Why I Play With A Pick

[The-Ox]

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1462323711' post='3042161']
I laughed at this as I'm childish hehe
[/quote]

haha as soon as I typed that I thought the same thing!

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I've always played both. When I first started playing I bought myself a 'teach yourself' book and it had little chapters on both. Mind you, by that logic I should also be slapping
I reckon on an average gig it's about half and half.

[ahpook]

I use a plectrum...never quite got on with the way a pick sounds

Edited May 4, 2016 by ahpook

[Phil Adams]

I think it's a bit more percussive with a pick, and I find timing a bit tighter. But, I have no tip to my right index finger, and poor coordination with the other fingers, so I find I'm unable to do a waling style with my right hand. That said, because I don't have that tip, holding a pick is a little uncomfortable, so generally I alternate between pick and fingers as the song dictates, ie faster riffs need the pick. In any even I would rather play finger style as I love the feel of it, and it feels like proper playing.

[thodrik]

I always play with my fingers rather than a pick/plectrum. I can play with both but generally never bother using a plectrum unless I feel the song requires it (ie my fingers can't play fast semi quaver patterns consistently for 4 minutes etc). Some of my favourite bassists are pick players though and I have never had a 'real bassists don't use picks' viewpoint.

[keefbaker]

Personally I think real bass players don't strike the strings with an erect penis.

[KingBollock]

[quote name='keefbaker' timestamp='1462392973' post='3042735']
Personally I think real bass players don't strike the strings with an erect penis.
[/quote]
Right, I'll be off then...

Bye BassChat!

[project_c]

I actually got into playing bass because of pick players like Rob Wright of Nomeansno. I really wanted to use a pick for a long time, but I really hate the sound and feel of a pick scratching against the strings when it's not hitting them at the perfect angle, it's like nails on a chalkboard, I can't stand it. Just couldn't get into it. So I learnt fingerstyle instead and eventually got into different music along the way. But i wish I could play with one, I'm always a bit jealous of pick players with good technique.

[KingBollock]

[quote name='project_c' timestamp='1462406500' post='3042855']
I actually got into playing bass because of pick players like Rob Wright of Nomeansno. I really wanted to use a pick for a long time, but I really hate the sound and feel of a pick scratching against the strings when it's not hitting them at the perfect angle, it's like nails on a chalkboard, I can't stand it. Just couldn't get into it. So I learnt fingerstyle instead and eventually got into different music along the way. But i wish I could play with one, I'm always a bit jealous of pick players with good technique.
[/quote]
There's Dunlop SpeedPicks that have a twist at the tip to help strike the string at a better angle.

[KK Jale]

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1462406676' post='3042856']
There's Dunlop SpeedPicks that have a twist at the tip to help strike the string at a better angle.
[/quote]

Back in the day some bass picks had a twist in the TAIL to help you hang onto the damn thing.

This is the pick I used in 1980-81. Seriously. I found it in a box of stuff a while ago. It's like a skateboard deck.

[url="http://smg.photobucket.com/user/transalp1998/media/bbJJ_zpsatimqm34.jpg.html"][/url]

I'm fingers mostly all the time now but I still love picks for some things... trying to get that that Carol Kaye/Beach Boys vibe, or the sound on Ennio Morricone's Italian pop songs, or the Serge Gainsbourg Histoire de Melody Nelson bass sound. For me that's a kind of lost pinnacle of bass playing, that hip, commercial, jazz-informed, almost orchestral late '60s approach. So cool...

Edited May 5, 2016 by KK Jale

[TrevorR]

I've always been more of a natural finger style player, having learned that way. However, I've always used a pick for songs that just don't sound or feel right with fingers for some reason... The ones that spring to mind would be, say, Matty Groves, Going Underground, a few worship songs but they were few and far between.

However, since going over to flats at the start of this year I'm increasingly liking the way a pick sounds with them since you lose a lot of the noisy, splangy sound from the pick scraping over the windings. Started to throw it in on a few different songs, including slow ones which (finger cramp excepted) I would never have considered using it on before... Just for the particular tonal variation.

[fretmeister]

I prefer playing with fingers.

But sometimes a pick works better.

It's all part of the tool box.

[mcnach]

I don't, normally. But sometimes I want that sound that you get with a pick so... I'd use a pick. It's just another way to get other sounds. No better, no worse.

[Patster1969]

Have played with fingers since starting but have recently been using a pick on some songs for the covers band - will help me tonight as have a gig and having dislocated my middle finger playing football on Monday, it's a bit sore for the faster stuff, so will defo pick these instead

[blue]

I think there are probably somethings you can only get right with fingers and some stuff you can only get right with the up and down strokes of a pick.

Blue

[gs_triumph]

I prefer playing with fingers as that's what I'm used to but my band mates prefer I play with a pick due to the attack and the fact it cuts through the wall of guitar fuzz the lead guitarist creates.

I don't mind playing witha pick - and I agree with the guitarist to certain degree about cutting through - but he could easily turn the f**k down instead ☺

[Spike Vincent]

I play with a plectrum because Punk Rock.

[PaulWarning]

I once read somewhere that some pro bass players play with fingers in the studio but a pick live, don't know whether it's true but it kinda makes sense

[DarkHeart]

I play with a pick because im more s**t when I try to play with my fingers!

[luckydog]

[QUOTE]PaulWarning said:

I once read somewhere that some pro bass players play with fingers in the studio but a pick live, don't know whether it's true but it kinda makes sense[/QUOTE]
Think it's the other way round - pick for recording ? Definition, tonal range - can't manipulate what isn't there and all that.....

LD

[keefbaker]

[quote name='Spike Vincent' timestamp='1462619176' post='3044406']
I play with a plectrum because Punk Rock.
[/quote]

Spiiiike? Didn't know you knocked about round here.

[chrismuzz]

I don't play with a pick because I haven't practiced doing so in years so I'm really bad at it... but I love the sound it makes, you can't match it with your fingers. Palm muting is at least a hundred times easier too!

[Guest MoJo]

I wish I could. The extra attack would suit certain songs, but I suck at playing with a pick

[steve-bbb]

[fleabag]

Personal to the individual i guess, but i never liked that attack that pick players speak of. Most pick tracks seem to sound like mild versions of Jean Jackets Brunel of the Stranglers, a tone i really hate, despite whether he's a good bassist or not.

YMMV of course