Playing with a Pick - looking for advice

[Count Bassy]

Currently I am exclusively a fingers player, but think its about time I branched out into being able to use a pick.

Any handy hints as to how go about it, technique wise, what type of pick to start with, etc.?


Clive

[Cosmo Valdemar]

Buy a handful of different sizes and shapes from the shop, see which one feels comfy. I've tried loads and find I'm always happiest with the standard shape, nice and heavy with just a tiny bit of give.

Then study the masters - Chris Squire and Colin Hodgkinson.

Edited March 15, 2014 by Cosmo Valdemar

[Lozz196]

A veritable can of worms. I`d say if you are looking for a fairly deep warm sound then thicker is better, but going for a faster twangier, more guitar-like style then thinner. For the former I use a 1.14mm, for the latter a 0.73mm.

I buy Dunlop Tortex Wedges, as being triangular (like Dairylea cheeses) essentially they are 3 picks for the price of one, so if you drop one picking it up and carrying on playing is easy, no worry about getting the pointed end in the right position (pardon the phrasing there please).

[Coilte]

As has been said, try out lots of different types of pick. As with other techniques to do with bass playing, playing with a pick can present injury problems if you are not careful. While nothing is written in stone, it is generally accepted to move from the [i]wrist[/i] as apart from the thumb. Below is a link to the iconic pick player Carol Kaye's web site. Here, she gives details about her technique. See tips # 26 & 27.

[url="https://www.carolkaye.com/www/education/tips1.htm"]https://www.carolkay...ation/tips1.htm[/url]



Also, here is a lengthty discussion on "Talk Bass"about the merits of her technique :


[url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f21/why-i-keep-hammering-carol-kaye-pick-method-452467/"]http://www.talkbass....-method-452467/[/url]

Edited March 15, 2014 by Coilte

[skankdelvar]

* Get used to muting with the edge of your 'picking' palm. That's pretty essential for faster single note parts.

* False harmonics are entertaining. On a downstroke, the edge of the thumb strikes the string immediately after the point of the pick at 5, 7 or 12 frets above the fretted note. Pingggg!

* All the usual stuff applies about where to 'pluck'. Nearer the neck for quieter and 'round', nearer the bridge for louder and 'twang'.

* If the clicky attack of the pick sounds a bit nasty and planky, roll the tone well back on the bass and turn your highs up a little bit on the amp.

All picks are worth trying once. If you can't find any of the big, heavy equilaterally triangular-ish types, PM me and I'll send you a few.


[size=3]Not life-size. [/size]

Edited March 15, 2014 by skankdelvar

[Coilte]

[quote name='skankdelvar' timestamp='1394898882' post='2396469']
* Get used to muting with the edge of your 'picking' palm. That's pretty essential for faster single note parts.
[/quote]

I would agree with your post....except for this advice. If muting is required, IMO it is better (safer.. from an injury aspect) to use a sponge under the strings.

Edited March 15, 2014 by Coilte

[miles'tone]

Check out Bobby Vega. Killer funky pick player with lots of cool YouTube vids/website.

Edited March 15, 2014 by miles'tone

[Hobbayne]

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1394899578' post='2396482']
I would agree with your post....except for this advice. If muting is required, IMO it is better (safer.. from an injury aspect) to use a sponge under the strings.
[/quote]

I use palm muting with a pick. I have been playing for many years and have never injured my self doing it!!

[Bassassin]

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1394902041' post='2396519']


I use palm muting with a pick. I have been playing for many years and have never injured my self doing it!!
[/quote]
Same here, it's a big part of my technique when using a pick. Although saddles with long protruding screws can be a bit scratchy.

A major part of pick technique is to get upstrokes & downstrokes even & fluid, and play from the wrist, not the forearm - unless you're Phil Lynott! And listen to Dennis Dunaway.

Jon.

[louisthebass]

Have tried playing with a pick over the years - have never really got on with it as I just don't seem to be able to judge the distance between the strings. Just gave up and reverted back to fingers.....

[gary mac]

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1394902041' post='2396519']


I use palm muting with a pick. I have been playing for many years and have never injured my self doing it!!
[/quote]

Same here. I do need to be careful if the saddle screws are sticking out proud of the bridge though.

For me palm muting is preferable to sponge, because there will be some notes that I don't want muted.

