Do you use a pick to play bass?

[hardwire666]

I mainly play guitar, but I bought a bass a while back because I needed to be able to lay down my own bass tracks. I started out using just a pick, one day I just put it down. Some how it just made sense for that song to not use a pick. Now I normally try both styles for any song I record, but mostly it depends on what sound I want out of the bass for that particular song. I say do what you like the most, and if any one tells you you are wrong. Just tell them to go p!$$ in the wind with their mouth open. Because the glory about personal preference is you can never be wrong.

 

[ofajen]

As you go through history, I think the only "world famous" bass player who regularly used a pick would be Paul McCartney. Feel free to enlighten me if I'm overlooking somebody, but I'm pretty sure that anybody who's ever had a signature series instrument plays with fingers... Entwistle, John Paul Jones, Les Claypool, Billy Sheehan, Flea, Victor Wooten, Jaco, all the bass players in Metallica, on and on and on - these guys (to the best of my knowledge) all played 100% or predominantly with their fingers. Aside from Paul I can't even think of a famous bass player who uses a pick all the time (and I'm not even saying that he played with a pick most of the time - but when he does it, it sells 24 million copies). Maybe someone from a punk band? The Ramones?

Of course, who cares what famous people did? All they ever did was make the mold for us to break.

I always play fretless with fingers. On fretted bass, it could be either fingers or pick and either a hard pick or a felt pick... whatever works.

I do want to point out that I read an interview a few years ago with perhaps the most prolific and widely heard bassist of all time, Carol Kaye, and she was quite specific about the fact that she recorded playing with a pick and with damping material under the strings right by the bridge to get precise control over her tone.

Cheers,

Otto

 

[Fletch-X]

As you go through history, I think the only "world famous" bass player who regularly used a pick would be Paul McCartney. Feel free to enlighten me if I'm overlooking somebody, but I'm pretty sure that anybody who's ever had a signature series instrument plays with fingers... Entwistle, John Paul Jones, Les Claypool, Billy Sheehan, Flea, Victor Wooten, Jaco, all the bass players in Metallica, on and on and on - these guys (to the best of my knowledge) all played 100% or predominantly with their fingers. Aside from Paul I can't even think of a famous bass player who uses a pick all the time (and I'm not even saying that he played with a pick most of the time - but when he does it, it sells 24 million copies). Maybe someone from a punk band? The Ramones?

Chris Squire!!!I am a huge fan of this old punk rocker. Roundabout is so hard core!!! All kidding aside for the life of me I can't play with a pick. Wish I could but it's too awkward for me. I'm fine with one a guitar though.

 

[Farview]

Chris Squire!!!I am a huge fan of this old punk rocker. Roundabout is so hard core!!! All kidding aside for the life of me I can't play with a pick. Wish I could but it's too awkward for me. I'm fine with one a guitar though.

If you want to go farther down the food chain, Gene Simmons, Joey Demaio, Lemmy, etc... It's not like it doesn't happen.

 

[Light]

She's been mentioned a couple of times already, but to anyone who thinks their is something wrong with using a pick to play bass, there are only two words needed to disprove the theory - Carol Kaye. If you are familiar with her, then you get it. If you're not, go out and learn. She is one of the most important bass players of all time, and ALWAYS plays with a pick. No one has ever knocked her tone, her feel, or he style.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[Fletch-X]

She's been mentioned a couple of times already, but to anyone who thinks their is something wrong with using a pick to play bass, there are only two words needed to disprove the theory - Carol Kaye. If you are familiar with her, then you get it. If you're not, go out and learn. She is one of the most important bass players of all time, and ALWAYS plays with a pick. No one has ever knocked her tone, her feel, or he style.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

Great call on Carol. She is way high on that list of greats. Her body of work is stunning. Here's a link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Kaye

 

[second skin]

Great call on Carol. She is way high on that list of greats. Her body of work is stunning. Here's a link.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Kaye

i love kaye as much as anyone else and she's highly important especially to this discussion based on her technique. her playing has made a huge mark on he music world. even just pet sounds and the david axlerod stuff would be enough for me, although there is so much more.

it's worth noting however that some of the songs that her discography often contains some inaccuracies. more info on that can be found with a google search for "kaye vs jamerson". maybe without the quotes.

 

[Light]

it's worth noting however that some of the songs that her discography often contains some inaccuracies. more info on that can be found with a google search for "kaye vs jamerson". maybe without the quotes.

Bob Ohlsson explained it this way; they both played on it. It's just not always clear in the memory of the player if it was the version which was released to the public, or the version that was recorded for the publisher to use in exploiting the copyright. And unfortunately, the musician's union doesn't keep records any longer than they have to, so it can be hard to verify who did what. And whatever the movie said (Standing in the Shadows of Motown - great movie!), the move from Detroit to Los Angels didn't happen overnight, so there is some places where it really is unclear who did what. But even just on the basis of what is unquestionable, Carol Kaye is right up there with anyone anywhere.


Light

"Cowards can never be moral."
M.K. Gandhi

 

[ggunn]

I came over to bass from the guitar world, and for the longest time I could not play with a pick. On a single string I could do OK, but my ingrained muscle memory for the string spacing on guitar made jumping from string to string on bass very awkward. Lately, however, I have been spending more time on picking the bass and I have gotten much better at it, though string damping (esp. the B string) still can be challenging for me.

I find that the sharp attack and higher overtones from a pick helps the bass cut through the mix better on some songs, so I will continue to work on my bass picking technique. I have been using a Dunlop 208 lately (http://accessories.musiciansfriend....azzTone-208-Guitar-Picks-6Pack?sku=111015#new), and I really like it for bass.

 

[gcapel]

Other known bass pick users are the Pixies and the Cure. Which is totally legit to achieve a particular tone.

 

[lbanks]

What is this 'Pick' you speak of?

 

[skiscem]

I use a pick, i like the clarity, punch and attack that the pick gives...

 

[Cuzme]

NO! don't slap either. As a matter of fact, I hardly even play bass... that's my style... It's not what you play, it's what you don't play! haha!

 

[Jack_Jones]

Well do ya? Pros and Cons?

I do both, when I was younger I was "Fingers, or death", Now I play almost exclusively with a pick because I just love the aggressive edgy sound.

Fingers is good for Jazz, Hip Hop, Disco, Latin, Mellow kinds of music, Funk, things that are really groovy.

I prefer using a pick for most types of rock, punk, metal and electronic music. It's mostly a tone option but you do get different set of rhythm options depending on what you choose.

I know people who are monsters with picks, and I know people who are monsters with fingers, it really comes down to your personality.