Only True Bassists dont use a pick. Picks suck

Hey!

Ive always played with a pick,but i also use fingers for other sounds to dip into!But id say im mainly a pick guy.

Andy www.andytill.com

Hey y`all

I have already posted on this string already, but I would like to stress the point that just because u use your fingers makes u a bass god and people who use picks area your wenches/sacrifical slaves(or as some make it seem). Using a pick and using your fingers is completley different sounds and can benifit a bands preformance and style(and speed).I play upright and electric and I use a pick for certain songs on the ele that need the use of a pic or sound good with one, but on other songs i will obviously use my fingers. So I wish all of you good luck in whatever you do and peace from me.

I would reather use fingers...BUT I CANT!!!....it`s a Bitch!. My fingers are so small its a real stretch to use them as much as I would like to I have to keep practicing. No one would want me in a band using my fingers right now....A pick is all I can handle at the moment. I think most Bass players would want to use fingers but some dont have the strength or finger size to do it...If only my fingers were the size of my Penis....You get the idea!

well i think picks and fingers have their qualities. i mainly 98% of time use pick..for more treble and clarity then fingers...fingers are ok for bass sounds...

plus it looks a lot cooler with a pick!

Want to hear some bad pick playing? Check out recent " T-bone" Wolk with Hall and Oates.

I use my fingers. I learned to play guitar with my fingers and now bass with my fingers. Picks complicate things for me;I end up plucking the wrong string...And I like to be able to feel the strings..

Fingers, never used a pick and never will.

First, there was a post about speed with a pick and 1/16 notes, listen to Stanley Clarke on upright string bass or electric basss, the guy can finger 32nd notes. I can do 16nths fingering. I prefer fingering, and even play accoustic and electric guitar with fingers only. You can`t beat the style of Chris Squire from Yes who uses a pick almost exclusively. Both have their place, but as one post put it, it,s more personal fingering. What worked for me was fingering accoustic guitar before I got a bass, so the only difference was the spacing of the strings, and of course the octave. Happy playing whatever method!

Re: "You can`t beat the style of Chris Squire from Yes who uses a pick almost exclusively."

I have to say I really, really hate the sound he gets. Rather than trying to "beat the style" I wish someone would just beat HIM--senseless.

Glenn, Re: "....Now, short scale narrow spaced electric
basses are far less common, near extinct,
and therein lies the broadbased answer
to your survey...."

Thanks. That explains a lot. Even though I am completely fluent with a pick on electric guitar, I find it physically difficult to play a full-sized bass with a pick. This is not to suggest that I would want to play bass with a pick even were it not physically difficult. It`s not just that I prefer the sound of fingers and that I prefer being in closer contact with the sound; it`s also that I think pick-bassists tend to play guitar lines, not bass lines. If you`re playing with a pick you simply aren`t thinking like a bassist.

As for speed, the main problem is not the right-hand (for right-handed players, that is); the main problem is left hand shifting. You can take only so many notes in one position.

I`ve been playing bass for about 4 years now and before tonight I would have said fingers, All 5 of them to be exact. But last thursday I purchased a guitar(Got it in the mail today but can`t touch it `til Christmas) so tonight at practice the guitarist in my band suggested that I use a pick with my bass to get used to it, It will take a bit for me to get used to it to the point where I can switch strings with it quickly but if I`m just playing a basic riff I think it makes playing punk rock songs alot more fun.

Then again, you misspell "a lot" as if it were one word, "alot". I think that says a lot.

it depends on the type of music, for most of it you can`t use a pick for the best sound, to cover, or imitate a guitar, or to play many chords, you need a pick. i only would use a pick on about 2% of what i play, and usually use it on much less, but it is needed to get some tones, or play evtreamely fast guitar solos.the main genre for a bass pick is probably some branches of rock, everything else has no need or use of a pick.