mbellishment Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Is it just the Newcastle music scene where this is an issue, or is it found everywhere? In the past I have been turned away from bands for the sole reason I play a bass with 5 strings on it... I've read on music forums "they would have been great if the bass player wasn't playing a 5 string bass"... and even had friends whom I've collaborated with musically for nearly 10 years now suggest it would be 'better' if I played a 4 string. It seems in many instances to be a fashion thing, or that only 'metallers' play 5 strings! I've heard some people say they don't even look like basses to them! I find it very odd. I know some folk that play 6 string and the insults they receive are even worse. I wonder what they'd say if someone in Newcastle turned up to an audition/gig with a 10 string or a chapman stick! Anyone ever experienced this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 turn up with a single cut coffee table 4 string and see how that goes. Some people are just narrow minded, mostly they get called guitarists Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassPimp66 Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Nothing like this here in London. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted December 28, 2012 Share Posted December 28, 2012 Tricky one. If a band want a specific image, then certain instruments aren`t going to fit, but dismissing just because of an extra string - which may not be used in the band anyway - seems a bit harsh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicman20 Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 [quote name='mbellishment' timestamp='1356738112' post='1913195'] Is it just the Newcastle music scene where this is an issue, or is it found everywhere? In the past I have been turned away from bands for the sole reason I play a bass with 5 strings on it... I've read on music forums "they would have been great if the bass player wasn't playing a 5 string bass"... and even had friends whom I've collaborated with musically for nearly 10 years now suggest it would be 'better' if I played a 4 string. It seems in many instances to be a fashion thing, or that only 'metallers' play 5 strings! I've heard some people say they don't even look like basses to them! I find it very odd. I know some folk that play 6 string and the insults they receive are even worse. I wonder what they'd say if someone in Newcastle turned up to an audition/gig with a 10 string or a chapman stick! Anyone ever experienced this? [/quote] To be honest, I'm finding it very hard to find a band that's worth the time nevermind what bass they want...banning a good classic looking 5er like a Stingray is ridiculous. I know I need to be patient but all I find are time wasters or kids who haven't been in a band before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 As nice as they are I'm bored of seeing tobacco burst p or j basses in every video or live (mimed) show, it appears to be the only fashionable thing to have right now, I would rather turn one of them away than a 5er . Remember the good old days of pointy things and garish colours? Anyway all ERB players are w***ers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubinga5 Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 (edited) there morons... if your musical and a great bassist, and you can play anything these guys can throw at you why would they ask for anymore..?.. yes its a fashion thing and it will always be that way.. but if your playing good music it doesnt matter what bass you play.. please, thats so childish.. if any band told me i couldnt play a 5 string because of there image i would walk,... and say they need to grow up.. the music will always overtake fashion... everytime... oh how neive i sound Edited December 29, 2012 by bubinga5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beer of the Bass Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 I remember hearing this sort of thing as a teenager in the 90s, usually from similarly inexperienced teens trying too hard to sound authoritative! I guess it would have been the influence of Oasis and the like. I've switched to gigging with a 5 string in the past year or so and not had any negative comments, even in the sort of indie venues where skinny jeans and ironic hairstyles abound, so I had thought that this sort of nonsense had been buried, but I stand corrected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrismuzz Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 I have only ever had negative comments about playing a six string once, and it was from another bass player. A pretty crap one if I remember rightly All other comments have been positive, but as above it might be because in metal circles it's almost expected to have an extra string or two! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
discreet Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 I don't get this at all. You wouldn't presume to comment on what gear the drummer or guitard are using, so why people think it's acceptable to make a decision about what instrument a bass player uses (when they know nothing about bass playing) is beyond me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubinga5 Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 (edited) [quote name='discreet' timestamp='1356749851' post='1913289'] I don't get this at all. You wouldn't presume to comment on what gear the drummer or guitard are using, so why people think it's acceptable to make a decision about what instrument a bass player uses (when they know nothing about bass playing) is beyond me. [/quote]its because know one expects anything else from the guitarist, drummer, etc in a general way.. but in certain bands if you turn up with a 7 string bass they may think...?? i remember turning up to a few guys i couldnt really call a band who wanted to play covers of shawadywady... they turned me away because i was playing a 5.. nothing wrong with shawadywady but why throw someone back because of the instrument... so i turned them down... they were doing shawawdywady badly any way.. excuse me if my spelling is bad Edited December 29, 2012 by bubinga5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubinga5 Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 (edited) with all due respect Discreet the name Guitard is not a good name for some of the best musicians i know... Edited December 29, 2012 by bubinga5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashevans09 Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Haven't ever experienced this tbh, but if that's their stance then good riddance. I made the switch to 5s about 6 months after picking up my bass and never looked back. I find very few reasons not to have the extra string tbh. Though I find it really weird that other musicians would have an issue with it? I guess it's just a fashion thing. Just seems really odd, if anything people found it a novelty when I played with them. As for newcastle every gig I've played up there has been ace, well, scratch that the only gig I've played there has been ace , and I actually got some positive comments about my sandberg and my tone, so maybe you've just been unlucky? