I have usually played roundwounds. Whenever, I put flats on a bass, I think they are great too. Then I go back to the roundwounds, and immediately prefer the added sustain and brightness. Then back to the flats, and love that warm tone and smooth feel. Guess I am just fickle.
When I first started playing bass I hated the ticking sound and twang from round wound strings. Some technique improvement helped but it never fully went away. Flatwounds feel like home to me. Hard to explain but flatwounds are much more comfortable and help me play better... or at least sound better. I'm putting flats on my 6 string bass soon.
@@DanButcher303 Not specifically bright, I would say regular. For dull maybe tapewounds are better, but I am not sure I never used them myself. As for flats, the older they get the better they sound to me and also the duller. Chromes can be a bit harsh the first hours/days (depending on how much you play, but not really nice sounding than), but after that they go through stage after stage of niceness while they are aging. Mine current ones are 4 years old now, the previous set I used for 5 years (as I change them from bass to bass sometimes the end started to break, if you don't they can last for 20 and more years...)
I played roundwounds for 30 years and I got really tired of the strings ripping my fingers up, making them sore, grinding down my frets, and being hard to wipe clean after gigs. Then I tried flatwounds and really loved the feel and the fact they were gentle on my frets and easy to wipe down. But I still missed the highest highs of roundwounds. Then, one day I discovered Rotosound Jazz 77 strings. I got better highs from them than flatwounds, and they felt exactly like flatwounds. The perfect string!! I also noticed I could gig constantly for two years, and they did not go dead in that time. I've used them for 10 years+ and I still love them so much. I'm never going back to roundwounds.
I really thought the same man. I've saw another email of him before of this with 4 years of difference and for my surprise this is the new one. Wow man, what happened?
I do not think that ease of playing is a good reason to choose a string, Dear Locke, but, rather, the tonal picture it puts in the Listener's ear. That said, flatwounds bring softer, dusty, dried, felten, opaque, mildewy, wooden and closetted shadowy , and or lichen on the tombstone, qualities to the sound, because the flattening of the winding destroys the high end harmonics, which produces a nasaley mid-range bias to imply that. Roundwound strings, however, have the full range of frequency response, because of the completely circular shape of their windings. No frequency bias in that, the sharp & wide sound vaults into the Listener's ear which alludes to a Gothick Cathedral, as well as highly polished luminescent textures, such as concrete, satin, velour, and water, and the implication of wide vast spaces. A quick listen to the sound of John Entwistle's bass conveys that in a most illustrative way, just as a quick listen to Miss Carol Kaye playing the opening theme to the Wild Wild West Show can depict the virtues of the flatwound string at it's best. Personally, I think the right way to go is to have a bass with round and another with flats - to choose which fits the song best.
Bee Sheerhan no, I agree, sound is the most important and I plan to have flats on one and rounds on the other as soon as I get another bass. Since I play a lot of jazz flats would work for me with the nice round tone, but I chose to stick to rounds for the sake of being able to pull out that punchyness when I need it. Thanks for your advice and time though!
@@@ethanlocke3604 You're welcome, Kind Sir. Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I like the way you are thinking. Yes, if I only had one bass in action, rounds it would have to be. Be well!
I'd recommend stringing a flatwound for the E for that smooth deep RnB-motown deep-dead moolah tone, then the A and D with tapewounds for the in-between tone it produces, and then the G with roundwound for that nice pop whenever you need the slap-pluck tone for funk. There you go...a complete bass for all genre and playing styles. Do it! DO it!
Flats or round wounds which is best? Depends on the song. The best overall? Short answer, flats. Best flats, Thomastik, they are also the most expensive, however well worth it. Also something that should be addressed is that flats usually create more tension on the neck, not a good thing. Thomastik have the least tension of the flats, another reason to get them.
It's weird how these tendencies change overtime. When I bought my first Fender P-Bass in 1970's, it brought flats from factory, needless to say, I quickly changed them to Rotosound Rounds; on the contrary, this year I bought a Fender Jazz Bass, and it came with Fender Rounds; with that said, I see a tendency today (08-2020) on players going back to flats. I use Elixir Rounds Coated (nanoweb) and Pirastro Eva Pirazzi Flats on my upright acoustic bass. I've also noticed a tendency on electric bass players to get a darker, warmer sound these days, almost like they want to sound like a real bass. So use whatever string, but play the right notes! And don't use the bridge pick-up alone:-)
I played rounds for about 30 years and just changed to flats a few months ago. My playing style has changed considerably and I think has improved dramatically. When playing flats i feel much more creative as a bassist.
