Who hates this?

[alexei]

some bassist (URB players) use bows... what's the deal with a pick? just a little piece of plastic

 

[Grayson C.]

Play this fast, this hard and I'll start trying to use my fingers for everything. I really don't see how apart from a very select few people that have practised for years can really outpace their wrist with their fingers and have the stamina to keep it up.



Not the best quality clip but you get the idea, I think very few people could get that sound, speed and attack for very long with their fingers.

I wouldn't say it's minor tone manipulation either. Picks give a much more defined sound in general, not just because of the focus they give on harmonic content, they produce alot less fret noise then finger style when your playing heavily and the attack is much more present. EQ your amp to add back a little depth and you can get a much more precise but still pleasantly big sound then you can with your fingers for playing hard rock based music.

I can play quite a bit faster than that. No joke. I think most people who use fingers forget that they can use their nails as well.


Fair enough on the tone part, I just never really considered them to be that big of a deal.

 

[T40Chump]

You can pick your friends, you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your bass' nose...or you can't pick your friend's nose...or you can pick your bass' nose...oh hell, whatever....

Pick, fingers, whatever, just play that thang!!!!!!

Bo

 

[thetawaves]

Not the best quality clip but you get the idea, I think very few people could get that sound, speed and attack for very long with their fingers.

But the thing is it's only a number of pick players who'd be able to keep the speed, sound & attack consistent for long on that...it's the same either way. From what I've found having tried to learn pick/fingerstyle...it's as much of a pain in the backside trying to keep up/downstrokes sounding the same and at a constant rhythm as it was when I first tried to do the same for alternating fingers. So, can't really agree with you there pedro - I think it's tricky with either technique. He is one hell of a bassist, good call on the video

 

[phxlbrmpf]

I have no problem with use of the plectrum.

HOWEVER...

Interestingly enough I spend as much (maybe a tad more) time playing acoustic guitar as I do bass, including six- and twelve-string steel, and classical guitars.

I don't use a pick at any time on any of these instruments, at all. I just don't like it. I used to use one (well, not on the classical), even on the bass, as a sort of "phase" I was going through, but I got to the point where I felt it was a hindrance more than a help.

Strangely enough, I too really dislike playing acoustic guitar with a pick, I vastly prefer playing fingerstyle (thumb, index, middle and ring finger) and strumming with my fingernails. Not only does it not feel very good to me, it also sounds kind of tinny, especially on nylon string guitars, yuck!

On electric guitar, it's a different story, of course, although I don't play that very much. On the other hand, after refusing to use a pick on bass for years, I've grown to really like it if I want a really aggressive rock sound or that really thuddy muted sound you can hear on some funk and rock records. It's really, really difficult to sound like that without a pick.

 

[SwamiRob]

But the thing is it's only a number of pick players who'd be able to keep the speed, sound & attack consistent for long on that...it's the same either way. From what I've found having tried to learn pick/fingerstyle...it's as much of a pain in the backside trying to keep up/downstrokes sounding the same and at a constant rhythm as it was when I first tried to do the same for alternating fingers. So, can't really agree with you there pedro - I think it's tricky with either technique. He is one hell of a bassist, good call on the video

I dunno, I'd say the people that can keep up that kinda speed etc are less rare then the Victor Wooton types that can play that fast with their fingers, even so it's a much more percussive sound when you use your fingers, which is awesome and everything but whereas with a pick you can get a definite full note at that speed. Maybe I'm just used to the style too but I find accents alot easier to keep up at fast tempos too pickstyle.

Feel free to correct me on that if you can give me any clips of really hard solid playing at that kinda speed, either way I still reckon it's much easier to attain that sort of speed by playing pick style. I've been playing nearly 9 years and I can almost play that NOFX riff I posted, and I didn't play pickstyle at all in the first couple of years (thankfully it has only taken the last couple of years to get my fingerstyle back up to scratch) I shudder to think of how much intense practise it would take to get to the level at which you could make that sound good with fingerstyle.

Plus there's the whole freedom of movement thing, perhaps I'm still not entirely comfortable playing with my fingers, but I'm at the point with my playing that I can dance about like a tit on stage and play proper basslines (not just hammering out a few roots with the occasional fill) while playing pickstyle. Whereas on songs/parts where I use my fingers it's alot more restrictive based on how close you have to maintain your right hand to your body.

 

[thetawaves]

Whereas on songs/parts where I use my fingers it's alot more restrictive based on how close you have to maintain your right hand to your body.

+100

I always felt like a bit of a prune in my Metal band as I could never go off on one like the pick player guitarists...but, my main reason for playing primarily with fingerstyle (I do play pickstyle when I think the tone is needed) is I find it far easier to get the articulation of sound I want, you can do a light touch and have some incredibly smooth lines to back up a gentle acoustic interlude. Or, as you said, utterly nail it for the faster more intense sections and have the bass sound as frantic and slightly off-kilter as the song suggests it should.

I just found that pickstyle tended to hold a limited tone that didn't suit all I wanted to play, whereas I can get the harsh percussive strikes it gives from slapstyle or just laying it in with the fingers.

And I'll have to get back to you on the speedy fingers video

 

[klokker]

I play my Martin guitar with a pick, and spent a while getting my pick to work on bluegrass guitar, but for some reason just hate using a pick on base. I'll do about anything to avoid them.

No clue why. In my band I play fingerstyle even on songs that are obviously "picked" on bass. No one cares, and I'm glad.

 

[Deacon_Blues]

Use whatever gives you the sound you want and let your playing speak for itself.

However if playing with a pick is the only method you master, you're severely limiting yourself, IMO. To me, fingerstyle seems more versatile. That's not reason enough to skip a pick though.

I should go practicing playing with a pick myself, as I'm not really comfortable with that technique (although that is how I started on bass before I became a bassist). Pick + flats + palm muting = awesome.


Btw, OP: learn to spell. It took me a short while to get what you meant with "aloud". It's "allowed"...

 

[totallyfrozen]

Bass players are not aloud to use picks.

Where does that come from?...

You're the first person I've ever heard even say that (seriously!). Maybe I've been living in a cave but I've never heard that before. As far as I can tell, picks are very commonly used in Punk and Rock (including Metal). I think alot of guys who play Surf music use picks too (but I could be wrong about that).

Carol Kaye used a pick and she's one of the early studio players who played on alot of top hits way back in the 1960's even! (I think someone already mentioned her).

It gives you a somewhat brighter attack on your notes. If that's what you want on your tone, rock on!

 

[Dave Vader]

I used to use a pick all the time, 'til I got a ganglion cyst in my right wrist and couldn't anymore, so I spent the last year learning to use my fingers properly, and I wish I had when I was 12 cos bassists finger when you're over 30 just seems like an embarassing thing to tell people who know that that's what you do anyway.
Nowt wrong with a pick, I still use them on the odd songs that I just can't get up to speed on, just hurts like hell now.