Is 4 strings really enough? (Oooo i went there)

[chris_b]

I don't get  the "4 string was used on the original, so that's what I need to do" comments.

 

Sometimes I play songs that were originally recorded on double bass. Why would I buy a DB for those songs?

 

Forget the gear used on the original recordings. That is irrelevant. What bass feels right to you? Use that bass and make the songs yours, not carbon copies of someone else's ideas.

[tauzero]

2 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

I personally much prefer the more narrow fretboard of a 4'er, and for one actually appreciate that there is a bit of physical action going on when playing, having to jump up and down horizontally on the neck to get the notes you need.

 

The inevitable wide fretboard of a 5'er just feels clumsy and cumbersome to me, and staying in one spot feels dull and makes playing less fun.

 

Did you know that you're allowed to move around the fretboard on a 5 as much as on a 4, if you so desire? But with a 4 you're restricted to that, while with a 5 you can do either (which is much more fun than being restricted to moving up and down).

[Baloney Balderdash]

3 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

Did you know that you're allowed to move around the fretboard on a 5 as much as on a 4, if you so desire? But with a 4 you're restricted to that, while with a 5 you can do either (which is much more fun than being restricted to moving up and down).

5 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

I personally much prefer the more narrow fretboard of a 4'er...

 

The inevitable wide fretboard of a 5'er just feels clumsy and cumbersome to me...

 

So for me 5'ers compared to 4'rs are .... physically uncomfortable... to play for me. 

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[xgsjx]

I’ve been a 4 string player for about 40 years. Played a few 5s & liked them, but I’ve only played 1 song where I thought “if only I had a 5” & that’s Superfresh by Jamiroquai.  None of the bands I’ve been in play it though. 

[dmccombe7]

If you're used to playing 5 stringers then why go back to 4 ?

Personally i've tried 5 and 6 stringers over the years but i'm happier with 4 strings.

In the punk band  i have to tune down my E string to D for one song. I just do it between songs while the singer talks to the audience. Only takes a few seconds. I guess a drop D tuner would be the easy way around it but for one song it just wasn't worth it for me.

Have to say that after 20 happy yrs with a 5 er i can't see any benefit in going back to a 4 string bass.

Dave 

[tauzero]

7 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

 

You do know that it's possible to address just one point within a post, don't you?

[Baloney Balderdash]

2 minutes ago, tauzero said:

You do know that it's possible to address just one point within a post, don't you?

Yes, but in this case in the context it was kind of pointless.

[tauzero]

Still, addressing your other point - it's not compulsory to use the B string all the time, and the top 4 strings of a 5-string tuned B upwards are in the same places as the four strings of a 4-string, so the width is only of consequence when playing the B. So that also addresses the fretboard issue. 

[Baloney Balderdash]

7 minutes ago, tauzero said:

Still, addressing your other point - it's not compulsory to use the B string all the time, and the top 4 strings of a 5-string tuned B upwards are in the same places as the four strings of a 4-string, so the width is only of consequence when playing the B. So that also addresses the fretboard issue. 

Not really, a 5 string neck will feel different than a 4 string neck regardless.

 

Also I think it is quite ok for me to prefer playing 4 string basses, just as it is ok for you to prefer 5 string basses, without having to feel obliged to try to convince everyone else to respectively do so too.

 

I think it was pretty clear that I was talking about my personal preferences without really trying to make an argument why everyone should feel the same, I honestly don't know why you apparently made it your mission to question my personal preferences, seems a bit odd and out of place to me.

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[tauzero]

3 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Not really, a 5 string neck will feel different than a 4 string neck regardless.

 

Also I think it is quite ok for me to prefer playing 4 string basses, just as it is ok for you to prefer 5 string basses, without being obliged to try to convince everyone else to respectively do so too.

 

I think it was pretty clear that I talked about my personal preferences without really trying to make an argument why everyone should feel the same, I honestly don't know why you made it your mission to question my personal preferences, seems a bit odd and out of place to me.

 

I'm not attempting to change you from your appointed course, I just don't want other people who might be tempted to try 5-strings and find that they benefit from using them to be put off from doing so in the first place.

[ahpook]

And again the air crackles with unresolved sexual tension

 

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by ahpook

[Baloney Balderdash]

4 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

I'm not attempting to change you from your appointed course, I just don't want other people who might be tempted to try 5-strings and find that they benefit from using them to be put off from doing so in the first place.

You know very well that was not what I intended to do, and you would have to be unusually confrontational to interpret my post as such.

 

Your posts however can only be interpreted, beside of course really just being argumentative for the sake of it, as not wanting anyone to play 4 string bass, but 5 string instead.

 

Edited September 21, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[Kev]

I've been on strictly 4's only for over 4 years now and I've never looked back.

