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Do you use a pick, why or why not?


picker

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I still have a couple of picks that have "Cottonmouth DN" on them. They're black w/ white wording, and lovely. Hmmmm...wonder from whom I got them oh so many years ago down at a gig at the Continental (RIP) on E. Houston St.

 

Picks are fun. I don't use one regularly. Was asked by a producer once to use one in the studio and it was a good recommendation (based on the final recording) and I'm glad that I had used one enough that I could execute the part with a pick.

 

Steve Swallow uses a pick. He sounds good. James Jamerson used one finger,and he sounded good.

 

Peace.

--SW

 

 

 

 

 

spreadluv

 

Fanboy? Why, yes! Nordstrand Pickups and Guitars.

Messiaen knew how to parlay the funk.

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I haven't seen anyone mention using a Felt Pick. As with many of us, we started playing guitar, then switched to bass. When I bought my Gibson EB3 bass, the sales guy suggested trying a felt pick. I did and have been using one to this day. I must say it has become more difficult to find them these days though. I do occasionally use fingers, but my technique isn't as good as with a pick.
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Yeah, those felt picks don't last very long. That rubber pick that Jeremy has mentioned before sounds like a nice alternative to a felt pick but there is nobody around my area that sells them. I'd like to try one to see what they are like.

 

I've gone through a few kinds of picks. Most of the time I used to use the black nylon Dunlop 1mm. Nowadays I've been using the Dunlop tortex .73mm plucking on the rounded side of the pick (I copped that technique from Bobby Vega). I recently bought some Dunlop tortex .60mm to try out. I thought a little extra flexability would help out for some fast picking stuff. I'm going to try them out tonight. We'll see.

Lydian mode? The only mode I know has the words "pie ala" in front of it.

http://www.myspace.com/theeldoradosband

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I am not into soft picks. What works for me is a heavy (.92) pick with rounded edges and when I am into that kind of stuff, a metal pick.

Rounded edges and limited flexibilty make the best and cleanest attack, in my view.

A metal pick adds an initial ringing that emphasizes the note. I use it on the seventeenth fret and the biggest three strings, to limit brightness and have impact as an upright. I stole this from Steve Swallow.

An other pick I liked is one of those extra heavy hard plastic thickies a 3mm I think.

Zero flexibility for zero transient.

-- Michele Costabile (http://proxybar.net)
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Nah, I think the last time this thread made the rounds, JC or Erik or someone posted the same thing. Wasn't spam then.

 

It's only spam if it's your first or second post EVER and you own it and you create a new topic and post a thread on it four or five times in three days, regardless of whether anyone else posts on it or not.

 

... or you look and sound like Billy Mays.

 

Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

 

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b5 pilot, I bought some Wedgies from Musician's Friend. Check this out. If you can't find them in your area, try them. I recommend the hard ones, whatever the thickness you get. The soft ones reduce the vibration of the string and make the whole setup quieter.

Always remember that you are unique. Just like everyone else.

 

 

 

 

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b5 pilot, I bought some Wedgies from Musician's Friend. Check this out. If you can't find them in your area, try them. I recommend the hard ones, whatever the thickness you get. The soft ones reduce the vibration of the string and make the whole setup quieter.

 

Thanks Picker. I'll have to look into them.

Lydian mode? The only mode I know has the words "pie ala" in front of it.

http://www.myspace.com/theeldoradosband

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  • 4 months later...
The only problem I have had with felt picks is that they turn into lint when you use them. Other than that, they are great.

 

were you using flatwounds or roundwounds? a good friend of mine used the felt picks on a fretless Rick strung with flats, and his felt pick lasted years...and he hit that bass like it owed him money.

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I keep threatening to use a pick on some faster lines that my damaged left (picking) hand doesn't execute very well. Do I remember to put one in my bass case? I do not.

 

I generally really like having just fingers on the bass, no plastic in between; but if I wanted to use a pick for something I would. It's a bass guitar, after all. PS, I love Berry Oakley's playing...

 

 

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I'm not really a bass player, and on guitar mostly play with a pick (on steel strings anyway), though I dabble in fingerstyle.

I DO have a beautiful old P-bass my Dad gave me many years ago, and have tried both pick and fingerstyle. I like both, probably preferring the sound of fingerstyle. But I have nails on my right hand sometimes, and I'd have to cut them off I was playing fingerstyle bass seriously I think.

Pick-style bass I'd mostly use if I were soloing, playing guitar licks on bass.

It'd be fun to play bass in a band, especially a church band where the music is too simple to be interesting on guitar; assuming I'd have a little freedom to stretch out once in a while.

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