OMG, He's using a PICK!!!!

[Kenova]

50/50 too, maybe I’m more enjoying pick these days, playing T-Bird helps too

 

[Joedog]

As long as you are rockin' the song, who gives a poopie?

 

[Bassa Nova]

I have tried very briefly and unsuccessfully to play with a pick.

I am certainly not against it, but it does feel foreign. Maybe someday. I do like the sound of a pick on flatwounds.

 

[MDBass]

In my 35 or so years of playing I started as a pick player and stuck to that until @ 10 years ago, when I put the picks away and forced myself to develop a finger style. I have stuck with playing almost exclusively with my fingers ever since.... until @ 3 months ago.

I haven't really played in a cover band in @10 years, but now I'm playing some songs that simply don't work as well with fingers, they need that attack and precision of a pick. So now I'm at @50/50 fingers/pick during my bands sets.

Anyone else coming to this realization?

Paul McCartney, Carol Kaye, Chris Squire, Anthony Johnson, John Paul Jones, Noel Redding, Bobby Vega, Peter Hook...the list of "offenders" is long, illustrious, and OLD, so no...not a recent realization for me

As a working session musician you need to be able to quickly achieve whatever sound is right for the song, which frequently includes swapping out basses or playing techniques: it's all about knowing your tools and how to get the most out of them

 

[lz4005]

I use what I need to get the tone I want for the song I'm playing. There are no rules.

That is a rule. The only rule.
Get the tone that's right for the song by whatever means necessary.

 

[JRA]

Anyone else coming to this realization?

i wish i had your pick chops. i avoid the pick because i'm too clumsy with it. 100% finger guy here. but i forgive myself. for the most part!




edit: actually i have used a pick in the studio before...but i was glad when it was over!

 

[40Hz]

I never got overly philisophical or analytical about it. I just played fingerstyle or with a pick (or an EBow, a drumstick, scratching with a pick or fingernail, or whatever) depending on what I thought best served the song.

I prefer to play floating-thumb freestroke fingerstyle all other factors being equal. But I could never really get my head into all those debates about what was the “best” way to play electric bass. I’m definitely a “whatever works” kind of player. If it sounds good - it is good AFAIC.

YMMV.

 

[Jools4001]

Way back when I started, I used to use both fingers and pick depending on what attack I wanted, but, I found picks were a little like ball point pens and I could never find one when I wanted one. I used to buy them by the dozen and keep them in the pockets of all my jeans and in my guitar cases, I had an old tobacco tin full of picks in my gig bag and still used to arrive at rehearsals, or gigs, with no pick to be found, so I was forced to compensate and play songs with fingers. By and by, I became adept at fingerstyle and picks felt really clumsy. However, over the past few weeks I’ve been using picks again because I bought a few packs of strings online and they threw in a freebie bag of about 100 assorted picks. There were picks of all different sizes, materials and thicknesses etc and it took some working out to find my preferred pick. After some extensive use I’m going back and forth between two ordinary Dunlop picks (a .60 and a .73). I find I am very slightly more dexterous with the lighter, more flexible pick, the heavier one feels a tad too stiff but gives me the attack I want, but I think that it’s because I still haven’t learned to relax yet, I’ve still got a bit of a Vulcan death grip thing going on because it feels as if it’s going to ping out of my fingers, but I can vaguely remember using very stiff picks all those years ago and letting my fingers do the flexing, so it’s a work in progress....

 

[FugaziBomb]

I never use a pick live, as I prefer to play with my fingers. If I need a picked kinda sound, I hold my index finger and thumb together, sorta like holding a pick, but instead I use my nails - much like Krist Novaselic of Nirvana did. In the studio, I'll use a pick if I want that sound. (Pick + P Bass + light OD + SVT is an awesome sound for rock mixes)

 

[Sam Reese]

I'm with Funky Ghost and FugaziBomb on this. I play a phantom pick that is my index finger nail. It takes a whoopin'; grinds down, but does the job. This is on electric bass guitar, doesn't seem to have as great of an effect on the acoustic upright bass or electric upright bass.

 

[njones89]

I am trying to develop both skills. There are some things I can do on one and not the other.. I can do fast triplets really well with fingers, but super fast 16th/32nd notes I can only do with a pick. It's easier for me to jump strings with fingers, too and play wider ranges and sweeps of notes.

 

[fakeneckplate'65]

I've forced myself to learn to use a pick occasionally when I play certain songs on bass. One of of the reasons I never meshed on guitar is because I couldn't use a pick well.

I'm more than a little embarrassed to admit that I often prefer the sound of bass with a pick..

 

[bass71]

Cant hold or use a pick at all, fingers are pretty good, fast 16ths etc ..never had any complaints.

 

[DiMarco]

Does it matter with bassguitar? Playing upright with a pick would be meh tho...

 

[trailer]

Yup.



I’d play “Would?” With a toothpick before I played it with nothing. That “would” sound lame.

Maybe if YOU played it with nothing

 

[BAG]

Just watch Bobby Vega for a bit and if you're not using a pick you'll start!

 

[saltydude]

Maybe if YOU played it with nothing

I absolutely agree

 

[BAG]

I was a pick only player until about 18 months ago. Now it all depends on the band and the song but I'm still about 70% pick. I just prefer the way the attack and tone i get with flats cuts through better.

 

[Ric5]

50 / 50

 

[Sixgunn]

Maybe it's just me but I think it would sound better, finger style.