How to teach my son bass

[Unaspected]

Picks? - what!?!

Hehe.

It's like manual drive (fingers) Vs automatic (pick). You can more easily switch to pick if you learn finger technique but you're not going to be able to switch to fingers from pick quite so fluidly. But both of them allow you to drive a bass or play a car.

Yeah, of course ultimately all good and I am but joking...
.... but I look at virtually every bassist or bass performance I respect and it's fingerstyle. And as you say, likely trickier to start with a pick and then switch to fingers than vice versa.

There's a world of tonal variation in finger style. It feels more satisfying to play bass in that way too. Though, of course, playing at great speed and intensity is much easier with a pick - and if you're playing a set, it might be wise to rest the fingers where possible.

A song that I'm working on at the moment probably benefits from switching to pick during the choruses but I find myself drawn to wanting to reach that level of performance with my fingers. Just because. Though the tonal variation found in the switch might also add interest.

As a classical guitar player I'm pretty sure that the playing with fingers has much more possibilities in terms of sound. Even in electric instruments, such as the electric Bass, it adds more "salt" to the music. When you use a bunch of effects of course you'll miss the details of fingering.

Here's a video of a great Brazilian Bass player that didn't use picks kkk
https://youtu.be/OZRH6As6tTk

Absolutely. More expressive, more methods of approach - and heavier too if you're plucking at the strings like a hawk lifts its prey from the ground. I don't think the bass needs all that many (if any) effects. The right kind of distortion can work wonders though.

[The Noodlist]

FREE: AmpliTube SVX by IK Multimedia
https://audioplugin.deals/amplitube-svx ... -download/

Just a heads up.

[SneakyBeats]

Possibly the best would be to send him on a class. Learning the basics there and then just go to a band.