Technique/EQ tips for getting pick tone with fingers?

[Ferret]

Try playing downstrokes with the back of your index fingernail, supported by your thumb. Gets you real close and it's surprising how quick you can play using just downstrokes with a bit of practice.

For faster down and up strokes you can use this technique for the down strokes and then the very tip of your index finger for the up. You lose a little bit of the "pick" tone on the upstrokes, but at that speed it's not that noticeable and in a mix hardly anyone would hear much difference between doing that and using a pick.

I do both and find no difference with speed. I do find that I get more of a pick sound with up stroke. The trick is keeping the nails shaped right and adjusting your wrist to get what sound you need for that moment. But this is 30 years of doing it this way too. I have had ones come up and ask how I got the sound because they expect a pick but just the nails doing the work. Using three fingers with nails I know I can out pace a picker for speed since I can cover more rel-estate at one time. Trick also is not beating the crap out of the strings, just catch them with the tips.

 

[KingRazor]

You know I realized recently that I honestly don't like the pick tone. I've been using one a little more often lately, and I've heard a few live performances recently where the bassist used a pick. I don't like the tone much at all, it seems the only time I do like it is when there's "studio magic" involved.

I strongly perfer the smooth fat tone I get playing with my fingers over the neck pickup with the neck pickup favored on the blend knob. I know that makes the bass easier to get "buried" in the mix. But that's the tone I like.

All that being said, I'm still gonna learn how to play with a pick someday, mainly because I just want to learn how to do it all. Pick, fingers, slap pop, all of it.

 

[rockstarbassist]

I've never been able to get that pick-on-roundwound attack sound with fingers/EQ like you can with a pick. That grind is just there and feel weird not having it most times. Of course there's always times for a big fat groove, but that's my problem- I get too funky with my heavy rock band when I go fingerstyle! Does anyone know how to get fingerstyle tone from a pick?

These anti pick guys are almost as bad as the anti mic soundman crowd...

 

[Ubersheist]

You can get that old school thump by using the meat of your palm (the edge of the hand that you'd use to karate chop someone) by slightly muting the strings just on top of the bridge, and doing all the picking with your thumb.

Also, a compressor with a short attack can help with this tone, too. If you put the attack at about 30ms or so (I'm not sure off hand) so that it's just long enough to hear a 'thump' when you pick. Then put the threshold fairly low (about 50% or so) with a fairly high ratio (at least 10:1, I'm guessing) and a very short releasetim. That setting on a compressor will help with that old-school thump that you got back in the 60s when playing with a pick.

 

[Ubersheist]

Oh yeah, and it also helps to have the tone knob on the bassy side (or the highs cut alot if you have an active bass).

 

[electracoyote]

The type of music I would like to play primarily is dominated by pick playing. I personally dislike using picks and prefer to use my fingers. However, I'd like to learn how to get a little more of a pick tone to my playing while still being able to use my fingers.

Any tips?

Good luck with that.

I play both fingerstyle and pick routinely, and I've gotten fairly proficient at both.

My fingerstyle will NEVER get my pick tone and attack, no matter how hard I try, no matter what kind of fancy sound processing and EQ'ing I employ.

Ain't nothing like the real thing. Snatch up that plectrum and get to pickin'.

 

[Ubersheist]

Snatch up that plectrum and get to pickin'.

"Plectrum?" Golly-gee and gadzooks, Grandpa! Tell us young'un whipper snappers more!

 

[KingRazor]

I've never been able to get that pick-on-roundwound attack sound with fingers/EQ like you can with a pick. That grind is just there and feel weird not having it most times. Of course there's always times for a big fat groove, but that's my problem- I get too funky with my heavy rock band when I go fingerstyle! Does anyone know how to get fingerstyle tone from a pick?

These anti pick guys are almost as bad as the anti mic soundman crowd...

As both a bassist and soundman I dislike the idea of mic'd cabs but I'll roll with it if necessary.

