I've started to prefer a pick. Why does this upset me?

[guyzo]

Just kidding! As a"finger fellow" or " fingerer" of over 30 years of bass playing i can only imagine the inner conflict you face.... theres the"damn i feel like a "guitard"(just saw that for the first time in that post above! Love it!) element, sure...but perhaps the angst you endure comes from a deeper place within you.. bass is the most physically demanding of the string instruments, be it upright, electric or even bass balalaika, and unlike most other string instruments, one usually plays it with ones fingers. Doing this over years one develops a sense of direct contact with the bass and the production of sound. Almost as if one completes a circuit of sorts with both hands in contact with the bass. In this context, a pick breaks that intimacy of circuit, distancing one from the divine that which is bass.
Just a thought...might well be something quite different, like the gauge of pick you use, or that silly hat they make you wear(sorry..just being funny again...)
Making noise is what we do....ultimately it matters not how it is done but instead, that it is done at all.
(I would have used more icons but i didnt see any with badgers or pangolins....and that one in the top left corner is like so obviously a.guitar player..)
like they used to say...." Once you go pick..you(fill in your own scathingly funny derisive end to this immortal aphorism)"

 

[melancholyflowe]

I've never understood why it matters. As long as you are playing bass what difference does it make? I get "douche chills" from people who think one style/method is superior to another.

Thank you! Bass is bass and sound is sound... I feel like it's so elitist to berate people who use one style that differs from yours. Plus, roger waters uses a pick and I think it sounds great.

 

[punkjazzben]

I've been a fingerstyle player for the 13 or 14 years I've played bass. Mostly I like the control, but also I was a member of the MX Tabs/Musician Forums as a teenager and the whole pick vs. finger thing was done to death there and I think the 'internet peer pressure' got to me. I also studied jazz at uni and play double bass, so the pick hasn't really come into it a whole lot for me.

Nevertheless, I pull it out every so often. I want and need to be a better pick player. You never know when you're going to wake up and your fingers just don't work anymore.

 

[atomicdog]

I pick with the fingernail of the right index finger. Is that cheating? Who cares. It works.

 

[bassgod76]

I'm not saying playing with fingers is better or superior. To me, it's one of the things that sets it apart from the guitar is that we have this option. In any event I'm glad that I'm not the only one who shuned the pick at first, only to find it to be a fun altrernative

 

[Proraptor]

I use a pick 90% of the time and wouldnt have it any other way

 

[john_martin_sai]

"I've started to prefer a pick. Why does this upset me?"

You're not very good with it yet?

 

[bassgod76]

"I've started to prefer a pick. Why does this upset me?"

You're not very good with it yet?

Definitely more comfortable with fingers, but the pick has been fun.

 

[Schmorgy]

To be fair, the Precision Bass was pandered to pick-using guitarists at the time it came out, owing to the tug-bar being where it was.

Play with whatever the sound calls for. Metal and hard rock bassists love the pick for its edgier sound and ability to cut through an already bass-laden sound. Funk, pop, and Jazz bassists prefer finger for its mellower and rounder sound. If you can diversify enough to play pick and finger style, no one's in any position to criticize you since that just makes your value as a bassist go up.

 

[Marley's Ghost]

You have gone to the dark side. Except they have picks instead of cookies.