the truth about guitar strings
Most of what guitar players know about guitar strings are "facts" that are either partially true or not true at all.
Here are a few of them.
"All guitar strings are made by one company"
FALSE. There are several string manufacturers that exist, all with different manufacturing facilities in different parts of the world.
My preferred string, Dunlop in DEN0942 size, is made in Benecia, California.
D'Addario strings such as their 10-46 size are made in Queens, New York as far as I'm aware.
La Bella strings like the EL-L are made in Newburgh, New York (same US state as D'Addario, but a totally different town in a totally different factory that's almost 2 hours away). Side note: La Bella to this day does make one of the best super-thick "Jazz Medium" 13-56 sets with a wound G, the EL-JM.
Some companies do "farm out" strings to other manufacturers. If you don't want farmed out strings, stick to string companies that start with D. As in D'Addario, DR, Dunlop and Dean Markley. For whatever reason, "D" string companies make their own stuff. Usually.
"Thicker strings mean better tone"
FALSE. The best tone you will ever get out of a string is whatever your hands feel most comfortable playing. For some that means thin strings. For others it means thick.
The classic example of where guitar players get sucked into the thick-string thing for the wrong reason is believing that using super-thick strings like Stevie Ray Vaughan did will give them the "ultimate" Strat tone. Nope. Remember, Vaughan's largest influence was Hendrix. And Hendrix used super-light strings. SRV-style Strat tone is absolutely not just the strings and never has been.
Getting "that sound" out of a Strat or any other guitar isn't dependent on string thickness at all but rather on playing technique. If for example you install super-thick strings on a Strat but play lightly, you will never sound like SRV because he banged strings really, really hard.
In other words, use a string your fingers feel comfortable with and not because [insert famous guitar player here] does.
"Thicker strings stay in tune better"
FALSE. Properly stretched strings on a guitar that are played by someone who actually knows what he's doing do not go out of tune that often no matter what the thickness is.
"All strings sound the same when played"
TRUE, if you play nothing but metal.
FALSE, if you play anything else.
When you crank up distortion on a guitar, you will hear zero difference between thinner and thicker string sets.
Now of course, metalhead players will say "I can hear a difference!" Wrong. You can feel a difference because you're the one playing the guitar. But there will be no difference at all as to the sound heard coming out of the amp. You may say there's "more sustain", but that's never heard because nothing you play has any note or chord held longer than 5 seconds at the most.
Want to know why I can get Strats to "sound metal" so easily? It's because I know how to wield a distortion effect properly. I can make any electric guitar get big metal crunch. You could hand me a Gretsch G6120 hollow body and I'll make it sound like the most badass metal axe you've ever heard. How? By knowing how to shape a metal sound.
Could you do the same with any electric? Of course you could. All it takes is experimentation and finding the right effect and EQ settings.
For just about every other style of music, strings made by different manufacturers will sound very different from each other depending on the kind of string it is.
"Some strings 'break in' faster than others"
TRUE. It's a big reason I use Dunlop DEN0942 strings to begin with.
How quickly a string breaks in (meaning the time it takes before it's properly stretched) isn't so much dependent on the player as it is what the string is made out of, its core type and core-to-wrap ratio.
I can say with 100% certainty that Dunlop DEN series strings do break in faster. Much faster than D'Addario XL series.
In fact, just about anything breaks in faster than a D'Addario XL. I believe this is because the stiffness of the XL in combination with its specific core-to-wrap ratio works against it during the break-in period.
The main reason XL strings are so stiff is because D'Addario uses a hexagonal core, commonly known as just hex core. This results in a stiffer string, so if you've ever said to yourself "D'Addario XLs sure are harder to bend", that's not your imagination. XLs are stiffer when tuned to pitch compared to other string types. If you install one brand of string on your guitar, and then put on the next set as D'Addario XLs in the exact same size, those strings will be stiffer and have more tension.
What makes the Dunlop DEN different? A proprietary core and a proprietary core-to-wrap ratio that's different than an XL. What core type does Dunlop use? They don't say what it is on their web site. Could be hex or could be round. I don't know, nor do I care to examine it. All I know is that the strings Dunlop makes are damned good and work for me.
However, I also like DR with its round core. Works nicely and breaks in quick. Dean Markley 1972 reissues are great also but they wear out real quick, snap often and rust way too easily which is why I stopped using those.
The only string I truly don't care for are Ernie Ball Super Slinkys. I play 9-42 sets so I tried the 2223 EB set. In fact, I've tried them several times over the years, and they never agreed with me. The wraps on the wound strings slip off my fingers way too easily and I snap the unwound strings easily also.
