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Using a pick

#61
There certainly is a lot elitist bullsh*t going on at any one time!
Bass is a guitar, after all. Guitar is played with fingers and pick. End of story.

It can be a bit of a journey finding the right, combination of pick, technique, strings and bass you might need .
I've played for 26 years, but only been on the pick for the last 2 of those.

Some 1st steps:
Try a bunch of picks!
Or did what I did, find what the standard is and go from there...
I found that the Dunlop Yellow triangle picks are the poopie: triangle picks have 6 sides, last ages. Easy to hold in 1finger/thumb or 2finger/thumb.
Easy to hide and recover pick, for slap.
Consider the yellow tortex as standard middle point, it has a good pluck, light and has a bit of give, the triangle versions add a little bass to the sound, a tiny bit stiffer.

There is a balance you need to find between, the pick, where you pick, and your string's sound and tension.
Study the standard guitar right hand picking technique, they figured it all out ages ago.

Now I may have a Nolly bass, love metal and play with a pick, but I recommend these cats for inspiration:



Have fun.
 
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#63
When basses cost several 100s of quid, pickups 100s of quid, strings scores of quid, but a pick is about a quid, it seems that daft not to have the option of making you bass sound so different, when its about a quid to do so, and you can just put in your pocket to make back to the same sound again.

Carol Kaye's pick vibe, doesn't seem a world away from playing lines with fingers, but with a different tone. But Vega's (and Wrights) seems as much of a different sound of it's own that slapping does of its own. I can't slap yet, and struggle to learn with my 5 year old dead flats, but I think I should be aiming for fingers, pick and slap skills of some sorts to be making the most of my bass. Seems daft to alienate any valid option.

Cody rocking his his pick technique
 
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#69
Quoting myself from an older thread discussing the same vid. User of Tortex Triangle .60 picks here too. Soft is where it's at for my (very guitar'ish styled) picking.

andruca said:
Finally someone using THIN PICKS for metal/punk/whatever hard or heavy, I thought I was the only one. Not only he uses .60mm picks like I've been doing for 10 years (Tortex Triangles), HE STATES EXACTLY THE POINTS I'VE BEEN TRYING TO SPREAD FOR YEARS:

1) Hard picking on a hard pick DOESN'T SOUND GOOD and gets stuck.
2) A thin pick ACTS LIKE A FIRST STAGE OF COMPRESSION.

2015?
2017?

Not into djent(neric), but the guy's clearly ripping me off :roflmao:
Click to expand...
 
#73
Reed Mathis kills it with a pick. Check him out in the video with Wooten at about 14:00 where he demonstrates his pick technique:



And then there is Phil Lesh...check out the Dead shows on the Archive especially from 1970.

I use either the Telefunken or Dunlop Adamas graphite picks 2mm when playing electric...I don't want any flex in the pick...very physical way of playing...

Any pick material other than graphite leaves to much dust behind...
 
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#74
I love picks, I have them all over the house. If I walk into a music store, it’s one of the things I check out first and if they have something different I’m buying them. I have wood, metal, rubber, felt, tortex, celluloid and everything in between. I’m also a guitar player so that factors in as I mainly play finger style on my bass but I do use a pick for a few songs each gig.

The funny thing is I used to be really picky :) about what I used but now I just use whatever I have in my pocket and it sounds fine. I’m not talking about odd ones like felt or rubber but everything else I can get my sound.
 
#75
The BL in our band insists that I use a pick on a few songs. So I do, but I don't like it. I use the .60 picks because they're in my guitar case.

The BL doesn't complain, and they're comfortable so I'm fine with those picks. Just for a couple of songs of course.
 
#77
Last couple of years I've been playing with a band where I use a pick. It's been a challenge cause I never used one in my prior 30 years of performing. I love the tones you can achieve. Oddly most of my bass heros play with a pick or use it occasionally and I haven't taken up the technique until lately.
 

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