Either fingers or pick - whatever works for the song, or my mood.
I'm still pretty new to bass, so I haven't really worked on slap/pop stuff.
I'm still pretty new to bass, so I haven't really worked on slap/pop stuff.
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Fingers vs pick?
- Thread starter Jorgebassguy
- Start date
I voted fingers cuz that's what I use 90% of the time, but I also use a pick, or a thumb, or a mic stand, and an occasional slap and/or pop.
I am a huge Beatles and McCartney fan. The harmonies, compositions and durable melodies all shine. That said, when I listen to separate bass tracks I think each note sounds like he’s stomping the floor with a peg leg.
I pluck, pick, slap and I have even tapped on some recordings (nothing complex, I suck). One more vote for "poll should be multiple choice", the "VS" thing doesn't make much sense.
I primarily play, like most players, alternating index and middle fingers. I have learned to play with a pick, using Carol Kaye's method as the model, but because I have not put in regular practice, haven't developed a comfort level except for the simplest of songs. I feel I have more control over tone/sound using my fingers. To my ears, using a pick produces a blunter, sharper sound, which I don't prefer.
Fingerstyle is most natural for me, but I play with a pick a lot in my current band as we do a lot of punk, its been challenging, Ive been working on my speed and endurance down picking only.
Fingers, i started on guitar round 1966 using picks then when our bands bassplayer left i went to bass and practiced constantly with fingers only and have done so all these years so its more natural and when i try a pick on bass its awkward and harder to keep from dropping the pick. I can play much faster lines with fingers but i think if i could get the knack for using a pick my tone would be cleaner and jump out more. So if i had to give advice to someone learning id say try to be equaly good at both. Learning new tricks for me this late in the game is more challenging .
A serious session/cover pro will have learned them all. I migrated from guitar, so I started out playing bass 100% with a pick, but after a few years, I realized that I can sound a lot like a pick with my fingers, but can't sound very much like my fingers with a pick, so I'm 95% fingerstyle now. Never mastered slap, but as I mostly play originals and rock styles that don't require it, I may never do so. Gave up on being a session pro a long time ago, though.
Yes.
I like all 3, I like fingers, especially for funky chromatic walk ups to the root. I like a pick, especially for palm muted chugs, like the low end in Another Brick in The Wall (not sure how Roger Waters plays it, but I hear a palm muted chug there) and I like snapping and popping especially for accents at the end a 4 bar phrase.
I like bass, bass is like a beautiful woman, I like them in all sizes and flavors.
Beautiful is beautiful.
I play 2finger fingerstyle, used to play with a pick but dont like tone, my ear likes the warmer finger sound, I play hard really digging in, its kind of like slapping,but with 2 fingers,I tried 3 fingers, but could get my head around it enough to be profient! tried slapping but it doesnt fit the music i play. im good with a pick just dont like the tone. I kinda get ocd with any technique at first trying to master it, still shedding finger rudiments! do what you like not what seems cool.GL
I really only play "fingers." I was taught that way from the start and that's where I remain. I wish I was better at using a pick. There have been times at rehearsals where I've picked one up and attempted to play a song with it, but because I have no idea what I'm doing, my hand hurts after a minute and I go back to what I know. Yes, I know that if I really wished I was competent with a plectrum I would simply have to get a few more technique pointers and put in the time. I suppose the point of my remarks is that there sometimes seems to be a certain sense of superiority among finger-style players that using a pick is somehow less-than, but, as a de facto member of the finger "camp," I quite admire the folks who can use a pick to great effect. Bass is the place either way.
Carol Kaye plays in flat picking with a heavy pick near the fingerboard. Bobby Vega plays with the shoulders of a medium pick between the bridge and the P pickup. Duff McKagan also plays with a medium pick, but in edge picking, which produces that characteristic scraping sound. In short, there are plenty of ways to use a pick. And if to that you add the fact that you can change the material or the thickness of the pick to produce a variety of different sounds, while you can't change your fingers, a pick becomes a bass player's most versatile tool.
Lol Of course, he's not the most technical of pick players. I should have put Adam "Nolly" Getgood instead.
I use both as should you- Certain songs need a pick, others need fingers. A few need BOTH.
Fingers. No real reason other than it's just how I learned 40 some years ago. So for me it's comfy and easy. To be fair though, I've never really taken the time for to develop the technique for pick or slap. I'm sure it could widen horizons a bit. But I'm happy, and that works for me.
