Digging playing with a Pick

[magic8161]

40 years I played finger Style. I play mostly oldies. Elvis,Roy Orbison, Rod Stewert etc etc. Tribute band. Well 2 weeks ago I started playing with a pick only to find im getting more punch and more speed more clean volume. In fact ,Monday I did a corporate party with a Elvis guy and the band complimented me on how my sound was excellent!! I'm hooked now. Anyone else switch?

 

[WI Short Scaler]

Yes, I'm in that "old bass player now using a pick" club.

Like you, I find the sound cleaner/crisper and the band has noticed. And they like it too.

I tried to see if it would help with the osteo-arthritis in both hands and found it beneficial. Far less to no pain after gigs now.

 

[pingvuiini]

I too like the brighter, louder attack of a pick and have felt in general it is best to know how to play both fingerstyle and with a pick. I have attempted several times in the past few years to play with one but I totally suck eggs. I find the picking itself isn't too bad, but the muting is most difficult. Perhaps it's because I mostly play fretless and picking works better on fretted?

 

[John Stephen]

I play mostly with a pick, probably 60-40 or 65-35, pick to fingers. I can play faster with a pick, and it puts my wrist in a more comfortable position (coming in from the side, rather than my wrist coming down from above). The wrist-down position is okay if I'm standing up, but I do most of my playing sitting down. With finger-style, my wrist position is bent uncomfortably. With a pick, my arm and wrist are coming in more from the side, like guitar players.

 

[Lobster11]

40 years I played finger Style. I play mostly oldies. Elvis,Roy Orbison, Rod Stewert etc etc. Tribute band. Well 2 weeks ago I started playing with a pick only to find im getting more punch and more speed more clean volume. In fact ,Monday I did a corporate party with a Elvis guy and the band complimented me on how my sound was excellent!! I'm hooked now. Anyone else switch?

Wow. I played exclusively fingerstyle for about 15 years, and when I decided to try a pick it took me a lot longer than 2 weeks to get the hang of it. Ten years later I play with a pick about half the time, on average, but I still have to practice my picking technique more than my fingerstyle.

 

[Lobster11]

I play mostly with a pick, probably 60-40 or 65-35, pick to fingers. I can play faster with a pick, and it puts my wrist in a more comfortable position (coming in from the side, rather than my wrist coming down from above). The wrist-down position is okay if I'm standing up, but I do most of my playing sitting down. With finger-style, my wrist position is bent uncomfortably. With a pick, my arm and wrist are coming in more from the side, like guitar players.

Yes! This has been my dilemma since I started playing with a pick about half the time. Without a pick, I like the bass body to be lower so I can keep a straight wrist without having to hold my elbow in an awkward position, but with a pick I prefer the bass body to be higher so I can approach the strings "from the side" as you said. For fingerstyle I can't get the bass in the position I want when seated, so when I practice sitting down I use a pick. (That's okay since, as I noted in a previous post, my pickstyle always needs more practice than my fingerstyle.)

For playing with my band, I've found a strap length that serves as a kind of compromise so I can play both ways, but it's not ideal for either.

 

[John Stephen]

Right, strap length is important when playing in a standing position. It's good to have one that has a wide range of length adjustment so you can get it just right.

 

[SpiderBass1965]

I too played for over 40 years with my fingers and have been playing with a pick recently for cover songs that originally were played with a plectrum. Really like the attack

 

[buldog5151bass]

It's one more tool.

 

[Sparkl]

40 years I played finger Style. I play mostly oldies. Elvis,Roy Orbison, Rod Stewert etc etc. Tribute band. Well 2 weeks ago I started playing with a pick only to find im getting more punch and more speed more clean volume. In fact ,Monday I did a corporate party with a Elvis guy and the band complimented me on how my sound was excellent!! I'm hooked now. Anyone else switch?

No such thing as a "switch". You use whatever is appropriate for what you're trying to do. Ideally you want to be proficient in all of them. Finger, pick, slap, muting, alternative techniques such as mute slap (very popular today) etc etc...

 

[SDC1-ClickClack]

My primary instrument for decades has been guitar, so I'm kinda stuck on also playing my bass with a pick. I do like the clean, sharp attack I can get. Nevertheless, I envy bass players who use just their fingers, which I think enables them to play certain passages more easily than my pick allows me to achieve.

 

[DuluthDank]

I'm glad I play bass with a pick in my current band. It probably took me a solid year to get fully comfortable, but it's a useful sound and made picking up the guitar much easier as a bonus.

 

[Suho]

I have been trying to add a little more picking to my 35 years of fingerstyle. I also play guitar. Frankly I find that pick or fingers affect what I want to play, not just how I play it.

 

[J Wilson]

I started with a pick, Fender 355 Heavys, eventually working up to where I could play everything with a pick or fingers. I'm not one of those guys where I can get a nice hard tone barehanded, so when I need 'that sound' out comes the pick. When I started out in the 70's, 'bass with a pick' was probably more common that it is now, and I always loved the attack, how clean/firm it was.

I've always used these, or the D'Andrea identical piece, as well as D'Andrea's gaged nylon version (the blue 1mm Delrex) in the same size/shape. I'd bet real money D'Andrea makes these for FMIC (as well as lots of companies), and often the D'Andrea-branded versions are easier to find, and they're the same thing. I've use the D'Andys for years, great stuff.

Home

dandreausa.com

 

[higain617]

I use Dunlop Max Grip .88 picks.

 

[ole Jason]

I can play equally well with pick or fingers but am always surprised by how many non-bassists are impressed by playing fast stuff with fingers

 

[Admiral Akbar]

Same here / been playing 30 years. Played my first “mostly-pick” gig a couple of weeks ago. I love the feel and tone. Picking does help me “feel” note placement better if that makes sense.

But being an upright player, I would never switch to pick completely. Picks are great as a tool. So glad to read your post OP!

 

[andymac]

Played fingerstyle for, geez, forty years now. Started pick on bass a few years ago, now finally feeling comfortable with it. Surprisingly, I found my pick skills on guitar did not cross over. I find I need a very different technique(s) for bass strings.

I found that pick playing helped tighten up my rhythm, even when I switch back to fingers. The precise attack makes me notice where I'm sloppy with the beat (either accidentally or intentionally).

One surprise I had: I expected pick to work well for rock/punk, but I am surprised how well pick can work for oldies you listed, for funky things, lots of styles I didn't expect.

Another surprise: changing the pick you use can make a HUGE change in tone! As big as the difference between flats and rounds. I definitely recommend getting a bunch of picks of different materials and gauges. The tone changes are big, and also not always what I would guess.

 

[gtirard]

Enjoy.

Listen to Graham Mabe in Joe Jackson's album "Look Sharp!" for inspiration.

 

[rodl2005]

40 years I played finger Style. I play mostly oldies. Elvis,Roy Orbison, Rod Stewert etc etc. Tribute band. Well 2 weeks ago I started playing with a pick only to find im getting more punch and more speed more clean volume. In fact ,Monday I did a corporate party with a Elvis guy and the band complimented me on how my sound was excellent!! I'm hooked now. Anyone else switch?

I've always used a pick, and fingers, and thumb and palm muted thumb and pick and slap, thump.
Veev la differonce
The array of tones available with picks is staggering.
I've never ever thought any one style should or shouldn't be applied where desired.

Plus, picks save me when my plucking fingers wear out. So sometimes become the default.