Technique

[P. Bass]

Please take this anywhere it'll make life easier for all the bros.

I'll start w/ something that has had a HUGE effect on my playing comfort.

WARMUP for FINGER AGILITY.
* Hold all 4 fingers together on each hand.
* Curve fingers & slowly rotate the TIP of each thumb around the TIPS of all 4 fingers as they are held together, moving from index finger to pinky on each hand.
* Do 10 revs & then reverse direction for 10 revs. Keep this up for a few minutes.
What this does is "loosens" the tendons across the back of the hand & frees up finger motion.
Give it a chance & try it prior to play & @ the start of a gig set.  
Keeping your hands "in the pocket" feels  pretty "groovy" as well  

[IntenseJim]

I use that technique for the Brazzers website.

[P. Bass]

I use that technique for the Brazzers website.

I thought you played a STRING instrument 

[P. Bass]

I'm having trouble getting accurate intonation set on the E string of a new set of flats. Could it be due to a "dud" E string or am I missing something. I only have a Korg GA-30 tuner to work with but that should be OK-right? Any suggestions? Thanks .

[Fran Diaz]

I'm having trouble getting accurate intonation set on the E string of a new set of flats. Could it be due to a "dud" E string or am I missing something. I only have a Korg GA-30 tuner to work with but that should be OK-right? Any suggestions? Thanks .

I'm afraid you need a better tuner, I use that Korg for everyday tuning but I've found it not to be exactly a 'precision' tuner when compared to higher quality tuners, especially for setting the intonation.

In fact, it has such a big tolerance to show the open string in tune that when I use it, I always make sure that it reads in tune for each open string, each note on the fifth fret and the E and B on the ninth fret.

[joinercape]

As silly as it may sound, I still tune up with a tuning fork at home, then tune the bass to itself with harmonics. I play mostly with piano players and horn players, and often have to adjust to the piano anyway. I've always done it that way with the upright too. I have an old Korg DT-1 which I sometimes use on gigs, as it's often too noisey to hear the tuning fork. But I've found I still have to make adjutments, often while playing the next tune, to get the bass in tune with itself and the piano. Since switching to Sadowsky strings (flats) I have had zero issues with bad strings. But I used TI flats for years, and in the last two years, I got a number of bad strings right out of the package. Some that would not intonate, some just very bright or very dead in comparrison to the others. Not very high tech, I know! Probably wouldn't work if I did any recording work, which I don't.
As to the finger stretching, I have suffered with arthritis for a few years now, and if I don't strtch out the hands first before playing I cramp up or end up with extremely cramped and sore hands the next morning. My exercise, suggested by a prominent hand therepyst (sp? it's early!) is slow hyper-extension of the fingers, hold it in both extermes (clenched fist to full finger extension) for a few seconds, and repeat a half dozen times. Then the same with each individual finger. That and squeezing a rubber ball is it, but it really makes a difference.

[Sadowsky]

Truth be told, flat wound strings are the most prone to defective strings.  The two most common defects are bad intonation or excessive buzzing.    Regarding intonation, the question is "are you unable to get the string to intonate within the range of your bridge adjustment?".  If the answer to that is "yes", the string is defective.  If it just requires a significant readjustment from your previous string, that is probably OK and normal.

A defective string due to buzzing will buzz everywhere, usually not on just a specific fret.

Roger

[joinercape]

Truth be told, flat wound strings are the most prone to defective strings.  The two most common defects are bad intonation or excessive buzzing.    Regarding intonation, the question is "are you unable to get the string to intonate within the range of your bridge adjustment?".  If the answer to that is "yes", the string is defective.  If it just requires a significant readjustment from your previous string, that is probably OK and normal.

A defective string due to buzzing will buzz everywhere, usually not on just a specific fret.

Roger

Thanks Roger....may I ask, when you designed your flat wounds, which I believe I was told are custom wound for you by LaBella, what specific properties did you ask for? I think they are terrific, very musical as flats go.