Also look at Fieldy from KoRn
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I play with a pick 90% of the time. Nothing wrong with a pick.
Fingerstyle for the course is recommended because you should also know how to do it and it can be harder to learn; however, as far as personal style goes, you do you 
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I find fingerstyle infinitely easier than playing with a pick. I’ve tried to learn it several times, starting from scratch and taking it slow each time, but I just can’t do it.
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They each have different things they make easier. For me, muting is definitely easier with fingerstyle. Playing fast is much easier with a pick. String crossing to the next string is easier with a pick, going two strings is easier fingerstyle. It’s a mixed bag.
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Both styles are difficult in their own way. Personally, I use a pick for most of my lines, but can play finger style. To Mike, I find .73 is my favorite because there is give in my hands. The stiff 1.0 and 1.14 always bothered me. Therefore, I recommend .73 tortex for small fingers and for sausage fingers: 1.0 tortex flex triangle.
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Extensive discussion of pick preferences here:
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Thanks for the advice everyone! This evening I turned down the J pickup, turned the P all the way up, and increased the treble on my tiny practice amp. I ran through the B2B U2 With or Without you on fast with a pick, and the Squier definitely sounded more spiky.
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A “beginner bass " will always be a 'beginner bass” no matter how far you progress; and with practice and time you WILL progress. Meanwhile, that “begnner bass” stays what it is. Go out there and buy the bass that puts you where you want to go not where you started… Put some skin in the game and then make it count with your time and effort. You’ll never regret it.
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I think I want “Beginner bass will always be a beginner bass” on a t-shirt. Thank you.
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I think this is pretty cool.
If you come to the official B2B forum and ask… we may have to tell you to use your fingers… but on a personal note, I love the idea of finding resources and using them to get what you want from them.
If you want to get pick skills on a Thunderbird… hell.
Go for it, I say.
You may be bummed if you get deep into the bass and you find yourself wanting to have fingerstyle skills…
But then you can just start the course again and do it with fingers.
Make the sounds you want to make - that’s the ultimate way to stay connected to the instrument.
If you ‘should’ on yourself too much, you’ll get buried in ‘should’ and it won’t be that much fun.
Please don’t tell anyone I posted this here as I am supposed to be a reputable and responsible bassist and teacher.
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Update
My first impressions of the Epiphone vs. my Squier Affinity PJ:
The TB Goth feels more expensive. Not sure what the price point was in 2007 compared to Squier in 2023, but aren’t they not too far apart now? The build quality and finishing is better, the frets aren’t sharp, neck is smooth, knobs are more responsive, bridge hardware heavier and seems better milled.
I’ve been using both bass for B2B, repeating workouts with each. A lot of people here and elsewhere mentioned the length of the TB neck, and yeah it must be like what a guitarist who picks up a bass must think in reverse. Switching, I can find myself on the 5th fret of the TB thinking it’s the 3rd fret, because it would be on the Squier 
I swapped out strings on both bass. The TB had very worn strings when I got it. However, the entire bridge is only held in by the strings! It’s kind of ingenious in an evil scientist way. On the plus, raising or lowering the action should be a lot easier on the TB, with three screws, vs, having two little sockets on each saddle.
I think criticism of the TB as too heavy, no place for your right arm, and neck dive are YMMV. I put a thick Levy strap on the Goth, and I wear it with the lower part of the strap over the body of the bass. It stays up as well as the PJ which is on a thick neoprene strap. The bassist who inspired me to buy this particular bass, Márgret Rósa, is shorter than me, and she rocks the Goth.
I like the sound of both. I took advice from this thread and killed almost all the J pickup on my Squier, have the P pickup on max. I set up the TB similarly, with the upper pickup vol up higher than the lower. Right now, it is fun to do B2B on two bass that sound so different. And I like that I’m getting the experience of two incongruent sizes of bass. I’d definitely play grindcore and black metal on the Squier, doom and goth on the Epiphone.
Thanks again for the replies.
