I hope you find the joy in the bass! (I suppose the length of this post shows how much I love the bass).
To be honest, I never heard either of those songs you posted (though Deja Vu sounds quite familiar, no pun intended, probably because of much exposure to CSN over the years). I really liked that CSN tune, and if I were to learn one, my own preference would be that one.
They are quite different styles, and you mention a few bits of technique–it will come down to the style that you want to emulate.
Pick vs. fingers–a pick on a bass has a very different timbre, and it seems to me to be a bit more modern sounding. It also seems to put the bass a little bit more in the foreground. My own preference is finger style: it feels so much more comfortable and makes me feel closer to the instrument.
Capos? No need for them. As WordMan said, bassists don’t normally play chords. This has more to do with chords sounding pretty darned muddy at the low end than how many strings are on the instrument. Even a 6 string won’t really be used much for chords unless that’s the style the bassist is looking for.
Bassists are typically playing one note at a time, and everything is based on patterns that work anywhere on the neck. In guitar, capo use is driven by the combination of great sounding open chords with the complexity of getting the same sound in a different key. Bassists are normally moving all over the neck, quite familiar and comfortable with the notes all over the fretboard, so it doesn’t really matter what key something is in, the bassist simply starts the patterns in a different position. Kind of like how jazz guitarists play those crazy 4-note chords jumping all over the neck with no need for a capo…jazz cats don’t use open strings that often.
Back to the bass. Open strings don’t have the same special status on the bass that they do on a guitar, the sound isn’t that special, so no capos really needed.
One thing you will absolutely love about the instrument (as compared to the guitar) is the fact that it is tuned in 4ths regardless of how many strings there are. That transition from the G to the B string on a guitar has always annoyed me, as it upsets any patterns you have memorized. This is not the case with the bass. Standard tuning of a 6 string bass would be B E A D G C, with the B in the basement, the traditional E A D G strings in the middle and a C string (not B) on top. This means that any scale patterns you memorize that start on, say, root on your pinky, will work anywhere on the neck, on any string. Anywhere. It’s a beautiful thing.
Some thoughts on tone. Your choice of music will guide the tone you are looking for and will guide your choice of instrument.
Back in the day, the very broad brush breakdown of basses was Jazz vs. Precision bass, with the P-bass being the original thump thump bass. Active vs. passive electronics figure in this too.
The James Jamerson style is old school thump, and if that’s your style, then maybe try a passive P-bass, throw some flat wound strings on it, and to really get the sound, put a small sponge under the strings right at the bridge to dampen. Roll off the tone as well. There, you are now playing Motown.
The more modern sound would be from a Fender Jazz style (and its progeny), probably active, probably with brighter round wound strings, and maybe a pick.
This is likely what you would be playing if you want to slap. I don’t have much familiarity with this kind of setup since my own preferences is in the old-school camp.
If there is a style I would love to have, it would be that of John Entwhistle of The Who.
The Who - The Real Me
The Who - The Real Me - Isolated Bass
In my real life, my bass playing will never be like that–my wife and I perform Christian rock at church, and I spend my spare time playing cool jazz walking bass lines on an old beat up upright bass (not as hard as it sounds once you have the bass feel in your fingers)
But it doesn’t hurt to dream. And it’s a lot of fun to accompany songs.
If you have a Mac, check out an application called Capo, it allows you to accompany music at different speeds or keys, while providing a visual graph helping you to spot the notes actually played in the song. I rely heavily on it, especially since we might do a song in Eb (pianists love flats), while the only recorded version I find on YouTube is in G sung by someone with a much greater range than your average churchgoer. I simply dial it to Eb and practice away.
I’m sure similar software exists for PC.
