| Author | Message | ||
| lembic76450
New Username: lembic76450 Post Number: 8 Registered: 5-2002 |
Something Paul said in reference to the 02 SC Deluxe got me to wondering. I don't think that I have ever seen the subject of pick and/or fingers taken up. Slapping aside, who uses which approach? I've always been a pick player with occasional use of the thumb. Anyone have any thoughts on the subject? | ||
| 811952
Junior Username: 811952 Post Number: 21 Registered: 10-2003 |
I use my fingers 95% of the time. Sometimes I like to hammer the strings around the 24th fret a la Entwistle, and of course the Series I nails his tone. If I get really tired, or the fingers start bleeding or some such, I use a pick. I *love* the sound of a pick, especially for recording, but I'm not nearly as accurate or comfortable with it as I am with my fingers. I seldom slap or pop. | ||
| jazzyvee
Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 52 Registered: 6-2002 |
As a guitarist, I use a combination of pick and fingers, but for bass i've never even considered using a plectrum at all. I've always been a fingers and thumbs player myself. I'm not keen on the plectrum sound. There is something I find more personal in the sound of fingers on strings. More meatier and more flexible tone I think. | ||
| stoney
Advanced Member Username: stoney Post Number: 239 Registered: 7-2002 |
I'm a fingers guy as well and I agree with Jazzyvee about the personal touch of the fingers be it agreeive ripping or just an ever so light tap. However, I will use a pic but only if particular song demands it. | ||
| lembic76450
New Username: lembic76450 Post Number: 9 Registered: 5-2002 |
"Personal touch", I hadn't thought of it that way. I don't seem to have the, for lack of a better term, the grace, or the subtlety in my fingers, but, the dynamics of the pick, in my case seem to make up for it. To me the series 1 electronics seem designed for the quick response of the pick. | ||
| smokin_dave
Member Username: smokin_dave Post Number: 68 Registered: 10-2002 |
I use a pick as well as fingers.It just depends on the song or how I'm feeling at the time.I worked out a technique to hold my pick (when I'm finger picking) with my ring and pinky fingers holding it against my palm.That way I can switch mid song if need be.I tried for a while just using my index fingernail but it kept wearing out faster than it would grow.I can't find a finger nail polish hard enough to make it through a night.Super Glue perhaps?I love the sound of a pick though and sometimes it just feels cool to play with a pick. | ||
| dnburgess
Intermediate Member Username: dnburgess Post Number: 125 Registered: 1-2003 |
I hate to admit in this learned forum that my first musical instrument was a banjo mandolin. I think my parents signed me up for a package of lessons being sold by a door to door salesman. If you attended all the lessons - you got a brand new banjo mandolin FREE! Imagine 40 kids in a class plucking out "Never on a Sunday" or "On top of old smokey" in unison (more or less) and you get the picture. Who would have thought that this would have given me a pretty good fast pick action on bass all these years later. Comes in handy on some heavy stuff and also some funk (as I'm a hopeless slapper). I do prefer finger style - but as with everything else technical one must be guided by the music. | ||
| bigredbass
Intermediate Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 170 Registered: 9-2002 |
seven sixty-four fifty: I use both and NEVER slap. It's two different sounds. I really into getting a lot of different tones just by moving where I'm picking from just against the bridge up to the end of the fingerboard. I really believe it's a rebellion against basses with three-band EQ on board and PODs . . . believe me, you can do a LOT with attack, where you pick, the pickup blend, and a tone control. I'm old school . . . if the sound isn't in your hands to begin with, a fortune in effects and digital tricks won't completely 'sell it'. Plus, where are you without them? Certain things sound better with a pick, certain things sound better fingerstyle. I agree with Anthony Jackson, I refuse to 'slap'. It reminds me of the hair-band guitarists of the 80s, pick only every fourth or fifth note, hammer-on and pull-off the rest, and YOU TOO will sound like you're really fast! Incidentally, using a pick to record gives a VERY defined, firm bottom to any project. My weapon f choice is a Fender heavy triangle (355 style). J o e y | ||
| senmen
Intermediate Member Username: senmen Post Number: 117 Registered: 7-2003 |
Hi Guys, 80% fingers - 20% pick. As my long-period study of John´s playing style I had no alternative to do it like he did. That means very light touch (even if this is hard some times to realize), different position playing, typewriter playing, crab claws and NO normal slapping! Slapping only in combination with typewriting and slapping with my pinky. Oliver | ||
| palembic
Senior Member Username: palembic Post Number: 703 Registered: 9-2002 |
