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Originally Posted by jmcdan3  Ok. First of all, I am probably gonna get shot down for this thread. THIS IS NOT INTENDED TO BE BE SPAM PROMOTING A BAND. I just joined this band (myspace.com/pikesvillain OR pikesvillain.com) and I play a vintage Precision Bass. Is anyone willing to check out the songs and give me an honest opinion on whether or not I should be using flats or rounds? The videos are more rock oriented and some of the songs have more of a hip-hop feel. Should I keep it straight in your face bass (flats) or more punchy and dirty (rounds, the rock aspect). Please do not shoot me down....I am NOT trying to promote this band, I just wanna know what everyone thinks about the string choice I should pursue. Thanks....I hope  |
Well, its hard to ascertain how the flats would change the sound with what you have recorded, but I do have a few things to add about flats.
IMO, a good set of flats (I prefer Thomastik Infeld flats) can cover a lot of ground sonically. You can cop a dark-toned Jamerson vibe by rolling off the tone knob and turning off your tweeter, but at the same time you have a player like Steve Harris who gets a bright punchy tone out of his flatwound-strung pbass. Also, if you go and check out Chuck Rainey's bass part on Steely Dan's "Peg", you'll hear that yes, a pbass with flats can also sound pretty bad ass when slapped. Its been my experience that flats add a nice low mid hump to your fingerstyle sound that IMO/IME cut through a band a little better than rounds, at least with a Pbass.
Then again, a set of half-wounds would be a good compromise as well. It really depends on what type of slap sound you're after. Do you prefer Larry Graham's dark thump, or Marcus Miller's razor-sharp zing?
Also, this thread would be better served with some pics of your vintage Pbass!
I hope this helps, and good luck. Cool band by the way.
right now it has d'addario chromes. flats give it more staight up hip-hop bass but rounds are edgy for the rock stuff....hard choice!
