Do you need to play rock with a pick?

[XxBassMastaXx]

Is this true? Cos im comfotable with finger style.

[chris_b]

No.

[scottReederstoenail]

Not at all.

[XxBassMastaXx]

Ok! in that case il keep using my fingers! Thanx.

[Urban Bassman]

Perhaps you should ask Geddy Lee....or John Entwistle (if he were still alive)...or John Paul Jones...or Andy Frazer...or Neil Murray...or hundreds of others.

Be you own bass player...if it's fingers for you then fingers it is!



[quote name='XxBassMastaXx' post='587353' date='Sep 2 2009, 12:20 PM']Is this true? Cos im comfotable with finger style.[/quote]

[ezbass]

[quote name='urban Bassman' post='587368' date='Sep 2 2009, 12:27 PM']Perhaps you should ask Geddy Lee....or John Entwistle (if he were still alive)...or John Paul Jones...or Andy Frazer...or Neil Murray...or hundreds of others.

Be you own bass player...if it's fingers for you then fingers it is![/quote]

Geezer Butler, Steve Harris, Billy Sheehan.......

Having said that, being able to use a pick is a useful skill and one worth developing, not for rock in particular but just as another tool. Also handy if you get blisters on your plucking hand

Edited September 2, 2009 by ezbass

[The Bass Doc]

Rule No. 1 for playing style - there are no rules.

[Cat Burrito]

[quote name='The Bass Doc' post='587383' date='Sep 2 2009, 12:38 PM']Rule No. 1 for playing style - there are no rules.[/quote]

Absolutely. You can play whatever feels right for you. I tend to find there is more anti-pick snobbery in some parts but generally it doesn't matter what you do. I personally think it's best when you can play using a number of different techniques just so as you have more options

[Golchen]

A plec generally gives a more aggressive attack, which can be useful if everyone is turned up to 11.

Personally, I've never used a plec on a bass. Just doesn't appeal.

[Gust0o]

Rule no.2 - it is safe to ignore comments on Youtube.

Using a pick gets some serious hate on there, from a rather ignorant part of their community. Using a pick is useful in giving you a different sound, and is definitely another string to your bow as a player.

[Bilbo]

You can use a horse for all I care, as long as you get the sound you are looking for.

An important part of learning, of any kind, is to develop an advanced critical sense that allows you to recognise b***s**t when it is presented to you as fact. You no more need a pick to play rock bass that you do to play rock guitar (Jeff Beck......)

[yorick]

Do what feels comfortable

[cocco]

I use a pick most of the time, I find i get lost in the mix if i don't. but for quiter moments i generally revert to the fingers. I think its important to be able to do both. f*** anyone who tells you different. but yeah still there are no rules

[harvey1-8]

Rule no.3: Lets never talk about it again.

[lowhand_mike]

both, i do
it good to have as its a sound you cant get with your fingers, you might get close if you get your nails involved but its just not the same.
what ever works works

[Low End Bee]

People have told me I'm an unskilled simpleton because I only use a pick. This is of course correct.

[JBassist]

Fingerstyle can be used used for any music even punk/metal

alot of rock bassists use a pick maybe cos they where guitarists before

i used to think what you thought but if you think about all the fingertstyle rock bassists ie

Rhcp
the who
led zeppelin
pearl jam
many more.............

[Bilbo]

I think a lot of players work with a pick early on because it is quicker to get off the ground. In the long term, it is less versatile but, for beginners, it gets you playing 'fast' almost on day one. It doesn't sound better for rock, just different. There isn't much you can't do with an eq to cut through. A lot of wannabe musos can't think past things sounding like the records they buy and want the pick simply because the players in their fave bands use them.

[Earbrass]

[quote name='Gust0o' post='587429' date='Sep 2 2009, 01:11 PM']Using a pick is .... definitely another string to your bow.[/quote]

...whereas (for rock) using a bow on your strings is usually not a good pick.

[EssentialTension]

You don't even have to use a pick to play rock guitar let alone bass.

[Baxter]

I use a thumbpick a lot, but I mostly bare thumb rather than finger

[Marvin]

I used to use a pick but can't get along with them anymore. It feels alien. Agree with some of what Bilbo said about beginners getting off the mark.

[Clarky]

I use a pick as I cannot play my band's fast-paced punk music (loads of 16th notes) with my fingers. I would like to be equally adept at finger-style but I have a hell of a long way to go. How Steve Harris keeps up the pace I have no idea (whether or not he uses compression or whatever), ditto Geezer B

[Paul S]

I was looking at some Black Sabbath on You Tube last night, as it happens, and was surised to see Geezer uses both fingers and a pick - a pick for the Dio years mainly. But there is a great clip of Children of the Grave from the reunion concert where he apparently uses both - clever chap - or is it just some weird editing from two gigs?



I think I've also seen John Paul Jones using both, variously, through the years.

[Doc B]

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='587563' date='Sep 2 2009, 03:09 PM']I think a lot of players work with a pick early on because it is quicker to get off the ground. In the long term, it is less versatile but, for beginners, it gets you playing 'fast' almost on day one.[/quote]

That's pretty much what I was told when I bought my first bass. The guy in the shop was a bass player and actually stopped me from buying plectrums/picks at the same time as my bass and amp - he said if I started with a plectrum I'd be less likely to try fingerstyle. I now play pretty much 50-50 fingerstyle/pick style, I never found slap to feel as natural as either of those though.