It's not that I'm against picks, it's that I'm bad at using them. Finger playing comes naturally to me, pick playing does not.

 

[SnakeKappele]

If I want to play with a pick using my normal finger style, I use a fingerpick. I like the plastic Dunlop ( [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]) or the delrin Fred Kelly Freedom Pick ([Invalid or Expired Link Removed]).

I put the picks on so they cover the pad of my finger and play away. The Fred Kelly pick feels more secure to me and I don't feel like it is moving around.

The only problems I have with using my nails are that I have to change my plucking angle from what I use for fingers and the nails get in the way when I go back to finger style.

 

[Psycho]

Try playing downstrokes with the back of your index fingernail, supported by your thumb. Gets you real close and it's surprising how quick you can play using just downstrokes with a bit of practice.

For faster down and up strokes you can use this technique for the down strokes and then the very tip of your index finger for the up. You lose a little bit of the "pick" tone on the upstrokes, but at that speed it's not that noticeable and in a mix hardly anyone would hear much difference between doing that and using a pick.

This.

I can play as well and as fast using this as my fingerstyle, which I primarily play with, with no lines being more difficult with either technique.

 

[markanini]

I use a technique where you push the string against the frets before releasing your finger to let the note ring out. This produces a distinct click that works well in a rock setting. Of course you need to adjust your technique to avoid slapback. It helps if you neck is fairly straight as you want to hit as many frets as possible.

 

[rockstarbassist]

As both a bassist and soundman I dislike the idea of mic'd cabs but I'll roll with it if necessary.

It's not that I'm against picks, it's that I'm bad at using them. Finger playing comes naturally to me, pick playing does not.

Yeah I've seen the other threads...
As a bassist, overall musician and songwriter, someone who's run sound for FOH and monitors mixes, as well as lighting/backing tracks, DI's sound dull and lifeless for the most part, especially pre-EQ. It's the same principal with picks- only a mic and a pick gets me the tone I'm after, and competent soundmen are usually able to help quite easily. And as a proficient self-proclaimed "bassist", you should be able to do both. It just makes you less well-rounded than everyone else.

 

[BillW87]

Try looking into double thumb technique as well, you can get a really aggressive pick-esque tone and play just as fast with it as with a pick. At the end of the day there is no substitute for using a pick if you want the pick tone, but double thumbing is the closest I've been able to come to getting it without one so I tend to use it on songs where I want to switch between pick and other tones without having to fumble with picking up and putting down a pick. No nail growing required, no real risk of ripping a nail off or otherwise injuring your hands, just takes some practice. Victor Wooten uses it as part of his technique to emulate a slap tone but much faster so his instructional videos are a good place to start, but it can easily be adjusted to emulate a pick sound just by eliminating the index finger pop he adds in to the technique.

 

[KingRazor]

Yeah I've seen the other threads...
As a bassist, overall musician and songwriter, someone who's run sound for FOH and monitors mixes, as well as lighting/backing tracks, DI's sound dull and lifeless for the most part, especially pre-EQ. It's the same principal with picks- only a mic and a pick gets me the tone I'm after, and competent soundmen are usually able to help quite easily. And as a proficient self-proclaimed "bassist", you should be able to do both. It just makes you less well-rounded than everyone else.

A soundman doesn't even have to be that good to run a mic'd cab. Our guitarist has done that for years and the only time I have issues is if he has his amp volume too high. But thankfully we're moving towards an amp-less stage. Just need money for a new in-ear monitoring system.

If we mic'd the cab we have on stage now, it wouldn't sound nearly as good as it does now going through the DI, but that's because the cab sounds like crap. I've personally yet to find an amp that sounds so good that I'd insist on micing it.

As far as pick playing, I'll either get the hang of it, or I won't, and I don't really care if I don't wind up ever being able to play with one. I just want to be heard and to sound the way I want to within the style of music that I'm playing.