my tone puts me and my practices off :(

varunkapahi · #1 06-09-2008, 11:52 AM

I have a squier jazz bass which runs into a hartke b300 through a boss geb-7 EQ. i absolutely LOVE my tone with new strings; its frickin awesome, unbelievable so playable that i keep playing playing and playing for hours and hours. i have recorded clips direct into my sound card and they sound great, many were not ready to believe its a squier bass sound so great

!

but after the strings are a bit old my tone is something i cant really stand much, i have recycled by strings using various methods so many times that there is hardly juice left at all. i know buying new strings might help for nearly a month but the situation would be the same soon

i cant afford any better or new gear. a decent set of strings cause about US$50 here. i only like nickels and SS strings no flats. since i really enjoy slap i kill them faster

since i am a student, i cant afford new strings so often (once a year is all i can do) gear is out of question. my drummer says stop slapping (so that i save my strings, and not because it sounds ... :P ) duh i cant do that am a thumper soul.
what do it?

ps: my band sound is classic rock related and hardly ever needs any slap style playing for me. so its more of a self indulgence thing during my practice @ home and also because am slowly getting into other styles than hard rock

Yngwie 4String · #2 06-09-2008, 12:01 PM

http://www.stringsandbeyond.com/demablstbagu.html

Try these. I use them on my guitar and they have held their tone for 3 months of heavy playing. Never had strings last like that before. You might give them a shot.

fearceol · #3 06-09-2008, 12:12 PM

Try : www.webstrings.com

Their strings are very cheap. I have not tried them, but have heard good reports about them. People say they are great value. Worth a look.

varunkapahi · #4 06-09-2008, 12:13 PM

am located here in India; gear advise wont help. i perhaps need some direction regarding how to help myself out of this mentally

edit: i think i need to shift my focus to more playing, better playing. there are a lot of areas i need to improve on. i know i am getting better with my ear but i need to practice more and other things but again nothing is fun if you dont like your tone

FreaqyFrequency · #5 06-09-2008, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by varunkapahi

my drummer says stop slapping duh i cant do that am a thumper soul.

I don't really have a set of strings to recommend, but I do have a question:

How long have you been playing?

I learned what I'm about to tell you early on.

I was in a drum and bass band about a year ago now. I had been playing for about 4 months at that time, and my drummer acted "so impressed" at my abilities. I was slapping my strings more than an abusive husband, and maybe I wasn't all bad. I don't know.

What I do know is that I couldn't play a walking bassline to save my life. I was so concentrated on soloing that I just didn't know how to properly play a groove.

Also, I was slapping so much that I was really starting to annoy the drummer, and he wanted to play with me less and less because he knew what he could expect.

I will not tell you to stop slapping, but I'm telling you that I may have once been in your shoes, and I would advise you to concentrate more on being able to improvise a nice, simple, CONSISTENT groove. Once you get your rhythm down, you can start incorporating slap a little more into your playing, and pretty soon you'll find yourself a very good not only slapper, but BASSIST who can hold down the groove with a consistent rhythm.

fearceol · #6 06-09-2008, 12:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by varunkapahi

am located here in India;

The link I gave you ships to India.

varunkapahi · #7 06-09-2008, 12:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fearceol

The link I gave you ships to India.

my aunt works for the customs she told me i would have to pay duties. so strings+duties+shipping works out pretty much similar to what i would otherwise pay here

varunkapahi · #8 06-09-2008, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FreaqyFrequency

I don't really have a set of strings to recommend, but I do have a question:

How long have you been playing?

I learned what I'm about to tell you early on.

I was in a drum and bass band about a year ago now. I had been playing for about 4 months at that time, and my drummer acted "so impressed" at my abilities. I was slapping my strings more than an abusive husband, and maybe I wasn't all bad. I don't know.

What I do know is that I couldn't play a walking bassline to save my life. I was so concentrated on soloing that I just didn't know how to properly play a groove.

Also, I was slapping so much that I was really starting to annoy the drummer, and he wanted to play with me less and less because he knew what he could expect.

