4 or 5

[Delamitri79]

Hey low enders. 

I'm struggling bigtime the last few months. I really want to go back to a 4 string bass but I love the extra depth and fretting positions available from the 5. I do struggle with keeping everything quiet on a 5 and the weight is slightly (only slightly) getting to me. I'm currently playing a stingray 5 2013 with the alnico pups. Monster bass but I've preferred the 4 string versions I've had in the past. 

Help 😂

[ambient]

Practice. 

[Delamitri79]

1 minute ago, ambient said:

Practice. 

Always mate..... 

[ambient]

Seriously, it’s just down to practicing a lot. I use a variation on the floating thumb technique, my right hand moves down the strings, helping to mute the ones that I’m not playing. I’m also muting with my left hand, using the fingers I’m not using to fret notes.

Maybe get a string mute thing too, they help cut down on unwanted string noise.

[Delamitri79]

2 minutes ago, ambient said:

Seriously, it’s just down to practicing a lot. I use a variation on the floating thumb technique, my right hand moves down the strings, helping to mute the ones that I’m not playing. I’m also muting with my left hand, using the fingers I’m not using to fret notes.

Maybe get a string mute thing too, they help cut down on unwanted string noise.

Yeah I'm using the floating thumb technique myself and it's working out very good for me. I just find myself so much more comfortable on a 4 but I keep thinking "don't do it man" 😂

[miles'tone]

Why choose? Play both! 

[Delamitri79]

3 minutes ago, miles'tone said:

Why choose? Play both! 

That's the dream man 😂. Funds aren't great so if I wanna get a 4 banger I'll have to let the 5er go 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

55 minutes ago, Delamitri79 said:

I just find myself so much more comfortable on a 4 but I keep thinking "don't do it man" 😂

Why "don't do it"?

[Delamitri79]

10 minutes ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

Why "don't do it"?

Because I love the 5 too...

[chris_b]

2 hours ago, Delamitri79 said:

I'm struggling bigtime the last few months. I really want to go back to a 4 string bass but I love the extra depth and fretting positions available from the 5. I do struggle with keeping everything quiet on a 5 and the weight is slightly (only slightly) getting to me. I'm currently playing a stingray 5 2013 with the alnico pups. Monster bass but I've preferred the 4 string versions I've had in the past.

If you really do love or require the "extra depth and fretting positions available from the 5" then your playing is going to suffer if you go back to a 4.

If you have technical issues, get a better bass player to look at what you are doing and suggest improvements.

I too struggle with weight so I don't play basses that are too heavy.

If you can play what you need to play on a 4 string bass, then sell the 5 and buy a 4 string bass. I'm guessing if that was the answer then you'd have already done it! So keep the 5, get help and focus on resolving all the issues. 

[Delberthot]

I've told this story before but when I had my Stingray 5 with Ceramic pickup, I loved it but it was too heavy and I had a shoulder issue at the time so bought myself a Sterling 4H and fitted a Hipshot Xtender with a double stop lever so I could go down to both D & B

The Sterling is gone but I am still using 4 string basses and find that I can get away with just the drop D

[Cuzzie]

4

Tune Drop D with or without a D tuner.

Extra depth, normal 4 playability.

[Delamitri79]

1 hour ago, Delberthot said:

I've told this story before but when I had my Stingray 5 with Ceramic pickup, I loved it but it was too heavy and I had a shoulder issue at the time so bought myself a Sterling 4H and fitted a Hipshot Xtender with a double stop lever so I could go down to both D & B

The Sterling is gone but I am still using 4 string basses and find that I can get away with just the drop D

That's very interesting because I've thought about doing the very same. It's very rare in 99% of the music I play that I'll need the low B, C or C#. It more than likely will be covered by the drop D. 

[itu]

My issue with 5 string basses is the string spacing. I downright love 19 mm bridge and P-bass saddle but these are not very common on 5's. I do not get any reasonable arguments, why they have to be 17.5 or 14 mm in stead. Although 19 work for my fingers on a 4, it is almost impossible to find a 5 with the same spacing. Yes, 34" and 35" necks are very much available, but 19 mm no.

I love my 4's but there are certain songs (mostly jazz or brass stuff) that are written to Eb and with a 5-string they are easier to handle. Our band is pretty big, 12 persons, so lower area is mine and a five is very suitable for that work.

I have a 4 string that can be tuned to HEAD but it just does not work for me.

[chris_b]

The Far East makers seem to use narrower spacings, but I see a lot of 18mm and 19mm string spacing 5ers in the US makes.

[Al Krow]

1 hour ago, itu said:

My issue with 5 string basses is the string spacing. I downright love 19 mm bridge and P-bass saddle but these are not very common on 5's. I do not get any reasonable arguments, why they have to be 17.5 or 14 mm in stead. Although 19 work for my fingers on a 4, it is almost impossible to find a 5 with the same spacing. Yes, 34" and 35" necks are very much available, but 19 mm no.

