Almost every bass player I see nowadays has a fucking pick in his finger...what is up with that? The bass was designed for FINGERS!

is this spaldino?
adam will post some words I'm sure

my fingers are so fast that i get speeding tickets after a set :(

I'm strange kid cause I like the way picked bass sounds. I've never been that pumped to play with my fingers since I hate about 90% of all slap happy shit. but it's fun to sit around and pop. I think anyone who plays black metal slapping should be shot. death metal is a toss up. grind, go for it. I was actually impressed with the technique of the dude from Severed Savior, he can alternate really well between pick and fingers.

Bass player for Behemoth (on Dying Fetus/Amon Amarth tour) sickest bastard ever. So fast. All slap. Holy hell.

brian, aganihm's bassist, uses no pick. he actually broke his finger at our last show and finished out our set with us. check the pictures at http://aganihm.cjb.net , there are xrays up there.

cjb.net is gay.

rttp.com is gay
http://www.returntothepit.com/index.php?type=reviews

hah, I forgot I did that.
I need to find more sites that have stuff like that.

You people are talking as if slap and using your fingers are synonomous.

I'm not into disagreeing with stuff and causing conflict online, but this thread is just too dumb to be ignored.

As someone who plays fingerstyle almost exclusively, I am not personally offended, but why would someone be a "pussy" because they play their bass in a specific style? There is no law that states bass was "meant to played with fingers." I'm sure there are tons of pick players out there who could play circles around you hektik: Scott Clendenin and Dave Ellefson are the ones that come to mind right away.

Playing with a pick sounds different than fingerstyle, and in some cases that is appropriate. I doubt the bass tone of Meshuggah would fit the music nearly as well if their bassist had the more rounded sound of fingerstyle playing. Sometimes the added attack of pick sound just fits better.

Electric bass is an amazing instrument and there is a great variety of pleasing sounds that it can produce if you know how to play it well. Just because you read somewhere online that Roger Patterson played fingerstyle doesn't mean its the only way to go... keep an open mind.

I'll tell you right now, I am not open minded when it comes to other picking styles, even in their plethora of choices (sarcasm mode off).

Fingers, fingers, fingers.

hey buddy, i play with a pick most of the time. i wasn't going to say anything, but i agree with cryptic anthony: this thread is too dumb to be ignored. i wouldn't play with a pick if i was in a jazz or funk band, but i'm not. i'm listening to megadeth right now and i find nothing wrong with dave ellefson's pick sound. i see you are trying to find a band to join. not too many bands are going to be interested in someone who isn't open minded. so wise up and quit knocking other people's bass technique. technique is open to interpretation. guitars aren't meant to be played with violin bows, but jimmy page and the sigur ros dude did it. i know people who play righty guitars upside down lefty, nothing wrong with that either.

I agree with dreadkill, if you're looking for a band, you're gonna have to open your mind to a lot of things...have you been in a band before?

fingers/pick does it really fuckin matter? Bass rules regardless. I use both depending on what type of sound is needed for a particular piece. Why pigeon-hole yourself into one particular style?

oh yeah- if a bass was designed for fingers why do many have pickguards?Dumb thread.....

dreadkill said:

*ahem*jimihendrix*cough*

BronzeBronson said:

Ok, there you have it, the thread is dead (no rhyme intended) so stop your bickering fools. A joke to officially end it:

A drummer gets in a car wreck and is seriously injured. After surgery, the Doctor tells him he has good news and bad news. The bad news is that he had to remove 3/4's of the drummers brain. The good news is that he bought him a bass guitar.

retzam said:

that was exactly what i was gettin at, fella

What about slap guitar?

DeOdiumMortis said:

is that thy legend of Dragon Force?

I've been doing slap long before Dragonforce. Pfffffffft.

playing with a pick or playing with your hands dosent matter. as long as your good and can pull crazy shit you've got my vote. but i definitly agree with the fact that the next show you goto there may be one bass player out of 4-5 bands youll see playing with their fingers.when we played the blood letting show i was the only one who played with his fingers.

BornSoVile said:


All ye will soon see the magnificance of DRAGONFORCE

cryptic anthony said it best, there's no law about bassists only allowed to use their fingers. originally, everyone thought bass was designed to be only used as a rythm instrument, and only pluck it. people like Victor Wooten and Les Claypool turned it into a lead, slap happy instrument. there is a tonal difference between using a pick and fingers. with a pick there's more of an attack to the sound, and when it comes to metal, it helps make each note more discernable. it's hard to play death metal with your fingers, and make every note clear. few bassists like Alex Webster are able to pull it off. i'm a pick bassist, but i train myself that if during the middle of a song i drop my pick and can't get to another one, i switch to using 3 fingers. there's no reason a bassist can't use a pick. what, next are u gonna say we can't tap either? the bass guitar is an extremely versatile instrument, with limitless options on how it can be played, a pick is another way of playing it. so stop bitching

