When a 'guitarist' learns to play bass, the question is......

[SWeAT hOg]

...to pick or not to pick?

I'm loving taking up the bass with more seriousness, but (like many who want instant gratification) I am inclined to use a pick when I play. I keep thinking that I should be practicing without one, but as a family man with precious time to myself, I enjoy hearing myself play, rather than stumble about when I practice. And I look at some of my favorite bassists (Lemmy, Justin Chancellor, Roger Waters to name a few) and they use picks.

I mostly plan to play rock and the active EQ on my new bass lets me dial out the pick effect to the point where it sounds close to being finger-picked. It may seem a dumb question, but in your opinion is it worth the time to practice with fingers?

 

[mudfinger]

I think its worth the time, yes.

But, I'm biased. I think it would be worth the time for you to work out how to play electric guitar with your fingers as well.

 

[Sirzach]

I think its worth the time, yes.

But, I'm biased. I think it would be worth the time for you to work out how to play electric guitar with your fingers as well.

You have nothing to lose, only to gain. So why not?

 

[mudfinger]

It's not a matter of tone so much as feel, if that makes sense. You can dial out the top end, fine, but you can't dial in the difference between fingerstyle and pick.

Given that your time is precious, I sez spend the last 15 minutes or so without a pick, and see what happens over the course of a couple months.

 

[kaatwang]

Using your fingers will unlock a whole number of tonal characteristics. Don't put yourself in the position of thinking you are wasting time. I bet you didn't think you were wasting time when you first picked up a guitar and poorly strummed those "cowboy" chords for the first?

 

[SWeAT hOg]

Using your fingers will unlock a whole number of tonal characteristics. Don't put yourself in the position of thinking you are wasting time. I bet you didn't think you were wasting time when you first picked up a guitar and poorly strummed those "cowboy" chords for the first?

No, my first song was Heart of Gold! But that all seemed like a means to an end. One of the reasons I am playing more bass is to be more versatile within my cover band. We want to get to a point where we can switch instruments just for the hell of it. We hope to find a fourth who shares this idea. I have mostly been working on playing and singing (which I do on guitar), that in itself is a task, let alone adding learning to play with fingers.

But I could learn some right-hand fingering for some of the new tunes we added to our learning list.

 

[zontar]

When I play bass I usually use my fingers to pick--well mostly my index finger, and then my middle finger for some rhythms, or a certain feel.
Sometimes I use my thumb as well, and sometimes, but rarely I will use a pick.

I just prefer the sound and feel the fingers give it.

But for some songs I've played a pick is easier to get the rhythm right.

I would recommend learning it with fingers, thumb. pick and combinations--then you know you're using what works best for the songs you're playing.

 

[Leumas]

You already know what I'm gonna say! There are certain rhythms, grooves, and tonal qualities that really can't be replicated with a pick. Once you latch on to that feel there's something about fingerpicking that takes you to another place....and each song has its own personality. I still use a pick for certain things, just because I feel it serves the song we're playing better than a fingerplucked feel. I've always got one tucked in my pickguard just so I can use whatever I need at the time.

I'll try and do a vid that demonstrates what I'm talking about. I've never thought to try that though so if it sucks I'm not posting it!

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

Learn with your fingers. You can always use a pick without too much fuss, but if you don't learn with your fingers, you're going to limit yourself stylistically. Techniques like thumping, popping, and ghosting notes in a shuffle are going to be much more difficult if you've got a pick in hand.

Bonus points will come when you take that right-hand versatility back to the guitar. My slide playing improved after I played bass in the blues band, because my right-hand muting became more deft.

You can always fall back on the pick for demanding songs. The blues band, we did a very uptempo cover of Cream's take on "Crossroads," too fast for me to do comfortably with my fingers the first month or so we did it, so I'd use a pick for that in our sets ... no law against it.

Muddy's right, give fingerstyle a little slice of your practice time. You'll probably be surprised at how quickly it becomes comfortable.

 

[SWeAT hOg]

Thanks for all the comments guys!

 

[JonR]

The way I think of it is that bass guitar is a weird hybrid instrument. Intended to replace the double bass, but designed to allow guitarists to play it.
Double bass - at least in jazz/blues tradition - is of course played with the fingers. Guitar in the same tradition (duh...) is played with a pick.

So to play bass guitar with the fingers is to follow the double bass tradition. Very few jazz bass guitarists play with a pick.
To play bass guitar with a pick is a rock tradition, and the different sound it makes - and the different things it makes possible - are definitely worth exploiting. One can play bass lines or riffs in 8ths using alternate picking that would be much harder (and less effective) with the fingers.

At the same time, a swing or blues groove, walking 4-to-the-bar - or a funk groove - may be more effective with the fingers, because of the different kind of attack. Fingers give much more bass power than a pick does (at least if your finger technique is good - it's very different from fingerpicking guitar!).

Mind you, Muse bassist Chris Wolstenholme manages a line with fingers that I'd probably prefer to play with a pick..
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwhjlNvF-4Q[/ame]


And then of course, there's slap and pop bass....

 

[revtime]

Definately worth the time. Fingerstyle is how you should learn to play bass, the pick comes later.
Thats just my opinion though and there is no wrong way. Throw on a set of Elixirs and give it a shot. I am betting it will feel natural in a very short time.

 

[Rainbow Crayola]

I think it depends on the style of music you want to play. I do a bit of Bass myself but I never really worked on getting the fingerstyle right. It's a great skill to learn so if you're more serious about playing Bass then totally chuck out the heavy gauge picks in favour of your own fingertips. =D

 

[chrisuk]

It doesn't really take very long to be able to use fingers instead of a pick for simple bass lines.

My wife got a bass a couple of years ago and I was able to play using the fingers after a few practice sessions. In my opinion you are probably learning bass parts rather than bass playing if you just stick to the pick.

 

[freak]

i played bass in an (original) band for a number of years, after playing the guitar for about ten years.

i played both ways, depending on the tempo and 'feel' of a song.
don't get pigeonhold into the 'right' way or the 'wrong' way.
being thickheaded and trying to do it the 'right' way (with fingers) cost me a gig with a really good band, that i still regret to this day.

 

[Leumas]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piBUW6MR5NU]IMG 0460 - YouTube[/ame]

 

[revtime]

IMG 0460 - YouTube

I think that vid sums it up very nicely.

 

[Leumas]

I think that vid sums it up very nicely.

Thank you sir!

 

[zontar]

Bonus points will come when you take that right-hand versatility back to the guitar. My slide playing improved after I played bass in the blues band, because my right-hand muting became more deft.

I started on Classical--so that helped with playing bass with my fingers, and with finger picking for slide.

Although in some ways it has messed up my classical technique.

 

[JonR]

I started on Classical--so that helped with playing bass with my fingers, and with finger picking for slide.

Although in some ways it has messed up my classical technique.

As someone who also plays fingerstyle guitar, I never wanted to cut my nails to play bass. My bass tutor (jazz musician) always said you can't play proper finger bass with long nails- and I think he's right: you don't get the full attack. I work round it, and sometimes play with my thumb - easier to avoid the nail touching the string when playing with the thumb.