Hi,

Simple question, I assume. Everyone knows that guitarists sometimes pick so fast that their hands look blurry. But what about bassists? Are they supposed to pick just as fast?

When it comes to finger-style right-hand technique, I can't imagine how that could be accomplished? It sounds inhuman, especially during blast beats and fast double bass playing!

Any opinions?

It's not impossible, just some good ringfinger (and pinky) technique to help you out and you're done.
But it's not done that much indeed. Otherwise everything blends in too much.

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Its possible. I can fingerpick faster than my guitarist, and he sits around practicing Necrophagist songs all day...so that's kinda saying something. I tap my fingers almost all the time to keep up my speed. Its all about practice.

EDIT: And I only use 3 fingers, because my pinky is fucked up after I broke it as a kid and it hurts to bend it, so I can't use it to play bass.

an old friend of mine I hav'nt seen in a while used to be able to fingerpick very quickly, he would use all 4 fingers, starting with his index and ending with his pinky, by the time he got to his pinky he already had his index finger ready for the next note.
he could keep up with a guitar's tremolo pick easy.

but he definatly most impressed me with his slap-pop sweeps and tapping.

Theres an alex webster vid on you tube were he talks about this , were he fretts with all four fingers and picks with 3 or 4 fingers and "just saws away at it" as he puts it , been working on the he does it myself, we dont even play metal in the band im in , but I love metal so it's something I do for me.