using a pick

Oh, hell no! :biglaugh:
 
It's the sound the musician wants that is important. If a pick gives it, the musician decides yes or no. Using a pick (like slap-bass) is just another technique to acquire a desired sound.

There is no question some strings respond better to different techniques than others. There's only one true way to find out, and that's to try. If in doubt, a little gentle pick work will tell in a hurry if the string will respond as desired.
 
Have you considered using a felt pick? It's probably the least likely to damage the strings.
 
Yep, have tried a felt pick years ago and didn't like them. I guess I'll keep using a reg. pick and see if they cause damage or not. Thanks for the suggestion ampeep.
 
Patrick, you're welcome & good luck w/ the pick.

If you like the attack of the pick, maybe metal strings? The other bassist in our group uses them on his ubass.
 
Thanks for the suggestion of steel strings. I may look into a short scale steel string bass eventually.

The P's on the Chennell are original so will try a pick to see how it works out. It's about due for a string change anyway.
 

Attachments

  • 11212607_952599984764479_5467339108017805386_o.jpg
    11212607_952599984764479_5467339108017805386_o.jpg
    71.4 KB · Views: 9
Last edited:
I currently use a medium guitar pick on electric bass but when I played my bass uke (with pahohoes) I tried fingers first and many types of picks. Seems the best (for me at least) was a medium or light guitar pick.

What I observed was that anything heavier than that caused the string to dance around way too much giving a muddy tone. So try a flexible guitar pick and a light pluck. It may be counter intuitive but it worked much better for me.
 
Sorry for the posting delay, I am playing mandolin now and spend more time at the Mandolin Cafe.

Glad that helped, Pat, all I can say is that you have to keep the pick flat against the strings or a thin pick could cut into the strings and cut them. I use Pahoehoes and I was concerned about that at first but I just focused on a flat attack and have never had an issue.
 
Thanks Bob. I've been using a custom Bill Stokes pick with no problems so far. It's made a a material much like tortoise shell and sounds like the old tortoise shell picks did. I think he's either under bill Stoles or Showcase capos. Makes great fingerpicks and capos also.

I'll retry using a softer pick and see how that does. I play flatpickin' bluegrass so no problem keeping one flat against the strings.

Mandolin Cafe is another fun place to be!
 
Top Bottom