Fingers or Plectrum?

play with anything you can- it all comes in handy at one time or another!

I used to play exclusively with fingers, thne got into a band where I played with picks. I like both, but it depends on the music I'm playing. Punk and rock get the pick (big ol' Dunnie pinks), blues and funk get the fingers. I never used a felt pick, but I know a guy who uses custom-made aluminum picks the size and shape of a Dorito--tone like I've never heard (almost like playing with a quarter), just not for me...

Fingers all the way! The tone with a pick is too twangy for me. I can't even play with a pick anymore having played with fingers for so long. And you never drop or lose your fingers (usually)!

Fingers, but if the occasion calls for it...Triangle Stubby's or Cymbalic Blues.

I use both but more fingers than pics. I recently found leather pics that are fun to use....like a pic and fingers blended..the sound is unique!!!

fingers....and yeah i tryed vibrators and shavers for that matter...

...But Picks!...........

Thanks for the mental picture!

In general, I'm much more comfortable without a pick, but when I do get the urge, I like the sound I get with the felt ones. Plastic seems so . . . unnatural.

so no one else has tried playing bass using a vibrator as a pick then?

Because my bass is kind of "neck-heavy," I experimented with hanging a cuckoo clock weight off the butt end, to balance it better. That worked fine as long as I stood perfectly still while practicing. If I moved at all, it produced some really first-rate bonging sounds when it hit the bass. Needless to say, I abandoned this idea, and am looking to buy a better-balanced instrument!

true- can't lose a finger on stage- unless your drummer gets pissed at you for falling out of the pocket and hucks his switchblade at you-
Funny- I started with a pick, then moved to fingers and only used a pick when playing guitar- now I can't even use a pick on guitar- just dig the tone of flesh on string!

PICKS?!?!?!?!?!
Come on!!!!
Geez

Mike

Been on stage for over 2 decades. Can get almost any tone out of my fingers that I need. But....try playing Nazareth's "This Flight Tonite" without a pick. Sure, you can do it, but the tone won't be anywhere near how it sounds.
But, for me, fingers ROCK.

Thanks Guys

For what it's worth, I'm a fingers player.  My memory's so bad I don't need anything else to remember for a gig!

The only exception is when I want to drag a pick down the string for that all-important grating sound when I'll unleash my Jim Dunlop 'Big Stubby'.

Rock 'n' Roll

(Edited by Zeb at 11:15 pm on Sep. 2, 2002)

You know, one of those fancy bass guys in a magazine once said:  Using a pick on a bass to make it sound better is like giving an elephant high heeled shoes so it can walk better.  
Unnatural or not, I know that some styles of music requre a pick, but I can do a lot better with the digits.

I think that is a funny mental picture!!!!!!

No pick! Just fingers!

Fingers, pick, fist, head, guitarplayers, I use them all. If I need to noodle around, then it's fingers because I suck at string skipping with a pick. When it comes to plowing and grinding then pick is my choice because it gives more definite sound.

-M

I made a pic out of an old cd I didnt like anymore. Sounded wicked on guitar and bass but I prefer the fingers, It just feels more natural

With the band I mostly play with a pick: jim dunlops stubby 3.0 mm. Small, fast and comfortable. But I try to use the fingers whenever possible, i.e: when we do slower reggae numbers and when I play outside the band. I lack the stamina to play our entire set fingerstyle: My arm goes numb after 30 minutes . I know it's because I'm too tense when we rehearse with the band since I have no problems playing fingerstyle at home...
Anyone have any suggestions apart from cranking up the amp and practice a lot more?

Relax.

That used to kill me, too. I'd get tensed as hell and wind up in pain in no time. Let go and let it flow... love the new sig, BTW.

Live... 98% fingers. In the studio, depends on what I'm looking for. When i use a pick, it's a real thick one with rounded edges to help avoid that dern scrape sound.

I started with a pick because I started with guitar, but I had a very insightful teacher reccomend that I work on using my fingers and now I almost never use a pick. I would however like to try some of those new rubber picks. Supposed to give you the same attack as plastic but none of the clicking sound that just ruins a good bassline.

H

fingers becasue I'm trying to work on that, I will say that I've started to prefer them over a pick, but if its a pick I need I like felt picks.

