hello im conducting a survey for the age old question

do you play bass with a pick or with your fingers?

depends on if i have a pick with me or not

i prefer fingers, cant slap with a pick!

fingers, you can do so much more....than pick.

on some songs a pick is needed but most of the time the fingers work best for me.

FINGERS! i NEVER, EVER use a pick for ANYTHING! i feel so much more personal with the bass if i play with my fingers. plus, if you play with a pick, you dont develop calluses. i like to dig in! you will NEVER see a pick in my hand! BASSES ARE NOT MEANT FOR PICKS!

-Lorraine

I wouldnt not say to never use a pick, mostly because im yet to meet a bassist who can play really fast 16th note, for a long period of time with their fingers

I love to slap and i also like the sound when i use my fingers, but if i am playing more modern or punk rock type music i use the pick, for both sound and speed

Um, i use both of them. Pick for fast songs, and fingers for slow ones.
But i can`t play chords with finger. Don;t know why.

most of the time i play offspring, so i need to use a pick
]greg uses it too![ kuz it`s sometimes really 2 fast for
fingers, and i can`t switch between them.

I always use my fingers. Slapping is a neccesity for me. However, I always have a pick with me, though I never use it. There`s always the possibility of needing to do some palm muting, but I have yet to encounter that.

fingers for me since i`m a jazz bass player

Useing a pick is like wearing a rubber, foreign material between me and the object of my lust!

I`m a fingers boy with a yearnin` for learnin` to pick - I like to be versatile!

Consider that 50 yrs ago the P-bass was
thrust upon a world of pick wielding
electric guitar players, and with its
19mm P-bass spacing, guitar players then
naturally went with a pick but crossover
doghouse players natural played finger
style. Then.... came additional basses
to compete with the Fender bass, many of
which had shorter scales and narrower
string spacing: pick style "enhancement".

Now, short scale narrow spaced electric
basses are far less common, near extinct,
and therein lies the broadbased answer
to your survey. Sure, you CAN play a
wide spaced 34" ax with a pick, just as
you could decades ago, but pick users
are now such a minority that almost no
makers are offering "pick-enhanced" axen.

The Guild Starfire re-issue and today`s
Ric 4003 living fossil, the Beatle Bass
re-issues and surviving vintage basses
are apparently sufficient for the number
of remaining pick users so dedicated to
their picks to choose a narrow spaced and/or short scale ax.

OK, so some narrow space axen belong to
finger players, but some 34" wide spaced
axen belong to pick users. I`d estimate
it`s a wash.

BTW, I don`t use picks and I don`t slap.
I just play. And I`ll walk out on any
performance featuring any 16th note bass
virtuoso, no matter how much I payed for
the tickets. YMMV.

FINGERS!