Plucking bass strings the same as guitar?

[guitar344]

Do Bassist use the same technique as guitar player to pluck strings? Just started to learn bass.

I always pull the strings, alternating between my index and middle fingers. However, many use picks. Carol Kaye, who played on many of the hits of the late sixties and seventies as part of the Wrecking Crew, and on many movie and TV soundtracks, uses a pick.

[Silly Moustache]

bass or bass guitar ?

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by A-Mac

I always pull the strings, alternating between my index and middle fingers. However, many use picks...

I use a similar two-finger technique, except that mine is more closely related to that of a flamenco guitarist; I'll also use a silver Herco nylon pick for certain styles, or if I want a stronger initial attack from a short-scale bass. If you have any orchestral string background - particularly cello - you might want to start by adapting your pizzicato technique to the horizontal "lap" position of an electric bass guitar...

PSA #1: As a beginner, you might find flatwound strings - especially a lighter-gauge set (40-95/45-100) - easier to finger; I used to set up the instruments at my old school and this approach was very successful with the younger/smaller students in particular - highly recommended...
PSA #2: A bolt-on, full-scale 34" neck is a formidable hunk of wood, and many short-scale instruments (particularly Hofner-type hollowbodies) are very lightly built - EADG standard is the order of the day, period...

[JonPR]

Assuming you're talking bass guitar, bassists in the jazz tradition tend to use the same technique as for double bass: picking upwards with index and/or middle, but with a kind of sideways approach (same as double bass, where the fingers naturally approach from that angle), often resting the thumb on the guitar (Fender basses have a thumb rest for this purpose).

Bassists in the rock tradition - especially if they begin on normal guitar - tend to use a pick. Some will also play using the thumb picking downwards, for a softer sound.

Bassist that play in different styles (such as session players) will of course be aware of the different sounds of each technique, and use whichever is right for the music. There are things you can do with a pick that you can't (easily) do with fingers, and vice versa.

Funk bass has also introduced a tradition of "slap and pop" bass, deriving partly from rockabilly/blues double bass styles, which often used percussive right-hand techniques on uptempo tunes, adding a tapping sound to the bass tone. On electric bass, this involves the thumb as well the fingers, hitting the strings as well as pulling them away to slap back against the frets. This percussive technique has also migrated to guitar more recently.