Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Using a pick
- Thread starter SteveXFR
- Start date
I record. A lot. The only concern has become -- does it sound good?
Finger style -- can be totally great. With a pick, some EQ re-set and selecting the correct pick and position on the instrument and the strings, etc. A pick can really add some volumetrics (....) careful boys and girls -- a pick can be a dangerous item with a big bass amp and a high velocity bass!!!!! (active)
Finger style -- can be totally great. With a pick, some EQ re-set and selecting the correct pick and position on the instrument and the strings, etc. A pick can really add some volumetrics (....) careful boys and girls -- a pick can be a dangerous item with a big bass amp and a high velocity bass!!!!! (active)
Just listen and watch a lot of Bobby Vega, he's that absolute master of playing bass with a pick, and every idiot who insist real bass players don't use picks will go quiet when you mention his name and won't know what to say.
Personally I mainly use a pick to play bass because I love that specific snappy emphasis on the attack you get, and as far as I am concerned to get that you also need the pick not to be too thick, but really it is a matter of personal preferences, for some a thicker pick will be the right thing.
Also in my opinion Nolly there represents one of the issues I have with modern metal, that it sounds like a robot doing it and you might as well have programmed the whole thing in midi, as he says himself he is trying to sound like, just as is in fact the actual fact with the drums in a lot of modern metal, it has literally been programmed in midi, or if not then quantified to absolute mechanical perfection, making it sound like robots and not humans playing, that's not real music as far as I am concerned, or at very least it makes actually real people playing it obsolete, and then what is the point of playing in a band if 1 guy might as well have programmed it all.
Unless you make a point of it, which I guess though this kind of music does actually do, music should really be organic, which is not the same as being imprecise I'd like to stress, and not mechanic.
For me that makes a lot of modern metal sound sterile and barren, like if devoted of life.
That might very well be the point, but for me that doesn't make a very pleasant (not that music necessarily needs to be pleasant though) or interesting listen for that matter.
Also you want dynamics in your play, and if you hammer all the notes with maximum force that leaves no dynamic headroom for when you need to go harder.
Personally I barely touch the strings with the pick, just let the upmost tip bounce/flip off the strings.
My preferred pick for bass is a Dunlop USA Nylon .73mm.
Bobby Vega's is a .73mm Dunlop Tortex, which is a bit stiffer than the Nylon one, but still a relatively flexible pick.
Personally I mainly use a pick to play bass because I love that specific snappy emphasis on the attack you get, and as far as I am concerned to get that you also need the pick not to be too thick, but really it is a matter of personal preferences, for some a thicker pick will be the right thing.
Also in my opinion Nolly there represents one of the issues I have with modern metal, that it sounds like a robot doing it and you might as well have programmed the whole thing in midi, as he says himself he is trying to sound like, just as is in fact the actual fact with the drums in a lot of modern metal, it has literally been programmed in midi, or if not then quantified to absolute mechanical perfection, making it sound like robots and not humans playing, that's not real music as far as I am concerned, or at very least it makes actually real people playing it obsolete, and then what is the point of playing in a band if 1 guy might as well have programmed it all.
Unless you make a point of it, which I guess though this kind of music does actually do, music should really be organic, which is not the same as being imprecise I'd like to stress, and not mechanic.
For me that makes a lot of modern metal sound sterile and barren, like if devoted of life.
That might very well be the point, but for me that doesn't make a very pleasant (not that music necessarily needs to be pleasant though) or interesting listen for that matter.
Also you want dynamics in your play, and if you hammer all the notes with maximum force that leaves no dynamic headroom for when you need to go harder.
Personally I barely touch the strings with the pick, just let the upmost tip bounce/flip off the strings.
My preferred pick for bass is a Dunlop USA Nylon .73mm.
Bobby Vega's is a .73mm Dunlop Tortex, which is a bit stiffer than the Nylon one, but still a relatively flexible pick.
Last edited:
+1
I like the attack you can get when using a pick. I also like the aggression you can add to a bass line when using down strokes only.
IMO modern amps can add more to my finger style playing that was possible back in the day, which is helpful because I've never felt comfortable playing with a pick.
That's right, but he uses the shoulders of the pick, which makes it more rigid. In my experience, in terms of flexibility / stiffness, this is the same as using the tip of a Tortex .88. But of course, the more rounded shape of the shoulders of a pick also gives it a different sound, with an attack that I would describe as darker.
