It used to be the case that most musicians only played one instrument, didn’t sing, and knew nothing about recording, marketing, advertising, computers… you get the idea. But times are changing. The world is full of one woman (or one man) bands. I’m one of them. A man, that is. I also do everything as an artist except play drums. And believe me, I’ve been super tempted to grab one of those cheapo Alesis drum pad sets and start playing, but I’ll never be as good as Logan or any of the other drummers in Logic Pro X/GarageBand.
Anyway, bass players get a lot of shit, which is stupid because you pretty much need a bass in most music. For my first three albums I used keyboard bass samples and wrote/recorded bass lines that way, while I learned to become a better real actual bass player. So by my fourth album (The One Thing) I was able to play real bass on it. But I did use a pick, sometimes a thick rubber pick (which sounds more like fingers) because my fingerstyle bass playing still isn’t there yet. The other thing is… well, honestly, I personally prefer the sound of a pick on a bass track on most songs.
Here’s my opinion – bass players have perpetuated the myth that fingerstyle bass always sounds better. I think they’ve done it because it’s a skill you have to work on and master. Any guitarist can pick up a bass and use a pick and sound half decent pretty quickly. But they can’t play fingerstyle. Some of the notes will be too soft, some too loud, and it’ll slow their playing down dramatically. I don’t think bass players perpetuate this myth consciously – I think they bought into it early.
Gene Simmons once famously said that if you’re playing bass with your fingers in a live setting no one will really hear what you’re playing. To some extent I agree with him. A pick gives each note a wonderful attack and makes the notes easier to hear. A lot of people agree – I see more bass players using a pick now than at any time in the past.
However, there are times where the sharp attack of a pick does sort of sound weird, like in a slow ballad. That’s where fingerstyle sounds a heck of a lot better. For that reason, I really think anyone who wants to play bass needs to be able to play fingerstyle.
There’s one other issue – if you get really good at fingerstyle, you might be tempted to use it over using a pick simply because it’s easier for you. I think that might be the case with a lot of musicians who only play bass or play it most of the time. But for guitarists who sometimes play bass, I’d recommend learning fingerstyle.
So don’t feel bad if you play bass with a pick. A lot of people think it sounds better. But work on fingerstyle in your part time. You’ll eventually be glad you did.
