Addicted to Glove(s)

[vindibona1]

It's been some time since I started messing around playing with musicians gloves. Obviously anyone that has followed Scott Devine might be curious about them. And so I got some, liked them, practiced with them... and now are addicted to them. I simply don't like playing bass without them. Getting around is so much easier with the left hand. Zero stiction. On the right hand I can get a really warm attack but can leave my fingernails a little long and can add a little thump-ping through the glove for more articulation.

While COVID has shut down most of my playing for the last year, I did a few "parking lot" gigs in the fall. Toward the end of one I thought we were about done, took the gloves off and then realized we'd be up another 15 minutes. I played one tune and just had to put the gloves back on again. I hadn't realized how much easier these gloves made playing bass for me. Sure I can still play without gloves and at home I might be too lazy to dig them out of the bag for just a quick few minutes of playing but I'm aware that I'm not wearing them. Flatwound, roundwound, all the same. After a year+ I prefer playing with gloves. Addicted might be an overstatement but sure makes for a catchy song title.

As a side benefit there isn't much if any skin, grease, oil or dirt that gets in the windings. To my surprise, strings that I put on early 2020 or even late 2019 still sound pretty fresh without boiling or cleaning. Try em. You might be pleasantly surprised once you get past the slightly different tactile sense.

 

[JimmyM]

It's been some time since I started messing around playing with musicians gloves. Obviously anyone that has followed Scott Devine might be curious about them. And so I got some, liked them, practiced with them... and now are addicted to them. I simply don't like playing bass without them. Getting around is so much easier with the left hand. Zero stiction. On the right hand I can get a really warm attack but can leave my fingernails a little long and can add a little thump-ping through the glove for more articulation.

While COVID has shut down most of my playing for the last year, I did a few "parking lot" gigs in the fall. Toward the end of one I thought we were about done, took the gloves off and then realized we'd be up another 15 minutes. I played one tune and just had to put the gloves back on again. I hadn't realized how much easier these gloves made playing bass for me. Sure I can still play without gloves and at home I might be too lazy to dig them out of the bag for just a quick few minutes of playing but I'm aware that I'm not wearing them. Flatwound, roundwound, all the same. After a year+ I prefer playing with gloves. Addicted might be an overstatement but sure makes for a catchy song title.

As a side benefit there isn't much if any skin, grease, oil or dirt that gets in the windings. To my surprise, strings that I put on early 2020 or even late 2019 still sound pretty fresh without boiling or cleaning. Try em. You might be pleasantly surprised once you get past the slightly different tactile sense.

Still going strong with them, eh? I could never quite get used to them. Plus I actually want my strings to go dead these days. Used to love the zing, but I leave them on till they break these days.

 

[vindibona1]

Still going strong with them, eh? I could never quite get used to them. Plus I actually want my strings to go dead these days. Used to love the zing, but I leave them on till they break these days.

I *can* play without them and sometimes practice at home without them. But had two rehearsals this week (finally) and had no desire or intention of taking them off until we were done. Actually, gloves warm up and soften the attack, make muting easier and if I let my nails grow a bit on my right hand I have a lot of different colorations I can add to the attacks. If I used nails with my bare hands all I'd get is that nail-ping which I don't find terribly attractive from a bass. The nail under the glove just gives the attack a little more defined front end and a hint of a ping, but a warm ping. But no stiction of the left hand at all. No dead skin in the string windings and the strings stay fresher longer.

It's crazy, I know. What started as a curiosity wondering how Scott Devine could possibly play with gloves- and like it? And here I am still with them with no medical reason for them. However I have a parking lot gig this Friday night where it *might* be 68°. Gloves will be essential, as will be warm clothes and perhaps a warming device or two.

 

[Selta]

I may have missed it, but, which gloves are you using?

