Originally published June 3, 2013, lightly edited for clarity.
When it comes to technique, I love efficiency. I feel that most excess motion is wasted energy which I would rather have channeled into my bass playing in a more productive way. Put another way, why work harder than you have to. When I started using a pick, I used to like to have the heel of my picking hand rest on the bass for support. It helped make it easier to put more power into the string by resting my hand against the bass. This was good for a while until my technique developed to the point to where I wanted to move the picking hand around for more advanced lines and to pick multiple strings. I then realized that having my hand resting on the bass was making these things much harder to do. After struggling to make it work, I asked some guitar players about it and they suggested letting my picking hand float over the strings. It took some work to get that comfortable, but once it started to kick in, the things I was trying to play became much easier to do. If you like to play your bass with a pick, give it a try and let me know what you think. The video below shows this in action. Right-hand technique is one of the fundamentals I teach. For personalized guidance on right-hand technique, online bass lessons via Zoom are available.
