Stupid Question but do you detune a bass for different pick attacks?

Fellow dabbler. Always tuned to zero cents. It's likely both a matter of technique and tone to get a good pick attack without pulling sharp. In my limited experience (and to my tastes), heavier picks have not been the best approach. I prefer slightly softer picks for bass than I do on guitars. It may be that your picking angle is the culprit (and there are two angles to consider here, which is hard to convey in words - but one is "rotation" along an axis perpendicular to the body of the instrument, and another is along an axis which is parallel to the strings).

I think particularly for bass, there are more components to the sound of the attack than we typically think of for guitar, hereunder "clackiness". It's also a matter of what you want the attack to do in context of the song. Is attack really all that important, or can the main attack come from (especially) the kick drum instead?

"Real" bass players does not use a pick

Cheers !

Quote from DonPetersen

I always tune the attack portion of the note, I play ~8th notes at a medium tempo and tune to around 0 cents, but a few cents off is good enough, a guitar (bass) will never be 100% in tune anyway.

Me too; for both guitar and bass.

Me too. Being flat seems a lot better than being sharp for some reason.

Quote from Hoki Toki

"Real" bass players does not use a pick

Cheers !

Ask Carol Kaye. 🙃😊

Quote from Ingolf

Ask Carol Kaye. 🙃😊

... or Chris Squire, Paul McCartney, Greg Lake and many more.

It was a joke

I play bass with or without a pick, depends on the song / tune.

Fretless bass always without

Cheers !

Michael Anthony tuned his low string down a bit so he could pound it.

Pluck the string firmly and tune to the initial attack, not the decay. 👍

... and put the pick away. 😄