Why I Play With A Pick

[SICbass]

I only started using a pick when a show I was playing demanded it. I'm still not super proficient, but it's enough to get by when I need it.
I does have loads of cool variations in tone, and I plan to spend more time getting into using one.

[lowdown]

[quote name='planer' timestamp='1462140934' post='3040632']
I like the noise it makes.
[/quote]

You may have a point.

[i][color=#333333]"The English may not like music, but they absolutely love the noise it makes".[/color][/i]
[color=#333333]Thomas Beecham[/color]
[color=#333333] [/color][color=#333333] [/color]

[FinnDave]

Because I can't use my fingers after an accident. I like the sound of bass played with a pick, but prefer (preferred) the feel of using fingers.

[JapanAxe]

I came to bass with a well-developed pick technique from many years of guitar playing. Eventually I learned a form of alternate finger-picking, then switched to T[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPVMBPmrblU"]odd Johnson's approach[/url].

These days I only use a pick if it's necessary for the purposes of sound or speed (I can still do steady 1/8s faster with a pick than with fingers).

[Highfox]

I'm all fingers but will use a pick when I think the tune needs it.

[RickyV]

I dont play with a pick at all at the moment. Finger style just felt more natural from the start so playing with a pick has just not happened. I feel I need to give it a real go though as playing rock covers there are a few songs on our set list which I think would benefit from that extra attack. It would be nice to be a more versatile player as well. Time to get practicing.

[Marvin]

I never play with a pick, I simply can't get the hang of playing with one

[Paul S]

I jumped ship from playing guitar to bass and took my pick playing with me. I have always felt more at ease playing bass with a pick and can control speed, accuracy, attack, weight, timbre and all those other things far more accurately with a pick than with my fingers. But for the past couple of years I have been in a band where playing finger style is appropriate for an awful lot of the material so I have been practising and practising. I'm getting much better and can play finger style passably for a lot the the stuff I feel I need to. But my pick playing is and always will be more under control - it just seems natural.

[Rich]

[quote name='Bobthedog' timestamp='1462166637' post='3040679']
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.
[/quote]Don't let one blinkered prick put you off.

[Phil Starr]

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1462146617' post='3040662']
Did Ronnie Wood play bass with a pick back in the day.

I'm thinking he probably did.

Blue
[/quote]Ronnie Lane?

If that's right then in Small Faces times he plays finger style on at least some of the videos I've seen. Mind you there's a lot of miming. A lot od the early material has quite a soft sound too which could either be down to the gear or indicating fingerstyle. My guess is he'd have used both? A bit of a hero as a songwriter and a lovely man. A sad loss.

[RhysP]

Because when I started playing nearly all my favourite players used one.

[FuNkShUi]

I play pick when needed, probably 2 songs in our set.
1 song we pay calls for slap.
The rest is fingers. I feel i can play with better dynamics when using my fingers too, so that's a bonus

[Painy]

I once watched a guy play bass in a punk band by slapping his bass with a 12" black rubber dildo so I don't think using a pick really requires any justification at all to be fair.
I played with a pick for the first 6 years mainly because when I first started I found the attack allowed me to be heard more clearly through the very low powered practice amp I was using when playing with friends. Then, after 6 years of playing I decided to have a few lessons after being self taught up until then and with that decided I'd like to try fingerstyle to broaden my horizons. Within a few weeks I'd decided I liked it enough to change over to fingers fully but there are always some songs that just work better or are easier to play with a pick. When playing at home I probably play 50/50 between fingers and pick but in my band it's about 95% fingers these days.

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1462177646' post='3040743']
Ronnie Lane?

If that's right then in Small Faces times he plays finger style on at least some of the videos I've seen.
[/quote]

The Faces were blessed with TWO excellent bass players, Ronnie Lane and Ronnie Wood.

Woody first came to fame as the bass player with Jeff Beck in 1967.

Edited to mention that yes, I AM aware that the Faces were not exactly the same band as the Small Faces!

Edited May 2, 2016 by Happy Jack

[keefbaker]

Yeah, one of the bands I work with needs the hard down picked sound.

But this is the thing with a lot of bass players, they have this "things must be done this way" attitude that just stinks.

It's an instrument, play it like you want. As long as it makes a noise.

[Graham]

I used to play with a pick when I was in a metal band, I'd started off playing finger-style as that is my preferred style, but switched to a pick when I struggled with the speed and then found everything just sounded better - playing and tone - in that band when I used a plectrum.

For me, the way you approach playing the bass with fingers works better for the way I want my playing to sound.

I find my playing has more "groove" and is tight with the drums when playing with fingers, wheras it's more "precise" and is tight with the guitars when playing with a pick. Of course, there's no reason you couldn't play with groove and a pick, but that's just the way it naturally feels to me, and could all just be placebo effect.

[DaytonaRik]

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1462143186' post='3040648']
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.
[/quote]

As a guitarist-turned-bassist I've always played with a pick and palm-mutued the bridge. I guess it comes down to years of playing guitars in rock bands with loads of gain/overdrive? Thankfully, Lynott played with a pick so my style fits in quite well with that Thin Lizzy tone

Edited May 2, 2016 by DaytonaRik

[spongebob]

Lifelong pick player here.

Did start with fingers, never really liked the tone. Guess a mixture of that, and influence of players I admire(d) pushed me towards the pick.

For me it's tone, agility/speed, and attack - I have tried fingers over the years, but TBH, I think I sound really bad when I try it. After years of playing, I guess I have developed my style, so it's what I bring to the table in any band.

Most players I see always seem to use fingers, so that's another reason to stick to the pick!

[JTUK]

I mostly hear lines fingerstyle..

[Lozz196]

I`d like to say the reasons were technical, but in reality that`s the way I learned - it never occurred to me to play with my fingers. I suppose seeing all my fave bassists at the time when I started playing using picks may have influenced me, but not too sure I would have gone into it that deeply at 15, I just wanted to play and thought that`s what you did.

I learned to play fingerstyle a few years back and can now do mostly everything that I can do on a pick that way, but I`m more comfortable both playing with the pick, and with the sound that that gets.

[luckydog]

[QUOTE]DaytonaRik said:

that Thin Lizzy tone[/QUOTE]

Yup, if I had to choose only one tone forever, that would be it for me. PL used a pick, of course!

LD

[RandomBass]

What is this 'pick' thing of which you speak?

[Hobbayne]

[quote name='RandomBass' timestamp='1462204921' post='3041077']
What is this 'pick' thing of which you speak?
[/quote]

[Sferg]

I used to play fingerstyle exclusively but when I got in my new band moved to a pick. We are a three piece (sonic youth, swervedriver, slint, shellac influenced). I found with the pick it was easier to play with a more driven sound. The guitarist in our band is quite abstract and atonal so I tend to add big chords (usually past the 12th fret) and open drone cords to add melody and drive to our guitarists "textural" approach...the pick is the most effective tool to achieve this. Still rattle about fingerstyle at home though

[xgsjx]

I'll pick 'em, slap 'em & finger 'em.

Strings that is.