@@Kl1Ainti Did the same thing. I've tried flats twice over the 30 years I've been playing. Maybe if I had a large collection of basses I would string one with flats but having only two, I still prefer rounds.
I've switched to DR roundwounds recently and when it comes to slap&pop, it pays off more than I bargain for. I'd also preferred flatwounds and halfwounds in the past but once I got my hands on flatwounds in particular, they were way too stiff, tight and hard to get used to. I also tried Steve Harris signature set on my bass, and I appreciated him a lot as to how he survives through fast passages of a track by galloping. 😮
I use OLD roundwounds, a good middle-ground. A slightly duller tone like flats, but you still get bite like rounds. I've had the same strings on my 5-String Jazz for four years and I love the sound and feel.
Lol, made the switch to flats day before I was playing my 3rd gig. Had some blood pressure issues when I found my fingers sliding around on the smooth strings. Thought I made a big mistake until I heard the sound.
Here are a few more important differences which he didn't mention. Flatwounds on a longscale bass,, don't stretch as easily, therefore it requires more string tension to achieve the same tuning as roundwounds. More tension on less flexible strings, means that flatwounds will be stiffer and harder to depress. The greater tension will cause the neck to curve more, which means that your action might be higher and you might have to relieve your truss rod and readjust your set up. Higher action and stiffer strings will feel like weightlifting for you fingers. Flatwounds on a longscale bass also makes string bending much more difficult. If you switch to flatwounds, I highly recommend doing some research on how to perform a proper setup on your bass. On a shortscale bass, the greater tension of stiffer flatwound strings is actually a big advantage. Players who are new to shortscale basses often complain about the sloppy, rubber bandy feeling of the strings and consequently, some added string buzz. On shortscale basses with roundwounds, string bends re very easy, but string buzz can sometimesbe a problem. However, flatwound strings on a shortscale bass are a match made in heaven. The higher tension removes that sloppy rubber body feel, while still offering easier bends than roundwounds on a long scale bass. I would never even consider roundwounds on a shortscale bass. I imagine that the only reason, shortscale basses are even sold with roundwounds is to save money. The first thing that I did to my Mustang bass was switch to flatwound D'darrio Chromes.
My go to is Fender stainless steel flat wounds I love them on all my bass! Except for my Steve Harris precision bass, I have a signature strings on that one
I use these as well...gives me the feel of the flats, but I can crank the pickups up and get the brightness of the rounds....only strings i will buy from now on
my first bass , the hofner ignition , came with roundwound strings . being new to bass , with some research i found that flatwounds are best due to the hollow body construction and would bring out the deep warm tone that hofners are famous for .
Mostly rounds for me. I really like the "piano" sort of overtones and the metallic clank when I play hard, and I'm into a lot of rock and metal so it works well. Even on fretless I like the brighter sound, it really doesn't wear the board that much. There are scratches on the fingerboard. but not really visible unless you're looking. It'll be a looong time before it needs to be sanded. I have a 5 string with Ernie ball Cobalt flats though, great B string and just fun overall. I mostly reach for that bass for an old school sound. Hip hop, fingerstyle funk, older rock, they do that well. They have versatility though, it's all about how you attack them.
I had more issues adjusting to the smoother strings, overshooting slides and such. That did not last long. I was a roofer for a lot of years so I have strong hands so I might not have noticed if they are stiffer.
He actually had a good slap sound even with the flats. With the right eqing maybe even better. I was a flat user before and may switch back. Very full tone and easy to cut through in the mix.
I only ever had one set of flats. Technique and the tone knob can make rounds sound like flats but not vice-versa. I have Pro Steels on my Aria (active lefty-PJ) and Swings on my Kimbara (passive JJ).
Thomastik infeld-jazz flats. My favorite strings by far. They have great mids and they're very expressive. Tone is a little more chill than nickel-half round
If they could capture that sound with higher tension, I'd literally never buy another set of strings. I was told by someone at Thomastik though that the tension was inextricably tied to the sound - which is a real bummer, because I can't deal with strings that feel like rubber bands - unless I'm doing reeeeally mellow studio work.
allrequiredfields they sound and feel fine above the 10 fret but below that it gets a bit mushy. I have some on my new G&L JB but I’m considering putting on some La Bella’s
I started using Ernie Ball Cobalt flats on my my basses a couple years ago, best choice I ever made. I use em for any genre of music. They're surprisingly bright and they last forever.
