[poll] Pick & finger style - tone settings?

[gtirard]

Do you play both pick & finger style?

If so, do you keep the same settings on all songs, or do you adjust the tone depending on the playing technique?
I've noticed my tone is more beefy when playing finger style, and brighter but also a bit thinner when playing with a pick.

I'm a "more" kind of guy, so I tend to play everything with both humbucker in series, tone fully open.
But I'm starting to think I should change the settings in the instrument to compensate the tone difference when I alternate pick and finger style. Of course the goal is not to get the same tone exactly but a more even presence in the mix if you see what I mean…

Of course I need to explore and find my own way. But I wanted to know if there's a trick, equivalent to the mid scoop used for slap, in order to compensate the thinner sound of pick style…

What do you do?

(wasn't sure where to post this, mods please move this thread if I choose the wrong forum…)

 

[Wasnex]

The poll does not allow muli-votes...or have a carrot option

I voted change EQ on the bass because that is the most important change. However, it's fairly likely I will change the pickup blend as well.

I play with a pretty bright sound, but use really clean finger-style technique to avoid producing a lot fret noise. Pick would be way to obnoxious without making a few adjustments.

 

[Lobster11]

I usually (but not always) cut the treble a bit on the passive tone control (of a P-bass) when I switch to a pick.

 

[Polfuste]

No. My pick is a kind of boost i use generally like a it was a boost pedal. As i generally play with a light touch with fingers, i attack stronger with the pick and the bass responds immediately by stronger and bigger sound.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

Fingers: Volume and tone dimed.
Pick: Volume and tone dimed.

 

[RGerhart]

A lot of it depends on the song I'm playing, as I usually switch to a pick for a song that I know the original bass player used a pick and it has that pick "sound." Generally, though, I keep my EQ pretty flat when playing fingerstyle, and when I switch to pick, I might boost the upper mids (around 1.2K) to bring out the clank for pick style.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

I tend to roll off the tone knob when playing fingerstyle, and open it a bit more when playing with a pick. I’m fingerstyle probably 80% of the time.

 

[sethlow3]

I’m paraphrasing here, but Mark Knopfler once said that a pick is the loudest amplifier for a guitar. The same applies to bass.

I’ve been doing both for more than a decade and I could never match the volume output of my pick tone without really digging in for fingerstyle.
My fingerstyle touch is also light (let the amp do the work) from years upon years making sure it was that way.

That’s why I like always having a compressor on. It evens the tone out no matter which I use.

 

[Pings Bass]

When I've played with a pick, it has been to get a different tone

So I wouldn't change anything on the bass or amp without first making sure my technique is copacetic

 

[ctmullins]

I roll the volume back slightly when picking; everything else stays the same.

 

[bassfran]

I use my index fingernail as a pick when I choose to use a ‘pick’ most of the time. I don’t change any controls for this.

Haven’t dropped it once yet.

 

[RattleSnack]

When I did play pick and finger style during set, technique was only thing I changed.
Having said that, I am careful to play with pick so that it does have similar output as FS, just more attack. If you go ham with pick, you may need to compensate that with Volume.

 

[MCS4]

Generally no, but it did take some work on my technique to get to a place where I was 100% happy with my tone and volume when swapping between the two from a live perspective without changing any gear settings.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Yeah, I do. When I'm playing with a pick, I'm looking for that really hard, trebly Squire tone, when I play fingerstyle I prefer something more mid-range, more "thump" than "clack".

 

[MCS4]

I've noticed my tone is more beefy when playing finger style, and brighter but also a bit thinner when playing with a pick.

This is how it was for me in my earlier days of gigging and playing both styles. I was able to "normalize" the two sounds to a point where no gear changes needed to be made, primarily through some technique changes when playing with a pick. One example is using one of the two rounder corners (not the pointy tip) of a medium-ish gauge pick, which for me is typically a 1mm Tortex. This strikes a nice balance of being "rounder" in tone than using the tip of most picks while still preserving enough of the pick's attack. The other is being very mindful of finding a "sweet spot" on the string that is a little closer to the neck than my prior picking technique but not so close that I lose note definition. Between these two things and some other stuff that's probably more unconscious, I get a pick tone that preserves most of the fatness of my stock sound and allows the same gear settings to fit roughly the same place in the mix with either pick or fingerstyle, while still having enough pick attack. Obviously, if I ever really want to go full-in on a brighter/spikier pick tone I can always just adjust these things back to "normal" on the fly.

 

[Jev1]

Whether I play fingerstyle or pick depends on what the song needs. Most of my bands songs are originals, and my bandmates give me the freedom to decide what sounds best.. (although I take into account their feedback obviously).

I adjust my EQ and volume for the song(s) as well, but not necessarily based on the fingerstyle vs pick playing.

 

[Reedt2000]

99% of the time I'm using an active onboard preamp. I roll the treble boost down a bit if I pull out the pick.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

I do all of those things. I played "set and forget" for years and didn't even bother to change strings unless they broke. Now I'm all about utilizing the sonic palette. Does it translate to the audience? Maybe. Does it have a positive impact on my playing experience? Absolutely!

BBB

 

[akukulich]

I answered other because the question appears to assume you only have one tone setting for finger style and one setting for pick-style playing. Sometimes the tone is all the way up, while other times it’s mostly rolled off. It’s dependent upon the tone you’re trying to get heard. I try to avoid locking myself into hard and fast rules and just react to what’s going on musically.

 

[LowendG]

I play about 50/50 pick and fingers. A lot of thumb thumping too. As for tone, I'm using either a passive P or a J usually, and it just depends whether it's rounds or flats (I have both with both), and of course the material. I love nothing more than the clunk/thunk attack you get with old flats and a pick and some palm muting with the tone wide open on a P (kinda like the "tic-tac" vibe), so often I'll run it wide open for the pick tunes, and roll it back a hair for fingerstyle and thumb pluck if it's a mellower tune. If it's an aggressive or funky fingerstyle tune, then probably wide-open as well.