Tired of heavy gauges

[IvanHardy]

hey guys i've been wondering if any of you ever played with power slinky strings for awhile and then decided to go back to lighter gauges because you didn't want to use so much effort anymore. i feel like thats happening to me. i have power slinky's on both my 'rays but it's ok for the maple one since it's to DGCF but power slinky's for standard on my stealth slo sometimes takes me a bit to warm up and then usually ends up making my fingers hurt after hours of playing on my right hand. my friend says to man up and that heavier strings sound better for bass.but i think it's that maturing a bit as a bass player i realized i don't need such heavy strings especially since my playing i really dig in the string i don't want to feel like i'm pulling a string and it doesn't move.

 

[J Romano]

Time for a 5 string, save the fingers

 

[oli@bass]

I don't think that "heavier strings sound better". Not at all. Heavier strings tend to have weaker harmonics. If that's what you're after, you can also try flats. String thickness is as much a matter of personal taste and playing style as of sound. And there is also a strong relation between string thickness, picking position, sound and volume. Depending on your picking style you can even set up your instrument with much lower action if using heavier strings, because they will have less excursion with the same picking strength.

If you check out what famous players use and what you'd have expected to get the sound they have, you'll find that you might be quite off. (For example: The twangy clanky ringing metal sound of Steve Harris is produced by... ultra heavy gauge flats... I'd have expected medium light rounds -- like John Entwistle used to play)

 

[Tollywood]

Hello Ivan,

Keeping in mind that you can always switch back, I predict that you will be unhappy with the lighter gauge strings.

I play 10's, Regular Slinkys, and I just bought an Axis that came with 9's on it. I switched it over to the 10's after about a week and it was night and day. Mind you, I played 9's for 20 years, and just switched to 10's about 5 years ago.

The lighter gauge now feels insignificant in my hands. Even my 14 year old son commented on the skinny strings on the new Axis. I reared him on 10's from day one.

Good luck...

 

[five7]

10s? That is funny! Your biggest string is our smallest one. We are talking man sized strings like 130s.

 

[IvanHardy]

I don't think that "heavier strings sound better". Not at all. Heavier strings tend to have weaker harmonics. If that's what you're after, you can also try flats. String thickness is as much a matter of personal taste and playing style as of sound. And there is also a strong relation between string thickness, picking position, sound and volume. Depending on your picking style you can even set up your instrument with much lower action if using heavier strings, because they will have less excursion with the same picking strength.

If you check out what famous players use and what you'd have expected to get the sound they have, you'll find that you might be quite off. (For example: The twangy clanky ringing metal sound of Steve Harris is produced by... ultra heavy gauge flats... I'd have expected medium light rounds -- like John Entwistle used to play)

well i did think about trying hybrid or regular slinky's. it's just that it really urks me on the D and G string to play there with all that tension espcially past the 12th fret or when trying to pop a string.

 

[IvanHardy]

Time for a 5 string, save the fingers

really? i'd love to get one if i had the money.

 

[IvanHardy]

Hello Ivan,

Keeping in mind that you can always switch back, I predict that you will be unhappy with the lighter gauge strings.

I play 10's, Regular Slinkys, and I just bought an Axis that came with 9's on it. I switched it over to the 10's after about a week and it was night and day. Mind you, I played 9's for 20 years, and just switched to 10's about 5 years ago.

The lighter gauge now feels insignificant in my hands. Even my 14 year old son commented on the skinny strings on the new Axis. I reared him on 10's from day one.

Good luck...

well at music stores when i play their stingray's i'm not bothered by the gauges. i see what your saying though. a while back i bought some regular slinky strings and immediately switched back to power slinky's.