I don’t like round wounds either but I to am struggling getting Harris technique but with a pick it is nothing but I feel like im cheating when I use one
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I have come to learn that there are some songs that people who play with fingers that have string jumps and string skips that I sometimes have trouble reproducing with a pick but also haven’t been playing for that long so maybe just haven’t learned the best way but some stuff people play with fingers are hard to with a pick and some stuff to do with pick is hard to do with fingers for example hysteria by muse is pretty easy for me with a pick but hard for me to do with my fingers but I see other bass players do it all the time
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Getting the right picks is critical. I was having a bad time with a thin guitar pick; moving up to 0.88 - 1.0mm made all the difference.
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Hey @creepymcpeepers !
I don’t think the right answer is to give a particular pick width. in fact (and as a guitar player you must know that), it’s some kind of equation between the pick rigidity and the string tension (itself being an equation between the string gauge, the string length (scale) and the tuning).
what I feel is that I need the right tension to have a nice and comprehensive “rebound” when I hit a string. and when in doubt, if I need to play fast, I prefer more than less tension. I play mostly with a light gauge stringset (on Greenie) but when I need to play really fast, a heavier gauge works better. that’s the reason why I might very probably get a second Fender Precision, basically the same thing than Greenie but with a heavier gauge.
I use for years 1.14 Ultex picks , it’s a bit heavy. I have also 1.40 ones but it’s really too much. I think @howard is a bit light talking about .88 , as it seems a bit too flubby to me. but again we don’t have the same feel when we play so at some point it’s very personnal. not saying @howard is wrong, just that .88 won’t be enough for me.
but if you want to play fast, at some point you need to “know” where the string is at a given time, and it won’t work very well with a very flubby pick. also a flubby pick will bring a very clicky attack, which I love, but it’s not very compatible with very fast playing in my opinion.
I undestand but can’t agree much. Harris has his (wonderful) playing style but you’re not Steve Harris. you’re not a worth person, just not the same, and so you don’t have to choose the same technique about how you attack when you play bass …
playing with a pick is not wrong or cheating or anything, it’s even not easier than alternate plucking, it’s just something different. really, I like both. but what I don’t like is that playing with a pick could be considered as “less prestigious” or a thing for “fake bassist” or I don’t know what similar bullshit 
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I love the sound of the pick, and I’ve acquired a nice collection of great picks, but just can’t seem to get the speed and accuracy of string jumping with the pick that I can with my fingers.
@terb I don’t think there’s anything less prestigious or fake about playing with a pick, and in fact I admire those who are proficient with it.
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yeah the pick and the bare fingers give a very different feel. in fact, as you know I’m a mostly-pick-player but I don’t see myself playing only with a pick. bare fingers alternate plucking has become (after B2B) a really big part of my expression range with my instrument, and from my recent covers you might have seen I’m kind of alternating between pick and alternating plucking
in some situations I can’t really imagine playing without a pick (my last cover for example, where I really need that attack) and in some other situations I really need that organic warm intimate feel with bare fingers (like on this track).
might record a short video to illustrate what I was saying about the “rebound” with the pick because I’m not sure it was very clear. please ask if a video shot would help make the thing more understandable.
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No worries at all there - .88 is what I would say in the minimum viable to me. I much prefer 1.0mm-1.2mm Ultex myself.
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I tried different materials in the past. I really hate metal picks, it just does not sound right for me. about other materials … I’d say, why ? the classic plastic things work well … 
yeah @PamPurrs it’s a very different motion, indeed. much more natural with fingers. with a pick, the down/up technique is pretty hard to master. you probably have seen @creepymcpeepers and myself do that on our covers and it seemed to be really easy and natural … and yes, it is for a guitar player (like us two) but I can say that this technique takes a lot of time to become natural and efficient.
what can be really really hard (even more with a bass than with a guitar because everything is bigger), I believe, is playing in down/up with a pick and jumping from a string to the 3rd one, I mean from E to D or A to G. the motion is pretty weird. as an example, you can see that on my Dope cover when I play the octaves (it’s in Drop D so technically D to D and A to G) (when the lyrics say “you spin me round …”) :
requires some practice but you can do it if you invest some time in this technique 
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Hey what’s your YouTube channel? Man dope came to my town a few months ago I actually helped them put all their equipment. Back on the truck…I clicked that link in the reply it took me to my channel
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to be sure :
my YT channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQnWflSlx3eL_htadhTayBA
and my site with the covers : https://basse.laurentberta.com/
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I’m really loving these Jim Dunlop stubby picks. They seem too small, but when you get them between your fingers, it’s easy to travel from one string to another without accidentally scraping across the wrong string along the way.
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I just ordered a pack to try out. Thanks Pam!
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I hope you like them as much as I do!
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i don’t really use a pick much anymore, but i did when i was a kid banging away at ramones type songs, i strangely could only use guitar picks. like the paper thin ones. i still use only that type if i need one.
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I’ve really started to like the tone and feel of this wood pick. But it does require a lot more effort to play on the E & A strings. I also bought a variety pack as well and I always end up picking up this wood pick. It also has grooves for your thumb and index finger, so you never have to adjust it while playing.
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Neat. I could see wood as a material working out well! How fast does it wear down?
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I’ll let you know as time passes. So far its just the black scrapping that you see in the picture and that’s after ohh probably 20-30 hours of playing.
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Somehow I have found myself in a place where I am using a pick nearly 100% of the time.
Inevitable given the styles I like I guess.
My muting still sucks with them though, need to seriously up my game.
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Yeah, muting is a problem for me as well, which is why I’ve pretty much given up on playing with a pick.
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