 

I play original metal in Drop B tuning BF#BE, which does everything I need.  I rarely use a "G" string as I don't like the timbre of the notes on the thinner wire, so I don't miss it at all, and my hands prefer the narrower neck.  Also, in drop B tuning on a double octave neck, I have every note a 21 fret 5 string in regular tuning has

[tauzero]

18 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

You know very well that was not what I intended to do, and you would have to be unusually confrontational to interpret my post as such.

 

Your posts however can only be interpreted, beside of course really just being argumentative for the sake of it, as not wanting anyone to play 4 string bass, but 5 string instead.

 

No they couldn't, unless you want to be particularly perverse about interpretation. Are you sure it's not you being argumentative for argument's sake? Welcome to my very short ignore list.

[dclaassen]

53 minutes ago, tauzero said:

Still, addressing your other point - it's not compulsory to use the B string all the time, and the top 4 strings of a 5-string tuned B upwards are in the same places as the four strings of a 4-string, so the width is only of consequence when playing the B. So that also addresses the fretboard issue. 

 

22 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

No they couldn't, unless you want to be particularly perverse about interpretation. Are you sure it's not you being argumentative for argument's sake? Welcome to my very short ignore list.

I was just reflecting that, since using 5's exclusively, I almost never go lower than 5th fret...feels weird to play open notes...

[diskwave]

Nobody cares what I think but hey this is a forum and I like it here, so.......There is absolutely no point in the OP's question. People do what they do and that's fine. But I will say this. I detect an insidious tone whenever this subject is brought up, in that if you play a five then you are somehow musicaly superior and cleverer than those of us who don't, and to those greats in the past who didn't. Beyond ridiculous and in a peculiar way brings this forum into disrepute... 

[dclaassen]

1 minute ago, greavesbass said:

Nobody cares what I think but hey this is a forum and I like it here, so.......There is absolutely no point in the OP's question. People do what they do and that's fine. But I will say this. I detect an insidious tone whenever this subject is brought up, in that if you play a five then you are somehow musicaly superior and cleverer than those of us who don't, and to those greats in the past who didn't. Beyond ridiculous and in a peculiar way brings this forum into disrepute... 

I wonder about that. I play a 5 because I'm lazy. It's not a superior instrument. If I really want to feel like a bassist, I'll pick up a 4 because I find it a lot more challenging to do the same stuff without the advantage of the B string. 

 

Live and let live...I heard that sometime......

[cetera]

6 minutes ago, greavesbass said:

Nobody cares what I think but hey this is a forum and I like it here, so.......There is absolutely no point in the OP's question. People do what they do and that's fine. But I will say this. I detect an insidious tone whenever this subject is brought up, in that if you play a five then you are somehow musicaly superior and cleverer than those of us who don't, and to those greats in the past who didn't. Beyond ridiculous and in a peculiar way brings this forum into disrepute... 

🍿🍿🤣

[Boodang]

The fact that 3 string basses have been totally ignored in all of this is a tragedy. All 3 string bassists should be mortally offended.

[Baloney Balderdash]

1 minute ago, Boodang said:

The fact that 3 string basses have been totally ignored in all of this is a tragedy. All 3 string bassists should be mortally offended.

I did mention 2 string basses though.

[chris_b]

15 minutes ago, greavesbass said:

Nobody cares what I think but hey this is a forum and I like it here, so.......There is absolutely no point in the OP's question. People do what they do and that's fine. But I will say this. I detect an insidious tone whenever this subject is brought up, in that if you play a five then you are somehow musicaly superior and cleverer than those of us who don't, and to those greats in the past who didn't. Beyond ridiculous and in a peculiar way brings this forum into disrepute... 

 

Threads like this just prove how tribal we are.  Which I find endlessly interesting.

[Boodang]

3 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

I did mention 2 string basses though.

It gets worse! 5, 4, miss out 3, then 2 gets a mention!!! I'm currently a 3 string bass player but that's mainly due to having broken a string.

[Kev]

In a big shock, a conversation about 4 Vs 5 is getting heated...

 

Don't make things personal, play nice, show us that you all can have civilised conversation on this.  If we get many more reports on this, you know how it ends 👍🏻

[ahpook]

9 minutes ago, Boodang said:

The fact that 3 string basses have been totally ignored in all of this is a tragedy. All 3 string bassists should be mortally offended.

 

Agreed  ! And what about the bassists who play three string basses with two strings ? This incessant marginalisation of the intersectionality of fretboard/string count determinism cannot go on !

 

Shadowy Cabals ! Vested Interests !

 

 

[Dad3353]

5 minutes ago, Boodang said:

It gets worse! 5, 4, miss out 3, then 2 gets a mention!!! I'm currently a 3 string bass player but that's mainly due to having broken a string.

 

Yes, but which three..? Low 'E' missing..? The 'G' string..? Surely no-one playing with no 'A' string, or doing without the 'D' string..? (All this assuming 'standard' tuning; does anyone these daze use 'standard' tuning, or is that, too, a thing of the past, for the 'older' folk here..?)..? 

 

...

 

 

 

...