Stainless steel rounds for me, specifically RotoSound Swing Bass 66's. These things bite, punch, and clank like no other. This is to be expected of someone like me though, as I play a Rickenbacker 4003.
@@OnlineBassGuitar1 Especially once I get the Fender Bassman 100T amp and matching 4x10 cab I want. I also might get a 1x15 to stack the 4x10 on top of at some point.
For a second I thought I wrote your comment, because of your avatar and I also use the 66’s. Confusing moment because I could swear I did not see this video before.
@@gq._.guitar9613 Laurence Cottle from Black Sabbath (Headless Cross era) used a frettless and flatwound strings and it sounds doomy and dark as fuck, one of my favourite BS album
Steve Harris has an unusual playing technique. He barely touches the strings to allow him to play 220bpm triplets and has the volume and gain really high. Flat wounds makes sense for that.
I literally just restrung my bass yesterday before seeing this vid, I actually put on d'addario regular light Pro steels starting at .45 and my god they are bright, they are fantastic! Really great tone from them, so long as they don't turn to be bad or have any issues they will totally be my go to's!
Yeah man, they're pretty good! I don't mind them it that is what I can get. I wanna grab a couple of packs if I'm playing out or recording, because my complaint is they don't last a super long time.
I've been playing bass and guitar for a while and never noticed that there were different types of roundwounds! Definitely going to check out stainless steel roundwounds, thanks a ton!
I would have liked to see you demo all of the strings through a distortion pedal. Possible idea for another video? I was reading a Sweetwater article recently which brought up an interesting point. Roundwound strings give you brightness, and then distortion pedals give you more brightness. So if you like using distortion you get brightness on top of brightness which can sound unnecessarily harsh. The theory is that the darkness of flats would balance well with the natural brightness of the distortion. Thoughts?
I recently started using ernie ball Colebolt strings I dint think I'll ever go back they have a beautiful low and and when u really lay into the strings u get that nice metal clank
Any string on the market can be good for any style of music. I do like the way Elixir Nanowebs sound in a heavy mix, however. They also feel good and last a while.
Go with the lightest guage stainless steel roundwound strings you can stand. Nickel is okay, too. Try the rotosound 85s in E standard. That's around 25lbs of tension on the low E. Lighter strings are easier to get great intonation but easier to knock out of tune by playing too hard. Go as light as you can for how hard you play.
I have a regular 4 string squire precision bass. I want to play in drop A, should I buy a 5 string bass or use heavier strings? Should I use a pack of 5 strings for the 4 string bass? Help
I don’t like my precision bass pickup for metal… I have a usa one and I actually just bought a schecter stiletto stealth 5 for a band I just joined. I spent hours trying to get my p bass tone right for metal but when I sat down at there studio and picked up the schecter and played it out of the MM pickup only there it was that sound I was searching for…. I still love my p bass but I keep it in standard and I use it to play pop music and classic rock… I have to have an escape from metal other wise I get tired of playing my bands songs. Although I will tell you if I had the money I might get another 4 string with a different pickup configuration and tune it to drop a… but let me give you some advice this is what has helped me. Go find some metal players you like that have signature model basses… so for instance if they have a p bass for there signature bass look at all the mods they have done to it that make it different then your normal vintage reissue fender p bass.. for example I got the diff mckagan p bass and his has a jazz pickup at the bridge that is closer to the bridge than a jazz bass would be. It’s got a thinner neck. It’s got a Hipshot’s drop d tuner and it’s got all Hipshot’s hardware instead of fenders hardware and it’s also got a special circuit in the tone knob that gives it a different tonal characteristic. So from there you can kind of start to see what is different about the rockstars instrument then your plain Jane precision bass… and then you can look at the specs of what you want to get. I am not saying p bass wouldn’t sound awesome in a but I don’t think the p bass pickup would give you that brighter metal tone that u want. Although a is tuned really low, you still want to brighten up your sound with stainless steel round core strings and then dial in your amp with some travel and mids
Steve Harris from Iron Maiden plays flatwound strings. Of all the bass strings demonstrated here in this video the flatwounds have the deepest and warmest characteristics. Screw what "genre" you think you will be playing in as a bassist and just go with the string that gives you the best tone. Jazz. Blues. Rock. Metal. Flatwound strings sound the best to my ears.
