Picks - What's your preference?

[Bass Guy]

I used to swear by the good ol' Dunlop Tortex .88mm picks- mainly because Metallica used them, and I was 16.

But after falling under the spell of Danny Gatton, I switched to Fender medium teardrops and my playing style changed overnight.

Nowadays, on the rare occasions I play guitar with a pick, I use Jim Dunlop Jazz III picks- ideally with the Tru-Grip rough surface.

For bass I am predominantly a fingerstyle player, but when I need to play with a pick I use thumbpicks. This enables me to switch from one form of attack to another within seconds. I found a brand of thumbpicks other than Jim Dunlop to try called Pickboy- they're much thinner and snappier than the Dunlop thumbpicks with out being too flimsy to withstand bass strings.

[pablopepper]

I used to swear by the good ol' Dunlop Tortex .88mm picks- mainly because Metallica used them, and I was 16.

But after falling under the spell of Danny Gatton, I switched to Fender medium teardrops and my playing style changed overnight.

Nowadays, on the rare occasions I play guitar with a pick, I use Jim Dunlop Jazz III picks- ideally with the Tru-Grip rough surface.

For bass I am predominantly a fingerstyle player, but when I need to play with a pick I use thumbpicks. This enables me to switch from one form of attack to another within seconds. I found a brand of thumbpicks other than Jim Dunlop to try called Pickboy- they're much thinner and snappier than the Dunlop thumbpicks with out being too flimsy to withstand bass strings.

I was very anti pick on bass for a long time. Then I started playing in a punk band and found I needed the extra attack and speed over fingerstyle. Hate using them for pretty much anything else. Gotta play to the situation, I guess.

[Bass Guy]

I always tell people starting on bass to learn both pick and fingers. You never know when you'll need one over the other. I initially found conventional picks very hard to use on bass when I started, so I immediately worked on my right hand callouses instead. The pressure required to hold the pick and give enough attack on the string was too much for me at the time.

Thumbpicks provided an elegant solution for me- still can't use them on guitar, though!

[Fretworn]

I prefer picks with grip - like Dunlop nylons. Find I can have a looser grip that way. .60s for acoustic, .76s for electric. I do have some 1.5mm Gator Grips I use for bass.