Bass playing method

Mr. CooL ICE

Hey, I'm a bassist and am currently having an argument with two people, one a guitar player, and the other a budding sound engineer. They both claim the best way to learn finger picking is to master plectrum picking first before you move on to finger picking. Is that just bollox?

Doctor J

That is total bollox, I have been playing bass for 15 years and trust would only a guitar player and a 'budding' sound engineer to come up with something so inept. Ask the guitar player if he'd recommend a classical guitar player should learn how to play with a plec first :eek:

The simple answer is thus : learn both ways, neither is the best, each one will serve you welll to know. I would say you should invest more time in your fingering technique, it's harder to master and there's more to it and you can access a greater variety of sounds... but it's very,very hard to start off with. Don't do one finger plucking, really try hard to do two fingers from the beginning, when you're comfortable try using three fingers.

And if you have any more questions about bass playing... ask a bass player

Mr. CooL ICE

Thank you!

Gordon

I'm a sound engineer and a guitar player and I think it's bollox.

Curious to know their reasonings though.

Finger picking and plectrum picking are completely different methods of hitting a note. One relies on wrist and/or arm movement and the other relies on fingers and maybe a bit of wrist action. It can be difficult for plectrum players to move to fingers and finger players to move to plectrums. Whatever works for the individual.

John

I've always found playing with fingers preferable to a plectrum but a plectrum is good for getting some tones. And do try and play with more than one finger, I only played with one finger for aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaages and it's really hampered me. I can play two comfortably now but three can be off-putting sometimes. So talk to someone in the know for advice early, I didn't and now I have a lot of bad bad habits.

M@lice

The guitarist and the sound engineer are always goin want to tell the bass player what to do. If they can convince you to use the plec then they'll probably want to tell you wat kind of bass lines to play as well. Stand up for yourself!!

Fusion251

Yes I must agree total bollox....depending on the style of the music you want to play a fingerstyle would be more adaptable. I play bass myself, but my main instrument is guitar, and for me to use a pic on a bass is blasphemy. I'd only use it for a tremolo type rhythm that's pretty fast but even then i'll give the fingers a go before pickin up a pleck. Ever see a double bass player with a pleck??

Cheers
D

Mr. CooL ICE

Their reason for wanting me to use a plec this time was because we were doing some recording, and they couldnt get a proper tone out of the finger picking, so the only way to get it done was to use a plec.

And yes, they told me what bass lines to use. We only had a short time to record so i couldnt experiment for too long, and im pretty unhappy with the basslines so far, as they dont follow the triple picking of the guitars (which is fine using fingers, but nooooo).

Doctor J

"Couldn't get a proper tone"?

Get a new sound engineer.

Mr. CooL ICE

Eh, no. This guy is just studying it so he's not charging anything, and we can't afford to pay someone for it.

Anyone know what can be done to remove some horrible fuzz from finger picking?

Doctor J

Then get used to the fuzz. Playing with your fingers does not magically generate fuzz. If your engineer doesn't know what's causing it and tells you it's because you play with your fingers then you're better off paying for a real engineer. One who knows what they're doing.

Mr. CooL ICE

I dunno, we want this demo done, and with money going into a PA, we cant afford to pay anyone. Just for the recording of this i think ill stick with using a plec, it just saves hassle

John

if you give in now they'll trod all over you in the future! play slap instead

Fusion251

Fuzz?? New bass maybe! lol sounds like your pickups are buzzin to me, if you use a pleck you'll play harder and drow that out I guess.....But I mean, if the sound engineer can't sort that out, he shouldn't be criticising in the first place, it's not that difficult to EQ that and minimize the buzzin'. And stop takin bass lines froma guitarist tut tut...

Cheers
D
GUITARIST!

Mr. CooL ICE

Nope tried it with two different basses. One was a crappy Hohner, the other an active Yamaha, and i tried both with and without my Zoom effects pedal. Whenever i get there to record, i don't have a whole pile of time to mess around with the sound (although i do need to do it) due to his dad being a prikc about how long we spend using the computer.

John

There's no point wanting a demo done if it's going to sound **** due to him having to rush, no one will want to hear a bad demo (not that a demo should be studio quality but you know what I mean). What way are you trying to record the bass?

Mr. CooL ICE

Onto a PC. We DI-ed my bass through my Zoom pedal from my passive bass for the first two songs. It went through a guitar compressor that he has, through to his PC. For the last song, we just DI-ed the active bass into the compressor to the PC.

Hehe, i like the way you say 'trying to record the bass'.

marvin2k

John2 wrote:

if you give in now they'll trod all over you in the future! play slap instead

Ha Ha wait till your playing live and in the middle of a slow quiet song let loose with the auld slappity mc pop that`l learn the ****ers ,

Picking is cool for fast punky stuff very blunt sound I think
Fingers are best for fluid basslines which snake around the main theme of a song and for a general soft tone -(Damn I`m a ****)

I find that the ppl who only use picking find fingering real tricky and those who only finger get cramps when they try pluckin ,

try and practice both and expand your sonic pallete

Mr. CooL ICE

marvin2k wrote:

I find that the ppl who only use picking find fingering real tricky and those who only finger get cramps when they try pluckin ,

Dude, i can totally, like, relate to that! Whoa!