Yeah, I know, some guys swear by Ernie Ball strings. But they've never agreed with me.
Anyway, the point is yes, some strings made by certain companies do break in faster than others.
What's the best string for you?
The best string for you is whatever your hands feel most comfortable with.
Note that I didn't say "whatever sounds best to you". Sound is something you can shape using different guitars, different pickups, different effects, amplifier EQ settings and so on.
Feel is what counts first when it comes to strings first and always. If the string doesn't feel right, stop using them and try something else. Try everything until you find the one that your hands and fingers like best.
The next time you buy strings, try a different brand. Something you never would have thought of trying before. Maybe a pack of Rotosound Pure Nickels? Maybe a set of D'Addario Half Rounds, which is a winding type where you don't feel the string grooves as much which is easier on your fingers? Maybe a set of coated strings like Elixir Nanowebs (which are great strings no matter what you've heard otherwise)?
Eventually, you're going to come across the string that's "just right" for you. And yeah, that may mean you have to buy strings online to get them. Sometimes that's what it takes to get the stuff you really like.
Remember, no matter what the guitar is, how much you spent on it or how perfectly it's set up, if the strings don't agree with you, you'll hate playing it.
Discover the string you like best. Yeah, you may have to go through 5 different brands or more, and you may end up with a few sets that were a total waste of money. But that's fine. It's worth it to find "that string" that's perfect for your hands. Why? Because you'll enjoy playing a whole lot more.
i can only handle country music in short bursts
"Jerry's Breakdown" is the first song on the 1972 album Me and Chet. And yes, that album has one of the worst album covers ever, because when you think of Chet Atkins, you don't exactly envision him rowing a boat. Chet and Jerry, who played together often, would try to do "funny" things like that, but it just didn't work. But at least the music was good.
"Jerry's Breakdown" is what most guitar players find out about after they discover there's more than just metal shredding. That instrumental song is to country guitar guys what Satch Boogie from Surfing With The Alien is to metalheads.
I am very particular when it comes to country music, because I think most of it sucks. My preference for country is mainly stuff from the 1960s and 1970s. If it's something like Six Days on the Road or Christine's Tune (Devil in Disguise), yeah that's good. But if it's anything from the 1980s up to present, nope.
Do I personally know how to play Breakdown? No. There are plenty of guitar lessons on YouTube that will show you how to play it, and they all say the same thing. Once you learn how to do a fast banjo roll, the rest of the song really isn't that difficult. It sounds difficult because you're hearing a ridiculous amount of notes played, but it's the rolls that really make the song what it is. I may learn it one of these days.
Do I like Breakdown? Yes. Great song. However, I can only handle country music in short bursts.
Country is like metal in that I simply can't listen to nor play it all the time. If I did, I'd end up in a rut. You can end up in that everything-sounds-the-same trap with country just like you can with metal.
As a guitar player, I find it's best to have a good variety of styles to draw inspiration from. To play just one style is boring.
In other words, if you hear something totally outside of what you normally listen to and think it's good, it's good and you should learn it.
Rich's movie review of The Usual Suspects
The Usual Suspects is a movie from 1995 that I've been wanting to see for a long time because it had such rave reviews and I've never heard anyone say a bad thing about it. I finally got to watch it for myself and decide if it was good or not.
Good? Yes. Very good. It's a different take on the whodunit type of story where you're trying to guess who the real killer is throughout the whole movie.
I was able to successfully guess who the real killer was about half way through. But even so, I'll probably watch it again because the story runs real deep. There is no way to catch all the little hints and clues on first view of this movie. That, and it's pretty much required to watch it twice to even begin to figure out how the killer was able to piece everything together so well before it's revealed who the killer is.
Has this movie aged well? For the most part, yes. However, there are a few things that are a bit distracting that makes it dated.
You will see a few pieces of 1990s technology that lets you know this flick is almost 20 years old. You'll also see cars of the time which dates it a bit.
But the thing that throws you the most is seeing the twin towers. Yeah, that's in this movie, albeit very briefly. It was a staple of movie making that any film shot in New York either in part or in full had to show the towers as an establishing shot so the audience was sent the message "Yes, this is New York". However, whenever you see a pre-2001 movie that has the towers in it, such as the comedy Trading Places or any other number of movies with that towers establishing shot, your heart sinks and it takes you a few minutes to get back into the storyline.
For example, there was a cartoon that ran for 23 episodes from 1994 to 1995 called The Critic, which was supposed to be based in New York...
...and you see the towers at the beginning of every show on that card. Again, my heart sinks whenever I see it.
But anyway...