Pick only if needed in the tune we play and we don't play any of them. BTW I play some guitar too and even there I can't use a pick. I developed a style that is merely "grabbing" the strings with claw-formed right hand. Paul the bad one Oliver: you said your Spider 8 has the strings reversed to standard. Is it for finger-playing use then?? Or for Pick? | ||
| elzie
Advanced Member Username: elzie Post Number: 229 Registered: 8-2002 |
I use my fingers almost all of the time. However, there are some songs that need that pick sound, and yes, I do use a pick on one. I really prefer the versatility of sound that playing with fingers allows. I also like the fact that I can stand my thumb on the edge of the pickups and let my fingers roam over the width of the strings. When I use a pick, I inevitably place the side of my palm on the bridge, an old habit from playing guitar.... Paul II | ||
| senmen
Intermediate Member Username: senmen Post Number: 118 Registered: 7-2003 |
Hi Paul TBW, I have the strings on the 8 the classic, old-style way: e/E, a/A, d/D, g/G. So is is the setup for playing with a pick. Normally the Spyders are delivered with the alternative setup for playing with fingers. But this doesn´t make sense to me personally as I also play chords with an 8string and this is only works well with the standard setup and playing with a pick. Oliver (Spyderman? :-) ) | ||
| locutusofborg10
New Username: locutusofborg10 Post Number: 10 Registered: 11-2002 |
i use a pick about 80% of the time. i hold it sideways to get that really biting, treble sound much like JE. i only us my fingers to get a deep, soft sound mostly for slower songs. also, some techniques that JE used cannot be done with fingers. listen to live at leeds. | ||
| alembic76407
Advanced Member Username: alembic76407 Post Number: 203 Registered: 5-2002 |
I love to wiz my bass strings with my pick like guitar player do, there's nothing like a bass wiz, it makes a guitar wiz sound lame David T (it drives guitar players crazy) | ||
| wideload
New Username: wideload Post Number: 5 Registered: 6-2003 |
Nothing like beating a dead horse... I use fingers about 80%, pick the rest, and am unwilling to slap. I think the fingers allow more expression and nuance, but you can't beat a pick for redneck roll'n'roll. I used to have to use an amp with two channels to balance the sound difference. The treble switch on my Rogue solved that problem (I just roll off a click and let er rip). Now I'm using a Peavey Bam210 (with an extra 18 if we're outside) since its mainly a stage monitor for my own pleasure. | ||
| jazzyvee
Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 53 Registered: 6-2002 |
As I said I like a more meaty tone so I try to keep as much flesh in contact with the string as I pluck so it's more double bass like in tone. As prefer to pluck near the end of the neck or over the neck pickup as it does give a warmer, deeper vibe. I use the side of my fingers up to the first joint for plucking in a similar way to how Stanley appears to play so almost the whole of my fingertip is in contact with the string. The clarity of the my bass means I still get a good crisp note with a full body which I find especially good for Jazz or slow numbers and for reggae it's amazingly powerful. Try "One Drop" or Natural Mystic by Bob Marley and The Wailers in a dub Section with the neck pickup only, Q switch off and most of the treble rolled off... You will shake the earth. I did that on a gig recently to great effect. Wonderful things these alembics. BTW an aside note. Do any of you guys have pet names for your basses like BB King and Lucille? Just wondered. Keep on Plucking Oh before I forget... I'm a bit of a slapper but it's not a big part of my playing probably about 10% at the most. | ||
| jazzyvee
Member Username: jazzyvee Post Number: 54 Registered: 6-2002 |
As I said I like a more meaty tone so I try to keep as much flesh in contact with the string as I pluck so it's more double bass like in tone. As prefer to pluck near the end of the neck or over the neck pickup as it does give a warmer, deeper vibe. I use the side of my fingers up to the first joint for plucking in a similar way to how Stanley appears to play so almost the whole of my fingertip is in contact with the string. The clarity of the my bass means I still get a good crisp note with a full body which I find especially good for Jazz or slow numbers and for reggae it's amazingly powerful. Try "One Drop" or Natural Mystic by Bob Marley and The Wailers in a dub Section with the neck pickup only, Q switch off and most of the treble rolled off... You will shake the earth. I did that on a gig recently to great effect. Wonderful things these alembics. BTW an aside note. Do any of you guys have pet names for your basses like BB King and Lucille? Just wondered. Keep on Plucking Oh before I forget... I'm a bit of a slapper but it's not a big part of my playing probably about 10% at the most. The bass player in my regular band is awesome with either his fingers or a pick. | ||
