Thumb pick for bass

[DeepEnd]

I tried a site search just now and came up empty. Does anyone use a thumb pick for bass? I normally play with my fingers but sometimes I use a pick. A thread about thumb picks over in Acoustic Guitars got me thinking that I could use one for bass and not have to worry about what to do with my pick when I was playing with my fingers. I bought a small selection of thumb picks over the weekend and so far I like the Fred Kelly Speed Pick in thin with the medium version running second. I also have a Herco heavy that I don't like much. I'll have to try the medium and thin variations.

[WRGKMC]

Sure you can use them. I've used them myself quite a bit recording stuff depending on what's needed. I do allot of work with three fingers and sometimes my thumb starts getting raw so I slip a thumb pick on. I can then do some half finger pick and half hard pick stuff.

 

 

The only issues you run into is Thumb picks are usually pretty heavy. They do get chewed up by the bass strings quickly and your thumb is going to fatigue just as quickly if you dig in allot. The pick is going to produce a much brighter tone too so you may have to adjust your playing skills and tweak your tone knob to taste. Otherwise its simply another technique you can use to produce some things you cant get with the fingers or flat picks only.

 

Lately I been using medium and light flat picks on bass. I use heavy picks on guitar because the strings flex more and by using lighter picks on bass I maintain a similar flex. They just don't last very long and start melting pretty quick.

[DeepEnd]

Up to now, I've either used fingers (no thumb) or a flat pick. I had in mind to use the thumb pick like a flat pick, just attached to my thumb where it would be handy. A medium (.73mm or so) nylon pick works well for me on either electric or bass, something a bit lighter (say .60mm) for acoustic. One thing is that I've only tried it on my own bass, which has flats on it. I'm still waiting to try it with roundwounds. I figure it might make a difference.

[uncle smeg]

Good luck with it. I practice with a pick, but then at gigs I chicken out and play with my fingers anyway.

[DeepEnd]

I avoided using a pick for quite a while because I thought "real" bass players strictly used their fingers. Heck, I don't even use my thumb and I know Paul McCartney does that. It's only been relatively recently (within the last few months) that I've started using a pick.

[Radar-Love]

I avoided using a pick for quite a while because I thought "real" bass players strictly used their fingers. Heck' date=' I don't even use my thumb and I know Paul McCartney does that. It's only been relatively recently (within the last few months) that I've started using a pick.[/quote']

 

 

I rarely use a plectrum on bass. Heck, I often don't use one on a regular ol' 6 string guitar!

 

In any case, there are a lot of plectra to choose from -- shapes, sizes, thickness, materials, surfaces, etc. Flatpicks, thumbpicks, and fingerpicks are just some of the ways plectra are deployed.

 

If and when I do use a flatpick on an electric or acoustic bass guitar, I almost always use a felt flatpick. If you have used one before, felt flatpicks are made of hard felt. As long as they don't get soaking wet, felt flatpicks will actually last longer than you might think.

 

Using a hard felt flatpick, the symptomatic plink plink plink sound of a typical plastic flatpick is absent. However, the fundamental sound of a flatpick is still obvious when heard. Compared with finger/thumb picking, felt flatpicks deliver a more distinctive plectrum sound than you can get finger/thumb picking with hardened callouses.

 

Felt flatpicks can be used with equal success on all basses and guitars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[isaac42]

I used to use a felt pick with my 12-string guitar. Sounded pretty cool, but I found that the felt picks disintegrated rapidly.

[DeepEnd]

. . . If and when I do use a flatpick on an electric or acoustic bass guitar' date=' I almost always use a felt flatpick. If you have used one before, felt flatpicks are made of hard felt. As long as they don't get soaking wet, felt flatpicks will actually last longer than you might think. . . .[/quote']

I'm acquainted with them. I knew a girl in college who used one on her steel string guitar. I've generally thought of them as ukulele picks though. As I mentioned, a .60-.73mm nylon pick works well for me for the most part but I haven't found a thumb pick I like as well. Have to keep searching. I still haven't tried the thin and medium Hercos--just the heavy--so they're next.

