Time of the Fivers?

[dave_bass5]

10 minutes ago, diskwave said:

Five, four, one, 37, none of it matters. All that actually matters is.. whatever you play does it make people wanna party? Thats it. Personaly? Four strings have never let me down....

Totally disagree. Id say quite the opposite. WE have to be happy with what we are playing and feel comfortable with it. 

It doesnt matter to the audience what we are using, and not having a 5 string is never going to stop the party. 

[Bleat]

How can we be several pages in and not one of you has wheeled out the tired old "Jaco only needed 4 strings" statement. Well... there it is! 

 

I only need 4 strings with a bass xtender, or rather I would have a bass xtender if it hadn't completely collapsed and broken on me for no apparent reason last week. So just 4 strings it is for the moment.

[itu]

...and Dragonetti needed only 3. There it is!

[SamIAm]

I play short-scale, I've one 4 and two 5s (With BEADG) and prefer the 5s.

The string spacing is a bit narrow on my GRSM25, but I like it as I can stay in one position (usually about the 5th).

Hopefully soon (in the next year or two! lol) I'll build Phoenix, short scale headless 5er with 18mm bridge string spacing and then I'll be in hog heaven!

Sam x

[Stub Mandrel]

I'm getting increasingly comfortable on a 5, but can get lost if playing songs learnt on a 4 that involve fast multi-string/position riffs.

 

Definitely prefer the feel if a 4, though. For now I'm swapping between a 4 & 5 with a muting neutrik jack it only takes a few seconds.

[Franticsmurf]

I prefer a 4 mainly because of my small, un-bassplayer like hands. But I have a Sterling 5 and I used it last week in rehearsal. The Hulla have a wide repertoire and there are a few songs that benefit from the extra string so I thought I'd experiment. We are finalising our core set for the year and at the moment there are only 3 (from about 40) songs that work better with a 5 than a 4. So I'll probably stick with the 4 unless I can negotiate an opportunity to swap basses mid gig (the BL likes to keep going so we don't lose the energy but he also likes to talk to the audience so perhaps I can work something in there.)

 

I fall in and out of love with the Sterling - it's been up for sale (with no interest) and its been gigged.

 

[chris_b]

Songs don't care how many strings are on any musical instrument.

 

Play what makes you happy and gets the job done.

 

I'm happy that some players prefer 4's. I'm happy that I prefer 5's.

[neepheid]

5 string?  Pah, amateur hour

 

[nilorius]

7 minutes ago, neepheid said:

5 string?  Pah, amateur hour

 

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

[diskwave]

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.

[Beer of the Bass]

Even though I like my fiver, I can see plenty of reasons someone might keep to four. Some enjoy specific vintage or retro bass models that don't translate well to five strings, some just don't have a need for the extra range for their particular musical goals, and some have right hand techniques where adding another string underneath affects how they play on the E string. And I get it, I have no urge to look into five string double bass!

[Beer of the Bass]

1 hour ago, itu said:

...and Dragonetti needed only 3. There it is!

 

And Emmett only needed one. Though the River Bottom Nightmare Band trounced them fair and square at the talent contest, so make of that what you will.

 

[neepheid]

This is where here and Talkbass differ - on TB this thread would descend into a flame war - an interminable bitchfest until it reaches about thirty pages long before some mod finally pulls the plug.  Here we rebound gently between the sublime and the ridiculous, deftly and subtly extracting the Michael out of one another using extreme examples of the subject under discussion and obscure pop culture references, then everyone calms down and has a cup of tea.

 

Guess where I prefer to do my bitchin' and moanin'

 

[Baloney Balderdash]

14 hours ago, moley6knipe said:

That’s really cool! That tuning with my bands would force me on to all sorts of dusty, untraveled parts of the neck!

Thanks.

 

Well, I don't play in any band at the moment, and it is not really supposed to cover the role of a traditional bass.

 

It's more of a low tuned melodic/chord instrument, and I plan to use it in various solo projects I got going, along side a regular bass.

 

I am also working on a stoner/doom rock project that I named "all I nil", where the idea is that this bass, along with drums and vocals are going to be the main core instrumentation, with a bit of more flavor oriented instrumentation added, sort of covering both the role of bass and guitar, but really being something unique on its own, and I already wrote a couple of handful tunes for this project, where the "bass" parts and mostly the basic form of the songs are more or less in place.

 

This is really what got me started tuning my 4 and 5 string Mikro Bass up like this, with above mentioned project in mind.