I love my 4's but there are certain songs (mostly jazz or brass stuff) that are written to Eb and with a 5-string they are easier to handle. Our band is pretty big, 12 persons, so lower area is mine and a five is very suitable for that work.

I have a 4 string that can be tuned to HEAD but it just does not work for me.

Ibanez BTB?

My experience of the Ibanez SR Premium range has been nothing but positive, so I suspect that the BTBs will also be very good! 

Edited July 10, 2019 by Al Krow

[Bleat]

Try a Hipshot bass xtender  key and get a replacement "double- stop" lever  for it. You can then drop a 4 string down to D and then again down to low B.

I bought one and they are great! Worth thinking about at least. 🎸

[PatrickJ]

I went from playing 5's back to 4's because i just couldn't get my technique to a point where I was able to successfully keep the unwanted noise under control.  Weight wasn't a problem but I do have small hands and didn't find a 5 very comfortable to play in certain positions.

The difference is I only had 5's to avoid retuning or swapping guitars at a gig. for songs in alternate tunings. Other than that I rarely used the B string, it sounds like you on the other hand really value the range and positional options a fiver gives you.

I'd stick with it and work on the technique intensively over the coming weeks to see if you can get it where it needs to be.  It's expensive to swap guitars (I've learnt the hard way) but I don't regret getting back to 4 strings.

 

[jrixn1]

1 hour ago, Delamitri79 said:

It's very rare in 99% of the music I play that I'll need the low B, C or C#. It more than likely will be covered by the drop D. 

Personally I am confused by drop D because the intervals between strings change - but I did play for a while in standard D (i.e. all strings down a tone: DGCF), for me it made a lot more sense; so that might be another option.

[Cuzzie]

2 minutes ago, jrixn1 said:

Personally I am confused by drop D because the intervals between strings change - but I did play for a while in standard D (i.e. all strings down a tone: DGCF), for me it made a lot more sense; so that might be another option.

In drop D the only interval is your low E is second fret and if doing disco octave intervals instead of index finger little finger span across the two strings you just fret the same fret for the octave.

if you play an open D or fretted - string in songs, it’s nice having a low D alternative with an open bottom string.

When you are doing licks ‘in the box’ 3-5 fret it stops you having to travel up and down the neck on the low E/D string.

Can make a load of sense - but not for everyone 

[paul_c2]

I'm probably not qualified to comment - because I don't own a 5 string  - but I've never seen those lower notes as a sufficient incentive to 'upgrade' to 5 string. I've tried them, in the past, but found the B string was never really touched. As others have pointed out DADG is really handy (I have sight read in DADG tuning - that's interesting!) and also recently, just to achieve the low Eb, I used EbADG for one song but that's an exception really.

If anything, if I ever switched now I'g go straight for 6 string, or maybe 5 string EADGC.

[Cuzzie]

And yeah - dropping a whole tone is also cool

Saves the singer, fattens the sound, then you can go to Drop C!

Edited July 10, 2019 by Cuzzie

[dannybuoy]

I used drop D even on my 5 string when it calls for it. Some tracks just call for that low open string rather than a B string at the 3rd fret. Partly because it doesn't sound the same (although I imagine if I had a fanned fret Dingwall that might negate that), but also some riffs in D are pretty tricky to play if you're constantly having to reach back to that low D.

Due to this I also thought I'd make the move from a 5 to a 4 in my last band. That is, until I found a couple of tracks that really benefited from those lower notes, then there was no going back!

[CameronJ]

2 hours ago, itu said:

My issue with 5 string basses is the string spacing. I downright love 19 mm bridge and P-bass saddle but these are not very common on 5's. I do not get any reasonable arguments, why they have to be 17.5 or 14 mm in stead. Although 19 work for my fingers on a 4, it is almost impossible to find a 5 with the same spacing. Yes, 34" and 35" necks are very much available, but 19 mm no.

My MTD Kingston Super 5 - and all MTD Kingston 5ers - has 19mm string spacing. So does my Dingwall. Special mention goes out to my Yamaha BB735a with 18mm which is very comfortable. Lakland 5ers are 19mm too. As are Ibanez BTBs. Sandbergs have adjustable string spacing from between 18mm - 19.5mm I think. Sire basses are 18mm.

These are all off the top of my head so I’m happy to be corrected, but the point I’m trying to make is that basses with wider string spacing aren’t uncommon. 

Also, and this isn’t necessarily aimed at you @itu but more for those who may be new to 5 stringers: I’d strongly argue that the shape of the neck, fingerboard radius and string spacing at the nut are just as important as spacing at the bridge. For example, playing an MTD and an Ibanez BTB side by side feels very different despite them both having 19mm spacing at the bridge. The MTD tapers to a narrower nut width than the Ibanez, plus the MTD has an asymmetric neck profile with a bit more meat to it whereas the Ibanez has a wider nut and a flatter neck profile. These things create a huge difference in playability between the two instruments. Bridge string spacing really isn’t everything.

[Cuzzie]

Also nowt wrong with a fret wrap gently placed to aid the learning process whilst technique impro