I like to palm mute with a pick along with lots of other techniques that are cool too. They are lots of fun, just picking around.
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Fingers vs pick?
- Thread starter Jorgebassguy
- Start date
I voted fingers, but that’s just because that’s what I do most. I play with two fingers, three fingers, pick, the meaty ‘hook’ method (kinda like pizzicato upright technique), a weird way where I use the hard, callused tip of my index finger like a pick while holding my fingers in a pick-holding shape, slap/pop, a kinda semblance of that crazy thing Ryan Martinie does, everything, depending on what gets me a sound I’m wanting. I’m best at the upright-y thing and 2/3-finger funky stuff, by a lot, but I can at least get by with most techniques.
Smooth_bass88
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- Oct 31, 2006
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Me, too! I use these, because my hands are way too dumb for normal flatpicks. Herco makes them, I use thin for guitar and mandolin and medium for bass. They’re awesome for a habitual pick-fumbler.
I don’t care for the pick sound and I managed a career for decades with just fingers. I don’t play all kinds of music though.
I am really surprised by the amount of players here that confess to using a pick 100% of the time. I use a pick 100% of the time. I wish I could play finger-style, and I tried and did real bad but I don't want to put the time into learning it. I still feel I need to improve on reading music and other technical areas that take that time. I have to say, only the fingers can give you that warm, dull but tight sound of a note, as in that Dua Lipa song 'Don't Start Now'. I play it with a pick and its not the same, so I understand where your finger players like to be at. People say its more tools in the tool box, yes, but that whole Seinfeld slap and pop routine as a tool, I'll leave that tool in the shed forever, forget about it..
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Deleted member 165050
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Tbh I like the sound of fingers on flats... all my basses have flats (even the sole one that has frets) and I like that warm thump rather than the click at the front.
D
Deleted member 165050
Guest
I used to only use fingers because of my background in classical guitar and double bass, as well as my being a bit of a purist at the time, but over time I came to love the sound of a pick as well. I like fingers for a warmer but punchy sound, perfect for jazz and motown. It is also easier to slap when you don't have a pick to deal with. Pick is brighter and also punchy but in a different way. Lately I really like to use pick for leads on 6-string. Kinda helps get into that territory between guitar and bass.
TLDR: All the above for me.
TLDR: All the above for me.
Speech to text? I particularly like "Resolution devonshire pianoforte assistance" but I'll be damned if I can figure out how we got there.
while you can't change your fingers, a pick becomes a bass player's most versatile tool.
A technique is only as versatile as the players mind....
I wouldn’t call pick playing more versatile though. There are many more ways to attack the strings with the fingers than with a pick. But in the end it doesn’t matter what you use. What matters is what music comes out!
Almost always fingers--but sometimes thumb, sometimes a pick--sometimes a combination.
If I'm not suing my fingers it's to get a different sound that is easier with a pick, or for a rhythm I find easier to play with a pick--thumb is more if I am doing arpeggios or something like that--or I'm using a pedal tone.
If I'm not suing my fingers it's to get a different sound that is easier with a pick, or for a rhythm I find easier to play with a pick--thumb is more if I am doing arpeggios or something like that--or I'm using a pedal tone.
Restricting yourself to any one of those approaches -- fingers, or pick, or "slapin" [sic] -- would be like restricting yourself to only one gear on a car with a manual transmission. "Yeah, I prefer to drive around all the time in third gear." ::
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That is an awesome technique. I used it for several years. Very rewarding.
Like many, I started out using a pick. In the course of learning/unlearning-evolution/devolution I somehow got the hang of the fingers and played that way exclusively for quite a while. Years later, back on the pick. My current incarnation I am back on the fingers but the picks are always nearby. For whatever reason I never switched back and forth (song to song). But rather band to band. Life is Good.