is it ok to play with a pick ?

[PunkRockBassist]

ok so i was in guitar center today and this guy seen me playing the bass and he said you're not a real bass player if you play with a pick and i always played with a pick since i started is that ok that i play with a pick ?

[Rodent]

a plectrum is definitely in integral part of playing certain bass styles, and used live when you need that stacatto attack snap unachievable with even the most callused of fingertips. I'd say from the comment you received from this GC 'bass stud' that s/he's obviously never been hired to lay tracks at a professional studio session where the producer is looking for that lagniappe between the bass and drums that only a plectrum can deliver


me personally ... I switch between fingers and pick as the song line dictates. I've played long enough not to be shamed by an inexperienced player boasting loudly of their ignorance in an attempt to bring me down to their level of incompetence

all the best,

R

[andrew]

I play with a pick 99% of the time. I learned by playing with my fingers so I'm proficient with them still, but I'm much more comfortable playing with a pick. It's entirely a matter of what works best for you. There are players in all styles who use either fingers or a pick. I enjoy all kinds of music but I mostly play punk/hardcore/rock music and a pick suits those styles very well.

Not a real player if you use a pick? Tell that fool to look up Bobby Vega and say real players don't use a pick.

[Jeroen]

I use a pick if I need to get that agressive and bright attack that my fingers just won't deliver.
And in my metalband, some songs are just too fast for my poor fingers

[AzWhoFan]

Un-frikking-believable!
I hope you told that a$$hole that he was not a real salesman because he worked at Guitar Center.

[AustinLeftyBass]

Pay no attention to what anyone says in GC, especially the employees.
I've made a decent living playing with a pick 100% of the time.

[Addison]

Yeah, firstly, and most importantly, that guy was a douche.

Secondly, if you want to be a well-rounded player and learn as many styles possible, I think it's incredibly important to spend as much time as humanly possible on both... especially if you're still in your early stages.

There are benefits to both styles... and when you can dominate both styles equally, you will have an advantage over lots of other players when trying to find work professionally.

I'm about 99% a finger-style player, but I wish I was a better pick player and it's something that i've actually started to work on a lot more over the last year or so.

[Frenchy-Lefty]

At the end of the day, there will be more work and gigs for the guys who can play simple bass lines in the pocket using a pick than for the slappty-slappata-two-hand-tapping-pop-n-bop type. No worry! YOU ARE A BASS PLAYER!!!

[Matt R.]

YES it's ok. That guy was an ignorant prick. God that kind of stuff annoys me.

[Basshappi]

YES it's ok. That guy was an ignorant prick. God that kind of stuff annoys me.

Amen brother!

So I guess John Paul Jones, Chris Squire, Paul McCartney, Sting, Allen Woody, Phil Lesh, Bobby Vega, Andy West, Carol Kaye, Ed Friedland, Duff McKegan, Steve Swallow, Mike Gordon, Dave Schools, Roger Waters (those are just the few I could think of right off the top of my head)...aren't bass players?

Hmmm...coulda fooled me.

Next time some *^(&^%#$!!#$^ says that to you, laugh in their face.

[PunkRockBassist]

thank you so much everyone and the guy had a zeppelin shirt on so i said i guess you think john paul jones wasnt a real bass player either not that i would EVER compare myself to the rock god that is john paul jones lol but he even made his own picks out of wood.

[pjmuck]

So I guess John Paul Jones, Chris Squire, Paul McCartney, Sting, Allen Woody, Phil Lesh, Bobby Vega, Andy West, Carol Kaye, Ed Friedland, Duff McKegan, Steve Swallow, Mike Gordon, Dave Schools, Roger Waters (those are just the few I could think of right off the top of my head)...aren't bass players?

True, but imagine how successful they might have been had they learned to play the "right" way, or at least consulted with the experts loitering at GC first.

It never ceases to amaze me how obsessed people can be with turning things into some sort of competition in their minds, as if we can't all share in the joy of music via our own muse/style. Many roads can lead to that goal, and I'm always fascinated when I see someone doing something cool out of the box or beyond conventional wisdom. (Not that playing with a pick is so "radical" ). I've seen that kind of negative attitude at all levels, from the bedroom dipshits who felt they smoked everyone because they spent hours learning a couple of Billy Sheehan's two hand tapping licks, to studio cats so self-absorbed they've forgotten that everyone starts somewhere, including them. In either case, I can only equate it to personal insecurity.

