Time of the Fivers?

[Bleat]

1 hour ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

He also only needed a butter knife to remove the frets of his bass, and got beaten to death after provoking a bouncer at a bar, neither of which comes to mind as something I would recommend anybody doing.

 

There is more to life than partying, and certainly to music as well.

 

Personally at least most of the music I create, and most of what I listen to as well, aspire to more than that.

 

 

 

.....

 

Edited April 14 by Bleat

[diskwave]

Lets keep this thread tasteful, and decent, I find it neither when Jaco is brought into the yadda yadda. I mean to all of the above....who are you all?.. more famous and relevant then JP?..I doubt it very much. He came up with a style on "four strings", cause he couldnt get his hands on five, that everyone today is influenced by....even the ones who say they're not.

Edited April 14 by diskwave

[Bleat]

1 hour ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

He also only needed a butter knife to remove the frets of his bass, and got beaten to death after provoking a bouncer at a bar, neither of which comes to mind as something I would recommend anybody doing.

 

 

 

 

 

Not really got much to do with the essentially playing a 5 versus 4 string bass topic though.

 

[Bleat]

1 hour ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

He also only needed a butter knife to remove the frets of his bass, and got beaten to death after provoking a bouncer at a bar, neither of which comes to mind as something I would recommend anybody doing.

 

 

 

 

 

...

 

 

Edited April 14 by Bleat

[Richard R]

I was chatting with an old friend in the week. We both play 5 strings in worship bands and for the same reason - it's easier playing 5 than than playing 4. 

Transposing songs is easy, you don't have to remember chord shapes with open strings, songs in Eb aren't a problem, and occasionally you get to properly shake the room.

 

But if I had the chance to own a particular 4 string I played a while back, I'd sell all my gear in a heartbeat to fund it. It's what moves you and makes you want to play well.

[Geek99]

When my talent level demands it, I’ll shift to a five. Luckily I think I’m safe until 2351. 

[Baloney Balderdash]

2 hours ago, Bleat said:

 

 

Not really got much to do with the essentially playing a 5 versus 4 string bass topic though.

 

No, but it has to do with not everything Jaco did being the Godsend example for all mankind to follow blindly.

 

And there is certainly no need for spamming this topic with quotes of my reply either.

 

Context, fella, context, it was a reply to something, look at the quote above the reply you quote me for.

 

Also I suppose dark humor is not everyone's favorite cup of tea, or to even get for that matter.

 

 

Edited April 14 by Baloney Balderdash

[Stub Mandrel]

10 hours ago, neepheid said:

5 string?  Pah, amateur hour

 

 

That's not a bass. It's either a zither or a skateboard.

[Stub Mandrel]

10 hours ago, nilorius said:

9 string? Good for my cat. 11- next generation!!!

 

Oi! NILO! NO!

[Stub Mandrel]

10 hours ago, nilorius said:

9 string? Good for my cat. 11- next generation!!!

 

Oi! NILO! NO!

[Bleat]

27 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

No, but it has to do with not everything Jaco did being the Godsend example for all mankind to follow blindly.

 

And there is certainly no need for spamming this topic with quotes of my reply either.

 

Context, fella, context, it was a reply to something, look at the quote above the reply you quote me for.

 

Also I suppose dark humor is not everyone's favorite cup of tea, or to even get for that matter.

 

 

 

Just to clarify my 1st response would be quite obvious to most on here that my Jaco comment was intended as nothing more than a bit of humour. 

 

Next, no spamming at all. Just to clarify I don't "spam" forums. Sometimes it happens when pressing submit reply button doesn't show that a post has been submitted but actually it has.  It happens, I see it happen quite often on here. 

 

I'll let the the thread get back to on topic discussion , thanks.

 

[Stub Mandrel]

I was hoping this wouldn't degenerate into a 4 vs 5 debate, I don't think it has. Although there's been plenty of levity I think there's also been lots of evidence that five strings are now not exceptional. A significant number of us are using them as  gigging instruments rather than a 'special effect' or curiosity.

[Stub Mandrel]

That said, kit still doesn't explain why so many are on sale second hand.

 

Oh... another observation- they used to be very expensive but the premium on an extra string is now quite modest.

[neepheid]

30 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

I was hoping this wouldn't degenerate into a 4 vs 5 debate, I don't think it has. Although there's been plenty of levity I think there's also been lots of evidence that five strings are now not exceptional. A significant number of us are using them as  gigging instruments rather than a 'special effect' or curiosity.

 

They're a niche (ERB vs. 4 string), inside a niche (bass guitars vs. guitars).  Not exceptional in the sense that everyone knows what they are, but I still reckon 5 (and more) string basses will be outnumbered by 4 strings in the wild at least 5:1, maybe even 10:1.  Dogma is difficult to change.

 

I know it's a super parochial view of things but right now in my house it's 10-0 in favour of 4 strings, and over all time, the score is 56-2...

Edited April 15 by neepheid

[BigRedX]

Also remember that the people who post outside of the for-sale section tend to be more interested in "less conventional" basses. So proportion of us playing basses with a string count other than 4 will be much higher.

 

In the same way that the only people I know using flats are either on here or those haven't changed their strings since they bought their bass in the 60s or 70s.

[diskwave]

Thats it then, I'm sunk without trace. CV 70's P bass wearing 20 yr old 'Dodo' dead chromes.....said nobody in 43 yrs of playing...haha. There's way too much over thinking here of something that at the end of the day is not an issue to anyone really.

[Ed_S]

2 hours ago, neepheid said:

I know it's a super parochial view of things but right now in my house it's 10-0 in favour of 4 strings, and over all time, the score is 56-2...

