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

[BAG]

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

I think that if you tried to play it finger style you'd find that you just couldn't get the same groove and percussive effect. Happy to be proven wrong but the strumming rhythm of the pick gives it a feel that just doesn't replicate with fingers.

Using a pick gives you speed and consistency of note when alternate picking sixteenth notes.
But it IS harder to mute unused strings while not muting played strings while picking.

And conversely I find it harder to hold a note while playing other notes two or more strings higher when playing fingerstyle....... for instance, playing an open E and then adding a fill while it rings.

 

[socialleper]

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?

Not in that scenario, but yes. If the song was written with a pick or fingers, it is sometimes very hard to transpose them from one style of playing to another. Each makes you approach the instrument in a different way, which sometimes isn't compatible with playing it a different way.
The sound can be very different too. If you are doing a cover and want to try to get as close to the original sound or feel as the original, you probably need need to play it like the original player did.

 

[eJake]

I pick with the side of my thumb. I developed a callous there so I don't need pics. Really I just don't want to add the extra weight to my gig bag.

 

[Sunset Shalom]

I think fingers/ picks have their place.

One thing I realized over time is I actually prefer the sound of using fingers+ a pick, basically I just hold the pick so that I can pluck the string with my finger and the pick at once. Makes for a great slap tone.

 

[AshInAmsterdam]

I primarily pick too. I use my fingers for songs that have a more staccato line, I find using two fingers to play and mute works well - I can’t palm mute in the same way I can on a guiiar.

 

[descendent22]

Using a pick gives you speed and consistency of note when alternate picking sixteenth notes.
But it IS harder to mute unused strings while not muting played strings while picking.

Speed? That's not entirely true. I'm a pick player primarily and I'll tell ya that when it comes to real speedy songs that I use my fingers. Muting is different. You can palm mute and also get grace notes from the pick as well.

 

[descendent22]

Yeah, John Paul Jones occasionally used one to.

Jpg used a pick more then occasionally.id say probably 30-40 % of the time

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Pick player.

But then, I started on guitar. So...

I started on guitar too, but playing folk music, ala Peter, Paul and Mary, I was finger picking since day one, and playing the bass notes with my thumb. Going that route, the change to bass was no problem.

I never had much use for picks for either guitar or bass until I started doing studio work. I’m still a much better bassist playing with my fingers, but there are certain parts that finger picking just will not do.

 

[jesterbass]

For my current cover band I'm at about 60% fingerstyle, 35% pick, 5% slap.

It's incredible how much I identify with these numbers.

 

[jesterbass]

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

And if you 're already playing with a pick, you 'll just stop, guaranteed.

 

[consectaneus]

The OP got it right. Some things just sound or feel right with one or the other.

Jpg used a pick more then occasionally.id say probably 30-40 % of the time

I'd imagine having been a studio musician he learned to do whatever was called for. Much like the OP and some others have found, sometimes things just sound and feel better with one or the other.

 

[Watchootognbout]

Speed? That's not entirely true. I'm a pick player primarily and I'll tell ya that when it comes to real speedy songs that I use my fingers. Muting is different. You can palm mute and also get grace notes from the pick as well.

The problem with palm muting is that you also mute the played strings.
I don't want to do that.
I'm not trying to get a muffled double bass thump.
I want to stop sympathetic string vibration.

 

[Spectrum]

I trained with and used only fingers for a long time, and I think most tunes can be played with fingers using the proper technique. Geddy played Chris Squire's part for Yes using fingers and showed you can get that attack with the right plucking style. But I like to play with a pick, too, because for many songs it just feels more natural. And maybe, a little bit, maybe, because it also looks cool.

 

[Pilgrim]

I started on upright bass and can not use a pick competently. I work on it occasionally, but I still really stink at pick technique. So far, that hasn't prevented me from playing for the past 20 years.

You can do a lot with finger style if you can move them dang fingers fast.

 

[Strung_Low]

Yes, sometimes pick is whats needed.. sometimes fingers sound best

 

[Tom Bomb]

One way or the other - I could never pick. It's all good

 

[Marc valero]

I always play with a pick and usually nobody says anything about it. BUT setting up for a bar gig tonight some dude who has seen better days said he used to play bass. While I was sound checking he says he played with his fingers. He asked when we started I said at 8pm in 43 minutes and he said he either has to go home or get more money. I hope he comes back so I can show him how to play bass.
HE CAME BACk
Said we were excellent and get the gold star. He is only 3 years older than me. He is in his own zone, if you know what i mean.

 

[selowitch]

I play 75% with fingers and 25% with pick ... and that's on both guitar and bass. I guess I'm a little unorthodox in that way.

 

[Ductapeman]

For ages, recording techs insisted that all bassists always use picks, ideally a thumb pick-- it gave them a nice, well-defined level to record without a bunch of fuss. I think this must have gotten started at the old Ampex studio in the late 1950s, but have no solid proof. Even into the early 1970s I ran into this. If you did not comply they would pile a ton of compression on you "to clean up the level." These days we know better (I hope), the crew are generally pretty easy to get along with (or we won't be working with them very long), and also the average bassist is far more aware of what his kit actually sounds like. (Some of that is being able to actually hear a recording of it--)

ETA: As for myself, and I've said it here before, Ritchie Blackmore was right: You can get sounds with your feet that you cannot get with your hands.

 

[Felken]

Been a pick player my whole life, I’ve found when needing a finger style attack I use a pick that mimics it.
So I’ve never felt the urge to change.

Opposite here. I can't play with a pick to save my life, so if I need to mimic a pick, I'll adapt my technique to do so.