[waynepunkdude]

I find Dava Control picks are best for bass but that may just be me.

[lonestar]

I generaly use fingers but the Best picks that i found i picked up at a show and haven't found since. They were the standard 1 mm tortex blue but with a star shaped hole in the middle which made them really grippy.

[discreet]

[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][size=4][quote name='Bassassin' timestamp='1394903842' post='2396543']
Same here, it's a big part of my technique when using a pick. Although saddles with long protruding screws can be a bit scratchy.
[/quote]
[quote name='gary mac' timestamp='1394904567' post='2396553']
Same here. I do need to be careful if the saddle screws are sticking out proud of the bridge though.
[/quote]

I find palm muting essential when playing with a pick. You get a lot more control than by stuffing a sponge under the strings (as Gary says, some notes you want to sustain and not be muted), though a sponge is OK if you're playing fingerstyle and you want a particular Stax/Motown feel. If your muting palm is being shredded by rough bridge barrel screws it's a simple enough matter to buy shorter ones, and the problem is no more. I've done this several times over the years. [/size][/font]

Edited March 15, 2014 by discreet

[The Dark Lord]

I'm mostly a 100% pick player and beat the crap out of the strings with one most of the time.

For me, it's important that I can keep a hold of my pick - so I get one with good grippy properties ...... and have a few more taped to the back of the bass just in case.

[attachment=157640:IMG_2891.jpg]

I don't use big "bass" picks. I prefer the guitar size ones. I have been using Jim Dunlop .88 ones for a long time now.

I don't know if anyone else does this, but I also have to have them slightly bent upwards. Fits to my fingers better that way.

I beat the strings both with the pick and the end of the fingers holding the pick too ..... and I can end up feeling a bit bruised if I ever go a few weeks between gigs.

So ...... find a pick you like, make sure it's grippy, keep a few spares close at hand ..... and beat the crap out of those strings!

[White Cloud]

For me playing the bass with a pick is almost as uncool as using flat wound strings ...almost

[discreet]

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1394907520' post='2396596']
For me playing the bass with a pick is almost as uncool as using flat wound strings ...almost
[/quote]

As pointed out in a recent thread, it's only them wot can't play with a pick themselves that has a go at them that does...

Edited March 15, 2014 by discreet

[Coilte]

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1394902041' post='2396519']


I use palm muting with a pick. I have been playing for many years and have never injured my self doing it!!
[/quote]

.....yet !! It can take many years for the problem to manifest itself. Just like repetitive strain injury does not happen over night.

[gary mac]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1394905734' post='2396574']



[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif] If your muting palm is being shredded by rough bridge barrel screws it's a simple enough matter to buy shorter ones, and the problem is no more. I've done this several times over the years. [/font]
[/quote]

Yes, same here Mark, I've purchased shorter ones and even sometimes just cut them down, tedious job that though

[White Cloud]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1394907649' post='2396598']
As pointed out in a recent thread, it's only them wot can't play with a pick themselves that has a go at them that does...
[/quote]
Oh I can do it...it's just uncool!

Runs for cover....

[The Dark Lord]

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1394907520' post='2396596']
For me playing the bass with a pick is almost as uncool as using flat wound strings ...almost
[/quote]

It's funny how us pick players don't have a go at finger players for looking unmanly etc. Very boring.

[Coilte]

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1394910754' post='2396650']
Oh I can do it...it's just uncool!
[/quote]

Dont feed the trooll !!!

[Delberthot]

Yeah - as has been said before try as many as you can

I had almost given up on them until I read an interview with Chris Squire where he said he used Herco Heavies ( Apparently Jimmy Page uses them as well ) tried them and they are the dogs sloblock for me. bought a pile of them. really grippy and just the right level of bendiness for me

[KingBollock]

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1394908202' post='2396608']


.....yet !! It can take many years for the problem to manifest itself. Just like repetitive strain injury does not happen over night.
[/quote]
I've been a pick player for 25 years, entirely without injury. In fact this is the first time I have ever come across someone even suggesting it. I actually started playing with a pick a year after I started playing Bass because of injury to my fingers due to other activities. If there's such a risk, how on earth do guitarists get on?

[operative451]

Being an escaped guitar player i use both to get different sounds... I mute with my left hand if needed, does anyone else do that?