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Posted: 3/5/2006 11:42:15 AM EDT
Do you use a pick???? I was watching a band on TV last night and the bassplayer was using a pick. They only time I would use a pick is to achieve a desired tone for a certain song. But I am usually a finger walking or slappin kinda guy. The punk/ska type music really shows the trend of changing to picks and also less "skill" in my opinion. The older stuff the bass players would play awesome lines and fills and like I said was awesome. All the Emo/punk/crap that is out now the bass players seem to just pound away on the root note with a pick. Personally I think you should
 EDIT: typos are cool |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 11:50:26 AM EDT
[#1]
tag
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Posted: 3/5/2006 11:51:23 AM EDT
[#2]
I do for the same reason you do, different styles require different techniques of hitting the notes.
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Posted: 3/5/2006 11:52:59 AM EDT
[#3]
pick 5-10% of the time. I'm just a very average player, though.
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Posted: 3/5/2006 11:57:07 AM EDT
[#4]
LOSE the pick, not LOOSE the pick!
OK, spelling lesson complete. There are times when a pick is OK on a bass, like when you're intentionally going for a very percussive sound with a rapid attack, but generally I don't like it when people use a pick on a bass. I'm not a real bass player but I've owned guitars and basses since 1984. I always play the bass by alternating my index and middle fingers. It seems to be natural for me. I also do the thumb slap and G string pull techniques on occasion for a funk-like tone. I can't say it IS a funky tone because I'm entirely too white to be entitled to lay any claim at all to any measure of funkiness. My favorite bass tone has always been the clear, harmonically rich tone achieved with fresh strings and played with the thumb, hammering gently on the strings. The mid-80s jazz bass tone. A G-K bass amp and Hartke cabinets (aluminum cones) is perfect for this. CJ |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 12:01:38 PM EDT
[#5]
My reason for not liking the pick is because a pick adds a bit of treble... the exact opposite goal of bass.
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Posted: 3/5/2006 12:31:52 PM EDT
[#6]
use both, but in my opinion, use the pick as least as possible. some songs call for a treble sound if you do covers. i use a Hartke 4000 amp with 4 steel cones and it gives me all the pick sound i need when i use my finger nails. good luck and rock on!
but if you are into jazz, definitely no pick! 
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Posted: 3/5/2006 2:28:57 PM EDT
[#7]
I think your Hartke cones are aluminum and not steel.
No treble at all in a bass is not a good sound. Pure tones have no character and the bass would just sound muffled and have no definition. Try it. Turn all your tone controls to their minimum treble position. Your sound won't cut through and you won't like it much. CJ |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 4:19:13 PM EDT
[#8]
<-------fingers only. Picks are for chicks.
 Use your fingers. A good finger player dosen't need a pick...you can get all the attack you need, if you have the hand strength...It just takes time and commitment. Finger players are a dying breed, and finger players who can bring ALL tones and ALL styles are even rarer. Ditch the pick. |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 4:20:42 PM EDT
[#9]
An ex-Batt boy bass-player? Kick ass! 
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Posted: 3/5/2006 4:23:24 PM EDT
[#10]
I prefer a pick.
But I'm a better guitar player than I am bass player... |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 4:33:07 PM EDT
[#11]
HOW THE FUCK DO YOU PLAY ONE OF THESE?!?!??!
 
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Posted: 3/5/2006 4:40:30 PM EDT
[#12]
It's not good for 'em to play with 'em. Catch and release. Don't play with bass!
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Posted: 3/5/2006 6:40:53 PM EDT
[#13]
I use my fingers to play the bass guitar about 98% of the time. If I am using a pick, it usually because I am either looking for a edgy, twangy sound, or trying to reproduce the pick-driven sound from the original song (good example - Roundabout by Yes).
What kind of basses do you folks play? I play a Peavey Cirrus, Peavey Dynabass Unity Series, and a Carvin LB20 fretless. |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 7:07:08 PM EDT
[#14]
...waiting for DFD to chime in ....
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Posted: 3/5/2006 7:10:37 PM EDT
[#15]
Ibanez Soundgear through a Bass PodXT here. I might use a pick in 1 of 100 songs if that often, but when I started it was every song. Just worked my way out of it over time.