 

Edited April 14, 2024 by Baloney Balderdash

[dave_bass5]

54 minutes ago, Beer of the Bass said:

Even though I like my fiver, I can see plenty of reasons someone might keep to four. Some enjoy specific vintage or retro bass models that don't translate well to five strings, some just don't have a need for the extra range for their particular musical goals, and some have right hand techniques where adding another string underneath affects how they play on the E string. And I get it, I have no urge to look into five string double bass!

I keep going back and forth between 4 and 5. I like the narrow string spacing i get with a 5, even if im not using the B string. When i go back to a 4 it feels awkward for a  few minutes, but then its fine. 

Ive played many 5 over the years, but always seem to got back to a 4. This is probably why ive never really adjusted my playing for a 5, as i know I’ll be using a 4 again. When i started playing bass again (a couple of weeks ago) i was all in to the 5 string i have, but after walking some distance with it im now back to my Fender. At the moment it’s more because it’s a nicer, much lighter bass. The difference between 10.2lbs and 8lbs is quite noticeable when walking for 30 mins. 

I guess thats it for me, it’s not the number of stings, but the Bass itself. If my 5 string was lighter id maybe stick with it. 

 

Oh, and we have one song that needs a 5 string, which is the reason i was using it. Not a good enough reason though. I’ll play higher up and save myself some back pain. 

[woodyratm]

3 hours ago, RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE said:

I said it's easier to sell a 4 string

I think this also depends on the bass, when I’ve tried to sell 5 string Dingwalls they have sold much quicker than the ones I tried to sell with 4 (or 6!) strings. Yet the Status basses sold faster with the 4 strings. It’s very odd. 

[nilorius]

My history about 5ers - i started with 4 strings precision, then switched to jazzb, but feeled i need something more, i tried out in a shop 5 string j-bass, but didn't feel comfy with the neck. Then was a long years with 5 string fretless Ibanez GWB1005, witch i thought i found my dream bass, but the bolt on neck was so sensitive to different situations and bend too much and often. Finaly 2024 i found my dream bass - Yamaha trb p5ii neck through - perfect tone, sustain, feel and no problems with neck stability.

[BigRedX]

5 hours ago, diskwave said:

Five, four, one, 37, none of it matters. All that actually matters is.. whatever you play does it make people wanna party? Thats it. Personaly? Four strings have never let me down....

 

I play in two goth bands. Party? What's that?

 

In all seriousness there's no way I could play most of the songs I use then Bass VI for on a standard 4-string bass. 

[Bagman]

I’ve got 5 x 4 strings and 1 x 5 string

 

I will get a Fretless 5 at some point 

 

Play what you like and enjoy other players choices. 

[snorkie635]

29 minutes ago, nilorius said:

My history about 5ers - i started with 4 strings precision, then switched to jazzb, but feeled i need something more, i tried out in a shop 5 string j-bass, but didn't feel comfy with the neck. Then was a long years with 5 string fretless Ibanez GWB1005, witch i thought i found my dream bass, but the bolt on neck was so sensitive to different situations and bend too much and often. Finaly 2024 i found my dream bass - Yamaha trb p5ii neck through - perfect tone, sustain, feel and no problems with neck stability.

I do like a TRB 5 P2 Nilo old bean. Good choice. 😎👍

[snorkie635]

6 hours ago, diskwave said:

Five, four, one, 37, none of it matters. All that actually matters is.. whatever you play does it make people wanna party? Thats it. Personaly? Four strings have never let me down....

You are Jaco, and I claim the £5 prize. 😁

[LowB_FTW]

6 hours ago, Bleat said:

How can we be several pages in and not one of you has wheeled out the tired old "Jaco only needed 4 strings" statement. Well... there it is! 

 

I've been waiting ages to use this. 😂

 

Mark

[nilorius]

1 minute ago, LowB_FTW said:

 

I've been waiting ages to use this. 😂

 

Mark

We all make mistakes...............on holidays.

[Baloney Balderdash]

7 hours ago, Bleat said:

How can we be several pages in and not one of you has wheeled out the tired old "Jaco only needed 4 strings" statement. Well... there it is! 

 

I only need 4 strings with a bass xtender, or rather I would have a bass xtender if it hadn't completely collapsed and broken on me for no apparent reason last week. So just 4 strings it is for the moment.

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.

 

7 hours ago, diskwave said:

Five, four, one, 37, none of it matters. All that actually matters is.. whatever you play does it make people wanna party? Thats it. Personaly? Four strings have never let me down....

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, 2024 by Baloney Balderdash

[diskwave]

1 hour ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

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

Sure is. I spent my playing life entertaining people in clubs, shows, TV etc. There's plenty for all.

Edited April 14, 2024 by diskwave