Yeah! Now everybody hold hands and make out... I mean shake hands and make up... yeah... that's it...

seeing as that bass is percussive, anyone that said that bassists shouldnt tap are gay. tapping is fucking fun as hell. picks are ok i guess, but it takes so much more balls to play with your fingers in a death metal band. Bass is everything that anyone wants it to be... not just the instrument that guitar players buy just incase a band doesnt need another guitarist.

as a bass player who uses a pick, I must say that I am certainly not a pussy. However, my style of playing requires a pick, period. I learned with a pick, and cannot play with my fingers well enough to do it all the time. However, I must say that I admire people who can pull it off. Our old bassist(when I played drums) used his fingers/whole hand to strum chords. And guys like Steve Harris, Geddy Lee, Claypool, etc. are amazing. BUT IM NO PUSSY. Bad choice of words.

I play with a pick. But even if I played with my teats I'd still be a pussy--

give or take there was no mainstream picking before numetal (bastards).
If slipknot didn't downgrade the expected talent needed to play every instrament, you would all be doing it the right way.

To those of you who use a pick because your hands aren't strong enough... it's because your using a friggin pick!

Fingers paco... fingers.

Blackout said:



you just made no sense at all

I'm saying if it weren't for a titlewave of low talented mainstream bands that promote the easiest way of making music possable, no one would use picks on bass.

Blackout said:

Think about the absurdity of what you are saying. You still don't make sense. A statement w/o any validity.

i just dont think pick playing is cool. thats all... although Glen Benton uses a pick so thats why i can tolerate it.

haha, if you watch the old chintzy-ass video for Black Sabbath doing "Iron Man" you see Geezer uses his fingers in the first 2/3 of the song, then when it gets fast he switches to a pick. So I guess he's 33.33% pussy. Hmmm...

I use a pick 'cos so did CRONOS! Rarrr!

ok so let me get this straight, you're saying that we are thinking this:
"wow these mainstream bands suck ass, probably because they're bassist uses a pick, but they're popular, so i'm gonna use a pick on my bass too!!!"
once again, u made no sense at all. using a pick is also louder than your fingers as well. i always make myself heard at band practices, but as soon as i drop my pick and switch to fingers, it's harder to make out what i'm playing because i'm not as loud

litacore said:

HAHAHA

Naw, I'm saying since mainstrem band use picks and whatnot, 12 year old numetal fans sit in thier room saying 'i wanna be like that so i'm going to use a pick instead of my fingers' that's all. I play with my fingers and have never had volume or clarity problems.

A lot of bass players out there started out as guitar players so they were already used to playing with a pick, carrying that over to bass was the easiest transition to make. Some other bass players were initially shown the basics by a friend who was a guitar player: "here's a bass, here's a pick, now to this like I do." Some converted to fingers over time. Others started with fingers from the start.
The point: who fucking cares?!
The variety is what makes everything so much fun. If everyone sounded the same, 99% of us wouldn't be doing what we're doing. When I pick up a bass, I have to use a pick for almost everything I do on it, I have mediocre slapping technique and fair finger speed, but I can pick faster than probably anyone can finger. Advatage for me: pick. That doesn't mean everyone works that way, obviously they don't, so quit arguing about it!
And kids don't use picks because nu-metal bands do, they use picks because #1 a pick has become synonymous with playing a guitar or bass, you can't hold up your fingers and say "I play bass" and have anyone know what you mean. #2 when you buy a damn bass they almost always throw in a handful of picks for free! You get used to picks = you buy more picks = more business for them. #3 they see just about everyone using picks, from people on TV to magazines to their friends.
Shit happens. Christ.

most bassist are pussies...but it doesn't have to do with using a pick or not.

DeOdiumMortis said

Umm, what about Jaco?

Jacko is whacko if you're a pre-teen.

DeOdiumMortis said:

Hahaha, that was funny, but I wasn't talking about Jacko, I was talking about Jaco Postarius.

Blackout said:

what about Mudvayne, Korn, Limp Bizkit, and Staind? those are cornerstone nu metal bands who play with their fingers. the main reason I play with a pick is for speed purposes, plus it sounds better with our sound.

Best Bass players in the scene,
Spalding of Terminally, Your Aborted Ghost
Zack of Goratory
Anthony of Cryptic Warning

it's not that because they play with their fingers, it's because they utilize their rythms so effectivly, while improvising very well.
90% of the people replying are not pussies. interesting thread though.

Tom Araya is a wicked pussy.

agreed, Adam is AMAAAAAZZZIIINNNGGG!
and i'm gradually moving from pick to fingers(so i'll be less of a "pussy")

joostin said:

i'm doing the same, my ring finger has no life though, that's what i've been working on mostly.