Other than the little bits of 90s stuff and seeing the towers, The Usual Suspects is a really good movie. Fantastic storyline and I'll definitely have to watch it again to catch the stuff I missed, because like I said, the story runs real deep.
retro pocket radio still available new
Here's my theory when it comes to certain things still for sale that are exactly like they used to be:
Certain products can stay stored in a warehouse for a long time and not age. If the product is still usable later in its original form, and we're talking years later mind you, it will still be sold as new.
Such a product is the Sony ICF-S10MK2.
Yep, it's a pocket radio. But I swear I saw this thing for sale new back in the 1990s. Possibly even the late 1980s. However it's still for sale new now. I even think it's the same price it was originally.
Why is this thing still for sale and why would anyone want one?
The answer to that is interesting.
While true that modern smartphones can be stuffed with as much music as you want in there, and while true some (but damned few) smartphones can receive FM radio, I don't know of any smartphone that can receive AM.
People who listen to pocket radios want something small to listen to while they're doing other stuff, such as listening while working on the car, doing the dishes, doing the laundry, etc.
FM radio these days completely sucks, and has for a while now. AM however has most of the better talk radio shows, which is what people listen to when they're sick of listening to music and just want something different. But since you can't get AM on the phone, that's where having a pocket radio actually has a real use, even today.
The Sony radio above has no digital in it whatsoever and no clock. If you think that sucks, it doesn't because the two AA batteries to power the radio can last a very, very long time. As in weeks, months or possibly a whole year before you have to pop in another two, assuming you don't turn up the volume too loudly.
You could - and this is no joke - leave the radio turned on with the volume at 25% and those two plain alkaline AA batteries would probably last a whole week straight if not longer. Since the radio is doing absolutely nothing but receiving a signal and sending audio to the speaker without lighting any display or having to "remember" the time for a clock, it barely uses any power to do what it does.
Now for all I know, there's some warehouse somewhere that has a few hundred of these radios in stock that were probably made 15 years ago if not longer. But it doesn't matter how old it is because the design of it is basically bulletproof. Worth it to buy one? If you want a simple AM/FM radio that will last a long time on batteries, yeah it is.
I would buy one myself were it not for the fact I already have a portable AM/FM/WX radio. Heck, I may buy it anyway because that little Sony looks like it came straight out of the late 80s. It's cool retro goodness for real cheap.
why do i even own a bass guitar?
Little know fact: I've owned a bass guitar ever since my teens.
The Jag SS I just bought is actually my third bass. The first was a black Epiphone P-bass copy that I never learned the model name of, bought for $340 in the 1990s. I begged my dad to get me one because I wanted to play in a band with it (which I did). After I quit that band I kept the bass for a while. Eventually, that bass was chucked and replaced with a Yamaha RBX170 in 2005. And now, 9 years later, that's been replaced with the Jag bass.
People get a bit shocked when they see that I can actually play a bass correctly. So why haven't I included it more in my recordings? Mainly because for all this time I've been playing the wrong bass. I think the short-scale Jag is the right bass for my style of bass playing when I pick one up.
Any guitar player that records at home such as I do eventually comes to the realization that no matter how many bass samples you download or what keyboard/synth/sampler you use or what computer wizardry you try to replace the bass guitar, none of that replaces the real thing. When you want real bass, you need a real bass guitar...
...but you need the right one.
P/J is just right for me
For me, the P/J offers the widest possible tonal range for a bass guitar without the need for preamps, crazy EQ setups, custom cutoff toggle switching or any of that other stuff. A P/J does exactly what I want it to do and does it well.
I can go straight from vintage-to-modern sounds with a P/J. I've got the "midrangey" P in the front and the "honky" J in the rear. Separated, they have a vintage-style tone, and together they have a modern-style tone.
Is P/J the ultimate pickup configuration for a bass? For me it is. It's arguably the absolute cheapest and easiest way to have a bass that covers the most tonal styles you could ever want out of a bass guitar.
Is there a FENDER bass that's a P/J?
Yes. There are six of them at the time I write this, not including signature models.
There's the Modern Player Jaguar Bass by Fender, the Deluxe Active P Bass Special the Aerodyne Jazz Bass, the American Deluxe Precision the Vintage Hot Rod 60s Precision and the Vintage Hot Rod '70s Jazz.
Fender is really careful when it comes to releasing P/J-configured bass guitars, because the Fender bass purists scream their heads off every time they do it; this is why every Fender-branded model that has P/J is a special model of some kind. Fender purists will give an "OK" to something different as long as it's a special model.
Short scale is important to me so I don't wreck my fingers or wrists
If I play a standard 34-inch scale, I start feeling the pain in about 30 minutes. The tips of my fingers get sore on both hands, and my wrists also get sore on both arms.
