Over the years I’ve played several different instruments in various live bands. In fact, the first bar band I played in, I was playing the bass guitar. I really love to play the bass guitar and it’s one instrument that truly came naturally to me. Today I’m going to tell you about the strings I use on my bass guitar.
If you’ve read my post about Dean Markley Blue Steel Strings for electric guitar then I’m sure you won’t be surprised at all when I tell you that I prefer Dean Markley Blue Steel Strings for my bass guitar as well. In case you didn’t know, Dean Markley Blue Steel strings are cryogenically treated by dipping them in -320 degree liquid nitrogen. They are then packaged and sealed in their box ready for you to purchase.
I honestly don’t know what the cryogenic treatment does to the strings other than make them really, really cold. I know Dean Markley has had some scientific mumbo-jumbo about what the process does to the strings but I really only care about a couple things when it comes to my bass strings, tone and durability.
The first and most important thing I really love about the Dean Markley Blue Steel bass strings is the tone. These bass strings sound deep and punchy but with a bright ring to them. It’s really difficult to find a string with these three qualities. You can get deep and punchy or punchy and bright but getting all three at the same time is difficult. Somehow the Blue Steel strings have that elusive tone making them great for everything from driving rock-n-roll to funk to jazz. Maybe the cryogenic process is the reason these strings sound this way, I don’t know but they sound great!
The second thing I love about the Dean Markley Blue Steel strings is their durability. Many bass strings can go years without breaking but they lose their tone quickly, become dull and muffled and sound bad for most of their life. The Dean Markley Blue Steel bass strings start out extremely bright sounding and then their tone darkens up a bit as they age. It takes a very long time for them to lose their deep/punchy/bright sound and that’s what makes them so great.
If you want a bright, twangy bass string the Dean Markley Blue Steel strings will have that sound when they are brand new. You will have to change them more often to keep that searing brightness but that’s pretty much how all bass strings are. As I said before, their true strength is in their ability to keep a well-rounded deep/punchy/bright tone.
I highly recommend that you pick up a set of Dean Markley Blue Steel Bass Guitar strings and give them a good try. I doubt you’ll be disappointed and they’ll most likely become your string of choice!
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