what do blues players perfer?

[60's Bluesman]

just wondering if im on the same page with my fellow blues low enders. what do you use for old school stuff like bb king or john lee hooker songs?

[dmusic148]

Prefer what? Bass? Strings? Amp?

[thunderbolt]

Based solely on the fact that this is the strings forum, I'm going to go out on a limb and say.....


cables?

[62Jazzbass]

I use flats for all the blues stuff I do. Currently TIs, formerly Roto RS77s.

Every once in a while, I want to use rounds....say for some more modern blues stuff like Joe Bonamassa. If I had my way I'd have two Jazz basses, one stung with each, but that ain't the case right now.

You can go to my bands site (in my profile) to hear my jazz with the roto flats, DI to the board.

[JimmyM]

i've worked with blues guys who liked flats and amps with all the tone knobs turned off except the bass, i've worked with blues guys who like active neck-throughs and bright rounds. just do whatever you like and let your playing be the thing they remember.

[60's Bluesman]

what i like is the dull sounding strings for blues songs so it kind of sounds like a upright. flats would do that right?

[JimmyM]

yep. except for ti and rotosound flats, which never go dead ever.

[60's Bluesman]

do you have brand suggestion as well jim?

[racket]

LaBella 760m's with foam jamed under the strings at the bridge.

[JimmyM]

i use d'addario chromes but if you're looking for the thuddiest strings out there, i'd say get a set of fenders and wait 3-4 months. the chromes are great but they take longer to get thuddy. but as it turns out i don't like flats that get quite as thuddy as the fenders, so the chromes are working out well. everything else is just way too expensive for me to even consider.

[standupright]

dr flats for me. i've been around a lot of other blues bassist in the circuit out here and i seem to be the only one with flats and not running the smiley face eq.

[Rocky]

I use Fender 9050ML's on a CS 64 J-bass. My backuo is a 51 reissue with Fender 9050M's And both basses do the job just fine

[bassbenj]

Originally Posted by 60's Bluesman

what i like is the dull sounding strings for blues songs so it kind of sounds like a upright. flats would do that right?

Um, sort of. Personally for upright imitation I use my Carvin Semi-hollow body acoustic with nylon wrapped strings (its fretless) and a piece of foam shoved under the strings near the bridge.

I also use it without the foam in brighter modes as well. Excellent traditional blues bass.

My main blues bass is (or should I say are) G&L L-2500. I have fretted and fretless with D'addario half rounds on both. Drives most any blues band like a hammer! At first I was using my Fender Jazz for blues (it has flats) and then one day I was at a blues jam and the backing band bassist was playing a G&L L-2500 like mine. AND IT KILLED! I just HAD to see what his setup was and now mine is like that too. So now it's the G&Ls for blues and the Jazz sits home. In raunchy environments I take the SX Jazz with rounds instead of the expensive G&L or Fender Basses. That works very well too. The added series switch gives a nice deep thump and the tone control rounds off the bright edge as much as you need.

The bottom line is just experiment and try things and trust your ears. Don't be afraid to try various basses and various strings and setups. Some won't work, but some will.

[Rocky]

playing with your thumb while muting with the palm on your right hand gets a good upright like sound.

[Chris K]

Originally Posted by 60's Bluesman

what i like is the dull sounding strings for blues songs so it kind of sounds like a upright. flats would do that right?

Don't let the other side get to read this - upright = dull?

I find that I can get a decent 'upright-like' tone with TI's and some equalizing - so I disagree with Jimmy here.

For dull -sturdy -thumpy - muddy blues lows I would rely on La Bella 760M.

Also see my thread 'Yet another comparison of flats'.

Good luck

[60's Bluesman]

Originally Posted by Rocky

playing with your thumb while muting with the palm on your right hand gets a good upright like sound.

now ppl have discouraged me from doing this, it comes natural to me for some reason. ive tried to model my playing style after (my hero) paul mccartney he uses his thumb and a pick in every song ive seen him do, usualy the thumb tho. 95% of bassist ive talked to on here and from my part of the world say that using your thumb is very inaffective and slow. you may not be able to do a jaco bassline with it but the thumb ive found can be used in alot of songs that are of a slower speed.

[scottbass]

TI flats. When I want upright thump I pluck with index and middle finger together while palm muting. Up near the neck. I even mounted a thumb rest up there on one of my basses.

[DavePlaysBass]

Sadowsky flats will give you more definition than a lot of flats but still have the quick decay and subdued top end.

[John Wentzien]

Am I the only guy that uses SS rounds?

[Nashrakh]

For some rather modern tone on a blues (rock) recording, check out Lance Lopez's "Wall of Soul".

Although I'm a P with flats guy myself, I kinda dig the sound that guy gets with a 5er Jazz with rounds.