I will not tell you to stop slapping, but I'm telling you that I may have once been in your shoes, and I would advise you to concentrate more on being able to improvise a nice, simple, CONSISTENT groove. Once you get your rhythm down, you can start incorporating slap a little more into your playing, and pretty soon you'll find yourself a very good not only slapper, but BASSIST who can hold down the groove with a consistent rhythm.

i have been playing for about 3.5 years
i completely understand what you mean. i have only very recently ventured into slap style playing before this almost 3 years was full of groovin, improvisation on various blues, rock related music. i dont push my slap/pop thing into the band scene much if it doesnt fit in. i restrict it to my bed room practice but i love it so much

.
also the fact that i was a key member of a hard rock (where slap style is better left behind) , i was into song writing and managing the band.

my drummer said stop slapping as a joke when i told him about this problem and also told him that slapping deadens them faster

Snarf · #9 06-09-2008, 08:09 PM

To help your strings last longer, wash your hands before picking up the instrument, then wipe down the strings with a clean cloth afterwards.

ric1312 · #10 06-09-2008, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by varunkapahi

I have a squier jazz bass which runs into a hartke b300 through a boss geb-7 EQ. i absolutely LOVE my tone with new strings; its frickin awesome, unbelievable so playable that i keep playing playing and playing for hours and hours. i have recorded clips direct into my sound card and they sound great, many were not ready to believe its a squier bass sound so great

!

but after the strings are a bit old my tone is something i cant really stand much, i have recycled by strings using various methods so many times that there is hardly juice left at all. i know buying new strings might help for nearly a month but the situation would be the same soon

i cant afford any better or new gear. a decent set of strings cause about US$50 here. i only like nickels and SS strings no flats. since i really enjoy slap i kill them faster

since i am a student, i cant afford new strings so often (once a year is all i can do) gear is out of question. my drummer says stop slapping (so that i save my strings, and not because it sounds ... :P ) duh i cant do that am a thumper soul.
what do it?

ps: my band sound is classic rock related and hardly ever needs any slap style playing for me. so its more of a self indulgence thing during my practice @ home and also because am slowly getting into other styles than hard rock

It's been my experience that no amount of gear, tweaking patches or knob twiddling will give you same sound as new strings. New strings are teh shiznit.

When my bongo is set up right with new string and my favorite patch it literally growls. I sweat a lot when I play, so If I play every day the strings go dead in two weeks or less. Then it's struggle to hear notes on the G string against a distorted guitar.

I don't know maybe find a coated string that lasts longer?

Deacon_Blues · #11 06-10-2008, 01:08 AM

I used elixir strings for the very same reason for about 4-5 years in a row. If you like the zing of new strings, try a set of these. They will go dead like all strings, but so slowly that you can't really hear the change over time. You notice the difference only when you change to new strings. I kept the elixirs on for mostly around half a year at a time, a bit depending on how much I played.

I realized that even though these strings costed twice more than "normal" strings, it was still much more economical than to change strings once a month or more often.

I don't use elixirs now, because I'm using flats mostly nowadays. However, the next set that goes onto my fretless squier VM jazz will probably be a set of elixirs - they sound great on fretless and have a smoother feel that is better for the fretboard than normal rounds.

manicbassman · #12 06-10-2008, 04:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by varunkapahi

ps: my band sound is classic rock related and hardly ever needs any slap style playing for me. so its more of a self indulgence thing during my practice @ home and also because am slowly getting into other styles than hard rock

your band sound takes priority as you have limited budget and strings are expensive... simply put, stop slapping...

Anyway, don't they have locally made strings available in India? It's a big country...

varunkapahi · #13 06-10-2008, 10:11 AM

yeah there is one brand which does manufacture strings. one of each type i mean acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar. no choices over anything not even gauge! they decide what you should play :P and anyway they suck big time

i am trying to put my focus into finger style funk and reggae, am trying to like playing other styles on the bass and keyboards