Sansamp instead of pick?

[TheCrimsonKing]

I feel that the easy answer here is to try banjo style finger picks.
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I love those, they're great for fast galloping fingerplaying.

 

[taught]

Wow! A lot of answers, nice!

I think some of you guys got me wrong.

I'm not totally a beginner at using a pick, I already learned a lot of song with it, doing the major scales at 120-150 bpm, finger exercises and so on. So overall I can manage the challenge, and I feel that I get better and better with practice.

That hawk claw thing looks pretty interesting, I assume they are pretty cheap so I will give this one also a try! Thanks

The only thing is that ( for me ) it is much more fun to play with my fingers, and if there would be any trick to miss the pick, I would gladly do that

By the way the whole idea came to me after this video (the link shows to the exact moment of video):



He plays with his fingers as you can see, and the way that his bass' sound changes is INCREDIBLE! I would say this is pretty close to the pick, is'nt it?

 

[keith1r]

Practice with a pick just playing upstrokes. I don't know why but it seems easier.

 

[michaelwayneharwood]

I can fully empathize with your plight as I never play with a pick, but sometimes crave the ability to emulate the sound on songs like Yes' "Roundabout". I have found that I can approximate the "pick sound" by using a thumb technique with alternating up and down strokes and employing the thumb nail to accentuate the transient.

 

[MCS4]

I played with a pick exclusively for my first 20+ years and couldnt play anything but the slow easy songs with my fingers. I liked the clear attack of the pick anyway so it was no big deal. Then about 8 years ago I wanted to learn to use my fingers and it was difficult for a while. I couldnt get it to work. I figured I would just keep working on it so i would sit in front of the tv and alternate fingering up and down the scales for hours. It took a while but it worked. Now I play 90% of the time with my fingers. I still use a pick but only on the songs that need that type of attack. I say, keep working on it with a pick.

I agree with this as well. IMO some parts are vastly easier to play pickstyle rather than fingerstyle (and vice versa), and some parts sound way better using one style or the other, so I believe that learning both will save time and improve your overall playing in the long run even if it is tough at first. I play about 50/50 pick vs. fingerstyle in my main band, and if I did not then I would probably spend half my practice time trying to nail parts in one style that would be much easier using the other style.

 

[devnulljp]

These are great fingerpicks -- with the hole in the middle you can still fell what you're doing. I play acoustic with these and they're great.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

I never play with a pick - when I want extra punch, I slap it.

 

[nshuman]

If you want a pick sound, it will be very hard to recreate without a pick.

You could get a BIT similar with some compression, some treble, and playing very close to the bridge (helps if you have an accessible bridge like a gretsch space-o-matic bridge).

But, it will not really sound like a pick.

 

[Kustom_Thunder]

Finger tips taping the string off the bottom fret at the end of the neck gives me a pick/slap sounding tone I love it

 

[Jay2U]

I tried finger picks a couple years ago but could not make it work at all. Turns out I didn't know how to use them and had put them on the wrong way, making the picks into hooks that kept getting snagged on the strings. It was just impossible to play that way.

As a matter of fact, that's what I did as well. Soon I discovered that I had to use them the other way round, but for me it doesn't work. My fingers are rather big, so with finger picks it's hard to hit one string at a time. Plus, if playing finger style, my fingers automatically rest on strings to mute them, which doesn't give the desired result with those plastic fingertips. I eventually learned to use a pick.

 

[awilkie84]

I never play with a pick - when I want extra punch, I slap it.

I'd like to see you try that on punk or rock with fast lines. Your slap would sound so out of place and I doubt you could keep up with some of the punk rhythms.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

Practice. Practice. Practice.

No way around it.

 

[Riot-or-Wrong]

I vote finger picks, I play with them fairly frequently and find that I can get a fair amount of punch with them. They are awkward at first, but so was learning to play in the first place. You don't have to dig in that much, but it's definitely an option. Never tried the open pad ones though...

 

[Hank Scorpio]

I exclusively play with a pick, and I've never found a way to realistically simulate the sound of using fingers. I imagine the same is true the other way around, too.

On the plus side, even though it won't sound like a pick, you may develop a cool technique or sound that works for you.. although I'd probably just get a variety of different thickness and material plectrums, and start practicing.

 

[lfmn16]

Practice. Practice. Practice.

No way around it.

+1

It never fails to surprise me that people play with their fingers for years and think they can grab a pick and start playing after a short time. It's not like starting from scratch, but you have to put in a lot of time to play smoothly and accurately with a pick.

http://www.talkbass.com/threads/why-i-keep-hammering-the-carol-kaye-pick-method.452467/

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

I'd like to see you try that on punk or rock with fast lines. Your slap would sound so out of place and I doubt you could keep up with some of the punk rhythms.

On the rare occasion when I've been called upon to play "fast rock" (meaning metal, I suppose) or punk (very few!), I have never had an issue playing with my fingers. I will gladly conceded that there are indeed tunes that call for the use of a pick - and I suppose if I found myself in that sort of band, I'd use a pick - but that seems highly unlikely. I play what I like, and I have no interest in metal or punk.

 

[Jim Nazium]

I tried using a Sansamp instead of a pick, but it was really hard to fit it between the strings.

 

[moody]

Having been chucked in the deep end several years ago, you will get it with practice. My wrist don't allow me to play finger style any more.

I find that I can manage 98% of what I used to do with fingers with a pick and I no longer break strings. I am a much more relaxed player as well.

 

[callofcthulhu]

Guys, we're in the Effects forum, not the Technique forum.

I don't own the Sansamp, but I imagine it could serve admirably in adding some of the overtones you're looking for.

The pedal you REALLY need for this purpose is the EHX Steel Leather. It's a high frequency expander - i.e. it accentuates the overtones in response to your playing dynamics.

As already mentioned, lower action and heavy compression (and hitting the strings as hard as you can) will also go a long way towards getting you there.

Put it all together and play through a dirty tube amp and I think you'll surprise a lot of these killjoys with how covincing of a tone you can get.

 

[Dogbertday]

I'd like to see you try that on punk or rock with fast lines. Your slap would sound so out of place and I doubt you could keep up with some of the punk rhythms.

Actually Wooten developed double thumbing to emulate a pick sound. I've used it that way and you can get really close to the rock/punk rock pick vibe. Not exact of course but sometimes if a pick isn't handy you make music happen Amy way you can.