 

[Splash7]

I also use gloves on both hands. I use flats on all of my basses and the gloves makes my fretting hand slide up and down the fret board silky smooth. I have nerve damage in my right hand that only affects the thumb, index and middle fingers, and is sensitive when I pluck the strings. The glove lessens the sensitivity, and also helps with any fingernail clacking as I learn better technique. I also seem to be developing some arthritis in both hands and the gloves act like compression gloves, which helps, also. I dip my picks in a rubber coating so that they are super grippy when using the gloves.

 

[JRA]

i got a pair after reading a post by @Joe Nerve where he describes using/needing them for a cold-weather gig. i haven't used them for a gig yet, but i kinda liked them for that 'smooth' feel. i wouldn't hesitate to use them if i thought i needed them to help me gig! i'm gonna try them on again...right now...

damn, these feel good!

@vindibona1: since you're "addicted" ---
- how fast do you go through a pair?
- what color(s) do you prefer?
- have you snorted them?

 

[vindibona1]

i got a pair after reading a post by @Joe Nerve where he describes using/needing them for a cold-weather gig. i haven't used them for a gig yet, but i kinda liked them for that 'smooth' feel. i wouldn't hesitate to use them if i thought i needed them to help me gig! i'm gonna try them on again...right now...

damn, these feel good!

@vindibona1: since you're "addicted" ---
- how fast do you go through a pair?
- what color(s) do you prefer?
- have you snorted them?

Well... to answer the last question... I did try snorting them once, but they tickled my nose and made me sneeze.

Colors? I have black and tan. Actually one black, one Large tan and one Medium tan. If it's sunny out the black will make your hands warmer and in all conditions is more easily noticed by the audience- and I think is a cool look. My hand size sits somewhere between large and extra large. But as the circulation in my hands isn't so great I use the large size as the medium provides too much compression and makes my fingers colder. Sometimes I'll wear the tan medium on my right hand so I can wear the tan large on my left for a matched set that isn't so noticeable. I'm going to order a backup pair, one black, one tan (both large) so I can have a complete set of each color in the large size.

Longevity? Hard to say as this last year has been pretty much lost. But so far I haven't worn through any gloves yet.

Let me just say, that the more you wear them the less you notice them when you play... but the more you'll notice when you aren't wearing them. That's the addictive part I was referring to. Perhaps if it was super hot out and I needed my hands to vent I might play without them as my hands are are sensitive to the heat as the cold. Go figure that one out?

 

[Clank Plank]

I tried playing in oven gloves, but it made me sound like Jaco so I stopped that right quick.

 

[vindibona1]

I tried playing in oven gloves, but it made me sound like Jaco so I stopped that right quick.

I gotta try those!

 

[SgtHulka]

I don't dispute that there are benefits to wearing gloves. I'd just feel like a dork if I did. My issue, not anyone else's.

 

[vindibona1]

I don't dispute that there are benefits to wearing gloves. I'd just feel like a dork if I did. My issue, not anyone else's.

The real Sgt Hulka would have proudly worn those gloves like a man... or he would have gotten the Aunt Gemima treatment (which probably wouldn't appear in the movie were it made today for fear of being called racist).

 

[barefootbob]

The real Sgt Hulka would have proudly worn those gloves like a man... or he would have gotten the Aunt Gemima treatment (which probably wouldn't appear in the movie were it made today for fear of being called racist).

Don’t they make your hands sweaty? Who has them? I looked around a little and only found drummers gloves.

 

[vindibona1]

Don’t they make your hands sweaty? Who has them? I looked around a little and only found drummers gloves.

Sweaty? Surprisingly no. I tend to wear tan ones outdoors in the summer, but the last batch of tan XL's that I ordered we no larger than a tight medium, but the blacks were accurate. I don't know what they changed in the tan gloves as my original tan gloves were perfect. I did play last night without gloves and I'm finding that I can go either way with round wound strings, but with flat wounds the gloves are really help. I would have thought it would be the other way.