Years ago I was picking up my Rick from my (then) repairman in Brooklyn who did a setup for me when in walks a well-known studio bassist (who shall be worthless), who was apparently a regular customer there and was used to having his ass kissed and his boring stories listened to with every baited breath. So I'm checking out my bass and experimenting with different amps in the store. I wasn't there to do a f*ckin' performance, I'm there to try out my instrument and noodle around to check the work on my setup. I naturally launch into a few classic Rick licks (Squire, G. Lee, McCartney, etc.) so I can make sure it still sounds like a goddamn Rick and not an EBO or something, and wouldn't you know it, Mr. Studio Cat is commenting behind me to the repairman, "Yeah, he he, I USED to play that kind of stuff...when I was young and inexperienced" or something along those lines. Continues on with his prerequisite name dropping and how great he is, and the two of them are having a nice little giggle at my expense before I finally turn around and say, "Hey! Schmuck #1! I'm not here to put on a f*ckin' show for you and I don't give a shite who you've played with. I'm here to try out equipment and make sure that Schmuck #2 hasn't screwed up my bass." Repairman looks horrified, not because he disrespected me as a customer but because I insulted his precious "name" customer, to which I paid him and told him I'll never set foot in his dump again.

[thumbslam]

Growing up the two players I fell in love with pretty much at the same time were Chris Squire and Geddy Lee. I never gave it a thought about one having more prowesses over the other because of the use of fingers or pick. I have been told by guitar store cowboys as well pick players are not as good or whatever and it did bother me years ago. I can say I play with a pick for tone not for speed. I can play faster with fingers actually but do you think Justin Chancellor would have been able to get his tone out of his instrument with his fingers? No way.

Now that I have been playing over 25 years I can do both just fine but what’s more important than anything is I’m 245 Lb. and 6’ 1” I have a terrible anger problem and think violence is an option and can pretty much turn most waif guitar players into a pretzel with a pick or my fingers.

[Matt R.]

[Pbass58]

Some wipeass actually told you that? The man is a complete waste of oxygen! Tell him to say that to Chris Squire,let's see where he winds up (of course Chris Squire is a large strapping guy, so he may just kick the moron's ass; I'd PAY to watch that!). Though I tend to play fingerstyle most of the time I do use a pick for certain situations, especially for punk and post-punk/hardcore. It's good to have as much in your arsenal as you can; tell that to the fool! What nerve; perhaps he should be known as "Scrotumus Maximus"!

Bart
P.S.

Brian Wilson has been quoted as saying that the bass lines of his compostions are to be played with a pick; would this douche argue with Brian Wilson?

[PunkRockBassist]

see this is why i love this forum so much everyone on here is just so cool.

[AustinLeftyBass]

Brian Wilson has been quoted as saying that the bass lines of his compostions are to be played with a pick; would this douche argue with Brian Wilson?

Answer: Yes, he would, because he wouldn't know who Brian Wilson is.

[Basshappi]

^Sad, but most likely true.

[frankenjazz]

i always jokingly tell my guitarists friends they're not allowed to play my bass if they use a pick, but honestly its a bass GUITAR its not like you're alternate picking an upright, as long as using a pick is letting you do what you want to do musically its all good.I am a 100% fingers style player no slapping tapping or any of that stuff, but my old band used to host open mics and every week this one guitarist/singer used to always come on stage to play a metallica song off of "...and justice for all" when i saw him approach the stage you better believe i would bust out a pick

[AustinLeftyBass]

i always jokingly tell my guitarists friends they're not allowed to play my bass if they use a pick, but honestly its a bass GUITAR its not like you're alternate picking an upright, as long as using a pick is letting you do what you want to do musically its all good.I am a 100% fingers style player no slapping tapping or any of that stuff, but my old band used to host open mics and every week this one guitarist/singer used to always come on stage to play a metallica song off of "...and justice for all" when i saw him approach the stage you better believe i would bust out a pick

Metallica? I thought you were gonna say "When i saw him approach the stage I would leave".