Yea but that sound would mud up a lot of modern metal. That's the reason they ain't used. You could probably get a good death metal sound if you pair them with a dark glass, but modern metal usually favours a hi-fi sound, warm isn't how I would describe it
Weird.... in the video the steel-wounds sounded almost duller than the nickel-wounds which is not my experience. I tried D'addario Pro Steels and absolutely LOVED them new. Very bright, metallic and aggressive. My ONLY problem with them is that they don't age too well and don't sound as good after a few weeks. Thats why I try looking into Elixir Stainless steels now but I can't figure out if I'll like the sound or not.... Somehow most videos I've seen make them sound just like nickels...
@@OnlineBassGuitar1 i have not tried Elixirs on bass yet but they are thr first thing that comes to mind when you look for long lasting strings. My ideal strings would be ones that keep the sound of new Pro Steels for months but that probably doesnt exist. Now the Elixir stainless steels seem to sound somewhat less bright and bity than Pro Steels because of the coating. At least thats what i heard. I dont know just how much less bright though. Wouldnt want to shell out the money for them if they last long but sound just like nickel wounds from other brands...
@@OnlineBassGuitar1 I just bought VAPA, Korean brand, never heard of before let alone used but they come close to Meshuggah string specific...... And been three days and no complaints.... Somehow I am intrigued with EBS bass strings... They have two.. stainless steel and titanium nickel strings......
I personally only play flatwounds even though I mostly play metal (Ghost, Gojira, Fleshgod Apocalypse etc.). I just like that tight low-end with little to no highs that just pop your earsdrums... *Q*
This question isnt about strings but should you play bass for metal or hard rock with two fingers? Because that what I'm used too my friends say I should use a pick but I think I pick too fast and it sounds too sloppy too me?
The best bass player in heavy metal ever uses Rotosound flat wound jazz bass strings mate!!!!, you can buy his signature series!!! Maybe you've heard of him & his band?!, Steve Harris & Iron Maiden!
For sure. Not saying it isn’t possible. Steve Harris is an example of that. Just saying that, given how most bass players sound in that genre, the use of flats isn’t that common.
Steve Harris uses pretty much the brightest sounding flats he could find though and has a new set for each gig as far as I know. Plus his playing style gives him more attack on top of that so he is a pretty special case.
The ones made from metal
Stainless steel rounds for me, specifically RotoSound Swing Bass 66's. These things bite, punch, and clank like no other. This is to be expected of someone like me though, as I play a Rickenbacker 4003.
@@OnlineBassGuitar1 Especially once I get the Fender Bassman 100T amp and matching 4x10 cab I want. I also might get a 1x15 to stack the 4x10 on top of at some point.
For a second I thought I wrote your comment, because of your avatar and I also use the 66’s. Confusing moment because I could swear I did not see this video before.
Cliff Burton used those strings and he's pretty metal.
Steve Harris used flatwounds and he’s pretty metal
OnlineBass Guitar yeah of course could fretless be used for metal
Look up Steve DiGiorgio one of the best metal bassists out there and uses alot of fretless on his recordings.
Philip Farley And Dominic Forest, the guy rocks a six string fretless just like Steve.
@@gq._.guitar9613 Laurence Cottle from Black Sabbath (Headless Cross era) used a frettless and flatwound strings and it sounds doomy and dark as fuck, one of my favourite BS album
Steve Harris has an unusual playing technique. He barely touches the strings to allow him to play 220bpm triplets and has the volume and gain really high. Flat wounds makes sense for that.
I literally just restrung my bass yesterday before seeing this vid, I actually put on d'addario regular light Pro steels starting at .45 and my god they are bright, they are fantastic! Really great tone from them, so long as they don't turn to be bad or have any issues they will totally be my go to's!
Yeah man, they're pretty good! I don't mind them it that is what I can get. I wanna grab a couple of packs if I'm playing out or recording, because my complaint is they don't last a super long time.
