Beginners questions

[Deeper and down]

Hello,

I bought my first bass, a Columbus, from Rushworth and Draper in Chester in 1972.  As a left hander I 'played' it upside down with strings in the original positions.  I never progressed beyond a repertoire of 2 songs and half a dozen riffs;  The Columbus has remained unplayed in my loft ever since.

Forty five years later and now retired, I've decided to have another bash at bass playing.  This time I hoped that I'd done it properly;  I've bought a lovely leftie Ibanez SR600L in natural flat finish and a little Ashdown TourBus practice amp.    I stress that I hoped I'd done it properly but all attempts thus far have ended in bleeding fingers and (pardon the analogy) sounded like a skeleton pleasuring itself in a biscuit tin.  Roundwound strings seem to be the culprit as a trip into the loft has shown that my old Columbus had flatwounds as standard.   Naively, I didn't even realise there were different types.   

I rushed out and blindly bought a set of flatwound Rotosound 77 (RS77LD)  45.65.85.105 strings but now having done a bit of research have had second thoughts and discovered that perhaps I should have investigated Tapewounds?   

So,  given that I'm a rank beginner and not concerned with slapping or achieving any particular sound should I put the (unopened) Rotosounds back on eBay and buy some black tapewounds instead?  I want something that I'll find easy to play and a gauge that won't require any setup or nut issues.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

[Dan Dare]

I'd suggest trying some D'Addario Chromes. Roto flats are quite high tension for their gauges in my experience. Chromes are not too expensive and reasonably bright, when new at any rate, so are quite versatile. If you get the 45-100 set, they won't be too brutal under the fingers. They come coated in some kind of gunk that prevents corrosion, which makes them feel a bit oily/sticky. Wipe 'em down with a drop of meths or white spirit and they'll feel better.

[TheGreek]

I use Status black tapewounds but these give a distinctive tone more similar to a double bass than your traditional rock bass. They're not going to be everybody's Cappuccino.

Most people use roundwounds - you need to persevere.

 

[EssentialTension]

3 hours ago, Deeper and down said:

Hello,

I bought my first bass, a Columbus, from Rushworth and Draper in Chester in 1972.  As a left hander I 'played' it upside down with strings in the original positions.  I never progressed beyond a repertoire of 2 songs and half a dozen riffs;  The Columbus has remained unplayed in my loft ever since.

Forty five years later and now retired, I've decided to have another bash at bass playing.  This time I hoped that I'd done it properly;  I've bought a lovely leftie Ibanez SR600L in natural flat finish and a little Ashdown TourBus practice amp.    I stress that I hoped I'd done it properly but all attempts thus far have ended in bleeding fingers and (pardon the analogy) sounded like a skeleton pleasuring itself in a biscuit tin.  Roundwound strings seem to be the culprit as a trip into the loft has shown that my old Columbus had flatwounds as standard.   Naively, I didn't even realise there were different types.   

I rushed out and blindly bought a set of flatwound Rotosound 77 (RS77LD)  45.65.85.105 strings but now having done a bit of research have had second thoughts and discovered that perhaps I should have investigated Tapewounds?   

So,  given that I'm a rank beginner and not concerned with slapping or achieving any particular sound should I put the (unopened) Rotosounds back on eBay and buy some black tapewounds instead?  I want something that I'll find easy to play and a gauge that won't require any setup or nut issues.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

1 Bleeding fingers? ... play more softly and turn the amp volume up ... also play more regularly but for shorter periods ... get some surgical spirit from the chemists ... practice with a plectrum, it's another skill to learn while the bleeding improves.

2 Flats or Tapes? ... only time will tell what you like and what suits the music you play ... there's nothing wrong with the Roto flats if you like them ... what makes you think black tapes would be better? ... Roto black tapes are different to La Bella black tapes and different gain to Pyramids etc. ... it's up to you of course but my advice would be try the Roto flatwounds as you have them and stick with them for a while, get used to them, only then will you know if you like them or not.

3 Gauge & setup & nut? ... when changing strings, one should always check the setup, by which I mean the relief, the action, and the intonation ... it might be fine but who knows if you don't check it ... anyway two sets of strings of different makes even with the same gauges will be constructed differently, the tensions will be different, the compliance will be different ... so there is no substitute for trying things out ... unless you have some strings with a very high gauge, it's unlikely you will need to adjust the nut.

 

I hope that's helpful even if it's not quite what you wanted to hear.

[HowieBass]

Which fingers are bleeding... your fretting hand or your plucking hand? It's common to develop thicker pads on those fingers that fret and strike the strings over time but if you're breaking the skin to make them bleed then there's something wrong with either your technique and/or the way the bass is set up IMHO. If the fretting hand is suffering it might well be that the action is too high and you're having to press down too hard. Perhaps there's a friendly local BCer who can have a look at your bass? There's a great difference in sound between flatwound and roundwound strings - I only use nickel plated rounds now as these feel a lot smoother under the finger compared to steel strings but sound similar.

[T-Bay]

When I started I managed to blister a couple of fingers, it was down to two things 1, playing an awful lot on virgin fingers (they can’t cope with going from nothing to 3-4 hours a day as I tried in the first week) 2, digging in far too much when I got enthusiastic. It took a while to understand the benefits of playing light and letting the amp do the work bit itbreally is like night and day and will help no end with your tone.

[Deeper and down]

Thanks for the replies.

Sorry, I exaggerated a bit with the bleeding fingers...  I have really sore fret fingers and the squeaky strings are driving me nuts.  Realistically,  I don't see me ever progressing beyond being a hobbyist so as I said ease of playing to me is paramount.  If you think the Roto flats that I've bought will be OK for me then I'll go with them.  I didn't want to open the package if they're likely to be too heavy a gauge to fit the nut etc.

BTW, as a Basschat lurker and massive Nearly Dan fan of their entire 20 years I know that Pete Academy (Bacanin) has had major health issues,  but heard no recent news. I hope he's okay.

[Funkfingers]

Older readers may recall the Camel album, Rain Dances. The credits for one track describe the bassist as AWOL and, then, Andrew Latimer - guitars, bass, sore fingers!

Let the amplification do the work. As an experiment, you can lose most of the high frequency nasties by rolling down the Treble EQ band on the bass itself. (I would also turn up the Midrange EQ a bit.) 

If the SR600 body is sen ash, it is always going to sound fairly twangy compared to alder, basswood or anything related to mahogany.

One thing that is unclear from your posts is how you set the Balance pot between the twin pickups. As a sweeping generalisation, I suggest that you think of the neck pickup as "proper" low end and the bridge pickup as the upper harmonic icing on the full frequency cake. 

Finally, with all due respect to Ashdown, a super compact bass practice amplifier is unlikely to do justice to the capabilities of your chosen instrument.

[Dad3353]

12 hours ago, Deeper and down said:

...Thanks in advance for any advice.

My advice, for what it's worth, would be to acquire a set of Rotosound Trubass 88 strings (black nylon...) 

 

Very comfortable to play, and very, very long-lasting. 'Old-school' sound (no good whatsoever for slap or such...). My Hofner Verithin bass is strung with them, and has been for the last decade or so. If playing comfort is a high priority for you, you'll love 'em. Yes, I'm old, too; how did you guess..? 

[SpondonBassed]

Welcome Deeper.

[Skybone]

Welcome!

Remember spending far too many hours over the years, perusing the wares in Rushworth's in Liverpool (along with Hessy's & Curly's).

[dontregartha]

My two penn'orth 

The squeaky tinny, rattly sound is probably the natural sound of the guitar - its more about the output signal - maybe you should practice with headphones so you don't get the ambient guitar sound.