How to have plucking sound like picking?

[LBS-bass]

Most of us think of finger plucking and pick playing as two separate sounds, and learn to use both to achieve those sounds, switching back and forth as the musical situation demands it.

If you are having trouble getting the same presence with fingers compared to a pick, it might involve changing some amp settings for finger playing. Try increasing the volume on the amp as well as EQing out frequencies you don't care for. Finger plucking can produce a more subdued tone compared to the pick. To prove that, just play the bass acoustically with no amp turned on. When you play with a pick, you can hear the bass alot better right?

It can also help, if you are a finger player, to use a bass with a higher action. I recently discovered some old 4 track tapes of a band I was in, this was back in 1986 or so. The bass was on its own channel and I would swear that I was playing with a pick, even though I never do. The thing about that bass was that it wasn't a great instrument and it had pretty high action, so I never got any neck or fret buzz from it. I had the ability to really pluck it hard, and I did. The attack was clear and defined. Was shocking to hear how different it sounded isolated than I would have imagined.

 

[maturanesa]

use lighter strings in order to move the string more when plucking.
picking touch is heavier by nature, you got to emulate that