Why Hate Pick Players?

[sean_on_bass]

I'd like to disagree with the initial question of this thread. I haven't seen much hate towards pick players for quite a while. The general consensus that I've seen tends to be that there's nothing wrong with using a pick.

So I'd like to know where the idea that there's hate towards pick players is coming from?

This. I haven't heard too much hate for pick players, at least on this forum, in a long time. With that said, playing with a pick can preclude you from playing certain genres, but its the same for finger playing. In the space i tend to play in, i think being a pick player would be an upstream battle. The style you play is a pretty huge factor in determining the importance of each technique IMO.

 

[BobBassist]

I do fingerstyle on all my basses with one exception. When i use my Hofner it seems to sound better using a pick

 

[Lesfunk]

They hate what they can’t do? (Assuming the ‘hate’ exists)
I started using a pick after being finger exclusive for years.
I think it’s a very handy skill

 

[Badwater]

My point once again is that the whole "real bass players play with their fingers belief" was not originally based on snobbery for the sake of snobbery, but more based on the idea that the bass because it has thicker strings (meant for fingers not plectrums) focusses on the bass aspect of the music and not the melody and was ultimately not designed for chordal playing. You can argue all day about what people and individuals like and prefer as far as sound and tone but regardless of that at the end of the day the bass is a categorically different instrument than a six string guitar and the instrument itself is by design meant to be played with fingers.

Is there a right way to play the bass? If so, I must only do it the right way.

 

[Badwater]

That's why bass players and drummers develop calluses.

I didn't see a pick anywhere in the segment that you posted.

Apparently, you did not watch the entire video.

 

[tshapiro]

To some bass players a pick is like using a condom - an observation made by bass players who have learned to create an advanced palette of sounds using their hands only. A pick gets in the way of the feel.

FYI- I played bass with a pick for 2O+ years but for the last 10 years I don't even own a pick.

 

[saabfender]

You can't pick your parents but you can pick your nose.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Picked my parents carefully, and now learning to use a pick for the first time in 40 years. And having fun with it!

 

[JGbassman]

I don’t hate pick players. I’m envious. I primarily play with my fingers, and have been slowly working my chops up with a pick so I can add that arrow to my quiver of versatility. I can play with a pick, I’m just not as fluid as I am with fingers. Time for more woodshedding.

 

[consectaneus]

I sometimes prefer the pick when I'm reading sheet music. If there is a tricky syncopated part, the up and down motion of my hand corresponds to the up and down beat, helping to reinforce that. I'm still not a foot tapper.

Plus I just enjoy using it as much as fingers

 

[GwenOnBass]

Took me a lot of work to be a foot tapper. Working with a pick at least a bit daily now.

 

[saabfender]

Took me a lot of work to be a foot tapper. Working with a pick at least a bit daily now.

I don't know how else you get anywhere with this music stuff. And suddenly there's always another skill to develop. They turn up out of nowhere sometimes.

 

[twinjet]

I quite envy them. I would love to be proficient in pick and finger playing.