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Posted: 3/5/2006 7:16:59 PM EDT
[#16]
Most bass players that use a pick started out as guitar players. Its just a natural transition without learng to use your fingers. I'm not a bass player but when I do play Im about 50/50 with the pick and my fingers, depends on the song/type of music.
Yo wheres Hank. That boy plays a pretty mean bass! |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 7:18:59 PM EDT
[#17]
I've been playing guitar and bass for about 13 years now, I started on the guitar, but my big hands were more suited for the bass. After playing the bass for a while I even lost the pick on the guitar unless I was going to play something that was powercord heavy. I like to play slap the most and will where ever it fits in, the olny time I use the pick is when I am playin around by myself, or I am playing my acoustic bass with a guitar player because it isn't very loud. I was in a band and the guitar player got in herion pretty bad and the band fell apart, then my amp decided it was going to not work at all anymore, I haven't gotten a new one yet so I just jam by myself now.
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Posted: 3/5/2006 7:20:44 PM EDT
[#18]
I've found I can play much faster and more accurately with a pick. But it really depends on the sound you are looking for.
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Posted: 3/5/2006 7:22:44 PM EDT
[#19]
I always loved the sound of a fresh set of DRs and me slappin the hell out of them. DRs are the best bass strings I have found, they keep that new string sound much longer than anything else I have found and they even sound good with out the bass plugged in. I see that you are a luthier, that is awesome where do you go to learn that?? |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 7:23:35 PM EDT
[#20]
It used to be that if you were recording on a sound stage for TV, or recording live, the engineers would have a hissy fit if you didn't use a pick, because they were guaranteed a nice even level with loads of mids, which play back over the average tv/hifi a lot better. Since compressors and limiters have gotten better and cheaper, this is less prevalent, but you still run into the occasional Old Guy who wants to hear it like that.
That said, there is a definite trend back toward using picks. If I were less kind, I might suggest that the latest breed of cat doesn't have enough patience to learn a little technique-- but of course we all know better. By the way: American-Std Jazz V's (yes, plural) and Gallien-Krueger gear. Very few effects, usually none. I usually play with my fingers, but have used picks, drumsticks, ball-peen hammers, etc. Ritchie Blackmore was right: you can get sounds with your feet that you can't get with your hands. Oh, and I played pro in the Seattle market from 1966 to about 1985, and off and on since then. Currently on hiatus. |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 9:48:52 PM EDT
[#21]
NO PICK!!!
I used a pick only when I started but when you use fingers, you get the "feel" of the sound... if that makes any sense. |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 9:55:25 PM EDT
[#22]
I used to use a pick a bit when I first started, but I don't use it now. It just feels better without a pick IMO. |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 10:00:51 PM EDT
[#23]
I can play either way, but I use a pick more often than not.
You can make the pick sound just like fingering, if you're good at it. Alot of guitarists that transition know what I'm talking about. I am not limited by picking, sonically or otherwise although I can finger pick if I want to. |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 10:02:57 PM EDT
[#24]
once in a great while for a different sound
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Posted: 3/5/2006 10:05:58 PM EDT
[#25]
Hmmm..... Lemme see. You've got a choice of one pick - or - a thumb and a couple of fingers.
Looks like the pick is outnumbered. |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 10:09:39 PM EDT
[#26]
I started off only using my fingers. Later I started using both. Now I only use the finger if I am doing some type of slappin or finger taps.
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Posted: 3/5/2006 10:25:13 PM EDT
[#27]
Strum the spines of the tail fin. |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 10:29:07 PM EDT
[#28]
Besides... HOW can you use a pick on THIS work of art!!
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Posted: 3/5/2006 10:30:23 PM EDT
[#29]
I want one, it would go great with my Fender Jazz |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 10:43:09 PM EDT
[#30]
You can NEVER have too many Fenders!!! Our home consists of these:   Yes I have two black with brass pickguards... gotta have one in rosewood neck and one in maple ya know ETA: The Jazz bass isnt mine... it's my daughter's. But the two P basses and Strat are mine. These pictured LOOK like mine but arent... One of these days I will take a good pic of the Fender family here. |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 10:46:50 PM EDT
[#31]
I love the Fender basses, I love my Jazz, it had died and I have decided to just retire it instead of trying to fix it. It was a cheaper model I bought when I was still in high school so it isn't a big loss. I did but some custom Seymore-Duncan pickups in it that were amazing, not it just take up room in my closet, when I get a house it will be on the wall somewhere. For the guitar I am more of a Les Paul guy, but the I have played some awesome fenders, and I would take a good Fender guitar any day.
