Why a Fender P Bass with Flatwounds is the Perfect Combination

I’m the former touring bassist for The Miracles, occupied Jamerson’s old chair with them and was a studio player in LA for years. All I ever played was a P bass with flats. I work almost every day because the people who actually hire us prefer it far more than boutique basses with a totally different place in the mix that we may think is cool but not appreciated by other band members, sound engineers and producers. I do own a jazz bass with rounds but I rarely use it on any gig unless I’m playing a funk gig and have to do a lot of slapping (an incredibly overused technique in my opinion by YouTubers and not as in demand on an actual gig as you think) There’s a reason the P bass is iconic. You simply can’t go wrong with it in a working situation. Now if you are a soloist or pursuing your own thing, and good luck with that, then the boutique basses have their place. Also in metal music but plenty play P basses with flats like Steve Harris with Iron Maiden. Mine are about 8 years old and sound better than ever. I am constantly complemented by sound engineers on how my sound records. I have a few covers of Jamerson and company on my own little non monitized channel I put up for fun if you want to see how I get the sound that keeps me regularly employed.

very good video, but comparing the frequency response of rounds on a j bass to flats on a p bass is not entirely fair.

I play reggae bass and I just replaced my strings with the flat wounds. These strings gave me an element to my bass lines I knew I was missing the whole time. They help my bass that has a pickup closer to the fretboard for that lower flat tone achieve its full potential as I found that round wounds were more painful to slide on and gave more buzz than what I needed for vintage reggae

I bought a Squire P bass with flatwound strings on it. I have never played with flatwound strings before. Needless to say, they are still on there as they sound fantastic.

That was a very well put together tutorial. Because of your orderly approach, backed by demonstrations, I’ve subscribed. Thanks very much.

Great info and delivery. I appreciate your effort in approaching the topic with thought and experience. Thanks!

I was always looking for a softer bass sound naturally and flats did the trick.

Excellent! I've always loved the way flatwounds play, but couldn't live with what I lost when using them -- and would take them back off pretty quickly. You are 100% on, the P bass is made for it /better for it. Thanks!

Started playing bass as a teenager in 1980 and it was the Jam and the Stranglers sound which was definitely a bright sound played with a plectrum and as far as I knew roundwound was all there was and that's what you did and always loved that clang you got with new strings though it never lasted like he says they dull down a bit. Soon got into reggae and more of a Simonon or Jah Wobble thing but would just knock the treble off. Stopped playing for a while but years later got back into it and got one of the early Squier classic vibe P basses and got into Jamerson big style and took the plunge with Rotosound flats and it was a whole new thing, the thud and the feel is amazing plus you can play for hours without needing skin grafts on the finglytipples, totally recommended. I say take the plunge as typical flats start at about £40 ...I could restring my strat 6 times over for that! Plus they will literally last for years, Jamerson recorded all that Motown goodness on one bass and one set of la Bella's, makes you think...

I really dig that riff you do throughout the video.. and thanks for the discussion, super job!

Great job at explaining. Thanks! I do love flats also and the Rotosounds on my Jazz bass are just great.

Thanks for the helpful and insightful review of not only the bass but flatwound strings. I am going to put flatwounds and a piece of foam on my new P-Bass when it arrives. I really like that sound.

This video is just what I was looking for. Thanks for taking the time to make it 👍

That Fender P sounds immense 👌🏿 I play my Coated Round Wounds with some foam at the bridge, as standard. I never removed it. The tension is creates and the percussive tone is something I like. Greetings from Uganda 🇺🇬👊🏿🖤

First time watching your channel and I have to say well done mate!!! Definitely subscribing! I finally broke down and decided I need a P-bass back in my collection of sounds and this time I went with the “tele” P-bass and dang am I glad I did because I knew immediately it was getting flats put on. I’m really into that late 50’s through 60’s pocket player bassist like Carol Kaye, James Jamerson, dude from CCR(his name has slipped my mind) but yeah players with that sound. Then I happened to run across this video today and yes great idea to click on it! Keep up the good work and yes your video and what you said just confirmed what I was thinking!

Only just switched to flats after decades on rounds. Played flats on a session and got such a great result I've switched both my basses over - La Bella's on my Steinberger and Rotosounds on my P bass.

Great video! I have a P Bass too and have switched to flats. Also one more benefit is less fret wearing. 👍🏼

Great video! Couple years ago I tried flats for my precision and have never gone back to rounds since.

My vintage P-bass has had the same set of Thomastik flats on it for 10 years. These ones are lighter gauge, at .043 so actually less stiff than what I'd been use to before. And very versatile soundwise. I don't think I'll ever use anything else, at least not as my main strings on my main bass.

My truss rod hated Rotosound flats too! Great summary of why a P bass with flatwounds works so well