Bass players. Do you use a pick, or fingers?

[MeYatch]

pick sounds better

[sunsetbass]

If ya gotta use a pic you ain't shit.

A bass player's gotta use his fingers end of story. Otherwise you're just a guitar player that couldn't cut it playin bass and not cuttin it.

Let's here it ................... boh ho, sorry guys that's the way it is !

No offence but considering this came from a "guirtar player" ill consider the source and chalk it up to being just your opinion and not take it to heart. its like saying if you don't use your tremlo bar or a certain stomp box all the time you ain't shit. thats just horse shit. im not busting on you for what you wrote, although it was very harsh.

lol i know tony. i figured that. lol food show last night btw. but you didn't use your slide enough. lol.

LOL, I guess it was a little harsh booter, it was partially meant in a joking manner knowing a few would get worked up.

[MistValkyrie]

I started out playing with a pick, went to finger picking and now it's mostly finger picking but I'm trying to get back into playing with a pick because I'm worried about hurting my wrist again. I think that's just paranoia on my part though, and its not going so well anyway so I should just give up and stick with what works best.

Does "slapping" fall under the category of finger picking?

[olehand]

pick, fingers , slapping , cross fingering , if you are really interested in being the best you can be and fully expressing yourself you should be enjoying all these things and using them as appropriate . dont be held back by small thinking . music is about expression . you woudnt limit yourself to only using words that start with certain letters . would you ?

[Why not Pluto?]

I've seen where some players have the power and attack in their fingers that allow them to run the frets from the digits. One of Steve's former bandmates had an approach that was nuts

.......Agree

A pick, however, has a lot more drive and drill speed and power

.......Disagree...Drill speed?
O.K. maybe in the past i have used a pick to achieve 32nd notes at 200bpm. This was for a song i wrote and haven't really used that technique much since then.
Power...Hmmm. I can't imagine needing more power than what your digits can muster. you do need calluses though.
Guys who play upright bass develop some amazing power with their fingers. I would imagine if a pick was more audible they would use one just to be heard.

pick sounds better

........Disagree...Pick sounds brighter....
Fingers have a wide variety of sounds including bright if you hammer down hard off the frets or use your nail or fingertip.
This is not to say there is no room for a pick or that it sounds bad.

pick, fingers , slapping , cross fingering , if you are really interested in being the best you can be and fully expressing yourself you should be enjoying all these things and using them as appropriate . dont be held back by small thinking . music is about expression . you woudnt limit yourself to only using words that start with certain letters . would you ?

.........Wholeheartedly agree...
In case you can't tell I do prefer fingers though.
So I guess i'll add a couple points that may or may not have been missed.
1.Fingers give you versatility to switch between styles instantly. you can go from big fat round notes with lots of sustain to triplets to slap and pop to getting bright notes by tapping hard enough to use a little bit of fret to help it ring.
2.I have five fingers on my right hand and usually four strings on my bass. There are a million ways to use them.
3.It would take some hard playing for me to drop my fingers and have to reach for new ones.
4.Does anybody play upright with a pick?
5.I LOVE BASS.

[f.sciarrillo]

There are some great responses here. I am enjoying reading them. They are all helping me out a lot.

[XxGeeManxX]

Depends on how you were taught i believe. Just cause you use a pick doesn't mean you suck. I believe it sounds better. It's whatever you like, dont judge yo.

[moxham123]

On a lighter note. If you use a pick, you can throw them out into the crowd ala in Rik Neilsen guitar pick style and tape dozens of them to your mic stand. It's hard to throw fingers out into the crowd.

[bassist_25]

On a lighter note. If you use a pick, you can throw them out into the crowd ala in Rik Neilsen guitar pick style and tape dozens of them to your mic stand. It's hard to throw fingers out into the crowd.

With my luck, I'll hit someone in the eye and get sued. *lol*

[moxham123]

On a lighter note. If you use a pick, you can throw them out into the crowd ala in Rik Neilsen guitar pick style and tape dozens of them to your mic stand. It's hard to throw fingers out into the crowd.

With my luck, I'll hit someone in the eye and get sued. *lol*

Yeah, you can poke an eye out with one of those things!

[f.sciarrillo]

I coud throw the picks out into the crowd, couldn't I? Then knowing my luck, I would get sued also. Then, I don't know too much of a crowd that would want to come to hear me play lol.

[robinhood]

I started out playing with a pick, mostly because I hadn't worked up the dexterity in my fingers, and we were playing faster stuff and honestly I get cramps in my hand a lot. I do prefer fingers though, unless as I said I'm playing something very fast and cant keep up, or my hand cramps up..But I dont think if you use a pick you suck....i do like the sound of fingers better though. All in opinion though

[f.sciarrillo]

Yes, dexterity is what it is. That is something I am greatly lacking.