Btw: Nice collection  ETA: do those P-basses just have the standerd P pick-up or is their another one closer to the bridge also, hard to tell from the pick. I like the feel of the Jazz but the tone from the P-bass is awesome, I've wanted one of those P-bass/Jazz combo jobs they have come out with |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 10:49:17 PM EDT
[#32]
Thanks but YOU HAVE TO FIX THAT JAZZ!!! I dont care if it is the Mexican or Korean built model. I have NEVER met a Fender that didnt let me down... even the Squier guitars and basses are fun to play... FIX IT!!!! 
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Posted: 3/5/2006 10:51:10 PM EDT
[#33]
My Jazz is better... Btw, the strings on your strat are still way too thin... |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 10:51:39 PM EDT
[#34]
Fixing it would be a huge undertaking, the neck is shot and the elctronic are shot, the pots don't work, everything.....
 I would end up spending as much as I would getting a new one fixing it. Maybe when money isn't an issue, but it is now
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Posted: 3/5/2006 10:52:38 PM EDT
[#35]
These are pics of basses that LOOK like mine... these are not my exact basses. I have the standard P bass pickup configuration on both... just one (1976) has a maple neck and heavy like an anchor My other one (1996) has a rosewood neck and light as a feather. The strat above is a pic of one just like mine as well only my strat has a maple neck. |
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Posted: 3/5/2006 10:52:39 PM EDT
[#36]
I use 11's on my guitar
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Posted: 3/6/2006 1:25:28 AM EDT
[#37]
Fixed it for ya. I like and play Fenders, but I'm not afraid to beat the snot out of the prettiest of them. They are, and always were, an "every man's" instrument. The only thing about them nowadays that's really awe-inspiring is the price tag. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 3:04:34 AM EDT
[#38]
Depends on the song.
I mostly play fingers. However, for some tunes (like all those straight 8th notes in some Billy Idol songs) a pick is the right tool for the job. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 3:06:59 AM EDT
[#39]
BTW, on technique/sound issues, by using the edge of my right hand to mute the strings near the bridge and sounding the strings with my thumb I can get a tone much like an upright. Sounds pretty cool.
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Posted: 3/6/2006 3:11:21 AM EDT
[#40]
I have picks that are made out of felt that give a very muddy tone, simaler to what you describe with the palm muting. However I find it harder to keep the the steady rhythm with a pick, I have covered a couple Billy Idol songs, I can keep it going much better with the two fingers
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Posted: 3/6/2006 11:10:39 AM EDT
[#41]
Nice. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 11:13:26 AM EDT
[#42]
no picks.
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Posted: 3/6/2006 11:14:05 AM EDT
[#43]
No, it's true. There are some pick players I like, though. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 2:27:16 PM EDT
[#44]
awesome! that is my dream axe. someday...  i have a charvel/jackson i picked up in 88. (yes, i am aging myself, im 40) |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 8:40:04 PM EDT
[#45]
LOL... you and I go to the same school together?? I too have a Charvel ... Wanna hear something sad? That bass has a Kahler trem bridge on it... But honestly, what is REALLY sad though is that my friend lent me money to buy it... He committed suicide two months after that... before I could even pay him back...
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Posted: 3/6/2006 9:19:48 PM EDT
[#46]
Don't feel bad. I had one o them Steinberger clones, made by Hohner. It was a horrendous POS, but I thought it was tits. "Dude, it's like playing the FUTURE! DUDE!!!!" Sorry about your friend.
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Posted: 3/6/2006 10:15:04 PM EDT
[#47]
sorry about your friend DrFrige....
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Posted: 3/6/2006 10:30:37 PM EDT
[#48]
Both.
For traditional rock, jazz, funk, etc fingers are the way to go. For metal, punk, hardcore, the attack and speed of a pick are better. |
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Posted: 3/6/2006 10:36:56 PM EDT
[#49]
I use a pick. But then again, I'm a talentless punk rocker.
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Posted: 3/6/2006 10:43:16 PM EDT
[#50]
I was too. I still use a pick
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