Do you need the 5th string?

[lojo]

Things keep cropping up for me that mean a 5 would be handy

Like, new song this week is "you might need somebody" in Eb

But I keep resisting, surely you don't have to have 5 strings to play functions

[Mog]

I need it for 2 songs in the original band and about 25% of the covers set.
If someone buys one without realising the advantages of playing extended range instruments then they'll rarely use it and IME when they do it'll sound sh*te.
5ers should come with the following disclaimer: [color="#FF0000"]ACHTUNG. The extra string [u][b]DOES NOT[/b][/u] make you more metal![/color]

[WHUFC BASS]

Oh yes, but could get away with a 4 string tuned B-E-A-D.

[mick]

Rodney the Plonker
As a retired bass player of over 18 years I never had any contact with a 5 string
or even a four sring as it happens . So when I seen them on stage I automatically assumed that
the extra string was on the high side of G not on the low side E
So one night I asked a 5 string bass player through a drunken haze how he tuned his 5th string
to a C or did he drop it to B like a 6 string guitar.
I now understand why he looked at me as if I was from Mars.
I have since borrowed a 5 string ibanez srx and found what is now termed as the sloppy B
Totally unimpressed with this floppy B, I purchased a set of 6 string bass strings and
used the top 5 and tuned the guitar
E-A-D-G-C
very interesting but still having difficulty with the tighter fimgerboard
I suppose there is a case for both as I noticed that there are far more tuning variations
like the Ibanez Mike D'antonio set up and the biffy clyro "Many of Horrors" ect ect
I voted no but I am a plonker as previously stated

[Darkstrike]

Need, no, want, yes!

[deepbass5]

This will run and run
I think the main thing to all agree, is there is no 'Good' or 'bad', 'right' or 'wrong' Hip, cool or nerdy
It's what best suits you and the music you play. If I played the typical broad range of Indie style main stream Festival rock music, I would invest in a nice 4 string and be very happy.
But I have to copy these guys who played sessions on Pop records through the 80's, 90's 2000's. Using synths and 5 and 6 string basses. So had to follow suit.
Now that I am used to it, I use them for big band swing gigs. And yes even String of Pearls by Glenn Miller goes down to Eb. As Bilbo pointed out Upright bass can and do have 5 string and first appeared 2-300 years ago, so it is not a passing fad.

[sime17]

[quote name='Phil-osopher10' post='1124740' date='Feb 12 2011, 10:39 AM']Just seeing if people think it is vital to have a 5'er in your arsenal, 6's, 7's and and aboves are not considered real instruments (jealous) and thus don't count! oj[/quote]

A semi-reluctant yes.

I wouldn't have used 5's unless I had to but now I'm stuck. Most people on here playing covers in function bands will probably have fives (or more but dunno why) just because probably half of any dancy set dictates it. The band I'm in tend to segue everything too (keeps em dancing) but that then means you don't have time to swp between 4/5 between the numbers. You also kind of get stuck because they're so easy to play, I don't move position much unless for effect. Love to play blues or picked rock now and again with a four but even then I miss the (very occassional) low b/c/d. Octave pedals and detuners = kludge, why fanny about? I'd get so confused by the end of a set I'd forget my name.

I love fours, the vast majority of the best lines ever played were on those (I'm thinking more Jamerson and Dunn than Jaco natch) - the purism argument is SO persuasive to a simple twat like me but hey ho. I spose if like me you must play one then the least you can do is play a five that LOOKS like Leo designed it

[sime17]

[quote name='CHRISDABASS' post='1126981' date='Feb 14 2011, 01:12 PM']Im glad you mentioned 'Aint nobody' ive tried to it learn on a 4 and it just aint working!! Hence the search for a decent 5 string for the new function band! A lot of the songs ive been asked to learn go lower than a 4, if i want the job i need the right tools, can anyone recommend good 5's below £1000???

[/quote]

If you can find a Lakland 55-01 they're a great price for what you get - promenade had one for about 600 squid new - Laklands string spacing feels nice after a four. Overwater just launched some nice basses (including some nice contemporary Jazz style) made for them by Tanglewood which are sposed to be well put together, and priced around the 500 squids mark. There's lots of cheaper stuff too but I'm kind of sold on the 35" scale argument now (rightly or wrongly) and therefore rule myself out of the Squier/Fender MIM/OLP/Sterlings etc etc.

[Soliloquy]

I do find it a bit bewildering why people want to change from a 4 to a 5 in between songs. Just do everything on a 5, it's a lot easier.

I remember being at a bass weekend organised by the Basscentre. It'd be something like 1986 I think, I was about 14 at the time. A lot of the guys there, especially the session guys were using 5 string basses. There was one guy who had an Overwater C bass.

The electric bass is 60 years old this year, the Fender P bass was released in 1951. So the 5 string bass has been here for very nearly half of the electric bass's existence. I wander why is there still all of this hostility towards it ? Kind of like an inverted snobbery. I have read in similar threads on Talkbass, statements such as "well Jaco only needed 4 strings". Well so what, who cares how many strings Jaco had.

The 5 string electric bass has been here for at least a quarter of a century. It's not going to go away, it's here to stay. Just accept that and carry on playing whatever you want, and whatever gets the job done for YOU.

And please, please stop starting stupid threads like this, they're so pointless.

[icastle]

Speaking from my own experience of often not knowing what's going to be thrown at me to play next, a 5 makes perfect sense.

I suppose it's a bit like having hazard lights on your car - you don't use them every time you drive it but you know they are there if or when the situation calls for them...

I have no particular allegiance to 4's, 5's or 6's as I own a sample, or samples, of each, they're just tools after all...

[jwbassman]

Cracking post mate but I think I'd be uncomfortable in this position too

[quote name='mcnach' post='1125211' date='Feb 12 2011, 06:53 PM']I would be somewhere and a 50stringer would be handed on to me. I don't want to feel uncomfortable.[/quote]