Ouch, shoulda used the flatwounds!

[Elwood]

my understanding (mis-understanding?) was the idea was to get a solid thump with rapid decay. When I have messed with it that's what I have found was cool. You can drive a hard bottom and not leave a lot of clutter in the air. This takes a bit more that the std Fender foam though to get it to work "right". Sure not for everyone on every tune. I believe Duck Dunn used this on some tracks we all love.

 

[TwoNotesSolo]

my understanding (mis-understanding?) was the idea was to get a solid thump with rapid decay...You can drive a hard bottom and not leave a lot of clutter in the air.

I've always like Anthony Jackson's sound, he palm mutes everything and sometime plays with a pick to get that full sound with rapid decay.

Something like that:

Come to think of it Petrucciani and Gadd ain't bad either in this video

How this thread has strayed from its original topic! Oh well, it was my thread anyway.

If you like this kind of jazz trio, look up Hiromi Uehara trio, also with Anthony Jackson.

 

[Elio]

Had a gig on bass tonight, this is what my plucking fingers looked like 1 1/2h into the 3h gig.

View attachment 9820

Not sure why, I think I my bass amp was set a little too low so I plucked too hard (I was definitely getting into it tonight).

My other bass has flatwound strings, much easier on the fingers, but this never happened before, except way early in my bass playing days and I would catch it before it got that bad.

I turned the volume up, played softer and closer to the neck for the rest of the gig. Not as much attack in my sound, but I managed not to bleed all over my bass. I'll leave this kind of antics to Jack White.

I can't say my fingers have ever looked that bad, but I only use flatwounds on my bass. I love those strings!

 

[MikeS]

THey looked MUCH darker when I saw you the other night.
LOL

Hope it's getting better.

 

[TwoNotesSolo]

Yup, they turned dark purple, almost dark. Now the skin is try to dry off and will soon fall off. I've been playing with my other bass in the meantime. I also practiced with a pick. Turns out I can do it OK, just don't care for the sound as much.

 

[Elwood]

I don't even know if they are still out there but a thick white felt pick sounds OK. Feels real good while you heal. If you are really used to fingers timing will be affected, but if you are that sore you probably only care about quitting time

 

[TwoNotesSolo]

I have one of those felt picks somewhere...

 

[david moon]

rabbit snares, tire cables...
Probably with that Gibson pickup I really like the RW but I can still dial in brittle highs if wanted. See. and I wussed out, I've got 45-100s now. The weight! I'd die even with my faaat strap. Imagine drilling a bunch of 2" holes in a JB to live with it?!?

ever try a chunk of sponge under the strings back by the saddle? Re-tune! It's nice for some things.

I've done that on a fretless JBass for a theater gig. It tends to sharpen the pitch a bit but does give the desired damping.

 

[TwoNotesSolo]

Fretless... Another thing to GAS for.

 

[PapaRaptor]

Fretless... Another thing to GAS for.

I played a fretless P-Bass back from about 1969 until it was stolen in early 1973. I didn't have a backup.
About five years ago I picked up a mid-90's MIM fretless Jazz Bass. For me, it didn't live up to the memory of my P-Bass.
I now have a fretless neck hibernating in my parts closet, having replaced it with a maple fretboard standard Jazz neck.
Since I acquired a MIA Jazz Bass a couple of years ago, I'm thinking about reuniting the MIM J-body with it's original fretless neck.

 

[TwoNotesSolo]

lol, love the new avatar

 

[Elwood]

I played a fretless P-Bass back

Yeah, I had a real pretty fretless p-bass, even had a dbl bass for a few years. Taught me just how much I truely appreciate frets. No violins or trombones around here.