Why I Play With A Pick

[blue]

Why I Play With A Pick

Ok,guys,let's hear your reasoning.

No hatin.

Blue

[warwickhunt]

Love the attack and variation in tone... I also play with fingers or thumb... but NOT to thump it!

[Rich]

I only play 3 or 4 songs with a pick (a thumbpick actually). I use it because it seems to work well for those songs in terms of tone or feel or both. I wouldn't be averse to playing an entire set with a pick if the need arose.

[4stringslow]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1462138336' post='3040612']
Why I Play With A Pick

[/quote]

I don't

Edited May 1, 2016 by 4stringslow

[Si600]

I've never been able to play finger style with any kind of flow or consistency and when I started playing I didn't know I wasn't allowed to use a pick

[planer]

I like the noise it makes. And I just can't get the same attack with fingers.

[sunburstjazz1967]

Err for songs that need a pick sound, same as I use fingers for fingered sound, slap for slap etc etc etc.

[BrunoBass]

90% of my bands set I play with my fingers but on the songs that require it, I use a pick. Depends on the song and the sound I want to achieve or replicate.

[gjones]

My brother is a guitar player. He occasionally deps on bass and plays with a pick. I like the sound but feel you have more control over damping when you play with your fingers.

[The-Ox]

mainly use fingers, but I like the added bark you get with a pick. I also rest the side of my hand where the strings and bridge meet, so strumming along there gives a nice muted thump

[blue]

For my style of playing execution of the line ,riffs and licks are more accurately defined with a pic.

Plus people think I'm a guitarist. Lol 😃😃

Blue

[blue]

Did Ronnie Wood play bass with a pick back in the day.

I'm thinking he probably did.

Blue

[Hobbayne]

When I first started playing, I was listening to a lot of The Jam and The Stranglers and wanted to emulate that plectrum powered sound. I was also into 2 Tone which featured a mix of Ska, Reggae and punk which was played fingerstyle.
Here I am 35 years later, and I can seamlessly switch between pick (Plectrum) and fingers.
I still cant slap though!

Edited May 2, 2016 by Hobbayne

[gafbass02]

[quote name='sunburstjazz1967' timestamp='1462141170' post='3040633']
Err for songs that need a pick sound, same as I use fingers for fingered sound, slap for slap etc etc etc.
[/quote]

This. Don't want to be a one stringed bow kinda bass player, whatever combination suits the song.

[Bobthedog]

I have yet to learn how to play with a pick even though I should - for the songs that require it. Whilst at the LBGS this year I was offered a free pick as I went into see Robert Trujillo. When I passed on the offer the guy said "Oh, so you are not a bass player then". That alone has delayed any interest in learning.

Edited May 2, 2016 by Bobthedog

[Funky Dunky]

I play with a pick because sometimes the music calls for that attack. Otherwise, I use my fingerinos.

Love the whole Bobby Vega/Cody Wright muted picking on bass.

[Roland Rock]

I'm mostly fingers, but when I'm palm muting, I prefer a 'dunk' to a 'fump' so I use a pick.

[KingBollock]

Basically, thirteen year old me took up electronics a year after taking up bass, with the result that I seemed to perpetually have sticking plasters on the ends of my plucking fingers, so I decided to try my brother's picks (which he didn't mind because it meant he never had to buy another one because from then on he just stole mine...) and it came to me really naturally and I liked the sound.

I have to confess that I let finger style slip away after that and am now rubbish at it if I have to go quickly. But along with the huge amounts of sounds that I can get from various sizes of pick, including something very like a finger sound, and that I can hybrid pick (oddly, I find playing with my fingers easier if I am also holding a pick), I don't miss it and only get the occasional pang of guilt.

Actually, it is mostly the standard finger style I struggle with. I am fine with two fingers and thumb, rolling like with a banjo, and there is one song where I sometimes play it with thumb and three fingers, one each assigned to a string (just for novelty).

But overall I prefer the pick.

[Leonard Smalls]

I've never played with a pick - tend to use thumb and 3 fingers.
It's a case of do what you wanna do!

[DiMarco]

Because why not?

The drive, feel, musicality, tone, attack is very different from playing finger style and I love both.

[Cato]

I started out playing with a pick. At that time I was listening to a lot of really fast aggressive thrash & punk stuff and a pick really suits that stlye.

As my musical tastes broadened I stated trying to emulate other players, nearly all of whom played finger style so I made the switch to fingers.

I still use a pick for skinny string so I've always sort of assumed that if I ever wanted to use a pick for anything on the bass it would be pretty effortless. However, having seen a couple of Bobby Vega videos recently and what he can do with a pick, particularly his muting and use of ghost notes I have realised that by comparison I would be like a chimp, blindly flailing away at the strings.

Anyone who has a downer on pick players should check out a few Bobby Vega vids on youtube. He definitely made me rethink what's possible with a bit of plastic.

[ivansc]

Started out with a pick in the early sixties "because everyone played that way".

Dont even remember why or when I switched to fingers, but I did.

Fast forward to recently, when my poor battered old hands cant keep up with fast repetitive stuff any more, so I switched to pick for those sorts of songs.
Surprising.
I had forgotten how GOOD it sounds, especially with left AND right hand muting just as easy to do.

So now I use both as the occasion requires and am real happy doing so. Don't knock it till you have tried it. But give it a fair go. You cant just switch fr one to the other instantly.

[PaulWarning]

the players that inspired me to play bass use a pick, J J Burnel, Macca, Foxton, I prefer the sound of pick playing, and the look (means I can have my bass a lot lower) plus I play in a punk band, so it never really occurred to me to play fingerstyle, I have tried it but never had the enthusiasm to carry on with it

[luckydog]

I use a pick for timing and tone. Accuracy of the release point for tightness and a clearly defined click to mark notes suits the band sound which has crisp timing. This also helps definition in recording generally, so I try to record with a pick.

Picking can bring out full tone spectrum of a guitar, esp mids/tops and so bring the bass forward, which suits the overall band sound in this case.

I also play with fingers, in fact mostly this is how I've played over the years. Which is the flip side being warm and in touch, and all that.
Really, both ways are complimentary, and choosing on the basis of the band and overall sound seems best to me.

LD

[barneyg42]

I don't play with a pick often, sometimes by the end of a gig my fingertips are a bit sore and there's one particular song we play as an encore that would totally rag them so I grab one. Have nothing against pick players and I think that anyone who criticises them should listen to this man........

John Paul Jones!!!!