Is It My Technique?

[vince a]

Five year bassist and many, many years lead guitarist . . . have had flats (TI or Chromes) on all my basses since the beginning of my bass-playing career.

Yesterday, I installed a set of Dunlop nickel plated 45-125 roundwounds on my Lakland 5 string JO jazz. Dang, there is a lot of string noise - I almost put the flats back on, but didn't. I'm so used to a slight slide into most fretted notes. I hear many bassists play with roundwounds on their basses with little or no noise.

Do I need to turn down the treble? When the strings break-in, will there be less noise? Is this a crappy technique? Suggestions? Exercises?

[hailet]

Just personal choice but I have always hated round wound strings and the noise they make. But I suppose it's like anything, you can get used to it.
Good Luck

[Nashrakh]

Originally Posted by vince a

Do I need to turn down the treble? When the strings break-in, will there be less noise? Is this a crappy technique? Suggestions? Exercises?

Yes/Yes/Maybe

Turning down the treble will help, as will some age on the strings.

An adjustment in technique can't hurt though. Play more with your fingertips instead of laying them flat on the neck as if you were muting - that's something I noticed myself. When playing flats I am a bit more heavy with the left hand muting which on rounds would be squeak city.

Exercise: Learn to play chords, that'll set you straight!

[Tupac]

That's why I prefer to keep noisy rounds on, whips you into shape.

[vince a]

Yeah, I do play flat handed . . . am learning the chords . . . just can't find any on line to learn (other than guitar chords modified for the G string) . . . ok, back to guitar style fretting instead of flat handed . . . oh great . . . thanks guys . . .

[dave64o]

Originally Posted by vince a

Five year bassist and many, many years lead guitarist . . . have had flats (TI or Chromes) on all my basses since the beginning of my bass-playing career.

Yesterday, I installed a set of Dunlop nickel plated 45-125 roundwounds on my Lakland 5 string JO jazz. Dang, there is a lot of string noise - I almost put the flats back on, but didn't. I'm so used to a slight slide into most fretted notes. I hear many bassists play with roundwounds on their basses with little or no noise.

Do I need to turn down the treble? When the strings break-in, will there be less noise? Is this a crappy technique? Suggestions? Exercises?

Like everyone else said, it's the nature of the beast with rounds.

Also, when you say you hear little to no noise from other bassists playing rounds, are you talking about when they're playing solo'd or when they're playing in a band mix? In the mix, string noise from rounds will likely be much less noticeable, unless you're really pushing the treble.

As for solo'd, search on YouTube for solo'd bass tracks from well known songs from monster players. It can be surprising how awful the solo'd tracks actually sound. But put those tracks in the mix and all you hear is the talent oozing through.

[Mushroo]

Did you re-setup your bass after this radical string change?

[vince a]

Originally Posted by Mushroo

Did you re-setup your bass after this radical string change?

Not yet, but will do so this afternoon . . .