All 4 years pick and few months fingers
And see that is exactly your problem, fam. You expect few months of fingerstyle playing to sound the same as 4 years of playing with a pick. It just doesn't work like that. I'd like you to meet my friend :
Now you see, my friend used to be a strictly pick player I used to play mostly finger style. I sucked with a pick he sucked playing fingers. But seeing him rip with a pick I was like: man, I wish I could do that. Meanwhile my friend, he bought a new fretless bass guitar, and to him it just didn't feel right playing a fretless with a pick, so He decided to finally learn how to play fingerstyle. It took him a whole year before he felt comfortable about his fingerstyle and now a few years later , I can say that his fingerstyle playing is almost on par with his pick technique, and I think that says something considering the kind of music he plays. Now, I myself as a pick player never really reached his level, but I still got really decent with it. I also learned how to slap , something I never would've thought I'd be capable of doing and right now I'm practicing my double thumb technique, which by far feels like my biggest challange so far.
Tbh I was probably your age when I quit playing bass for the same reason that you are considering right now: I felt I wasn't good enough. And years passed before I finally took up the bass and gave it a second chance, and as a more mature person, rid of the teenage angst and bs excuses, on my second try I became way better than I ever was , even some friends that genuinely though I was a trash bass player got shocked by how god I become. And it all happened for 2 reason. Reason number 1. I was finally willing to sit down and practice my butt off until I was good enough and reason 2. I found myself a bass guitar that spoke to me like no other bass guitar ever did, and it wasn't even an expensive instrument, it's a Sire V7. But to me personally it just spoke to me. Right out if the box when I picked it up I felt like I was Thor and that the bass in my hand is Mjolnir and that we were made for each other. And that is basically my advice to you. Don't give up, you will regret it! I know I did. I wish I knew back then that my problem wasn't that I didn't have talent, my problem was being too lazy to put in the necessary work.
Second advice, find yourself a bass that speaks to you. I currently have 2 bass guitars. But I had multiple in the past. I owned an ESP and Ibanez, and currently I own a Fender Player series P bass and a Sire V7 Jazz bass, and I'd lie if I didn't say that the V7 just feel right when I pick it up. Though, what works for me doesn't necesarilly mean it will work for you , you need to find that bass that just feels right when you play it.
and Last but not least, actually tbh in matter of importance this actually ties into the first advice but basically this: stop comparing yourself to others, don't think how you compare to others, but how you compare to yourself. And this one is basically not only a bass advice but a life advice too. Focus on being better than you are today, not on being good enough to fit in. Practice each day to become a better bass player than you are today.
TL;DR version: Git gud you scrub
Last edited: