Why do you pick/pluck, etc the way you do?

[lestratele]

Index and middle fingers give me the sound and, more importantly to me, the feel I like when playing bass. As a guitar player I'm no stranger to pick playing. When playing bass though, playing with the fingers puts me in a different zone than playing guitar with a pick. There are limits to what I do with finger only, but I'm an amateur in it for the fun. It helps that I like an older, more traditional bass sound.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

I try to recreate the original bassline's tone as best I can, sometimes that calls for a different technique or tool to get there (or as close as I can).

Plucking, Picking, Pop/Slap...sometimes the technique is as important as the notes!

 

[Jefenator]

I spent my first few years practicing without an amp.
Even after owning an amp of some sort for over 30 years now, I still tend to pluck as though I need to try and keep up, unplugged.
Hitting harder is a matter of individual preference – and it can be helpful sometimes for a certain "punch". OTOH using that lighter touch can yield more sustain & dynamic nuance – both things I struggle with to this day.

 

[JRA]

Why do you pick/pluck, etc the way you do?​

habit.

i voted, "i am adaptable."

 

[Gopherbassist]

I started out doing what felt natural. I found when I got some instructional books that I was doing it "right" and have never worried about it.

 

[micguy]

I have a slow index finger on my right hand - a carpal tunnel injury (but not repetitive stress) means it's not as fast as it once was, which drove me to move away from "Jamerson" (one finger) playing to using two fingers.

The fact that I'm being careful about repetitive stress means I also use very light strings - 40-55-70-95-130 (those all come out about 35 pounds in tension). With those gauges, I can play cleanly, or when I want to , I can clink and clank with the best of them - I can sound like I'm playing hard (that's one of the other things driving my technique -a large part of my sonic palette is "not clean" playing) without having to play all that hard.

So, in short, My plucking technique is built around the fact that:

1) I have physical limits that I work within, but I need access to certain sounds, which drives me to

2) Have a wide enough range of techniques to cover that range of sounds.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

I started playing with a thumbpick. Still carry one in my little tin full of picks. That may be just nostalgia as I haven't used one for years, but you never know. Played primarily with a pick for years but now mostly fingerstyle. I have a "default" hand position but try to adjust to serve the song as well as I can. Fingers at the neck, bridge, anywhere in-between, pick, slap, pop, maybe even that old thumbpick somewhere down the line.

The song is always the star!

BBB

 

[bassbrad]

I am mainly fingerstyle try to keep my right hand evolving using as many approaches as possible.

 

[Lefty Joe]

I am the outlier here I'm sure.

I didn't start out this way, but in the last several years I have turned into a 90 to 95% "invisible pick" player. The very tip of my forefinger is used as the "pick" with my thumb held against it just as if I was holding a pick. I know some guitar players that play somewhat that way but I personally don't know of any other bass players that play as I do.

Stephen Stills described this as his technique -- for guitar, we might suppose, but he did play bass as well (not just on the first CSN album, but also on some Judy Collins recordings just before that)

 

[Lefty Joe]

I used a pick initially because i had no amp. Later (and with an amp) I went to fingers, and used a compressor to keep the volume even.

Nowadays I'm more picky about controlling my sound just by fingers: where they are on the neck, what angle used, how much fingernail gets in there. I rarely use a compressor any more, preferring to use just my ears and my fingers for a Ron Carter-ish tone (though I might use a pick for a more aggressive sound).

In short: whatever technique gets the sound I'm going for. Bass rarely involves a lot of different notes, but there's a whole world of timbre to use.

 

[rolfplamperton]

Played with fingers forever. Just index middle. Now there’s this kid named Mateo Bertoldi that takes Billy Sheehan’s three finger ring middle index concept to the most insane degree imaginable and I’ve been working a little bit out of his instructional PDF. I also love playing with a pick. If anything playing with a pick is more difficult. Try strict alternate picking some classical études with lots of one note per string stuff and see how far you get.

 

[zontar]

Somewhere between the pickups with floating thumb muting the balance. Index & middle fingers...ring finger is the odd-man-out.

Riis

Cool, but tell us why…
Thanks

 

[Zooberwerx]

Cool, but tell us why…
Thanks

Quasi-normal position of the hand at rest / at your side. Bend your elbow, flop forearm over the face of the instrument and there ya go. It’s also the easiest muting approach for me.

Riis

 

[pcake]

when i was 10 years old, i took fingerstyle and classical guitar lessons. when i started playing the bass years later, i naturally played the same fingerstyle way (using my nails), often with a lot of attack. i tried many types of pics, but i didn't care for them.

 

[zontar]

when i was 10 years old, i took fingerstyle and classical guitar lessons. when i started playing the bass years later, i naturally played the same fingerstyle way (using my nails), often with a lot of attack. i tried many types of pics, but i didn't care for them.

I don’t like the sound of nails on bass, but if you make it work, col.
Then I started classical with a nail/finger hybrid, sometimes just one or the other, and gradually became more finger than nail, especially after I started bass

 

[Otisblove]

I’m a lifelong guitar player. I’ve always played with a pick about 90% of the time. Guys like Jerry Reed who play wild stuff with just their fingers blow my mind.

When I got into bass, I had no problem using a pick.

I always liked the way bass players pick with their fingers. It just looks cool. Casual, in fact. I’ve been trying to pick more that way and I HAVE improved. I still consider myself a novice on the instrument, but I sure do enjoy playing it. Don’t mind using a pick if it sounds right to me.

 

[factory presets]

Started on bass with a pick. Which sounded good for heavy metal coz I was 15. Then I saw people do finger style so I did that. Because it looked cool and I was still 15. After a couple of years I started hearing a lot of funk. Worked out an approximation of slapping along with the finger funk. Then came reggae and funk started getting old compared to those big pockets. Back then reggae came with punk. Just did. Think Police and Clash. Found a palm damped pick got a usable rock sound from a reggae set up.

Once heard the 80s described as punk/funk/skunk. Which just suited my triumvirate of techniques perfectly. Got something works for pretty much every situation. Without a need for pedals.

 

[Ritter667]

I prefer to use my fingers, and I stroke the strings, rather than pluck, strike or pull them, lightly in a slight inward slapping motion with the very tip of my fingers/nails, and it is crucial that my nails are cut to a very specific length, not too short, not too long, so that the very edge of the nails hit the string, right after the very tip of the fleshy part.

I do this because it gives me the perfect tone for me and for what I do.

I occasionally utilize flamenco guitar style finger flicking technique as well, if I need to strum single strings in a fast pace, stuff where you otherwise would normally have used a pick, or occasionally utilizing several fingers this way to strum whole chords, again though not forcefully so, predominantly only utilizing the very tip of my fingers/nails.

I am quite proficient at using a pick too, but I much prefer the tone above gives me to that of a pick, and I find the muting of unwanted strings from ringing lacking and goofy, compared to what floating thumb technique when finger picking gives me.

Actually the way I use my fingers results in a richer, more complex, but also actually, despite my relatively light touch, more aggressive tone, than using a pick, or striking or pulling the string forcefully for that matter.

 

[zontar]

Some interesting replies, thanks
Some of the poll results are close to what I expected, some not.

 

[pepj]

I started on pick but what I was hearing lead me to swap over.
I continue to hear things that way and find I can have many attacks with my right hand.
Its far more expressive plus I don't have to deal with where to put the pick when I swap out.
I can get all the attack and growl I want.