bag instead of using a pick. It’s easier to switch from techniques when not using a pick. Like going from fingerstyle to chucking or slapping or tapping or whatever.

 

[pepj]

Many ways to do it... but all produce a slightly different sound.
You can use all thumb.
You can use double thumb and pluck or you can use a pick.
Depends which facility you have a headstart on.

 

[superheavyfunk]

I’ll do that if I drop my pick sometimes, or if I’m sitting on the couch learning a song or something. Usually, I’ll kind of hide the pick in my hand when I’m switching techniques, holding it in between my pinky and ring fingers while I slap or pluck fingerstyle

 

[Kaa]

I'm strictly pick now, due to arthritis, but, even if that weren't the case, I'd pick over chuck.

 

[Vinny_G]

I'm mainly a pick player and I've done that a lot. The sound isn't the same and I find it interesting, but this technique has a major flaw for me: it is very difficult to do upstrokes. A smooth and consistent alternating picking is almost impossible.

 

[Julius]

I find chucking to be very similar in sound to pick though.

Is there a bass player here on the forums who mainly plays chucking?