I use the D'Addario Chromes Flats, 45-100. They're absolutely killer, and although I'm exclusively a fretless player now, I used to use them on my fretted basses too. More than anything, I find that they sit really nicely in a mix - less business in the sound via less upper harmonic content means that you can really find that niche above the kick drum and below the lower chordal sounds and things blend perfectly. The D'Addarios are also great as they have a little more bite than most flats, and this bite stays around for ages, so they can deliver better results for more aggressive players in rock or other heavier stuff
Agree on your string choice. I just bought a yamaha bbp4 which I love, but it came with rounds which I found too pingy through most of the pickup and tone blend range. I put on a set of chromes and this bass now sounds killer- including the bridge pickup solo which i didn't expect.
I'm a beginner, I have roundwounds since that is what came with the bass. I want flatwounds because the pickups are really noisy when I turn on the tone knob. So I just wanna embrace the tone being rolled off tbh.
As a recording engineer with 25 years of experience: We LOVE flatwounds. Sounds soo much better and musical in the mix! Greatly exemplified here by the slapping. The rounds sounded like a solo bass album (very small market) while the flats sounded like a record. It is one of those little recording pro «secrets».
Personally I love playing slap on flatwounds. Has a more old school, upright bass sound like the bassists in old rockabilly bands got. To each their own tho.
I started off with flat wounds, because those were the strings my dad’s bass had. After getting my own bass last year, I decided to get round wounds to see what they’re like. I like both strings and which ones I play depends on the type of music I’m playing at the time.
I put LaBella stainless steel flatwounds on my Fender P Bass, after playing roundwounds for about 10 years. I will never go back to roundwounds again. The feel and tone of the flats, is amazing. I wish I had switched 10 years ago.
Thank you for the video explanation, the differences and examples of who has used them. I like to buy flats for worship in future for warmer tones since it doesn’t require slap but maybe in future I’ll buy a second bass for slap with rounds. But they both sound well to my ears for slap but I understand in some mixes the rounds would help stand out more.
Thanks for all your videos. I use Flat wound on my Fender Bass VI. I have rounds on my Jazz Bass, but am going to convert them to flats. For me, I find the rounds are more comfortable, so I can play along with more of your videos.
@@gabeabraham9285 haha so did I! Lets start a band bro. This a sign. God is bringing us together to start a band. We are going to bring back great music
@@beasheerhan4482 they seem to last a lot longer than other brands, have more crisp tone than other brands, and stand up to the torture that I put strings through.
@@beasheerhan4482 I also use rounds and prefer Ernie Ball, I like that the E string has a deep and strong low end sound to it, while some brands it seems that the E low end is dead. D'addario has terrible low end sound to it.
I have got into using light gauge roundwound Rotosound strings, 35 - 55 - 70 - 90 initially I starting using them on my acoustic but I am going to get them for my next electric string set as well. Although he didn't influence my choice initially, it way simply experimenting with getting a better sound, I read that Cluff Burton used lighter gauge strings and I don't feel it made him sound at all light weight.
Carol Kaye instructs anyone who asks her to use Flatwound and she used it on every record she recorded on from the 60's until now. She is arguably one of the the most recorded Rock/Pop/Jazz/Funk/Disco Bass player ever. I hope that helps anyone trying to decide.
I have flats on my Ibanez GRSM20 FRETLESS. (Yes I ripped the frets out. So much easier to play a tiny fretless) and rounds on my Sterling Stingray short scale for slap etc.
@@DarkShaman667 I tried Ernie Ball strings one time and they wore out really fast , they where strange the strings would stick to my fingers like a magnet.
Hey there great videos, thank you! There is another option, half rounds. They have some of the characteristics of both. I've been using them for years and depending on how I EQ my gear I can chameleon the sound to what ever it needs to be mostly. Please keep making videos these are very helpful!
I am a huge fan of both! Different situations call for different sounds ;) GHS Pressurewounds are my absolute favorite round wounds - and in all honesty they are semi- flats... making them one unique string!!! Ernie Ball Colbalt Flat Wounds are some of my favorite flat wounds...
It's like he just broke up with his girlfriend, his kid has just broken his brand new coffee machine and there's a traffic official ticketing his car outside, but he's got to finish the video.
That's pretty cool. I don't know how to slap, but I love the sound of the flatwound strings when playing regular. I'll probably put them on my PJ bass.
