another thing you’ll notice is a lot of bands don’t have actual sheet music. And if you listen live vs studio they’re always playing differently. I found while trying to transcribe some things that sometimes notes get saved. Sometimes notes get skipped. The main thing is hitting those roots and keeping the groove.
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I agree Pam, @PamPurrs,
I play for me and have always been a big fan of flats over rounds.
I think the type of music I play tends to lend it self tonely to the flats.
I have basses with rounds on them, but I like the smooth flats heaps more.
Cheers brian
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FRIGGIN’ BINGO!
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In my eight months of playing bass I have never tried flats but I am preparing to try something new. The Ernie Ball slinky flats claim to be the best of both worlds. They say they are bright but smooth. Any opinions on these in particular?
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Since my D and E string somehow sound “dead” and I don’t know how old those strings are, I ordered some Ernie Ball Super Slinky strings - they should get here this week and I am curious if my ears were right.
My current ones are round wound and I only know those, in terms of plucking they don’t seem “harsh” or anything like that, but maybe some day I will try some flat wounds?
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I tried them, don’t care much for them. I prefer my LaBella Deep Talking Bass flats.
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Part of what I do NOT like about the flats is they are way too smooth and slippery. I feel much more confident fretting on rounds, any, then these flats.
I am sure there is quite a difference between flats, like there is between rounds, but in the end, flats are flats, and rounds are rounds, and in between is in-between. I am sure there may be better flats out there, but based on these, I probably won’t get around to trying a bunch of them out.
I know you say you don’t like the Slinky Flats, and others say they don’t like Slinky rounds.
I happen to like Ernie Ball Slinky’s first and foremost. I did on Guitar, and I do on Bass, so if I am gonna learn to like a flat, it will most likely be these.
I do Regret putting them on my bass when it was Pleked. I feel like I am missing out on how great the Plek is because I have this odd feeling string on it, and I think I won’t even be able to do a full Plek review until I get some rounds back on it.
Oh well, like everything here, it is all up to the person holding the bass to decide what they like. There is no right or wrong, and whatever strings make you happy and give you a better bass experience is the right string for you.
I agree to @Lanny to a point that you can change strings to the song being played, but I am miles away from being good enough to have a string change the way I play a song, I still need to focus on the fundamentals and the music theory studies for now, if ever I am good enough to have a string change the way I play a song, i will have basses strung all sorts of ways.
Believe me, if I were right now, i would order 3 more Sterling Stingray’s and string them all different, just so I could have more Rays 
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HEAR…HEAR!! So would I Toby @T_dub… So would I…
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Hey @doylecb,
If you any of my covers that I am using the natural or black P-basses on , they both have Ernie Ball slinky flats, so that will give you an indication of the tone they produce.
Cheers Brian
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Hey @doylecb
Should have “listen to” in my response.
Don’t know what went on there🤔
Cheers Brian
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This video shows them in comparison to other Slinky’s. The Flats have surprisingly bright tone for flats, that is why I decided to try them out, and just because I didn’t like the feel of them, the sound is nice.
look at the video around 5:20 for the Flats
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@T_dub It’s funny how the thing I like the most about flats (smooth, silky feeling), is the thing you dislike about them.
As far as having a different bass with different strings for every song you play, that’s not something I would ever do. I’m perfectly content with one bass with flats or tape wounds. My main focus is on being the best bass player I can be, which means keeping the groove, staying with the chords, and serving the music. I doubt that anyone will ever criticize me on my string choice if I perfect those things.
Personally, I think everyone is overthinking this matter. It just boils down to what feels good to you and what you like playing. If you like rounds, play them. If you like flats, play them. Just play well, that’s what matters. I honestly feel that the percentage of people who can tell the difference in tone is microscopic.
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I wouldn’t describe the flats I have tried as silky. More like smooth and kind of grippy to the fingers, unlike good rounds, which are much faster under the fingers for me.
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I guess you must have played a different kind of rounds than I have played. The ones I’ve played feel like trying to slide across one of those pads used to scrub pots and pans LOL. But… to each his/her own.
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Y’all wanna’ just wrestle? 
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I myself try to find a tone that I like and that work with the song in my opinion, but I never try to really replicate the original bass tone of the record. I’m not at all in the exact-cover mood. But there are no hard rule with covers, there are tons of possibilities and you all do it the way you want 
I only have rounds and I’m fine with them 
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I have always felt that the best covers are ones that bring the covering artists’ style to the forefront, and not ones that are faithful recreations of the original style.
For example, Muse does a very stylistically similar recreation of Hungry Like The Wolf:
It’s a very accurate and good cover but not a cover I would say would make my “best of” list.
In contrast, check out this cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p02yfeL0Skk
Yeah! They took it and made it punkabilly. It’s actually my favorite version of the song.
The more extreme the artist, the better this can be, too. RevCo/Ministry, Coil, Rammstein, Marilyn Manson, NiN - all are awesome at this. This even works for genres where covers are rare. Tricky did the only real rap cover I know of and pulled it off with amazing skill by applying their own unique style.
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I agree @howard, anyway when doing only a bass cover based on an album record, it’s not really possible to go as deep into the appropriation of a song because the existing song is still here. but yeah, my favorite covers are the more “personnal” ones, and so the less exacts.
best cover album ever as far as I know :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMe4kVNKvNk
the second being of course Undisputed Attitude by Slayer 
I’m pretty sure no flat wound string were injured 
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Yeah that’s true for sure. But just saying, I think bringing your own tone is a positive thing, not negative
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if they did, their opinion is not very valuable, I certainly never would.
yes, very true
Very true as well, but there are certain cases, where if you want to sound like the song you are covering, the right strings could make the difference.
Take Iron Maiden and Steve Harris for instance. he plays flats, and if you really want to get his sound on their songs, other then transforming to becoming a bass god, you will also need to use flats to get his trademark clackety clack.
This applies for many other bassists and their bands and songs too, but like I said earlier, and much to your point, I need to focus on playing better and learning more and playing songs right, and am not setting up basses with different strings to attain these sounds on these songs.
If I am ever at that level, well, then maybe, but that is a LONG way off, so for now, I will be sticking to rounds on my basses for the feel first, sound second.
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