 

[barefootbob]

Sweaty? Surprisingly no. I tend to wear tan ones outdoors in the summer, but the last batch of tan XL's that I ordered we no larger than a tight medium, but the blacks were accurate. I don't know what they changed in the tan gloves as my original tan gloves were perfect. I did play last night without gloves and I'm finding that I can go either way with round wound strings, but with flat wounds the gloves are really help. I would have thought it would be the other way.

Are you using the M-5 gloves? Of all places I found them on Amazon. Was hoping to find them on Sweetwater.

 

[LetItGrowTone]

Are you using the M-5 gloves?

Can you (or anyone else) tell us the difference between these, M-1, M-5, etc? Thanks.

And what steered you toward M-5 specifically?

EDIT:
Oh, could be the number of gloves in the package.
I bought some but haven't given them a serious chance. I was expecting something a lot thinner - I had imagined something like hosiery. These are not really super thin.

 

[5StringBlues]

Gonna have to face it....

 

[barefootbob]

I think it’s the number of gloves, I went with the S-2. One glove, it’s white and the video had Scott Devine in it so that way I know I’m buying the right one. Says they help with arthritis and at 60 it’s starting to set in.

 

[two fingers]

Gonna have to face it....

.....you're addicted to gloves.

 

[vindibona1]

I thought I was done with this, but there are a few things that I've discovered recently as it pertains to wearing gloves.

1) They don't really make my hands that much warmer. But obviously black gloves in direct sunlight will create heat.

2) For whatever reason, whoever is making these gloves, they've really screwed up the sizing on the TAN gloves. The black ones still fit as before but the tan ones are TWO SIZES TOO SMALL! Maybe it's just the larger sizes. I don't know. The last tan ones I ordered were on May 20, 2021 and were returned, replaced and returned again.

3) They seem to be more effective for me in terms of sliding around on flat wound strings. While round wound strings create more friction, I've found the flat wounds to have more "stiction".

4) Gloves do produce a more nuanced and warmer sound, but if you have nails underneath the right hand the attack can still be very pronounced.

5) Gloves can really help in a humid situation. Last week I had a warm/humid outdoor gig and even though the neck on my Yamaha bass is very smooth I could feel and increased friction caused by the humidity. The gloves overcame that.

Perhaps I don't wear gloves 100% of the time now that all my basses (at the moment) have round wound strings. But I would stay that I'm still wearing them most of the time where just a month or two ago it would be rare when I wouldn't wear gloves.

 

[barefootbob]

I thought I was done with this, but there are a few things that I've discovered recently as it pertains to wearing gloves.

1) They don't really make my hands that much warmer. But obviously black gloves in direct sunlight will create heat.

2) For whatever reason, whoever is making these gloves, they've really screwed up the sizing on the TAN gloves. The black ones still fit as before but the tan ones are TWO SIZES TOO SMALL! Maybe it's just the larger sizes. I don't know. The last tan ones I ordered were on May 20, 2021 and were returned, replaced and returned again.

3) They seem to be more effective for me in terms of sliding around on flat wound strings. While round wound strings create more friction, I've found the flat wounds to have more "stiction".

4) Gloves do produce a more nuanced and warmer sound, but if you have nails underneath the right hand the attack can still be very pronounced.

5) Gloves can really help in a humid situation. Last week I had a warm/humid outdoor gig and even though the neck on my Yamaha bass is very smooth I could feel and increased friction caused by the humidity. The gloves overcame that.

Perhaps I don't wear gloves 100% of the time now that all my basses (at the moment) have round wound strings. But I would stay that I'm still wearing them most of the time where just a month or two ago it would be rare when I wouldn't wear gloves.

So I got my gloves, yep got two. I ordered the white ones but got tan. I really like them, I like the tone they create and how they slide across the strings. I play better and more defined but the ones I bought wore out quick. I got mine on Saturday, it’s Thursday and I already have a small hole developing in my fret hand, the glove is not as slick on the fret board anymore. I saw a more expensive set on Amazon but they are made by the same company so not sure if they are the same or better. Not sure if they are worth the money if they are going to wear out so quick or maybe Just use them for shows but I really like them.