Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have a few opinions but I'll keep them to myself.

current standings at the Dudepit:

View Poll Results: what is your PRIMARY mode of playing, fingers, picks, slapping, etc?

fingerstyle 18 90.00%
pickstyle 2 10.00%
slapping 0 0%
everything (guitard wanna be showoff style) 0 0%
Voters: 20.

update to the poll:

View Poll Results: what is your PRIMARY mode of playing, fingers, picks, slapping, etc?
fingerstyle 36 90.00%
pickstyle 4 10.00%
slapping 0 0%
everything (guitard wanna be showoff style) 0 0%
Voters: 40.

Here is my three year old pick!

I don't do polls ... but if I did I would be the show-off ... I'll play a bass with anything ... I will finger, whack, slap and pick all in the same song ...

Yes, I see you and Bob Young are one in the same!


You guys even like the same strings!

Hey, I'm just kidding. You guys have the best arguments on here, very entertaining!

I'm with Jeff. Use whatever it takes to get YOUR sound. At the end of the day they're all just a means of getting sound out of your instrument, there shouldn't be any rules. If you want to use your feet Ed, my local chiropodist and I will be right behind you!

One thing I don't understand about anti-pick bias is why some people seem to think that you can only get one sound using a pick, and that pick players are lazy, have no technique and no articulation. These assumptions are never levelled at guitarists, so why bassists? It may be true that some pick-wielding bassists fall into the above catagories, but so do many fingerstyle players; so do many bassists, full stop. I've never had any problem playing extremely technical parts with a pick (I used to practice McLaughlin/Malmsteen solo stuff) and I can articulate in as many different ways with a pick as most players can with their fingers. It just takes practice. In fact there have been many instances in music shops over the years where accomplished fingerstyle players have come up to me asking "how are you managing to play that?" and I've just shown them the pick. None of them even realised I was using one! It's all about how you USE the pick. They're not just an on/off switch! And ignoring technique, different picks give completely different tones too. Don't be afraid to experiment.

BTW, regarding Geezer's pick use, here are his words on the subject, quoted from Bass Player magazine; "I use primarily 2 fingers, though I use 3 fingers on some songs. I sometimes use a pick for clarity, to make the bass stand out a bit more. Sometimes I'll go a whole night without using a pick, but if I have blisters or am playing a repetitious part, it's more comfortable to pick. I vary it depending on how my arm is feeling. When I did a tour with Ozzy I played with a pick a lot, because Bob Daisley used a pick on Ozzy's original solo recordings". Hope that helps.

I have always thought a picked bass sounded more articulate than fingerstyle, in fact I worked very hard years ago to get that pick-like articulation in my technique. I got to the point at one time in my playing (early 80's) that I sounded like I was using a pick, this was with a fretless P bass, dead half-rounds and an SVT with the bright switch on and the midrange cut and playing right next to the bridge. I always thought that playing with fingers was easier and more versatile but that picks were more clear.
Actually coming from where I'm coming from (anti-finger bias during the 70's when Rotos and picks were king) I understand where you guys are coming from but remember everything goes around and around.

Flash! new update on technique situation stay tuned!

View Poll Results: what is your PRIMARY mode of playing, fingers, picks, slapping, etc?
fingerstyle 62 88.57%
pickstyle 7 10.00%
slapping 0 0%
everything (guitard wanna be showoff style) 1 1.43%
Voters: 70.

These assumptions are never levelled at guitarists, so why bassists?

Actually i feel the same about guitarist. Of course i know why they use a pick. But i feel the same way i feel about bassist. I think you should learn a little of both. Do you have to play both? No but you may have to one day. As well as you may want to.

I agree with Geezer ... I can play all night without a pick or I can play all night with a pick ... but for playing fast concise accurate clear bass lines a pick can come in handy ...

When I play blues and jazz I rarely use a pick ... but classic rock works really good with a pick ... and modern rock works good with either ...

Bob you need another poll ... and ask who uses what style of playing ... not just the primary style ... since I play in a cover band I do every style ...

the problem with pick playing is when you make a mistake it is more obvious ...

I still have never seen another bassist who uses slap the way I do ... I slap back by the bridge with my thumb and don't mix in the annoying pops ... and I use slapping in heavy music ...

also finger style encompasses so many styles ... tapping ... hammer ons ... thumb plucking ... finger plucking ... whacking / typewriter method ... slapping ... popping ... flicking ... fingernail picking ... and more ...

"Bob you need another poll ... and ask who uses what style of playing ... not just the primary style ... since I play in a cover band I do every style ... "

You can't really set it up like that, go check it out Jeff, it's in Al's Nudie Bar, you'll see what I mean. I forgot the thumb method too when I set it up, I put the last one of for all styles, and many people posted about different styles though, one guy uses hand picks another uses his thumb and first finger, but you can only set up to 10 choices and I've never heard of some of these very original styles. I tried to include the common styles you'll see. I'm surprised though that out of 87 responses no one has chosen slapping as their primary style so I guess there's hope yet, haha!

I played out this weekend and sometimes I was switching from pick to fingers in the middle of a rif without missing a note ... I have a few signature sounds that I like to use ... I have a Chris Squire pick sound, a McCartney pick sound, A Geddy/Entwistle finger sound, and a mellow gently pluck sound, and an aggressive thumb slap hard attack sound, so I use whatever the song seems to need ...

Although many of my favorite bassists play with a pick, I used to think that using a pick was the wrong way to play the bass...then came along a 4003S/5 a couple of years ago, changed that way of thinking.