I've been playing bass and guitar for a while and never noticed that there were different types of roundwounds!
Definitely going to check out stainless steel roundwounds, thanks a ton!
Cheers for the help mate, great breakdown to help me understand mkore about bass strings
I would have liked to see you demo all of the strings through a distortion pedal. Possible idea for another video? I was reading a Sweetwater article recently which brought up an interesting point. Roundwound strings give you brightness, and then distortion pedals give you more brightness. So if you like using distortion you get brightness on top of brightness which can sound unnecessarily harsh. The theory is that the darkness of flats would balance well with the natural brightness of the distortion. Thoughts?
You also loose all your low in when your playing with a band and you use bass distortion….
I have the same tool. I changed my string today and didn't even think of using the string winder.
I recently started using ernie ball Colebolt strings
I dint think I'll ever go back they have a beautiful low and and when u really lay into the strings u get that nice metal clank
Excellent video dude
nickels here particularly daddario nyxl 45-125
Great upload, thanks
This dude literally just advertised a standard string winder. I'm not sure what to make of this.
Any string on the market can be good for any style of music.
I do like the way Elixir Nanowebs sound in a heavy mix, however. They also feel good and last a while.
What would be the best flat wound strings to get for a power punch knock down walls turn over cars 😎 thank you for this video
It doesn't matter what particular string in general, but Elixir and Ernie ball Colbalts do it for me
Go with the lightest guage stainless steel roundwound strings you can stand. Nickel is okay, too. Try the rotosound 85s in E standard. That's around 25lbs of tension on the low E. Lighter strings are easier to get great intonation but easier to knock out of tune by playing too hard. Go as light as you can for how hard you play.
Rotosound makes some really good flatwounds
I have a regular 4 string squire precision bass. I want to play in drop A, should I buy a 5 string bass or use heavier strings? Should I use a pack of 5 strings for the 4 string bass? Help
Not sure what a drop A tuning is, but I believe that could also use a Hipshot machine head. I use one on my E string to drop it to a low D.
I don’t like my precision bass pickup for metal… I have a usa one and I actually just bought a schecter stiletto stealth 5 for a band I just joined. I spent hours trying to get my p bass tone right for metal but when I sat down at there studio and picked up the schecter and played it out of the MM pickup only there it was that sound I was searching for…. I still love my p bass but I keep it in standard and I use it to play pop music and classic rock… I have to have an escape from metal other wise I get tired of playing my bands songs. Although I will tell you if I had the money I might get another 4 string with a different pickup configuration and tune it to drop a… but let me give you some advice this is what has helped me. Go find some metal players you like that have signature model basses… so for instance if they have a p bass for there signature bass look at all the mods they have done to it that make it different then your normal vintage reissue fender p bass.. for example I got the diff mckagan p bass and his has a jazz pickup at the bridge that is closer to the bridge than a jazz bass would be. It’s got a thinner neck. It’s got a Hipshot’s drop d tuner and it’s got all Hipshot’s hardware instead of fenders hardware and it’s also got a special circuit in the tone knob that gives it a different tonal characteristic. So from there you can kind of start to see what is different about the rockstars instrument then your plain Jane precision bass… and then you can look at the specs of what you want to get. I am not saying p bass wouldn’t sound awesome in a but I don’t think the p bass pickup would give you that brighter metal tone that u want. Although a is tuned really low, you still want to brighten up your sound with stainless steel round core strings and then dial in your amp with some travel and mids
Also look up the Troy sanders signature model it’s got some preety kool mods that were done to make a older model bass sound metal
Steve Harris from Iron Maiden plays flatwound strings. Of all the bass strings demonstrated here in this video the flatwounds have the deepest and warmest characteristics. Screw what "genre" you think you will be playing in as a bassist and just go with the string that gives you the best tone. Jazz. Blues. Rock. Metal. Flatwound strings sound the best to my ears.
Yea but that sound would mud up a lot of modern metal. That's the reason they ain't used. You could probably get a good death metal sound if you pair them with a dark glass, but modern metal usually favours a hi-fi sound, warm isn't how I would describe it
@@DamianPendragon have you heard the Rotosound Steve Harris Signature flatwound bass strings?? There are demos available here on RUclips.