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gafbass02 Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 My bass player plays a five with only four strings :-) He's a really tall guy with big hands so a five is just comfy for him, although to my shame, when he joined he was still struggling to control the unwanted vibration of the B string, (even more noticeable as we rehearse in headphones with a jam hub) and it was never needed in any of our material, so I asked him to try without it. He happily agreed and that's how it's stuck ever since, he can't manage a four string neck, they look tiny on him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 The pub scene is full of 5's, but I'm guessing you're not moving in those circles...? As for the alt / originals scene, I can believe it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kerley Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 I can understand a band wanting a certain image and the type of instruments used is part of that. For example you don't want to concentrate on clothes and hair etc to get a certain image and then turn up with flying Vs that completely clash with that (irrespective of whether than sound good or can be played well) However, number of strings seem at odds and 5 is not that noticeable if on the right type of bass to fit the band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roland Rock Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 People have pre-existing ideas about genres, forged by what they have seen and felt throughout their lives, and these tend to create 'rules' which determine when a five string bass is, and is not acceptable (these 'rules' extend to clothes style, hair length, spikiness of instrument etc.) A fiver is 'accepted' in some more modern or 'progressive' genres - metal, fusion, dubstep etc. In genres which have closer roots to the early days of electric bass (blues, soul, rhythm and blues etc.), people have a strong image of a four string in mind, and would rather see that maintained. Of course, there are all sorts if exceptions to this, for example, no one bats an eyelid when a reggae player plays a five string, and old-school four strings seem to be mandatory in indie/rock bands. The way I see it, in a logical world, people shouldn't care if a bass has four, five or even more strings. In the real world, however, when many people people see a band, it's not just about the music, but about whether they look the part, based on their pre-conceived notions of the genre. Personally, I play a fiver as it's best for the music I play. If it doesn't fit with people's mental pigeonholing, I say in my most mature, measured and logical manner, "tough titty". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 The funny thing is that the electric bass has not been around that long in the grand scheme of things anyway, all these stupid ideas have been forged over roughly 10 year periods, 60's, 70's, punk, electro stuff, pop, metal, brit pop etc, I have socks older than those fashion periods. Imagine the upright players reaction to the 51 P bass.....it will never catch on just like class D heads etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 if anyone says the 5-string is out of place, be thankful. they've played their arsehole card - you can move on now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth Hughes Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 [quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1356775072' post='1913372'] if anyone says the 5-string is out of place, be thankful. they've played their arsehole card - you can move on now. [/quote] +1 - it says more about them than it does about you. My stock response for years was that 'My Girl' sounds just the same on a 6 as it does on a 4. And then if they didn't know what 'My Girl' was I knew we were in REALLY big trouble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Coffee Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 (edited) [indent=1]My experience of this I have to say is pretty limited to one particularly funny incident personally speaking although I have heard of the guitar player in some other setups having a girly hissy-fit because the bass players kit looked better than his boring axe did. What a proper little drama monkey I was thinking.[/indent] [indent=1]I have had an instance where the guitar player yells at me to stop playing the wrong note cuz he sees me playing G on the "wrong string" as far as his little 6 string from E and up world is concerned. As we all know G is on the second string down on a 5-er. I took the time to explain the applied advanced rocket chemical science knowledge required and he carried on. Then the drama started again when playing low D on the fifth fret as I was tuned to low A. Oh my goodness - what a complete plonker. Safe to say I haven't been back to that. Shame as the drummer was excellent, but under the thumb of the primadonna on the tele.[/indent] [indent=1]May I hazard a suggestion that the guitar genius is afraid of being upstage by the expected to be hamfisted single note boring bass player and image is nothing to do with it ? Just that he wants the lions share of fills and someone on a four string is more likely to be Cliff Williams than John Myung.[/indent] [indent=1]PS before the AC/DC fan club assassinate me - I aint sayin Cliff is bad as his (knowing his place) bass provides the foundation for the Young brothers to dance their magic all over the place. Basic drumming dominated all early AC/DC too but thats for another forum Im sure. [/indent] [indent=1]Point I'm making is, Cliff and Myung are different spec models of a famous bass player.[/indent] Edited December 29, 2012 by bassman344 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloudburst Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 (edited) Reading with bemusement. Wonder what would fit better in a motown band: 4-string Bongo or 5-string Fender? :-) CB Edited December 29, 2012 by cloudburst Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Coffee Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 MMMMM What about a BC RICH ex Blackie Lawless Black Widow with stage blood and raw meat (and other dubious substances) caked around the pickups and frets. Or the bloke from GWAR and his ..........thing, appendage, bass , whatever he calls it. Put that in your pipe and smoke it Motown fun . . . ..He he he, or in spirit of the season Ho ho ho, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrTaff Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 I mostly play metal so with 5 & 6 string basses being common it's never been an issue, but I can see why some bands have issues with them, I wouldn't play a 6 string in a punk band just like I wouldn't expect the guitarist to turn up with a 8 string, it just doesn't suit the music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted December 29, 2012 Share Posted December 29, 2012 Now thats funny because I have found all the same notes on mm 5 string basses so any music style that can be played on 4 can be done on 5, is a six different then? Your being drawn up the same path about what looks right! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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