LearnGospelMusic.com Community
Gospel Instruments => Bass Guitar => Topic started by: BIGHENRY on September 13, 2006, 01:44:44 PM
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Which is better to use when playing gospel music ...or do it matter??????
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Lighter strings are easier to slap and pop on and are brighter, heaveier are more for deep tone and fingerstyle playing whaterver your style is. I personally perfer light bc I can change my preamp to go deep if I need to, but it hard to get the heavier gauge to get really bright. But that is just me.
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I totally agree, besides if you like to bend you will find it gets a little more difficult to do with thicker gauge strings my 2 cents! Peace!
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I play a 140-50 guage 5-string set and a 105-40 guage 4-string set. I use a slightly lighter guage on my 4-string basses as I don't really do a lot of slap on 5-strings. Those guages are way too heavy for a lot of players, but I have a very aggressive finger plucking style and lighter guages are way to snappy sounding for me. I kill the notes I am playing simply because I play them too hard. Using a heavy guage will give you a tight and well rounded tone, but you have to pay a price for it. Slapping is more laboured, tapping requires a heck of a lot more finger strength, bending the strings is difficult and missed notes are a lot more noticable. Also, I wouldn't recommend using a heavy string guage like I do if you have a budget priced bass or a neck which is very thin. You will demand a lot of strength from your neck to support the tension from the strings and a lot of basses cannot handle it. Depsite your efforts to constantly adjust the truss rod, a heavy guage set could ruin a weak neck.
For Gospel, Jazz, Funk music the most common guage for a 5-string bass is 125-40 (medium-light). I have met a lot of players that will go lighter, but medium-light guage is always a good place to start.
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My set is split with heavy and light strings.
Here are my heaviest strings:
F# - .165
B - .135
E - . 110
My light strings:
A - .080
D - .055
G - .035
C - .025
F - .018
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My set is split with heavy and light strings.
Here are my heaviest strings:
F# - .165
B - .135
E - . 110
My light strings:
A - .080
D - .055
G - .035
C - .025
F - .018
.018 isn't that a guitar string. Haha my D and G strings are bigger then yours. ;D oh wait I don't have an F#. Shoot. :-[ :D :)
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Medium Light will get you through anything!
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I'm with BBD: medium lights are extremely versatile and resiliant.
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mellow flats have the nicest sound
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I use medium lights