[Radar-Love]

I used to use a felt pick with my 12-string guitar. Sounded pretty cool' date=' but I found that the felt picks disintegrated rapidly.[/quote']

 

 

When I first started using felt flatpicks, I found quickly that you have to loosen your grip "recoil" (can't think of a better term at the moment) or you will quickly wear the squarish edge off the string contact area. Using a felt flatpick aggressively like a typical hard plastic flatpick will shorten its lifespan by rounding off the edge or even cracking the hard felt.

 

I might go through five felt flatpicks in a couple years or so. If I used these felt flatpicks like I do my Dunlop Jazzpicks, they'd last a week.

 

[Radar-Love]

...As I mentioned' date=' a .60-.73mm nylon pick works well for me for the most part but I haven't found a thumb pick I like as well. Have to keep searching. I still haven't tried the thin and medium Hercos--just the heavy--so they're next.[/quote']

 

 

Heavy flatpicks -- yuck,

 

Generally, if I use a flatpick, it will be for guitar and will be one of a few: light or medium Gibson mandolin; various thinner Dunlop Jazz carbon fiber, Ultex, or nylon; Dunlop Eric Johnson Jazz III.

 

I use larger flatpicks a lot less often. With larger flatpicks, I only use medium or light gel or nylon flatpicks. I've got a bunch of different flatpicks in a little gallon-sized jar that I occasionally retry. Then, I have one agate "stone" pick that I rarely use, a couple of WireThing picks, and a couple of Jellifish sweep picks.

 

Then, I have a few thumbpicks -- and even some fingerpicks that I bought for pennies at the Mars Music meltdown a decade ago. The thumbpicks are Dunlop and Herco. The Herco thumbpicks are medium, which is more like medium-light compared to the Dunlops.

 

Off topic a bit... Back in the late '70s, I won a prize in a drawing (I believe it was 4th prize) at a local music store that was said to be "a lifetime of Fender picks..." which ended up being 2 gross (2 x 144 = 288) of medium Fender clear blue gel flatpicks. Even after giving people a few here and there over the years, and wearing a few out, I still have over 100 of those damn things left. These clear blue gel Fender flatpicks are usually the ones I use on bass. By the way, first prize at that drawing was a Gibson RD guitar -- that I definitely recall and was hoping for at the time. I *believe* second and or third prizes were stompboxes.

 

[WRGKMC]

One technique I use when using a pick on bass is to use the heel of my right hand across the strings close to the bridge to dampen them and "Stop" the note like you would stop the strings using your fingers. If you just pick the notes they often sustain too long and blur the attack of the next note. I may also lift the string from the fret to dampen the note at both ends of the string to get short sharp attacks.

 

The only issue with this technique is you wind up picking the strings close to the bridge which can give you a sharper tone and getting the string to stop does take longer then stopping the notes with your fingers closer to the center of the strings.

[lug]

http://www.amazon.com/spring-loaded-guitar-pick-holder-Right/dp/B002L2ZD0W

 

[ThudMaker]

I hated felt picks. I just use heavy 1.0 mm.

[DeepEnd]

Heavy flatpicks -- yuck' date=' . . .[/quote']

More like medium, fairly flexible flatpicks. Definitely not heavy.

 

. . . I may also lift the string from the fret to . . . get short sharp attacks. . . .

Which is what I do as well. I also sometimes lay the pick against the string to stop it from vibrating.

 

. . . you wind up picking the strings close to the bridge which can give you a sharper tone and getting the string to stop does take longer then stopping the notes with your fingers closer to the center of the strings.

I haven't noticed that particular phenomenon. I use the pick at about the same place along the length of the string that I use my fingers.

 

Anyway, I bought both a thin and a medium Herco yesterday and I'll try both at the first opportunity and let everyone know the result. One thing I will say is that the thin Herco feels a bit flimsy because the whole pick is the same thickness and flexibility. For now, it's either a thin SpeedPick or a medium flat pick.