I'll give you stained and Mudvayne, but look at it this way, alot of kids see ryan martinie playing with his fingers on his 5 string NT warwick thumb and say 'I wanna play just like him' and there is a huge majority of kids watching slipknots bassist paul gray play his 4string version of the same bass with a pick thinking he is so good. that pisses me off, sorry if my first post wasnt clear.

shit u want a fast finger-style bassist? Cliff Burton, Steve Harris, Alex Webster

steve digiorgio

Kalopsia said:

What? Jaco! Jaco guys! How come I am the only one who has mentioned him?

Cliff can't play fast from a chimney chute.

retzam said:

cause Jaco doesn't even need to be mentioned, he's just that good

picks are over rated for speed. i hate using them, even now with my hand and 2 fingers in a cast i refuse to use one. i'm way faster with my fingers anyways, can get to around 70notes in under 7 seconds (not random strings, nor just on one string) when im not in a cast. plus i can play chords using just my fingers. im a little bit slower now due to the cast, but that'll change.

but i guess its up to how ever the bassist feels most comfortable.

only downside bout using fingers to play bass..you have to warm them up prior. thats when a girlfriend comes in handy haha.

brian from aganihm said:

I need one of those for my fretting hand.

Kalopsia said:

Thank you. Jaco -><- every other bassist

I think over 90% of RTTP members stopped reading this.
*zing*

Rev you just lost.

Have any of you noticed that when you clip your fingernails they get an odd smell to them?

They smell kind of like something is burning

nope, sorry, I lost.
maybe you should stop cutting your nails with a blow torch.

the_reverend said:

No seriously, clip one of your nails right now then smell it!

yeah retzam...litacore said that was only for toast!

Hey dudes, you guys need to try it before you critisize (first time that sentence has ever been used not refering to drugs).

martin mendez

dreadkill said:

Martin Mendez really is nothing special. Don't get me wrong, Opeth is my favorite band and I think Martin is fun to watch live, but as far as skill goes, Johan was better.

I just read this whole thread and I've never hated myself more.

WhyamIandasshole said:

Yeah, you really did waste your time.

only one bass player knows the art of fingering a bass... Geddy Lee...

George said:

What site is that? I want to go and flood their forum with bad pictures.

LOL

Martin Ain [ http://www.celticfrost.com/martin.html ]...
try that for cool ass pick/finger [dual]-style bass playing...

hektik said:

it's pussy to think that there's only one way to do things...YOURS

naw Dave don't flood it...I'm the person that actually found that and I showed it to aaron and I was going to rip them a new asshole and aaron told me not to...he thought it was amusing

Nick from Kevorkian's Angels plays with fingers and a pick, and he'll out bass any of you!

oh?
LOL

I agree with Mary. Nick destroys the bass.

and then he puts a dead rat on it

Nick can out play anyone, even with a deadrat or a urinal cake attached to his bass

Bassists with superiority issues when it comes to method of string attack are pussies.
I hate when people have issues with string number as well, I play a five string and it doesn't make me better than any four string bass player off the bat. I play with my fingers and that doesn't automatically make me better than people who use picks.

I use a three finger technique and theres a song we play that I can play fast enough, but not for three minutes straight without getting tired so if I'm playing live and I feel like using a pick half way through the song than fucking deal with it.

I'd like to see a quote from Leo Fender stating the first mass produced electric bass he designed was intended only for fingerpicking players. To suggest that Basses were designed for fingers is just plain retardation.

Niccolai said:

Haha i disagree, Jaco is awesome, but thats not why im replying.

Leo Fender INVENTED the electric bass so that ELECTIRC GUITARISTS could double on bass as well. The instrument of electric bass was designed with pick players in mind, NOT finger players. Finger playing (much warmer fatter rounder sound) became popular very quickly, but nevertheless the instrument was not (as some people have said) "designed to be played with fingers."

I play with fingers, but just thought id make this known. Elitism sucks.

Anthony nli said:
Leo Fender INVENTED the electric bass so that ELECTIRC GUITARISTS could double on bass as well. The instrument of electric bass was designed with pick players in mind, NOT finger players. Finger playing (much warmer fatter rounder sound) became popular very quickly, but nevertheless the instrument was not (as some people have said) "designed to be played with fingers."

I play with fingers, but just thought id make this known. Elitism sucks.
>>


Exactly my good man. I'll use my fingers until the day I stop playing, but I'll accept the possability that somewhere in the world, someone with a four string bass and pick might be better than me (no matter how unlikely).

give up the "I'm better than everyone else" for that you automatically suck.

everyone

thats not attacking anyone in specific, just saying respect others for playing music and enjoying it. regardless.

Are you from the mad streets of hanson?

that was awesome, this site needs more footage of Rich getting beaten down !

Fingers, baby!!