"There is no money above the 5th fret" - The Origin

[Baloney Balderdash]

The saying stems from a guy who once commissioned a custom 5 fret bass, thinking his custom order was in safe hands he let the luthier finish his work without bothering him further.  

But when the man went to pick up his custom order it turned out that the luthier had used a 24 fret neck for the bass anyway.  

The guy who ordered the bass got furious and demanded 19/24 to be cut off the initially agreed on price.  

The luthier had no way around admitting to his mistake and give the man his demanded discount.  

And such the saying "There is no money above the 5th fret" was born.

 

[Newfoundfreedom]

I've never heard that saying before in my life. 

[mikel]

Probably stems from the music industry when session players were the norm on almost every record. They would be required to play within a tight structure and the bassist would have to play what the producer deemed correct, ie nothing above the fifth fret. Petty much the same as the drummer sticking to absolute basics, they were the musicians who got all the work.

Edited January 28, 2021 by mikel
Adition

[Mykesbass]

22 minutes ago, mikel said:

Probably stems from the music industry when session players were the norm on almost every record. They would be required to play within a tight structure and the bassist would have to play what the producer deemed correct, ie nothing above the fifth fret. Petty much the same as the drummer sticking to absolute basics, they were the musicians who got all the work.

^This. Don't know the actual origin, but certainly from the session industry.

[Mykesbass]

Interestingly, one of the best attributions is for Tommy Tedesco (Wrecking Crew) and seems to refer to guitar as much as bass.

[KevL]

Similar to the other replies, although I heard it about guitar rather than bass, the majority of music (read: money) was the basic stuff played at the end of the neck, not much more than cowboy chords and a few simple runs.

[EssentialTension]

Fret one M, fret two O, fret three N, fret four E, fret five Y -  stick to that and you're hired.

Fret six and above, noodling away, and you're fired.

[Doctor J]

When Paul McCartney (the original one) was training his replacement (the current one) and teaching him their repertoire, Paul (the current one) was prone to wandering up the fretboard which frustrated Paul (the original one), who worried that his plans to abscond and live a normal life in Milton Keynes could be scuppered if Paul (the current one) didn't get everything just right. Things came to a head during one song when Paul (the original one) erupted and shouted at Paul (the current one) "MONEY? NEVER ABOVE THE FIFTH FRET!"

James Jamerson happened to be outside walking past the slightly ajar window of the rehearsal room at that very moment and, even though he wasn't fluent in Liverpudlian, understood enough to get the gist, but interpreted it as "There is no money beyond the fifth fret." 

He told the story to his friend Carol Kaye who has since claimed credit for it.

[EssentialTension]

And , let's face it, if you can stick to the octave and a sixth available across the first five frets and always sound good, then you're a badass.

Edited January 28, 2021 by EssentialTension

[Reggaebass]

You mean there’s more than 5 frets, I’ll have to wipe the dust off 😁

[Silvia Bluejay]

Best done with a 5-stringer. No need to go beyond the fifth fret with that! 😉👍😎

[EBS_freak]

2 minutes ago, Silvia Bluejay said:

Best done with a 5-stringer. No need to go beyond the fifth fret with that! 😉👍😎

All the money is past the 5th fret on a 5 string! It's about the comfort of playing mid neck!

[Silvia Bluejay]

But you can make do with the first 5 frets on a 5-string, and not miss anything anyway. 👍

[Staggering on]

I think this old adage came from double bass players, "high for show, low for dough". I have seen this in several places including somewhere on Basschat but can't find it now.

[oldslapper]

Golf equivalent = drive for show; putt for dough 

Less well known in Retail = haberdashery for bow; baker for dough.

[Nail Soup]

I think I've heard similar adage(s) as a paraphrases of "Blue Suede Shoes" 

'It's "X" for the Money, "Y" for the Show' 

[Doctor J]

Trebles for show, doubles for dough.

[Owen]

13 hours ago, EBS_freak said:

All the money is past the 5th fret on a 5 string! It's about the comfort of playing mid neck!

No no no no no. Lower notes are more better. I heart LF.

[LukeFRC]

16 minutes ago, owen said:

No no no no no. Lower notes are more better. I heart LF.

thanks, heart you too

LF

Edited January 28, 2021 by LukeFRC

[Owen]

[LukeFRC]

3 hours ago, owen said:

love it. My new profile pic