Help! Jazz Fender Strings

[allde]

Ok, quick introduction, allde here, my son plays a Jazz Fender Bass, he plays a lot of Jazz music in the school's emsemble, here is the problem, he also loves his Funk, we need to replace his strings on his Fender.

What Ernie Ball Strings can the forum members recommend that could be used for both styles, I suppose if there is no middle of the range, we'll lean towards the Jazz end of the scale, but would still like something reasonable when his Slapping and Popping.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

kind regards

allde.

 

[Mikey 1000]

Ok, quick introduction, allde here, my son plays a Jazz Fender Bass, he plays a lot of Jazz music in the school's emsemble, here is the problem, he also loves his Funk, we need to replace his strings on his Fender.

What Ernie Ball Strings can the forum members recommend that could be used for both styles, I suppose if there is no middle of the range, we'll lean towards the Jazz end of the scale, but would still like something reasonable when his Slapping and Popping.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

kind regards

allde.

Hello allde,

What you’re looking for can be achieved with regular round wound medium gauge strings as long as they’re new enough to not have that “dead strings” sound. However, there are several fundamentals necessary to reach an authentic Slap sound and a good Jazz sound that comes before the specific style of strings:

1. Proper technique - This is vital for Slapping/Popping, otherwise it will only sound amateur.
2. Good foundation - This develops the solid time and consistency necessary to achieve that good-feeling upright bass sound for Jazz
3. Vocabulary - By imitating the masters one note at a time, one will begin to develop an arsenal of riffs and phrases to sound confident in each style.

It takes routine practice and careful guidance to work on these three fundamentals, which is what will get your son the sound you’re looking for. Good luck!



Michael Barracato
www.realbasslessons.com

 

[allde]

Thanks for the reply Mikey 1000, yes those 3 points that you have raised are important, Looking further into the strings I'm guessing the correct gauge to use would be .045, .066, .085, .105.
Now would the 7250 sound ok or would the Nickel 7150M sound better?

 

[Greg Suarez]

Those gauges look good for jazz and pop. Getting into lower gauges (especially on the low E and A) gets you into pretty deep heavy rock and metal territory. And I second Mikey that technique is vital for proper-sounding slap bass playing.

The Ernie Ball Cobalt strings have a lot of personality and a very lively sound. Plus, they last longer than the average string. This is what I use on my bass. They sound very spanking for slap playing, and your son can adjust the tone knob on his J-Bass if he wants a mellower jazz sound.