playing bass with a pick help

It all depends on whether you're planning on moving away from punk or not. Don't get me wrong, it's your choice, but for me my skills didn't start improving until i ditched the pick and learned some harder/more complicated stuff; think about that. Anyways, for now stick near the bridge area (not super close mind you, as the strings will be too taught for a pick) and I guess keep doing your downstrokes.
Hope that helped.

Putting you bass higher will help, if you have it low. It has to be high enough that your picking motion can come from the elbow. You want to pick by swinging your forearm up and down, not by moving your wrist or your upper arm.

You should only use the first few millimeters of the pick. Otherwise, you may catch one the strings rather than just plucking it and sound bad. I like to use a 2mm thick pick.

Playing solely with downstrokes can help capture the feel of a song, if it's an all downstroke kind of song, but it will sound the same as an upstroke if you're picking correctly. Do what you want; it's not really important.

Slant your pick, as described here: http://www.guitarprinciples.com/Guitar_Technique/Slant.htm . That page deals with guitar, but the principle is exactly the same on bass.

Playing near the bridge will be more trebly than playing near the neck, and the neck will sound rounder. Choose depending on the tone you want.

I like to let my hand touch the strings lightly as I play. It keeps unwanted noise down, and gives you a reference.

You just need to practice, while doing things correctly as outlined above, and you'll get it. Anything involving picking is a good exercise. Something that's easy on the fretting hand might be a good idea. You'll only have to worry about one hand at once.

Hmmm.

If you'd care for a second opinion.

I use picks ranging from .75mm to 1mm. I find that thicker picks catch much more on the strings and slow me down, as well as giving a duller sound.

I usually use "alternate picking", i.e. pick down and up alternately, but on the odd song I use downstrokes. The first is much easier and allows faster playing (twice as fast, nearly), but the latter gives a more even rhythm and heavier sound.

When alternate picking, I only move my wrist, not the whole forearm and certainly not the whole arm. When downstroking, I move the whole arm.

I like to hang my bass fairly low so that my picking arm hangs nearly straight down, but I hold the neck fairly high, approximately shoulder height. My shoulder gets very tired if I raise the bass higher. But everyone has to find the position they prefer.

hi, im somewhat new to playing the bass ..... ive been learning mainly punk rock songs like green day, blink 182, and the ramones

anyways, i use a pick to play and im finding it hard to hit the strings consistenly while strumming (sometimes i miss the string on the upstroke, or i dont fully hit it ..... and it just doesnt sound right)

When you say 'strumming', do you mean using the pick and hitting all the strings like when you're holding a chord, or do you mean picking one string at a time, over and over again?
i read ealier on this board that for this style of music (punk), i should always downstroke ... but that was for guitar (not bass) .... and ive seen bands play live, and ive noticed bass players strumming up and down ... which is best, downstrokes only or 'up and down'?

My suggestion would be to learn alternate picking in which upstrokes and downstrokes are used equally. I think this would give you more depth to your playing, and if a song calls for just downstrokes, then you can do that with ease. You don't have to learn just one thing or the other; it's best if you learn more things so you can have more to select from in the future.
i hear that im only suposed to use the first few millimeters of the pick, is this true? would this help? what thickness of pick would be best?

Yes, you mostly just use the tip, but the thickness depends on how hard you hold the pick and how hard you play. If you hold it really hard and play really hard, then a thinner pick might work; if you hold it more gently, and don't play too agressively, a thicker pick would be best. It depends on your touch.

i also see bass players that strum near the bridge ..... but i also see some playing up above the pickups (almost at the neck)

This, as the others have said, is for a difference in tone, apart from the tone controls on your bass and the tone controls on your amp. If you've never done this, then try it, it's pretty interesting: Set your bass and amp up, and then get your pick and start picking the bottom string (E or 4th string, depending on how you're tuned). Start just picking the open string near the bridge -- just in front of where the string comes over the bridge pieces -- and then, still picking, move the pick toward the neck, slowly. You'll hear the difference pretty clearly as you change where you're picking the string. There's a lot of tones between those two places -- the bridge and neck -- and it's just another thing you can add to the list of sounds you can make on the bass.
ive experimented with all of this and im still finding it difficult .... perhaps i need some practice .... does anyone know of any excerises that might help?

It gets easier as you go on. When you practice though, if you really focus your thoughts on what you're doing and really listen to what you're playing, things'll go along faster.

Take care and keep on going man. :)

thanx for the tips ......... its greatly appreciated ........ i guess i just need to be more patient