Plectrum playing - why the snobbery?

[Happy Jack]

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1465200252' post='3065949']
Only other bass players care whether you use a pick, fingers, or half a house brick to play, so long as they like what they hear.
[/quote]

Ain't dat de troof!

Although IME even other bass players don't give a monkey's.

I certainly don't.

[Marc S]

I play with a pick on some songs, and without on others
Personally, I quite like the tone when playing with a pick - again on some songs
Others I'd rather play with my fingers, because that's what suits the song

When I started playing, I only played with a pick - it was fast, furious punk back then
JJ Burnel and Paul Gray were my fave players, and as others have said, it didn't do them any harm

But I learned to play without a pick, purely because I was frightened about dropping a pick mid-song, and having to faff about digging out another. Then I learned that some songs just sounded, or felt better to play with fingers an no pick

Ignore the snobbery (I actually don't think it's that bad, on here at least)
Just play what is most comfortable for you, and what suits the style of music you are playing
.... but if you can, learn to play with and without. If I can do it, I'm sure you can

Edited June 6, 2016 by Marc S

[hubrad]

The ones who really have enough angst to bother you with such negativity need to go away and play more.
I mostly use fingers, but that's me. Occasional flatpick use, and more often than a flat I'll use a thumbpick in a bass-strum style to vary things when playing without a drummer, especially if the guitarist is a bit weak on rhythm!

[chris_b]

Tex Comer, ex Ace bass player, uses a pick and sounds better than most finger style players.

Ignore snobbery and do your home work. Then make the best choices for you.

[Hobbayne]

In my rock covers band, I use a pick if the original song was played with a pick. I try to keep the sound close to the original as I can.
However, the last gig I played, I forgot my picks and played the whole set fingerstyle. TBH, nobody noticed.

[PaulWarning]

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1465202925' post='3065969']
In my rock covers band, I use a pick if the original song was played with a pick. I try to keep the sound close to the original as I can.
However, the last gig I played, I forgot my picks and played the whole set fingerstyle. TBH, nobody noticed.
[/quote]about the only time I've noticed a big difference between pick and fingers was when the bassist was using a Rick, fingers it sounded ok tbh, then he played a couple of songs with a pick, clank clank clank, but then again Macca played one with a pick and he sounded ok

[KingBollock]

I think there is very little snobbery on BassChat where pick playing is concerned. When I first joined the forum there was some snobbery, which made me feel a bit defensive, but it's not like that now. I think you're more likely to be berated for insisting on sticking to a single style, but only if you were to bang on about how any other way is wrong.

I have been playing with a pick for all but the first year of the 29 years I have been playing. Bass was my first and is my main instrument and, despite not coming from guitar, playing with a pick feels natural to me. I started playing with a pick because clumsy 13 year old me had started messing about with electronics and it's easier to hold a pick when your finger tips are covered in sticking plasters.

To be honest, I can't really do traditional finger style, if I drop a pick I use thumb and first two fingers as I would with my banjo. I hybrid pick, too, using my middle and ring finger while using a pick.

I do own guitars (just got another for my birthday) but I play them like a bass player. More recently I have switched to quite thin picks for bass (Dunlop Tortex .60) but I still play guitar with 3mm Dunlop Primetones.

[TKenrick]

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1465161862' post='3065802']
Bobby Vega; nuff said.
[/quote]

This.

Also, Anthony Jackson. And Steve Swallow (plays jazz with a metal plectrum and has an [i]incredible[/i] sound)

My take on the right hand is that the decision of fingers/pick/thumb should be made on the basis of tone (and attack) rather than what your technique obligates you to do.

[Muzz]

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1465161862' post='3065802']
Bobby Vega; nuff said.
[/quote]

This.

Never heard any snobbery in the real world, therefore I consign anything else into the realms of keyboard warrior trolling, and ignore it.

[ahpook]

[quote name='highwayman' timestamp='1465159188' post='3065767']
ahpook: "I've never come across it except in Internet forums" - being a new bassist that's the only place I've heard it too, but on BC & elsewhere when plectrums are mentioned there's a fair amount of snobbery - do a search yourselves if in doubt - though happily not from the respondents to this thread.
[/quote]

Well, the internet is full of people with nothing better to do than wave their opinions round after mistaking them for facts....

[Jus Lukin]

-

Edited February 28, 2022 by Jus Lukin

[louisthebass]

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1465157488' post='3065733']

I can't play with a pick. The envy here is killing me!
[/quote]

+1 - been playing 30 years and still haven't wrapped my head around it.

[HazBeen]

I think as bassists we should strive to do it all - the right technique for the right sound - fingers, muted thumb, slap/pop, pick, tap, skip and hop.... In essence play what sounds right.

[EssentialTension]

[quote name='HazBeen' timestamp='1465289317' post='3066729']
I think as bassists we should strive to do it all - the right technique for the right sound - fingers, muted thumb, slap/pop, pick, tap, skip and hop.... In essence play what sounds right.
[/quote]

I have no interest in striving to do it all ... Nor any interest in telling other bassists how they should play.

[HazBeen]

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1465295912' post='3066819']


I have no interest in striving to do it all ... Nor any interest in telling other bassists how they should play.
[/quote]

Good for you, no need to follow any opinions given if it helps.

[lojo]

I'm not sure there's really snobbery but there is banter in all things , but I wish I could emulate the fast picking I hear on some of music I love , there's a special tone that just cuts through which I really love

[grandad]

I'm the opposite of many BCers in that thumb or plectrum is my natural and easy playing style. Finger-style I have to think about where they are and have developed no finger-memory for.

The pics I use are celluloid from tonedeaf, rather on the thin side, quite flexible so as to feel the pressure I put on each note.

Edited June 16, 2016 by grandad

[Kirky]

Finger-style for me. Every now and them I give picks a go (I'm also a guitarist using picks and fingers) and it never feels or sounds right to me. Surprisingly (to me anyway) I get more attack using fingers.

[Lozz196]

I`ve been playing some 35 years now, and only started to learn playing fingerstyle about 5 years ago. For me and what I`m currently doing fingerstyle is not the way to go, playing with a pick suits me far better for that. This could be down to being far more familiar with pick playing of course. I`ve never understood the "this ways better than that" thing, it`s the sound you obtain that`s important, whichever way you achieve it, do it that way.

[Lightlyseared]

When I first picked up a bass in 1988, my hero was Billy Gould, who has always mixed everything up, so I had no preconceptions about what was and wasn't on the table. I've always just gone for what feels right for the song.

[nigec]

I use a sixpence with my guitar, but can I hell get away with it or a pick on my bass, it early days for me but fingers just seem more natural

[tanuki]

When i said to a drummer i played with that i didn't really play with a pick he responded that it was like him not playing with brushes. i thought that was a good way of seeing it, bassists should play with fingers, pick and thumb in order to get the full range of tones and be able to adapt to what the song needs.

[Trueno]

It would make sense to do both to suit whatever song you're playing at the time. But I never use a pick because I can't hold on to the nasty wee things!

[Steelyad]

I can't say I'd have a go at anyone for preferring one way or the other, but I think you should learn how to play all different ways- that way you may find something you like that you'd otherwise have always ignored, and conversely you could say "I tried that way, didn't like it". At least then you have a sense of perspective

[Woodinblack]

I play with fingers, unless I am either trying to get a more punk sound or I have played several gigs in a row, played too hard and have ripped my fingers up!

So yes, I can do both, but generally choose to use fingers. However, I have never really cared how other people played!

Edited July 12, 2016 by Woodinblack