Switching to pickstyle, looking for tips

[SugarMaple]

After a long break from bass, I am resuming playing, starting with some back-to-basics refresher work on scales and theory, and a switch from fingerstyle (which I used primarily for 15+ years) to pickstyle. I have always loved the sound of pickstyle bass and want to give it a go now. I'm wondering if you EBMM afficianados have any good tips for me as I start out down this path.

My #1 bass is my '09 EBMM Sterling HS. For pickstyle, it seems more natural to me to 'wear' the bass a little higher up when I stand (ie. shorten the guitar strap), and place my right hand on top of the bridge saddles lightly to pick with. It seems like my favorite pickup setting on the Sterling HS for pickstyle is the second from the neck setting, which I believe is coils 2 and 3 in series. Does that setting approximate how a P-bass's pickups are set up? It sounds P-bassish, but better, to me.

When I played fingerstyle, the rear humbucker was always my favorite pickup selection. I'm glad I got an HS, to have the choices now.

Just wondering if my right-hand position is typical, and if there are any other tips. Thanks, guys!

 

[Lynottfan]

Try a range of pick thicknesses to see which one gives you the best overall feel, as a lot of pick playing tends to be driving rock tempos, 16ths for example, a heavy and hard pick tends to be the norm, I use a 076mm jim dunlop and its on the softer side because I feel that I can get funkier with a softer pick.

They other thing to watch is you sound, something I find with pick and finger style players is that some of them have a sound that all you can hear is finger clanking or pick click as I call it, you don't actually get a well defined bass note for a want of a better term, in this instance look to your treble end of the amp or on board compressor.


Good luck mate, its a great way to play the bass, you will enjoy it, but keep up the chops on all techniques is also my advice.

 

[SugarMaple]

Try a range of pick thicknesses to see which one gives you the best overall feel, as a lot of pick playing tends to be driving rock tempos, 16ths for example, a heavy and hard pick tends to be the norm, I use a 076mm jim dunlop and its on the softer side because I feel that I can get funkier with a softer pick.

They other thing to watch is you sound, something I find with pick and finger style players is that some of them have a sound that all you can hear is finger clanking or pick click as I call it, you don't actually get a well defined bass note for a want of a better term, in this instance look to your treble end of the amp or on board compressor.


Good luck mate, its a great way to play the bass, you will enjoy it, but keep up the chops on all techniques is also my advice.

Thanks, I appreciate the advice. I am using heavy Dunlop picks, the black ones. I'll try some other gauges too, that is something I did not think of.

I agree with keeping chops on all techniques. My pickstyle needs more work, plus I am looking to reduce how hard I play with both hands. For years, I played fingerstyle, and played very hard, too hard probably. So I am going to switch to primarily pickstyle and try to get some good habits as far as lighter approach to both hands.

Thanks again for the reply.