 

I'm fully 5 string at present but your all-time stats got me wondering. As best I can work out from memory I'm coincidentally at 58 as well, but it's 31-27 to the 4 strings. No real point to working that out, but it's a slow afternoon and I had spare post-it notes 🙂 

[BigRedX]

Apart from a couple of years in the early 2000s where I played 4-string fretless basses and more recently where one of my bands uses Bass VIs, I've been playing 5-string basses as my main bass since 1989. There have still been a surprisingly large number of 4-string basses that have passed through my hands since I bought my first bass in 1981.

 

They break down as follows:

1-string basses: 1 fretless

4-string basses: 12 fretted, 7 fretless

5-string basses: 8 fretted, 3 fretless

6-string basses: 3 fretted (all Bass VIs)

8-string basses: 2 fretted (all 4-course)

 

Currently I own two 5-string basses and three Bass VIs (all fretted).

[Stub Mandrel]

7 hours ago, neepheid said:

I still reckon 5 (and more) string basses will be outnumbered by 4 strings in the wild at least 5:1, maybe even 10:1.  Dogma is difficult to change.

 

But 10-1 is still a lot of basses for something that was only getting going in the 80s.

My ratio is 3:14, or about 3:11 if you count strings...

[Norris]

I played a 4 string a couple of weeks ago for the first time in over a year since making the switch to 5. There were a bunch of musos at the gig with a possibility of someone else getting up, so I took something that wouldn't confuse them too much. It turned out that the only other bass player to get up was left-handed anyway and brought their Hofner violin bass with them 😁

 

Still, it was quite interesting to switch back for a night after my 15 month "immersion" in the land of 5

 

Oh, and I thought this thread was about 5 strings being a bit more mainstream these days? Well yes, they are. If you like/prefer them, that's good. If you don't, well that's good too. It's not a competition

Edited April 15 by Norris

[tauzero]

On 14/04/2024 at 12:51, diskwave said:

S'funny these threads always end up going one way don't they... A sense that if u play five you are superior in some way to us lowly operators stuck in four banger land. It matters not a jot to me but its really noticeable.... not sure what to make of it really.

 

No, it's the reverse, there's a lot of "well I don't need five strings so there" that goes on, as if we 5-string players are somehow inferior.

[tauzero]

13 hours ago, neepheid said:

 

They're a niche (ERB vs. 4 string), inside a niche (bass guitars vs. guitars).  Not exceptional in the sense that everyone knows what they are, but I still reckon 5 (and more) string basses will be outnumbered by 4 strings in the wild at least 5:1, maybe even 10:1.  Dogma is difficult to change.

 

I know it's a super parochial view of things but right now in my house it's 10-0 in favour of 4 strings, and over all time, the score is 56-2...

 

I think I have the same number of 4-strings as 6-strings, and quite a lot more 5-strings. Looking at the Bass Gallery, there's about five times as many 4s on sale as 5s, and at Bass Direct it's about two to one. Those, of course, are higher-end instrument shops - GAK have 455 4-string models and 121 5-string models, so though 5-strings will probably never overtake 4-strings, they're not exactly niche things. Both Ibanez and Cort when bringing out their new headless models seem to have concentrated more on 5-strings than 4.

 

I don't use the 4-strings for gigging because I've learnt everything on 5s and although I could revise my fingering, I wouldn't play as smoothly and there's absolutely no point. I do take them out to open mics now and then, just to let them know I still love them.

[SumOne]

I've just been mucking about on my Yamaha RBX 765A which has been sitting in a case as a backup Bass for a long time and after only playing 4 string for about 6 months I'd forgotten how it isn't just about efficiency or the lower notes - it can also be more interesting to play a 5 even if you don't need anything below a low E. 

 

Right now I'm playing 'Baggy Trousers' and forgot it can be a lot more efficient if using the B string just for the E#, but can also use other positions going up the B string for a different tone to mix it up as the song progresses, or can go back to the 4 string frets (useful for parts like the octave jumps at the end). It opens up a lot of fretboard options, different patterns, and different tones regardless of going below the low E or being efficient. 

 

I've also just realised that certain songs where I got used to thinking it didn't matter to go lower (like the low D in 'Proud Mary' played an octave up instead), actually I now think that single low note is worth having (and without having to drop tune and change the fretting positions/muscle memory).

 

I am fickle with these things, but I've put my 4 string Jazz up for sale and am getting another 5 (Cort Space), as it feels that while 4 strings will get the job done, 5 is more interesting to play. 

 

I do think if playing rock/metal with a plectrum then 4 might be better if you don't need the lower notes (which you do need for a lot of metal) as the muting is that bit easier, hence why a lot of guitarists that also play Bass tend to play 4 strings.

Edited April 16 by SumOne

[OliverBlackman]

On 14/04/2024 at 21:35, Geek99 said:

When my talent level demands it, I’ll shift to a five. Luckily I think I’m safe until 2351. 

Nothing to do with talent (does that even exist?), you just need to know your fretboard and scales/ chord tones. It’s only 4 extra notes 🙂 I’ve got my first fiver in 10 years and I’m really enjoying playing through the songs I’ve avoided to learn in that time due to lack of string. Plus the budget choices now compared to ten years ago is insane.

[BigRedX]

On 14/04/2024 at 21:35, Geek99 said:

When my talent level demands it, I’ll shift to a five. Luckily I think I’m safe until 2351. 

 

I have very little talent when it comes to playing the bass but the additional strings actually make a lot of what I play much easier.