| 811952
Junior Username: 811952 Post Number: 26 Registered: 10-2003 |
Mine is simply referred to as (cue angels singing) "The Alembic" | ||
| wideload
New Username: wideload Post Number: 8 Registered: 6-2003 |
Jazzyvee- I named my Rogue 5 "Rose" during the bidding process on ebay. The first night I had her, I put her on my wife's side of the bed- covered, head on the pillow. Obvious comments were made upon discovery! However, my wife has a great sense of humor and is very forgiving, which is good. She is a veterinarian, and when your wife neuters things for a living, you step lightly!  Larry | ||
| bishopqdog
Member Username: bishopqdog Post Number: 54 Registered: 7-2003 |
Larry,I think I'll try that As for the topic, I've always used my fingers. This topic has given me the motivation to try using picks. | ||
| locutusofborg10
Junior Username: locutusofborg10 Post Number: 11 Registered: 11-2002 |
to smokindave... i have found that the stuff dentists use to make the gom part of dentures works great as a strengthenr to regular fingernails. it comes in two parts-a powder and a liquid that has to be mixed and then you can shape it. make sure you grow whatever nail you are putting this stuffon long so it will take. hopes this helps. | ||
| locutusofborg10
Junior Username: locutusofborg10 Post Number: 12 Registered: 11-2002 |
to smokindave again i'm sorry i forgot to tell you. you can buy this stuff in any dental supply house. no prescription needed. just ask your dentist where one is. | ||
| bassplaynmatt
Junior Username: bassplaynmatt Post Number: 32 Registered: 9-2003 |
I personally haven't used a pick on bass in about 12-13 years. When I was in middle school all my guitar playing buddies told me I had to play with a pick so I did for about the first 3 months of learning to play. Then I lost my pick before going to a rehearsal for the school talent show and just used my fingers. That summer I kept playing bass at home but I didn't have my own amp yet so I played unplugged with my fingers. By the time school came back around I was playing so hard with my fingers that nobody noticed I wasn't using a pick. Since then my playing style has become a bit more refined but I still have a heavy handed approach. Infact, sometimes when I solo I get accused of slapping but I am really just plucking the shit out of the strings. I have found that if I play finger style near the bridge its a pretty good emulation of that bright pick sound. Later, Matt | ||
| 811952
Junior Username: 811952 Post Number: 27 Registered: 10-2003 |
Matt, I've never been able to comprehend how people can play gently and get any kind of meat in the sound. I'm like you - I like to let the bass know it's getting played. The sound is in the fingers and dynamics only happen if you make them happen. I'm interested in trying a guitar trick the next time I get in the studio (not very often these days for an old and decidedly unhip old guy who doesn't do music for a living anymore). I want to run a mic on the instrument over where I'm plucking and a mic over the fingerboard and play with adding those to the conventional DI/mic tracks. Anybody in this forum ever done that, or is it old hat? John | ||
| adriaan
Member Username: adriaan Post Number: 60 Registered: 6-2002 |
John, I agree that your fingers make the dynamics happen. One thing I've never been comfortable with is low action, for precisely this reason. If you want to play like Entwistle - hit hard with low action - I guess you need to use a big old compressor to get any meat in the sound. Well, either that or your amp blowing at windscale 11. On the one hand you need to use a minimum amount of force to press the string down, to avoid locking your hand in one position, on the other hand you need to use enough force to get the tone going. This is valid at the lower end of the dynamic scale too ... Adriaan | ||
| basstard
Member Username: basstard Post Number: 63 Registered: 3-2003 |
In my case, it's something like 65% fingers, 20% pick, and 15% slap. Why? It's just what my band's songs call for. I just believe that it's important to know all the techniques - they may come in handy in the next song to come... Personally, I feel more comfortable playing with my fingers (and I do like slapping), but when a song calls for the sound of a pick - I do what's required. And playing with a pick is fun, too! :-) | ||
| dannobasso
Intermediate Member Username: dannobasso Post Number: 102 Registered: 7-2002 |
When I'm home practicing or recording my own tunes I use me fingers. 2 of my 6's have very close spacing so I try to keep up with my finger picking. Any other time I use a pick. I have since 78-79. I love the instant sound of it. Anthony Jackson's work with DiMeola hooked me on it. I use extra heavy picks, usually Dunlops, and I have a curious habit of twirling them when I'm playing. I'm not even aware it's happening. As a result the wear is even on both edges. Alembic electronic are perfect for developing your technique. If you're off, everyone notices. Motivates one to become a "clam free" player. BTW dynamics are readily availble to the pick user. There is also the added bonus of not bleeding all over your bass! | ||
