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Why Hate Pick Players?

#41
Picks are all I use.

Awhile ago at my local GC this dad obviously a finger guy cuz he was poping and slappin' was checking out new basses when his son about 5 picked a bass off the wall and asked his dad for a pick. Proably cause his son saw me testing out some amps.
The guy looked right at me and said real bass players don't use a pick.

I being my typical self turned the display amp from 4 to 8 and proceed to assault the nice man's eardrums then looked at him (the kid) and threw him a spare tortex .88 I had. The look on his dad's face was priceless.

MORAL 1 - Never leave the house without picks

MORAL 2 - Don't talk trash to a guy with the only cable in the bass section.

MORAL 3 - Picks fingers it doesn't matter as long as you make the sounds and your happy with how you got it your a bassist.
 
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#42
There are some techniques that are VERY useful and versatile when it comes to getting certain tones or getting close to another player's sound. I find fingerstyle and picking to both be basic techniques for the right hand and each player should be able to at least execute them with a decent amount of dexterity.
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+1

Playing bass with a pick with great sound, dynamics and timing requires about the same amount of experience as with fingers.
 
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#43
AwkwardLoudness said:
I don't recall encountering any hate for flat-picking a bass.

Anyway, I like to do it all: plucking, slapping, picking, scraping, slamming, bowing, vibrating strings with a sex toy. Variety is your friend.

Why give s*** what anyone thinks about picking?
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That is the $30 question, isn't it?

It seems that only folks who are deeply insecure about their choices post these "Why do folks hate (insert something here)???"
 
#44
If playing with a pick was effortless and playing with fingers took a lot of skill, I might think less of pick players. But, at least in my case, it's the other way around.

Playing the bass guitar finger-style feels so natural, I can pluck quickly or slowly and with varying amounts of force and get a variety of different tones. But when I use a pick, I can barely play. I lose control of my dynamics, I stop being able to play quickly, and I have difficulty jumping from string to string. For me, playing with a pick is much more difficult than playing with my fingers. I have absolutely no reason to look down on people that play bass with a pick.

Although if you play an upright bass with a pick...I might look at you funny.
 
#45
If I cared in the least what anyone else thought of my choices, I might be tempted to put up threads about it. But my bands have never had audiences of bass players, and other bass players are the last people I'm worried about impressing.
 
#47
Gaius46 said:
Every classical guitarist in creation plays fingerstyle.

I've played with a pick in the past but have played mostly fingerstyle for the past decade.

Since picking up classical guitar and learning some classical guitar right hang techniques I can honestly say the flexibility inherent in using the fingers and the number of different tones you can produce from using your fingers makes playing any stringed instrument with a pick seem little better than hitting it with a club.

There are things you can play with your fingers that simply cannot be played with a pick. The reverse isn't true (except maybe for the agressive tone that picks generate.
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Someone likes himself just a little too much than is healthy.
 
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#49
I played guitar forever, with a pick and my hand, before I played bass. I had to relearn how to use my fingers and picking was second nature at that time. I still dont practice with a pick but can still play with one just about as good as use to be able to. < That might be why people talk crap about. I dont care either way but fwiw I really havent used a pick in like 3 years and can still do it pretty well:hiding:
 
#52
Etchbass said:
Also, what kind of picks do you guys prefer? I'm really digging 2mm picks my guitarist had lying around. I feel like I have a lot more control than when I use floppy fender picks... although they are really good for lighting on fire.
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When I first started using a pick I used those thick 3.0 mm Jim Dunlop picks. But now I find it easier to use the yellow .76mm Planet Waves I use to play guitar. But now I feel that the .76s are great for bass but don't give me enough dynamics on the guitar so I'll try out some .66s. But it'll be yellow. They ALWAYS have to be yellow! :bassist: :hyper:
 
#56
Chris is one of the bassists who influenced my decision to play bass. He is the pick player's pick player.
But, I play with my fingers, mainly because the styles of music I play. Playing with a pick feels strange to me now. However, for those who play with a pick, go have fun and play your hearts out with them. Don't worry about what others say.
I cannot say I have found in hateful or discriminate attacks upon pick players here, just stuff out of good natured fun.
 
#58
dhsierra1 said:
I don't know how long you've been playing but I've been at this instrument (and a few others) for a long time and what I've found is you need to reach a point where you don't give a hoot what anyone says about how you get your sound. And that's valid for everything from instruments, strings, amps, cables, whatever. Oh, and picks. Do what works, and picks are a valid tool for any bass guitarist that's been proven over the years by too many greats to list (they don't work so well on upright but then you have a bow :ninja:).

So just brush off the negativity if it's affecting you, not worth it and just play on.
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+1
 
#59
fretlessguy said:
Chris is one of the bassists who influenced my decision to play bass. He is the pick player's pick player.
But, I play with my fingers, mainly because the styles of music I play. Playing with a pick feels strange to me now. However, for those who play with a pick, go have fun and play your hearts out with them. Don't worry about what others say.
I cannot say I have found in hateful or discriminate attacks upon pick players here, just stuff out of good natured fun.
Click to expand...

+1. Personally, I don't like playing with a pick, even though I started out as a pick player. For a while, I held animosity towards pick players, too, but then realized it's a legitimate style.
 
#60
I don't play with a pick much because I suck at it, I enjoy playing fingerstyle and I'm not in the mood to take the time to learn to handle the pick right now. Somewhere down the road I will though. Fwiw, I will say that of my three favorite bass players to listen to (Jamerson, Kaye and McCartney) two of them are pick players, so there.
 

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