I recently put a set of LaBella low tension flats on my Mustang bass and immediately felt “THIS IS GREAT” and loved playing them, caressing them as I walked by my bass while it was in the stand but then…
I was playing along with The Breakup Song by the Greg Kihn Band and after about 10 times running through it, I had some pretty seriously painful dark creases on my fretting index and middle fingers, like friction burns.
That song has some pretty aggressive slides on the low E from F to C and G to D and wow. It got me.
Two days rest, I restrung with my EB nickel round wounds to see if it was the flats or the way I was playing the song and I think it’s the flats? Playing the same song (and finishing up a lesson module) caused me no trouble using the rounds.
FWIW, I am a beginner, but have been noodling around on rounds for over 30 years off and on - and for this past month of taking daily doses of the Beginner to Badass course, I had no discomfort on my plucking for fretting finger tips until I put the LaBellas on.
I want to put those flats back on but not if they’re never going to play nice.
It seems counter-intuitive at first, but the contact area between skin and string is already larger for flats, as you’re “only” riding on the ridges of roundwounds.
@Jonny-TooLoud : you might want to consider trying a musician’s glove, like a lot of the greats do, such as Scott Devine, Etienne M’Bappe and yours truly
(And I am really being serious here.)
It looks like legato slides, short slides into the note. If their transcription is correct, you could spare yourself some trouble and go easy on the slides
Many of these sentiments are very personal (people experience things differently,of course), but I think there is an element of “urban myth” to the connection between “roundwounds” and “harsh”.
I think it’s the material that often is the “culprit”. Well-made copper-plated roundwounds are very supple, IMHO. Pure stainless steel, on the other hand, can feel more “abrasive”.
In the end, the combination of texture and material makes us prefer one combo to another, but I just don’t think the immediate and un-refuted “round-harsh” association is fair
I don’t really have the impression that they are abrasive though. One advantage I see is that they seem less prone to oxidation, an issue that I had with nickel plated strings.
Fair point. I swear I had some stainless steel strings once that were actually dull… and they didn’t feel very nice. Maybe some runs where someone forgot to polish them!?
IMO, Thomastik Infeld Jazz Flats for the win. They’re the smoothest, slickest flats I’ve ever played. In fact, as a daily devotee of TI Jazz Rounds, I find I have to consciously not fly past a fret when I place my finger on my flats.
I have tried DR Marcus Miller Signature Stainless Steel Round Core Bass 45-105 on my Sire V8. Stainless steel most definitely is more abrasive (and much less flexible) than TI Jazz Rounds. As such, the DRs naturally work well for slapping, but slap isn’t a priority for me. But, oh well, it was an inexpensive experiment.
Two things working against you with LaBella Deep Talking Flats. One is they are super high tension, and two is they have hex cores which add to the tension. So maybe one thing.
I would try another type of flats.
Or, a glove. I use a glove and it fixes a world of issues.
Or Finger Ease. I have used it in simikar situations and on super glossy necks with good results.
TI makes the best flats though, which are round core and that means less tesnsion.
This is a good suggestion. These strings have a pretty smooth edge to them so the minimal surface area of rounds without the sharper edge. Love these strings. Labella super polished are similar-also the IMA ones.
They are slick !
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