That used to kill me, too. I'd get tensed as hell and wind up in pain in no time. Let go and let it flow... love the new sig, BTW.
Thank you Halfamind. Nice too see that someone else has tackled the problem...and noticed the signature

fingers all the way.........

Pick. A Dunlop gator 2.0, love the sound and the attack.

Just the sausage links I call fingers!!! BTW, anybody else notice this was from 02?LOL!! I love it when we ressurect old posts!!

Hey Melker, the thing I've found that helps me keep my hands relaxed is to stretch them. I'll post my exercises I do in another thread so I don't get blamed for hijacking!

heh, I didn't answer the topic.. Fingers completely. I started with a pick, as well, but ditched it in a year or so. I keep my fingernails at a length just short enough not to interfere with my regular playing, but long enough that I can use them If I need or want something resembling a pick tone. On a aggressive song, I usually just dig in over the fretboard for a little psuedo-tapping.

Ironically, I carry a Fender medium tort pick in my pocket. I've done it for a few billion years... it's kind of a worry stone, I like rubbing and flexing it between my fingers... I'm not right...

Well, I'm trying to get along more and more with just my fingers, but when the piece calls for a pick up until as of late I'm been using Dunlop Tortex 2.0mm, but just as of recently I started playing around with the purple traingle Dunlop Tortex 1.14mm picks. They're still pretty heavy, but having more surface area due to it's triangle shape is a little easier on my digits.

That's another great use for a pick Halfie, If you're not right at least you're sane .
I did some background choirs last week and it was a lot easier if I held a pick in my right hand and did the stroking motions along with the song...  I even play Air bass with a pick!  

wheeeelllll i always use fingers, like ive tried using a pick and it just doesnt do my left hand's speed justice.. it just feels wierd

Ressurecting this from the dead cause I was goign to start a post like this.....

I've been playing with a pick. Tryto use the fingers here and there at practice, but a pick feels more comfortable to me. Maybe its because I used to try and play my bros guitar whenever he wasn't home. :p

It won't die! Begone with the pick or fingers threads. I propose this thread to be like Stairway to Heaven or Smoke on the Water in a music store. Never Again! AAAGGGGG!!

H

I feel better now.
:D

Dude, this thread started 4 years ago... Talk about everlasting.

Anyways, Ill go with Fingers, cause I really feel the tone from Picks to be too twangy, and when I play with a pick i ususally use it for a couple of bars before trowing it to the ground.

Sometimes a pick for that clicky sound, but 98% of the time it's the digits. I can transition smoothly from natural fingerstyle to slap to pickfingers as I call them (holding your right hand like there was a pick there and picking the strings with the index finger nail) to almost a flamenco right hand technique that I use that's very fast and very legato, although the volume is a little lacking. Not a whole lot of need for a pick, but occasionally the need is there and sometimes it's just fun.

i usually play with my fingers, or use my thumb as a pick ( a la double thumpin ) but If i use a pick, i use a metal or a felt one.

Wow, Im seein names Ive never seen before. Then saw everyone joined June 2002. Wondering what I got into at work. Im strictly fingers and/or thumb. I never could use a pick, I know I need to work on it just to be versitile(sp). Back in the day, for a metal player, it was totally uncool to use a pick. But it was also uncool to slap.

fingers all the way for me. just hate the sound of a pick

Picks are for bass as fingers are for a gi...wait a sec, I better not finish that thought.

Anyway, I started as a twanger and still use a pick almost exclusively; a Dunlop Ultex (White Rhino) 1.0 Triangle. However, I have been starting to use my thumb a little more each day.

Anyway, I started as a twanger and still use a pick almost exclusively; a Dunlop Ultex (White Rhino) 1.0 Triangle. However, I have been starting to use my thumb a little more each day.

Hey 4 String thing - how do you like your Dirnt bass? And have you ocmpared them to a regular standard P-bass? A Dirnt will probably be my next purchase after money towards a PA.....

Two fingers for me.

fingers all the way for me, unless for Pantera and Tool its a pick.

What ever I feel like, what fits the song, etc. I am equally good with both(not that i'm good but the level of skill is the samewith both). I always think I should be as versatile as I can be so I trie out every technique and with every tool.

And the side of my hand, fist, hip, elbow or whatever else will work.