Fingers or plectrum?

[sxaxsx]

I also feel more comfortable with my fingers, and get the feeling you describe of having the pick between you and the instrument. It's like a disconnect and I feel like my feel and timing is off when using a pick. I do like the tone of pick playing though and don't think either is better than the other. I especially like the tone of players that used a pick with flats and mutes, like Paul McCartney's and Carole Kaye's pick tones are just great, but I just feel more comfortable with fingers. Playing near the bridge and getting some fingernail action will help imitate those pick tones though.

 

[basslayer]

I only play finger style. I never really got any good at using a pick mostly because I was never really doing anything that necessitated that tone.

 

[Leonid Nidis]

I wouldn't bother switching.
Emulation is overrated,just play well the way it suits you.
Only other bass are always trying to mimic everything the rest dont care unless is strictly tribute band.

 

[PaulS]

I started off with a pick when I was a teen but switched to fingers after a year or so. When I want to strum chords on the bass, I just hold my hand like I have a pick in it and use my nail. I do this even when I play guitar. If I hold the pick, it just slides back between my fingers til it isn’t showing.

 

[StringCanvas]

I'd say I'm currently about 85-90% with a pick, mostly because it fits the style of I play (a lot of punk and rock). At one point I played a lot of melodic and walking bass lines in a different band, and that was around 85% with fingers.

I'd also throw out there that if I'm singing while playing, that makes a pretty big difference, too. A lot of songs feel easier with a pick while singing.

 

[MegaSwing]

It has to be the fingers. That’s why bass is perfect for me. It requires only a little finesse, as far as how I want to hear it.

As far as plectrum, it’ll never be my first choice. I just don’t like the string spacing. But if it is ever the only option, it could happen. I’ll find the groove.

It’s my job.

 

[Cal03]

I'd say it's 80-90% fingers for me, frankly because I'm terrible at picking. But I really should work on my picking technique, sometimes a song just needs that attack and tone.

-Cal.

 

[bobalu]

For the life of me, I can't fathom the reason for the finger vs. pick camps when it comes to bass, as if you have to choose a side - evil or good . I play guitar as well, and finger style or pick is just a choice for the song or type of playing - not an "us or them" choice. Some bass players need to get over the pick thing, there's way more important things in life.

 

[el murdoque]

I can't play well with a pick. If you force me to, I can get a pretty aggressive attack out of my fingers, but my tonal preferences are somewhat opposite of that.

I have not touched a bass string with a pick in years.

 

[Raman]

For the life of me, I can't fathom the reason for the finger vs. pick camps when it comes to bass, as if you have to choose a side - evil or good . I play guitar as well, and finger style or pick is just a choice for the song or type of playing - not an "us or them" choice. Some bass players need to get over the pick thing, there's way more important things in life.

I think you may have read too much into this... It's not a matter of camps or rivalry at all. As my question states, I'm just curious whether people go with their preferred method or if they tend to adapt depending on songs/styles. Personally, I tend to adapt and play differently depending on styles or when I'm covering another bass player's technique. But lately, I've tended to keep to my preferred method (finger-picking). Just curious what others do.

Not every topic has to become a flame war...

 

[bucephylus]

Curious.

I've been a finger picker ever since I 1st picked up a bass. Nobody had to tell me how to pluck with index and middle finger: It came completely spontaneously. It's only much later that I started playing with a plectrum, in order to emulate some of the bassists (mostly post-punk) that I like. It felt at first as if I played with gloves on: Didn't like that a piece of material was in the way between my skin and the strings. I got better at it, but to this day, playing with a plectrum still feels less natural to me.

One thing I'm wondering is, when you guys and girls cover a song or other, will you also switch between finger and plectrum to get as close as possible to the original, or do you just stick to your preferred picking method?

I tend to emulate the original technique. But these days, I'm covering Carole Kaye material and I keep going back to finger-picking. Not only does it make it easier for me, but I can't quite get her tone when plectrum picking, even though that's how she played it. I feel I'm much closer with fingers.

To quote Bruce Lee, “My style is no style;” by which he actually meant all styles.

After you gig long enough, you may eventually get into a space where you use whatever technique most correctly serves the performance. Which means a whole lot of stuff; like how closely you are rendering a cover, if playing a cover, or what you are trying to get across for the tune. Both fingers (“pizz” in Classical parlance) and plectrum actually have a whole range of techniques even within each approach. The possibilities may not be infinite, but they are many.

For example, plectrum may be down - down etc or down - up etc, depending. And then there is where on the string you are attacking.

Pizz, or finger style, uses any of the fingers (though I have never used my pinky), and includes slaps, octaves, octave pinches, alternate 2 finger etc etc. In short, there is enough to keep the discerning player from getting bored.

Oh yeah, palm muting is in there with both techniques, just to keep things from getting boring.

I suppose some of this just depends on where you decide to set your own boundaries.

 

[Ostie]

I actually like the tone from my thumb better than my fingers, but I don’t have the speed and dexterity needed with thumb only.

 

[Raman]

I actually like the tone from my thumb better than my fingers, but I don’t have the speed and dexterity needed with thumb only.

I never properly developed thumb-picking myself...

Off topic, what's the story behind your name: Ostie ?
Did you know it's a common swear word in Quebec French?

 

[abarson]

i've only used picks for recording sessions --- and so my 'pick endurance' is about 3-4 minutes at a stretch. even at that, i've always rigged my picks to allow me to hold onto them better because of such poor pick technique. i have it in my mind that i should become fluent/fluid with a pick before i....you know --- . i may need some lessons. i watch bobby vega and i start thinking that he's having way more fun than me.

Bobby is a proponent of "Finger, Pick, Thumb - whatever works"

 

[lermgalieu]

I prefer my fingers for both bass and guitar. But sometimes a pick is more appropriate, even if I feel like a Neanderthal wielding one.

 

[Bass Man Dan]

IMO a good bassist can do both. Which is why I can do neither.

 

[joel406]

A right wrist injury before high school made playing with a pick painful and exhausting. I would love to be able to use one. But I've learned to get the tone/attack I want/need with my fingers.

 

[rockosocko]

I can play well with a pick, and can actually get more speed that I do with my fingers. Still, I prefer using my fingers and very rarely use a pick. To me, there is something inherently organic in fingerstyle that I don't seem to feel when I use a pick.

 

[Jaygetsreal]

This is an interesting thread.
I started picking not for the sound but for the increased speed it gave me. My old fingers just couldn't keep up with one particular song (below) and since then I have used pick for most of the faster tempo songs I play.

 

[thunderstation]

Curious.

I've been a finger picker ever since I 1st picked up a bass. Nobody had to tell me how to pluck with index and middle finger: It came completely spontaneously. It's only much later that I started playing with a plectrum, in order to emulate some of the bassists (mostly post-punk) that I like. It felt at first as if I played with gloves on: Didn't like that a piece of material was in the way between my skin and the strings. I got better at it, but to this day, playing with a plectrum still feels less natural to me.

One thing I'm wondering is, when you guys and girls cover a song or other, will you also switch between finger and plectrum to get as close as possible to the original, or do you just stick to your preferred picking method?

I tend to emulate the original technique. But these days, I'm covering Carole Kaye material and I keep going back to finger-picking. Not only does it make it easier for me, but I can't quite get her tone when plectrum picking, even though that's how she played it. I feel I'm much closer with fingers.

I'm a finger style player as well. Plectrums are Alien to me as well. I've started using a National Thumb Pick so I can switch back & forth as needed. I tend to use down strokes and the technique is getting easier and it's beginning to work rather nicely.