It is surprising how little nail it takes to “get in the way”…
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I doo too, but there are some songs that I want to learn that are next to impossible to play finger style.
I was a pretty firm believer that fingers could do everything a pick could as far as speed and playing songs (tonal differences aside), especially after watching guys like Cliff Burton, Robert Trujillio and Frank Bello (anthrax), and even Geezer and Steve Harris, but there are some songs that are written as pick, with weird picking styles, and just need to be played with a pick.
A song in particular by NOFX, The Idiots are Taking Over, has a part that needs to be played with a special circular picking motion across 2 strings. it is not that hard to play, with a pick and the right fingering, but with no pick, even if I use one finger and try to use it as a pick in the right motion, I just can’t get it to sound right. I can get the tempo and rhythm, but not the proper note definition, or I can get the note definition and not get the tempo or rhythm correct.
So, I am really a finger player, and plan to remain so, but for certain songs, I will need to break out a pick once in a while.
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Just listen to the opening of this song, the bassline.
If anybody can figure out how to play this finger style, i am listening.
I have seen talks between bassists and they had to ask Fat Mike how he picked it, cuz they could never play it. I mean touring bassists.
No need to listen to the whole song, the first 10 seconds will do, and I am not trying to get into any political debate, it is all about the bassline.
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This song I’ve been working on is frustrating me so much, I actually ran out of cuss words. Fortunately, the Family Size box of Cuss words I ordered arrived just in time. I’m nearly finished with this song and should be posting a cover soon.
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Ha Ha Ha, I need to get 3 of those for the way my life is going right now.
and will need another 3 in a day or two after that.
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you really need to ask if anybody here doesn’t have those days 
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At this point I mostly play with a pick and prefer it. Though I have been having fun with fingestyle again recently for a few songs. The BB does fingerstyle well 
Still, pick is where it’s at for me for the styles I like, 90% of the time.
It’s basically a tradeoff in the end. Fingerstyle, your plucking hand works a lot harder. Picking, your fretting hand really needs to up its muting game. You also learn to mute with your palm and even your fretting thumb. Picking is excellent practice for muting all around, really.
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This thread is becoming illegal, hahah.
Jokes aside I tried playing with pick couple of times, and even though I used to play guitar long ago it still feels weird to use it for bass playing.
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I think my biggest issue with a pick is my own shortcomings in not being able to mute with my left hand very well. I will admit I use my right hand more to mute when I should be working my left more. Picking shows this really bad, since I am down a couple fingers.
Can only practice so much in a day…
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I know it’s very boring to do it this way but when I have a weakness and this was one of them, especially on my 6 string bass. You have to experiment with grip & technique then sit there over and over playing the same lick until you got it down to your own technique.
Try tilting your pick sideways the tear drop is falling a corner of it’s ass on your strings instead, if you need more grip and therefore more pick. I personally hold it the traditional way still. But hand sizes matter and so do the pick sizes for this matter.
What works for me is holding my pick with 3 fingers, thumb index and middle while curling my ring & pinky into a fist then muting with the the side of the tip of my pinky and tilting back in when I don’t need mutes. It may be wrong, I don’t know. But it works for me.
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And if you are not sure whether to go pick or fingers/toes take a look at this.
As if learning guitar and bass was not hard enough to begin with although it does answer the question I always had of "why would a person want socks with individual toes in them 
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Yeah this is exactly what I do.
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Oh cool I’m glad I’m not alone! My pinky cuticles take a beating sometimes though. I’ll be peeling away at them subconsciously at times too.
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Sorry, didn’t mean for it to turn into that. I’m just saying for someone that’s in the studio 24/7. It’s hard to unwind so sometimes smoking a little sumn sumn with a beer might just go a long way in terms of keeping their head in the game while enjoying themselves when they forgot how to already.
Just saying you need balance, otherwise you will fool yourself into breathing your own CO2 like a tree billed that back to you from outside.
I run into burnouts constantly so I made myself an outdoor practice space exactly for this reason. So I can step back without really stepping back. I’m one of those people that think laying down for an hour is all the sleep I need in order to cram my nuts back into my studio.
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I’m almost afraid to start playing around with picks, because my cat will play with them and they’ll probably all end up under the fridge 
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I don’t have a cat, and mine still end up under the fridge.
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Open that new box of Cuss words, and use them instead of throwing picks all over the place.
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I wonder if her cuss words gets faded in and out as she opens and closes that box. Some wireless Mackie mixer gremlin sitting in the attic mixing the cuss words in and out so she doesn’t have to say them out loud.
It’s the equivalent of stress balls they have in offices. 'Cept when you open it a whole slew of cuss word tourettes reverbate throughout the apartment complex.
The couple downstairs can’t sleep, their son Scott won’t stop asking what “****” means.
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I have more days of WTF when practicing then days where I say “wow that was smooth & sounded awesome”. Since I don’t believe we can ever completely master the bass, it will come down to motivation & practice, practice, practice.
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I had that yesterday. I just received my brand new MarkBass and was all excited to debut it. My wife planned on going to her office instead of doing it via Zoom and I was excited to be able to practice as loud as I wanted without interfering with her depositions. Well, my fingers were finger-tied. I couldn’t even play C Chord properly. Strings were buzzing, twanging, and my left hand was faster than my right. Harmonics all over the place, like I couldn’t mute the strings. I had to stop and find the easiest song I know. That was also a failure. I had to stop playing completely and call it a day. Never had such a bad day like this.
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