I'm not a bass player and a couple of you might remember I picked up a cheap Ibanez bass a few months ago... Anyway, I'm workin' on this new intrumental and it's time to lay down the bass track...now on my guitars I play with my finger tips but on these damn basses (no offense to you bottom boys) I have to use the pads of my fingers, (plus those frets are so far apart) My problem is these strings are irritating the hell out my fingers... I know they make flatwound strings for basses... will those irritate my fingers as well? Sorry I posted here and not in the "Lowdown" but I sorta' know ya'll here...

Seriously, I'm not a bass player, but I stayed in a Holiday Inn Express last night..........

.....er, I mean, I do have a bass I play every now and again. I can think of two solutions;

-play more bass and build up those "bass calluses"
-for a change of pace, and to give your fingers a break, try a pick on that bass.

I can't wait to hear your new tune. Hey, what happened to the first one you posted?? I really really liked that one.

Get some nice smooth flats - NOT Rotosounds, they are still pretty rough - try D'Addario Chromes.

You'll get a less 'zingy' sound and the flats re-enforce the fundamental, so if it were a 5 string you'd get a better 'B'.

If you are after 'thump' you might like the seamless Rotosound 55s covered with black nylon and used by Sir Paul himself.

G.

"...will the flatwounds help out or should I just tuff it out..."

"...(I really don't get alot of pleasure out of playing bass)."

There are two types of callouses. I always found that guitar callouses were hard and bass callouses were soft and leathery. The problem is, when you have guitar callouses, the toughness pressed into the bass strings causes irritation. However, I also always found that, given a few sessions, the guitar callouses would soften up enough for me to play bass. Although, then you'll find guitar strings to feel "sharp".

Eventually, your fingers will develop callouses that seem to work out ok with both, although they will always favour the instrument you play the most.

Long story short, you'll get used to it...

Get some nice smooth flats - NOT Rotosounds, they are still pretty rough - try D'Addario Chromes.

You'll get a less 'zingy' sound and the flats re-enforce the fundamental, so if it were a 5 string you'd get a better 'B'.

If you are after 'thump' you might like the seamless Rotosound 55s covered with black nylon and used by Sir Paul himself.

G.

Ask a bass player about the trick of boiling them in water and vinegar to a get another year or so out of them.

Oh... and vinegar?

I tried boiling the strings once, about twenty odd years ago, but found that it didn't really change things much. They certainly didn't sound "like new", they just didn't sound quite as old.

Maybe with the vinegar..? I certainly hope it works. Like smoking banana peels, it's one of those things that really ought to work.

So for now...it's the pick.

Randy

Don't bass players like the sound of older strings better than their sound when the strings are brand new???

Wimp!!!

G.

Yep...