Plectrum motion: fingers or wrist?

[nabilhuakbar]

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And don't confuse impatience for bad technique. Pick proficiency takes time. Slow things down at first, give your body a chance to learn a new skill.

One of the things very few people seem to appreciate is that good pick technique takes a long time to develop. Maybe as long as good fingerstyle technique. There are a lot of ways to do it and having solid, controlled, fluid, consistent and tight picking is no simple feat. Just because some of us learned some stuff on guitar doesn't mean it took years to master that on the guitar, or that it takes a while to make that work on bass.

 

[fearceol]

I don't get the whole Carol Kaye thing. Everyone refers to her website. But when you actually read it, it doesn't give a clear picture. And she doesn't play anything difficult. She's just playing simple bee bop stuff.

In my opinion she gives VERY clear and detailed instructions (see link in my post no.6) on picking. Also, it does not matter what type of music you play. Injury occurs from repeatedly playing in a certain way over a period of time. Carol Kaye has being playing for quite a loooong time. So I would think that her style of picking is at least on a par with most others.

 

[jeronimoski]

In my opinion she gives VERY clear and detailed instructions (see link in my post no.6) on picking. Also, it does not matter what type of music you play. Injury occurs from repeatedly playing in a certain way over a period of time. Carol Kaye has being playing for quite a loooong time. So I would think that her style of picking is at least on a par with most others.

I'm gonna have to admit that I was wrong. I've been having trouble with my speed picking and I realized something after you replied and I went back to Carol's website. "Make sure you do not lay your pinkie on the instrument (like the bad habits of a guitar player), keep the pinkie curled inward too with the pinkie part of your right hand tilted up a little -- which forces the bottom of your thumb muscle to lay on the string then -- the correct pose of the right hand." After reading this again, I realized that my pick was not parrall to the ground. The top of the pick was facing away from me and the tip was facing more towards me and my pinkie was laying flat on the strings. So my upstrokes always got caught on the strings and/or slid off of the string and up and made a scratchy sound. Thanks. This has corrected a big problem.

 

[danbones]

lately i’ve been playing my bass with a jazz III pick. usually i play dunlop flow picks or big stubbys. my overall control is GREAT compared to a bigger pick, and i get very very little string scratching, but i’m concerned that this won’t translate when i get back into a band setting. once i’m moving around and competing sonically with a drummer, i’m sure i’ll shred my knuckles trying to dig in to the strings too hard.

it makes a good argument to get my finger style technique back in top form, but i’ve never managed anything close to my speed picking speed with fingers.

 

[Lobster11]

lately i’ve been playing my bass with a jazz III pick. usually i play dunlop flow picks or big stubbys. my overall control is GREAT compared to a bigger pick, and i get very very little string scratching, but i’m concerned that this won’t translate when i get back into a band setting. once i’m moving around and competing sonically with a drummer, i’m sure i’ll shred my knuckles trying to dig in to the strings too hard.

Just turn up your amp.

BTW, same for fingerstyle: You'll be able to play faster and more cleanly if you pluck softly and let the amp do the work.

 

[fearceol]

Thanks. This has corrected a big problem.

Glad you found it helpful.

 

[mambo4]

I tend to agree that Carol's Descriptions are hard to parse. Writing text describing bass and body part orientation, with phrases like "tilt the right hand up" or " parallel to the strings" leaves me confused because there are multiple axes along which things tilt or become parallel. An explicit video demonstration of the principles of Carol's method would eliminate such confusion.

 

[Watchootognbout]

Wrist.
Just try picking fast sixteenth notes at 140 BPM moving your fingers only.