Weird.... in the video the steel-wounds sounded almost duller than the nickel-wounds which is not my experience. I tried D'addario Pro Steels and absolutely LOVED them new. Very bright, metallic and aggressive. My ONLY problem with them is that they don't age too well and don't sound as good after a few weeks. Thats why I try looking into Elixir Stainless steels now but I can't figure out if I'll like the sound or not.... Somehow most videos I've seen make them sound just like nickels...
@@OnlineBassGuitar1 i have not tried Elixirs on bass yet but they are thr first thing that comes to mind when you look for long lasting strings. My ideal strings would be ones that keep the sound of new Pro Steels for months but that probably doesnt exist. Now the Elixir stainless steels seem to sound somewhat less bright and bity than Pro Steels because of the coating. At least thats what i heard. I dont know just how much less bright though. Wouldnt want to shell out the money for them if they last long but sound just like nickel wounds from other brands...
Which bass strings to sound like Meshuggah.. I know Dick Lovgren uses DR Dragon skin strings but are there cheaper alternatives that come close?
@@OnlineBassGuitar1 I just bought VAPA, Korean brand, never heard of before let alone used but they come close to Meshuggah string specific...... And been three days and no complaints.... Somehow I am intrigued with EBS bass strings... They have two.. stainless steel and titanium nickel strings......
Nickel round FTW
I personally only play flatwounds even though I mostly play metal (Ghost, Gojira, Fleshgod Apocalypse etc.).
I just like that tight low-end with little to no highs that just pop your earsdrums... *Q*
DR black beauties for me... i just like that they're black!
This question isnt about strings but should you play bass for metal or hard rock with two fingers? Because that what I'm used too my friends say I should use a pick but I think I pick too fast and it sounds too sloppy too me?
@@OnlineBassGuitar1 thanks
Steve Harris of Iron Maiden plays with his fingers. If he does it then it's not wrong.
@@Valeron5 and god damn he nails it well! Those triplets in the trooper make my hand cramp just thinking about playing them with a pick
Use three fingers 😂
SS for life as MESHUGGAH bassist Dick Lovgren uses DR DRAGONSKIN K3 light gauge strings (.40 - 100)
Round core or hex core?
Nickel Round wound 🤘🏼
Is it sack religious if use a stingray and don’t use Ernie ball strings
Nope... I hate their strings... DR high beams are awesome on stingrays.
DDR is great
Terribly set up gear, everything sounded flat and lifeless. Flats can be set up extremely well for metal nevertheless.
Indeed... Flatwounds are ok. Just ask Steve Harris... His sound stands up over the guitars.
Does video about bass strings for metal, but doesn’t play any metal riffs at all classic
Juatin plays with Nickel strings, just saying.
"Both flats and rounds have their own charactaristic sounds-". Should have kept that going
so...it's not Megadeth...not even Megadeath...but rather, Mega Death! lol
other than that, good vid - appreciate the low action/light gauge advice
paul gray got better strings and a better guitar
-R.I.P tribute to slipknot
Someone tell Steve Harris he's been using the wrong strings for 45 years 😆
Commentaries be like, iron maiden is the only band of metal that matters in the world, lol
The best bass player in heavy metal ever uses Rotosound flat wound jazz bass strings mate!!!!, you can buy his signature series!!!
Maybe you've heard of him & his band?!, Steve Harris & Iron Maiden!
Only Steve Harris uses flats for metal...
For sure. Not saying it isn’t possible. Steve Harris is an example of that. Just saying that, given how most bass players sound in that genre, the use of flats isn’t that common.
Cliff Burton have always use stainless steel strings. Good video but do your research next time.
Dude Steve Harris uses flat wounds and he has a a super bright tone
Steve Harris uses pretty much the brightest sounding flats he could find though and has a new set for each gig as far as I know. Plus his playing style gives him more attack on top of that so he is a pretty special case.
Why does the guitar sound so bad though?
i don't trust you
Not useful/click bate.
Literally the same as your punk video. Shame.
And the Warm Sound one... :/