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Being a beginner myself I can say that I am very happy with my ESP Ltd B-4E … BUT … if I knew then what I know now, I would have taken a short(er) scale bass, preferably something like a Mike Kerr Jaguar Bass (-knockoff, considering the price).
Just because it’s easier to play, in my opinion…
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I think the Mike Kerr bass could be a great second bass, it certainly looks cool. But it’s a one trick pony tone wise. Which as you like Royal Blood is probably a pretty good trick. I think the ESP is a good starter bass just from it’s versatility.
But the Mike Kerr bass is a looker…
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Yeah, me liking Royal Blood unfortunately does not correlate with me being able to play Royal Blood ^^
The Jaguar is too expensive and I’m not good enough. We’ll talk in a few years…
The reason I would go for (something like) that is the shorter neck. My ESP sounds great, but may tiny Blackstar has a (very) short neck, making it easier to play.
So I expect a 30/32" bass to play like a “real” bass, but easier, as you do not have to reach for the far away frets!?
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I like short scales. I have a couple Mustangs I like, and an EHB1005SMS, fanned fret 5 string bass which is wonderful to play because of the neck. 32" B string to 30" G.
There’s good options out there in short scales
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I have a 34” standard scale Peavey jazz bass, a 32” Squier Jaguar medium scale PJ, and a 30” short scale Gretsch Jr Jet. I find the differences minor, and I switch between them all time without difficulty. The Jaguar may be my favorite.
I also have a 30” scale Hofner violin bass — that does take a bit of adjustment, but more because of the narrow neck than the scale length.
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I find the neck profile to be a bigger factor than the scale length. And nut width. My EHB1500 is comfy to play, 41mm nut, super sweet thin U profile, and a Nordstrand pickup which have curved edges and are very comfortable to rest your thumb on. That’s a nice bass to play.
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How do you know as a beginner that an expensive bass is better suited for you?
I ask because, left to my own devices I would have assumed that one needed to spend $1k or more for a good bass, and bought an expensive Fender or Stingray from Guitar Center without much thought, I had no idea– good musical instruments are beautiful, exotic woods, lacquer finishes, housing ingenious (for the time they were invented) tech, they should be expensive. But, a good friend in a signed metal band steered me away from my instinct and toward Squier and Ibanez, a choice confirmed by other music friends, so I bought the Squier. I’m sure your circumstances are different but I’ve never played an instrument before, and the music I like and would want to play is bass heavy but not technical. And my friends in bands are in bands, although they could rock the fuck out of an $800-3000 bass, not in the budget for them.
However, even the upgrade to the Epiphone makes me wonder whether I should just buy a Ernie Ball or Warwick or Spector or Fender American. IDK, thoughts? Has just getting as a beginner “the” bass curtailed GAS for anyone or no?
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No.
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I would ALWAYS listen to the more experienced players AND go play as many different basses as possible before I purchase a bass.
I did not and I was kind of lucky.
My first bass was a ESP Ltd B-4E NS that was on sale at Thomann. I just ordered it on impulse. Never had a bass in my hands before, didn’t know BassBuzz, don’t know anybody that plays a bass.
I just liked the design - and I felt I need to learn bass, when I saw it.
When it arrived, I googled for a luthier - and luckily the best one here in Hamburg is about 100m from where I live.
So I took the bass to his shop and we spent two hours talking while he setup my bass and played it. Setup was done in 5 minutes, the rest was pure joy!
In the end he said (with glowing eyes): really not bad for such a cheap bass, so I was happy!
BUT: now I know a little more about myself, my playing style and my limitations. My musical taste has evolved due to finding new stuff I try to play.
And I noticed that while I love the ESP, shortscale would be much better.
Personally I think that long scale is just a traditional construction and virtually everything you want can be done on short scale, but much easier to play.
And I noticed that I prefer wider necks - the ESP has quite a thin neck…
So: noodle around on every bass you can get your hands on before you invest. And then buy a shortscale
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