P with flats your only bass?

[dbsfgyd1]

Just curious. I sometimes think I'd like to do that, but then the band plays a tune like "Uptown Funk" and I need a 5 string with rounds?

Everyone says all you need is a P (with flats?) but sometimes that just doesn't work, right? I watch Sean Hurley talk about dumping his 5 string Lakland for a 4 string P. That's all he plays now.

Thoughts?

If you need a 5 string, and you do if you are mainly playing songs written after 1980, keep the 5 string. As for flats or rounds, I’ve been playing rounds on a PB exclusively for better than 40 years. Trust me, you do not need to feel compelled to play with flats on a PB other than if it’s your preference, and it just may be. But rounds on a PB with the right EQ is a wonderful voice that I’ve found very useful.

But from experience, not only mine, but with all the musicians and sound engineers I’ve worked with over decades, I’ve never had any of them suggest to me “you know, your part would sound a lot better if you had flat wound strings on your bass”.

 

[Thegrandwazoo]

I’ve never heard or read anyone say or write that ‘a P with flats is the only bass you should need’ anywhere outside of Talkbass, ever. Yeah, I’ve seen the Hurley video. That’s all HE tends to use, in the studio. You can bet your boots that’s not all he owns, or all he’ll ever use from now on, and he’s certainly not any of us.

You simply can NOT get several VERY useful, VERY common tones out of a P with flats. Anyone who suggests you can do everything with one is, frankly, either inexperienced, purposely misleading(lying), or mistaken.

 

[overit]

Currently doing that but I’m not in a band or looking to be in one in the near future. My favorite stuff to play sounds best with a P-Bass w/ flats mostly because the origins of that stuff was done on a P-Bass w/ flats.

If I was back in a working situation I’d probably be using a 5 as the better tool for the type of music I’d want to play for money - dance music, with a song like Uptown Funk being a good example. I’d rather have a 5 around then mess with drop or alternate tunings on a 4.

 

[Pings Bass]

Sure, why not. I'd do it with stainless rounds, cuz I don't like flats, but whatevs.

 

[Muyy]

Nah, I like variety. I also believe you could get rounds to sound sorta like flats but you can’t get flats to sound like rounds.

 

[Samatza]

If I had to have one bass and it was a P I would go with nickel rounds, a little more versatile for one bass.

It largely depends on the music you play. At the moment my P and Hofner sport flats but the rest are rounds.

 

[sonojono]

Uptown funk on a 4 string is not that hard. Just downtune your E to Drop D and you have Uptown Funk!

 

[kodiakblair]

Ha, 60+ basses?! Do you own GuitarGuitar Glasgow? Lol

Naw, GuitarGuitar Glasgow cries itsel to sleep at night wishin it was me

 

[Manticore]

I understand making the most of what is available. I just can't fathom an existence where the only strings available are flats...

 

[el murdoque]

Any bass works as an only bass.
It will impose its limitations on you and force you to incorporate that into your playing style.

I recently played a song I usually do on a six string on a 4 string bass ukulele. Not only were 2 strings missing, but also playing above the 10th fret is kinda tricky. The song did groove, though.
That got me wondering whether it might be possible to play an entire set or even gig on the uke and I figured that it totally is. So why not a P with flats ?

 

[nilorius]

If You mainly play funk, i would recommend j-bass with rounds.

 

[sharkbait130]

Just curious. I sometimes think I'd like to do that, but then the band plays a tune like "Uptown Funk" and I need a 5 string with rounds?

Everyone says all you need is a P (with flats?) but sometimes that just doesn't work, right? I watch Sean Hurley talk about dumping his 5 string Lakland for a 4 string P. That's all he plays now.

Thoughts?

Both of my gigging P's have flats on them. I usually only take one anyway. Both of my bands play Uptown Funk and a couple of other songs that get me into a low D area. A hipshot d'tuner and a little crank on the tone knob on my bass takes care of any problems that arise from any of those songs. Only one of my P's have the d'tuner on it so that's the one I gig with. Both of my P's have Strat knobs with numbers on them , so it's easy to get dialed in quickly. No , I am not selling the knurled knobs I took off of either of them.

 

[rockinrayduke]

P w/flats as the only bass? I’m in.

 

[Kijuer]

As with any piece of gear, IT DEPENDS.

My wife found her sonic Nirvana with P+flats, band mates love the sound and FOH guys never seem to need more than a minute to set her "right" through the PA.

But that's HER, with HER style, with HER equipment, in HER band, with THEIR songs.

 

[Dabndug]

None of the music I liked as a kid featured much P bass at all - the British Invasion bands all played Hofners, Epi Rivolis or Rickenbackers (amongst others). The P has a great sound (with or without flats) but it isn't a universal sound.

 

[mcnach]

Just curious. I sometimes think I'd like to do that, but then the band plays a tune like "Uptown Funk" and I need a 5 string with rounds?

Everyone says all you need is a P (with flats?) but sometimes that just doesn't work, right? I watch Sean Hurley talk about dumping his 5 string Lakland for a 4 string P. That's all he plays now.

Thoughts?

People say all kinds of BS

And people like all kinds of different things. Don't lose any sleep on it.

If I needed a consistent sound because my income depends on playing in a specific band with a specific sound, then I can see myself using just one bass with a particular type of strings. Until then, I still play mostly one bass (my favourite Stingray) but I've got a few very different others that I still play.

 

[mongo2]

Just curious. I sometimes think I'd like to do that, but then the band plays a tune like "Uptown Funk" and I need a 5 string with rounds?

One group I played with did Uptown Funk and I used a shortscale 4 string with nylon tapewounds. But I play everything on a 4 string shortscale with nylon tapewounds.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Just curious. I sometimes think I'd like to do that, but then the band plays a tune like "Uptown Funk" and I need a 5 string with rounds?

Everyone says all you need is a P (with flats?) but sometimes that just doesn't work, right? I watch Sean Hurley talk about dumping his 5 string Lakland for a 4 string P. That's all he plays now.

Thoughts?

No, also a J with flats .. me like it as well

 

[rohi]

My P with flats gets equal play time as my 5 string with rounds. Go figure

 

[nonohmic]

Sure, it could be.
But I'd get bored.

 

[BrotherMister]

Just curious. I sometimes think I'd like to do that, but then the band plays a tune like "Uptown Funk" and I need a 5 string with rounds?

Everyone says all you need is a P (with flats?) but sometimes that just doesn't work, right? I watch Sean Hurley talk about dumping his 5 string Lakland for a 4 string P. That's all he plays now.

Thoughts?

For the past 6 years 99.9% of my gigs on electric were on a P with flats. I think I only used my jazz bass for a production of Rent in that time. It's just a sound, if you had to try and cop everything exactly like a record you'd need a ton of gear for every gig and who has the time/space/desire/funds for that?

No one has ever complained about the bass I use, quite the opposite actually, and the phone keeps ringing for me to do more work.