Monday night I filled in on my friend's bass on a couple of songs while he played some Dobro. I am the backup banjo player and now probably backup bass player in this particular band. His bass was strung up with Innovation Silver Slaps and had slightly high action similar to my action. I really liked the tone and feel of his setup. His bass was way easier to play than mine. My experience from 30 years of playing stringed instruments is that physical relaxation makes mental focus easier and I usually play better, especially when I play for a long time and fatigue definitely affects my concentration. I have a cheap Chinese 7/8 bass I bought 10 years ago that had been set up by Bob Ross here in Denver 7 or 8 years ago. I realized that it was time for me to get rid of the old D'Addario Zyex as they were okay, but the tension was wearing out my left hand with my slightly high nut after an hour or two of playing and I wasn't in love with the tone either. I don't play as much bass as banjo and guitar, so my hands and fingers are probably not as in shape as many of you hard core bassists who play hours of strictly bass each week. I played bass at a 2 hour gig in Leadville on my bass Saturday with another band and am back-up bassist for a few open Bluegrass picks in the North Denver area and occasionally among some friends at parties and barbecues. After reading the description on Gollihur and lots of forum posts here on Talk Bass forum I think the Innovation Super Silvers make the most sense. I never seriously bow and I don't really slap much usually just to close out a song but I work on adding a little slap when I do practice and hope to add more of that as time goes on. I plunk pretty solid with my right hand which might have something to do with me liking higher action. I mostly play straight ahead Bluegrass, a little Classic Country and the occasional Blues with lots of I-V plunking and some walking and the rare solo. Although the Silver Slaps felt great I think I'd get unwanted rattle if I put them on my bass. My Zyex's can already rattle when I really dig in if I don't watch it, so I think the Super Silvers make the most sense. Kind of a happy medium with lower tension than Zyex but higher tension than the Silver Slaps with a good fundamental tone. In other words it's nice to be able to slap when I want it but I don't want to hear the unwanted rattle when I'm just trying to play straight ahead. Let me know what you think. Am I on the right track here?
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