I don't have any health issues with my wrists, hands or arms, nor is there anything wrong with me. I just don't take well to the 34-inch scale and never have, nor do I take well to standard-size bass strings.
Short scale allows me to play longer. A lot longer. And my fingers, hands and wrists don't get wrecked nearly as much.
The Jag SS comes installed with Fender 5250XL short scale strings. It's a 40-95 sized set, which is commonly termed as "super light" or "extra light". They work for me because the tips of my fingers don't get wrecked nearly as much compared to light or medium string sets.
However, if it proves to be true that the roundwounds still wreck my fingers too much, I'll try a D'Addario Half Round set, namely the ENR70. Same set size I have now, but with the half round shape. They're unfortunately long scale so I would have to cut off a ton of excess string, but, well, that's what they got. Yes, D'Addario does make short scale sets, but not in a half round flavor.
If you're asking, "Why not use flatwound?", I don't like flats because they feel too weird to me. I want to feel at least some windings on the strings.
How does a guitar player pick the right bass?
Most of the time, when a guitar player needs a bass, he or she buys the wrong one mainly because of not knowing what really works and what doesn't.
If you're a guitar player looking to buy a bass, here's my advice if you have absolutely no idea what to get.
1. DON'T get a 5-string as your first bass.
Yeah, you want that low B that a 5-string bass has because you think it's cool. Well, that's the totally wrong reason to get it.
You're going to go out and buy a cheap 5-string bass and it's going to be awful because that B is going to be buzzing and flopping all over the place.
In my experience, the main difference between a cheap 5-string and an expensive one is that the expensive one will not have string flop on the B. The bridge will be better as will the nut as will the frets, and the B will be "smooth" on the expensive bass. On the cheap bass however it will be a buzzy, floppy mess.
You are better off just getting a 4-string, switching to a heavy gauge string set and tuning the bass to B-E-A-D instead of E-A-D-G if you want that low B. Yes, you will have to raise the strings to accommodate for the looser string tension. And you'll have to intonate again. And you'll probably have to crank the truss rod a 1/4-turn or two to get back proper neck relief (or maybe not, because the heavy string set may provide proper tension for enough neck relief, but you'll have to check to make sure). Worth it? Yes, because you'll have a low B that won't buzz or flop.
You're not going to play high notes anyway, so there's no reason to get a 5. Get the 4, put on the heavy strings and tune to B-E-A-D.
2. Want easy? Get a P.
The Precision Bass a.k.a. P-Bass which most bass players just call P has just one split-coil pickup in the middle of the body. There is no pickup buzz because the coils are side-by-side like a humbucker.
One output jack, one volume, one tone. That's it. It doesn't get any easier. The P is without question the easiest electric bass guitar on the planet.
I don't do P-basses because I prefer short scale. But it's probably true you're okay with standard scale. When you want a bass that "just works" and is a bass your bass player friends will be totally familiar with when you want to hand it over to them when they come to visit, that's the P.
The P to get is the Squier Vintage Modified Precision Bass in Amber. Why? It's a maple-board version that has all the classic P cues, is pretty much guaranteed to have higher resale value should you decide to sell it later ("woody"/"furniture" looking bass guitars with maple fretboards always seem to sell better), and all your bass player friends young and old will dig it. Win-win-win all around.
The Squier P in amber is so good that your bass player friends will probably offer to buy it from you once they play it. Yes, really.
3. Don't forget the bass-sized gig bag.
It is typical that any guitar player who buys a bass just leaves it in the open for weeks or months on end. After a while it gets quite the layer of dust on it. Then they wonder why the bass sounds all "scratchy" when they go to play it later. Well, duh, the controls got full of dust.
Even if after you're done playing the bass you just shove it in a corner of a room, in the closet or under the bed, put it in a bag first.
Remember that bass is a different animal
If you've been playing 6-string guitar and really haven't played bass much (if at all), when you first get your bass, you're going to suck at it.
"But I already play guitar... so I should know the bass already, right?"
You might know the notes, but you don't know the technique. There's a lot more travel involved for both hands, your hands and fingers are going to get totally wrecked as you learn the instrument (which is normal until you get used to it), and in some respects it's like learning the guitar all over again...
...but it's a cool instrument to know. Knowing bass opens up new ideas and new ways of doing things. For example, you may find it much easier to write songs using just root notes on bass instead of playing chords on guitar.
Also, for some of you out there who read this, you might have been bass players all along and didn't know it. Some guys and gals upon picking up a bass do switch to it full time because they enjoy it more. That has been known to happen (especially for those that get ticked off at the 6-string guitar real easy).