Bass Guitar Strings

Before you buy bass guitar strings,  there are a few things to consider.

Gauge of Bass Guitar Strings

Firstly the string gauge varies.  The thicker the gauge (the thicker the string), the more tone you'll get when playing your bass.  Likewise with a thicker gauge the strings will be harder to play on your fingers so theres a balancing act here.  Blisters and burns versus tone but hey thats rock and roll.

You can expect a standard bass E string to have a gauge of around  .100 or .105 or .110 for a heavier set.

Types of Bass Guitar Strings

There are two main types of bass guitar strings, roundwound and flatwound.

Roundwound is probably the most common, and they are a little rougher to the feel and play than the flatwound.  They are very bright sounding, perfect for rock and roll, funk, r'n'b, slapping and popping.

Flatwound bass guitar strings are a lot smoother but don't have the tone of the roundwound strings.  They produce a much more mellow output probably not ideal for funk or rock.  You're more likely to find flatwound strings in reggae of jazz music because of these mellow tones they produce. 

You also get groundwound and halfround strings,  which are halfway houses in terms of tone and playability.

When you buy bass strings, it is worth remembering that your favourite bass player is probably paid a great deal of money and free boxes of strings to endorse a certain brand, so i recommend trying out the different gauges and types yourself over the next few years so you know what you like and what sounds good for your music.  Nothing beats a bit of first-hand knowledge and experimentation.