Different gauge for pick vs fingerstyle?

[Martelino]

Hi all,

off late I am getting more into playing with a pick, especially the faster funk of Bobby Vega, Cody Wright etc.
I usually play fingerstyle (funk, disco, jazzrock, rock) with 45-105 DR LowRiders on my Spector NS4CR. Nice tight attack, deep full sound, long life.

Would a different (lighter) gauge be better for pick playing?
What would the difference be tonally and on playability?
What strings do you prefer for pick playing?

Thanks for all input!

 

[mdogs]

Hi all,

off late I am getting more into playing with a pick, especially the faster funk of Bobby Vega, Cody Wright etc.
I usually play fingerstyle (funk, disco, jazzrock, rock) with 45-105 DR LowRiders on my Spector NS4CR. Nice tight attack, deep full sound, long life.

Would a different (lighter) gauge be better for pick playing?
What would the difference be tonally and on playability?
What strings do you prefer for pick playing?

Thanks for all input!

All my basses get played both finger style and with a pick regardless of what strings are on them. Strings range from very light (.089 E) to medium (.105 E), stainless, nickel, cobalt. It’s all in the setup.

 

[Christian Joseph Allbee]

I have found over the years that my preferred gauge for both styles is 40-100 with roundwounds and 40-95 with flatwounds.

These allow me to have a hard hitting sound with a pick without actually playing that hard and they allow me to do clean fingerstyle playing without fatiguing my hand quickly.

 

[HelpImaRock]

My bass has LaBella LTFs. As a pick player, I'm not of the mind there's an ideal string set specifically for pick playing compared to fingerstyle. You should play the strings you want, and then use a pick if you want. I'm 100% certain my LTFs were not optimized for picks. But that's what I use.

Likewise, you'll find that the thickness and material of the pick can give you different sounds and feels. But there's no "best". It's all about what works for you. I use Dunlop Primetone 3mm. I'd use Ultex .73mm to emulate Bobby Vega. His sound has more "clank" than mine, primarily due to pick thickness.

 

[Christian Joseph Allbee]

I have found over the years that my preferred gauge for both styles is 40-100 with roundwounds and 40-95 with flatwounds.

These allow me to have a hard hitting sound with a pick without actually playing that hard and they allow me to do clean fingerstyle playing without fatiguing my hand quickly.

Update: I’m gonna back track slightly and say that I use 40-95, 40-100 and 45-100 gauges on flatwounds, depending on what bass they’re on. Some react differently than others on gauges.