Strings for basses

Bass strings at session

As the name stringed instrument suggests, strings are an essential component for basses. The string is always the basis for a stringed instrument's tone development. When it's worn out the sound becomes dull, when it's new the sound is brilliant. However, other factors also play a major role. A steel string, for example, usually sounds clearer. The tone is very defined both in the low end and the high frequencies. A nickel string, on the other hand, emphasises the mid frequencies and offers warmer lows. These indications are only rough guidelines, though, since each manufacturer has its own production process and therefore its own sound.

Bass strings - tone and feel

For example, strings from Ernie Ball tend to have relatively bright highs despite being nickel. By contrast Rotosound steel strings are known for a mid-focused tone with less emphasis in the high frequencies. Another category are bronze and phosphor bronze strings, which sound similarly bright to steel strings but are noticeably louder acoustically. They are mainly used on acoustic basses to be heard better unplugged. But it's not just the material that matters; the surface also plays a very important role in the tonal character. Generally a distinction is made between roundwound, flatwound and halfwound strings. Basically a string consists of a core and the winding wrapped around it. Roundwound describes a string whose winding is left untouched. This preserves the full harmonic spectrum and brightness of the string, though it often feels quite rough at first. A flatwound string is filed completely smooth to eliminate finger noise and provide a comfortable feel. However, flatwounds tend to sound more subdued. The halfwound variant has the winding partially filed down to create a somewhat smoother surface without removing all the high frequencies. A special form of flatwound strings are the Black Nylons from makers like GHS or La bella which feature an additional black nylon wrap over the winding to produce a tone best compared to that of double basses or other nylon- or gut-string instruments. Given the many factors, every bassist should simply try out which strings they like best in terms of tone and feel and don't be afraid to experiment a little. Especially when you want to change your sound without changing the whole setup, strings are often a good starting point. A large and well-sorted selection of bass strings from popular brands like D'addario, Ernie Ball, GHS, Rotosound, DR and Elixir as well as the strings from bass manufacturers is of course available at session. How you can change the strings with little effort is shown in our Guide: changing electric bass strings.