| bigredbass
Advanced Member Username: bigredbass Post Number: 212 Registered: 9-2002 |
Since I go back to the 60s, I grew up with a pick sound in my head. Too much Carol Kaye, I guess, but it is a deliciously focused sound that I use where it's appropriate. Fingers for other things. I don't 'slap', so it's useful for me. I use XHeavy's as well, but my weapon of choice are the big Fender 355 triangles. J o e y | ||
| jet_powers
Member Username: jet_powers Post Number: 97 Registered: 2-2003 |
I recall filling in for a blues band a few years back. At the first rehearsal, the drummer commented on my '85 Persuader saying, "The sound of at that bass is incredible and it doesn't 'click and clack' like our regular bass player's Fender." The guitar player laughed and told the drummer, "It's not the bass that doesn't 'click and clack'." I generally have a light touch and I still generate plenty of meat and/or earthquakes. It's all in learning to harness the power you have at your disposal in your amplification combined with the power that resides in your fingers..... I too like to let the bass know it's being played once in a while, when it's called for, but the bass also seems to know when it's being caressed and is capable of giving back beautiful tones and moans of pleasure. But to the point of the original thread, I use my fingers almost exclusively. When covering a song that requires a plectrum, I'll usually use one. Oddly enough, I prefer the good ol' Fender mediums. Paul the John one | ||
| rogertvr
Intermediate Member Username: rogertvr Post Number: 173 Registered: 1-2003 |
I first started playing in 1980 and I'm from the school of Geddy Lee. So I predominantly play using my fingers. Of course there is no right or wrong regarding this subject. I find that when I play using a plectrum, somehow I feel detached from the feel of the strings. When I do play with a plectrum, which isn't often, then I use a Jim Dunlop 0.46mm which is pretty soft. I find it allows for the initial attack on the string and then a fair amount of 'give'. As a finger player, I enlist in the Entwistle school of play where my right hand only has to look at the strings and the bass almost plays itself. I am yet to meet someone who can get anything resembling a tune out of my 4001 without rattles, dead notes and squeaks. I have received plenty of 'how on Earth do you play this????' comments. One of my favourite songs is 'On The Silent Wings Of Freedom' by Yes. For many many years I have wondered how Squire plays it with a plectrum because I had brought myself to the conclusion that it wasn't possible. Earlier this year, watching Squire play the first part of the song live, he played it with his fingers. So that answers that one then!! Roger the Paul one! | ||
| rami
Advanced Member Username: rami Post Number: 269 Registered: 6-2002 |
100% fingers here! I pick with my index, middle, and ring fingers as well as my thumb. When I play chords, I like to pluck all the notes at once, or I'll play arpeggios. I like slapping and popping ALOT, but since my playing is evolving more towards my fretless style, I've been slapping less these days. I don't like to compare a Bass to a Guitar. A Bass is it's own instrument and requires it's own technique to play. Also, I really enjoy the more physical interaction with the instrument demanded by using my fingers. I like feeling that satisfying burn in my arms after a long practice or jam. As for getting a more defined sound, that's up to my fingernails, callouses, and technique. All variables that can be "tuned" to get that perfect sound. Rami (Message edited by rami on December 24, 2003) (Message edited by rami on December 24, 2003) | ||
| 811952
Junior Username: 811952 Post Number: 45 Registered: 10-2003 |
www.yesworld.com has the bass tracks (minus everything else but the taurus pedals) to Tempus Fugit and Siberian Khatru (which is also the name of my husky dog) under Chris' section, under transcriptions (there are transcriptions there as well - go figure). It is really really cool to hear the man play, complete with buzzes, splats and some loosey-goosey eighths. My favorite parts are the strummed chords and pick-muted harmonics in Siberian Khatru. The only shortcoming is that it's not on an Alembic... And Merry Christmas everyone! -John the Paul the Good the Bad One | ||
| mint_bass
Junior Username: mint_bass Post Number: 12 Registered: 1-2004 |
fingers 50% slap 50% love to slap but i love the feeling of my fingers on the strings i find it more personal also for more aggressive attack i play harder i beleive that you can make any noise with your fingers i love playing chords strummed with my nails dont like the sound of a pick i think it sounds artificial but that is just me everyone should play what they feel is best |
