Medium or heavy gauges for me. I use D'Addario XLs 45-65-85-105-135 for my Sadowsky Js (one 4 and one 5- string) and my P-Basses gets Rotosound flats in 50-75-95-110. All basses are in standard tuning. My Stingray gets XLs 45-65-85-110 since I have a Hipshot on that one, so it happens that I og Drop D at times. The reason I go heavy on the Ps, are the tone, but also the feel for my right hand. I learned to play either by playing over the back pole pieces of the Stingray pickup, or over the bridge pick up on a Jazz Bass. When starting to get more into the Precision Bass and playing over the P pick up, the 45-105 strings were to sloppy to my taste, and going to the Rotos solved that problem nicely. Also, I can play faster with thicker strings, 'cause they don't move around as much, and are easier to control, so this notion that light gauges = speed, well, that depends. On electric guitar too, I feel the same. I play 11-49s in standard tuning, which is "one up" from what's the "normal" 10s. I guess my hands have decent strength, but I also hold the neck with the thumb over as much as I can, like a baseball bat, to conserve strength. This thing of holding the neck with the thumb on the back, classical guitar style, all the time, is nonsense IMO, and a recipe for injury. I only do that if the playing dictates it. One thing I've also learning now, is to try and use the muscles higher up in the arm, like the bicep, to generate the strength to move and position the left hand and fingers over the strings in dynamic motion. It's kind of strange but it works, playing Teen Town and you feel a slight burn in the bicep!
One thing I've been told/ learned from physio therapists is that dynamic movement is good, and to avoid any static positionings and grips etc. like it's the Grim Reaper. So to do stuff that enhances strenght and flexibility, like yoga (which I don't do btw.) is highly recommended. There's this girl on youtube "Kino Yoga", who I when I watch her, I'm thinking that she could probably stand on her hands while playing the bass with her toes behind her head!
It's crazy the skill level some people have aquired through practise and will power. I'm too lazy to do yoga now, but I hope I change my mind on that one, as the benefits are enormous. Just look at Sting, he's 65! And he's still in shape. I remember watching him belt out Roxanne at the Grammy Awards in 2007, realizing how he there sung it in the original key, and with more power and better tone in his voice (richer, fuller,fatter) than when he did it live 30 years earlier. Now, that's how to age!
(Hehe, went a little off topic there....
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