Fender Am Pro PB with Fender PV63s, a 920D PB wiring harness and Fender 9050 stainless flatwounds. Play through a Little Marcus 102 combo. Can achieve all the tones ever need! Absolutely LOVE this rig!! Unbelievable!
For my Precisions & Yamaha BB424, I have either D'Addario Chromes or GHS Precision Flats. That being said, I recently switched to Ernie Ball Regular Slinky Flats from EB RS Rounds on my 1966 Fender MIJ LE Jazz Bass. I'm a 67 yr. old geezer and going back to my roots w/flats. Nothing against round wound strings, tho'.
Started playing round wounds, but after a total makeover I put some flatwounds on it. Never go back. They are so nice and silky. I love the sound and the feel !
I have exactly the same "Classic 58" Precision that you're using. I love the warm thud of flat wounds but ironically they hurt my fingers more than round wounds. I find that the lower friction causes me to sometimes overshoot when sliding up and down the neck and I have to dig in harder with my right hand fingers to get a good purchase on the strings. BTW, you make great videos and I was very interested in the one you made about playing softer to get better tone and less fatigue.
I have Flats...D’Addario Chromes, 45 - 100 on my 4003SW. My Rickenbacker 2030 have Roundwounds on them. I purchased the bass and those were the strings on it when I got it.
I think one big reason why most people play on roundwounds, is because about 100% of basses are sold with roundwound strings. I prefer flatwounds, because I don't like bright overtones in a bass, and hate the fret-noise of roundwounds. I like the sound to be as deep and dark as it gets. Call it "dead" tone, I don't care, it's the greatest thing about a bass, in my view.
I use D'Addario XL Chromes 12/52 flatwound (ECG25) on my electric guitar. I play death metal and black metal rhythms in my electronic and symphonic metal compositions. I might be buying a bass guitar this year, but I have never played one and I currently use a mixed combination of various plugins, midi guitar and octavers. I also mix 6 to 8 channels of various distortion styles using flatwound strings of which I record seperate strings from my gk2 pickup as well as both guitar pickups for a total of 8 channels per guitar track which my songs uses 2 to 4 guitar tracks. (4 guitar tracks equals 32 direct input DAW tracks). I will also want to record individual bass guitar strings (5 or 6 string bass) using the roland midi pickup for bass guitars and record every seperate pickup as well. I record improv practice sessions with 8 tracks which allows me to take full advantage of all possible production techniques including ones never used before. I often forget newly inspired riffs and now I not only can fully analyze what I played, but can manipulate it or shape it any way I like if I cannot physically perform it. I also use programmed Ample Sound Hellraiser virtual guitar for leads I cannot play due to my deformed broken finger. I have not used round wounds in over 20 years but have also not been playing guitar for 14 years. I wanted to know the differences for guitar, but most likely round wounds are brighter. I generally do not like fret sounds unless it fits the mix of particular songs, so flatwounds gives me cleaner tones of direct input. I do utilize vst plugins fret noise generators to humanize programmed guitars to sound less mechanical. I most likely will stick with flatwounds for my guitar as well as a bass whenever I get one.
That was a great explanation of the 2 types of bass strings. Thank you. I have used flat wound strings and I use to use something called black tubes that had a covering over the strings. I like a melo sound to my bass.
I use roundwounds on my Fender Active Precision bass for the sound, and flatwounds on my Ibanez Portamento fretless bass to not damage the fingerboard. They both sound great for what they do!
I use Ernie Ball Slinky Flatwounds and I never looked back, they remind me of Tapewounds and much easier to play and since I’m a weak pinky player the flats have helped me with a groove
Mark, I love your channel. I use 45-105 DR lo-riders (so stainless steel roundwound). I like the high tension, and I always had the impression that tone-wise these last much longer than any other roundwound strings that I tried. I never really tried flatwounds (though I should) because I was always pretty happy with what I had and didn't want to compromise on versatility.
i have it too!!! i love them! and they are better than flats for slap (but not better than round of course)...i think that tapewound strings are too much underrated!
Thank you for the terrific video! I've used round wounds (D'Addario) forever but like the idea of giving the flat wound style a go. Sadly, I like the "bright" tone you've demonstrated using round wounds, but fret noise (and wear) are troublesome. If ONLY they could make a somewhat brighter sounding round wound string...
I have 3 basses so: For my 4string Stingray - Roundwound Ernie Ball strings For my 5string Fretless - Flatwound D'Addario strings For my 12string (Tom Petersson style) - Roundwound D'Addario strings (they have a set made for this kind of bass so i don't have to mix and match)
