once you've played a 5 string what's the point of 4?

[Elfrasho]

I've played 4s probably 80% of the time, 10% 6s and 10% 5s. There's a time and a place for all but in all honesty I think 4s are just more fun to play! And I rarely if ever feel I'm missing out on not having the extra strings. 

 

[SumOne]

1 hour ago, OliverBlackman said:

Apart from Joe Dart most of those came to the fore 20-30 years ago. Unfortunately bass is often played on Moogs these days, so any strings are old hat.

 

 

Well, I did say 'relatively recent', the aim was listening some famous and accomplished players that play a 4 in a time since 5 have been widely available. (I said 'generally', before anyone said 'here's a picture of Flea with a 5, or so and so hasn't played for 2 years).

 

So, granted, for people to say 'this Bass player from the 70s only needed 4' is a bit unfair as 5 wasn't readily available (and all the stuff like recording and home listening didn't need anything below a low E). But artists from the 80s onwards have had access to 5 strings, the ones I listed are professional Bass players playing today that generally use 4 strings. The point being that they must see advantages to it, it's not that they don't have the skills to play 5, it's that they (often) choose not to.

 

And yeah, Bass playing is definitely old hat! 

[SumOne]

1 hour ago, Elfrasho said:

 I think 4s are just more fun to play!

 

 

This is the biggest thing for me.

 

5 (and I assume even more so for 6) just feel a bit more, I dunno - serious, technical. More of an instrument to play sat down!

[Woodinblack]

14 minutes ago, SumOne said:

5 (and I assume even more so for 6) just feel a bit more, I dunno - serious, technical. More of an instrument to play sat down!

 

Obviously just a feeling you get - I find it exactly the opposite, i find a 5 more fun, the 4 more work and I am lazy! 

[SteveXFR]

My 5 string was multi scale with an extra long neck. Amazing sound on the low B and similar tone across all 5 but not as easy to play as a standard 4 string. It was a bit of a modern metal weapon but sometimes it was just nice to play a normal P bass

[Richard R]

I play 5 because it's easier and church bands are forever chamging keys, but if I ever have the spare money for a 73 Rick 4001s or an Ovation Magnum 1 then I won't complain there's a string missing.

 

Surely you play what you like and what suits the music?

 

[obi 2 kenobi]

Switched to 5 after 20 years on 4s. 
Would never go back. The range, low notes and ease of changing key is a no-brainer. 
Have one 4 string left, a late 80s stingray where sadly the controls have become stiff through non-use. 

[Norris]

I like 5 and that's all that matters

 

I'm happy for you to like as many strings as you do

 

I won't sell or stop playing my 4-stringers occasionally though

 

Edit: Actually, to answer the original question...

 

I played 4 string basses for over 30 years because that was what was commonly available. I made the move to 5 strings a couple of years ago and played them exclusively to really become second nature. Now I can switch between 4s and 5s without too much effort. I still play a 5er most of the time though.

 

I wouldn't get rid of my 4s because they have sentimental value and/or a lot of them are not available/affordable in 5-string versions. I still like to own them even if they don't come out to play often.

Edited November 24 by Norris

[neepheid]

I just use a pitch shifter if the singist says "can we do this song x semitones up/down?"

 

I'm not re-learning the positions!  We have the technology!  I don't care if anyone thinks it's "cheating".

[Woodinblack]

21 minutes ago, Norris said:

I played 4 string basses for over 30 years because that was what was commonly available. I made the move to 5 strings a couple of years ago and played them exclusively to really become second nature. Now I can switch between 4s and 5s without too much effort. I still play a 5er most of the time though.

 

Maybe that is why. I started playing a bass in the late 70s, it was a 4 string ibanez rickenbacker copy, which I loved, but it got stolen. I had guitars so I carried on just playing guitars until I just sort of stopped playing anything at all in the late 80s. Bought a bass at a local music shop which was a 5string, and it was all the bass I had until the mid 2000s

I loved the bass I got but frankly there was always something missing.

Maybe it is because I am coming from the point of view that a 5 string is a normal bass, and a 4 string is a bass with something removed, whereas a lot of people are coming from the point of a 4 string being normal and a 5 string having something added.

 

But there aer a lot of very lovely 4 string basses around, I wish I got on with them better. I guess if I was with the right group, I could.

 

 

13 minutes ago, neepheid said:

I just use a pitch shifter if the singist says "can we do this song x semitones up/down?"

 

I probably would go with that if I found a pitch shifter that didn't sound like a pitch shifter.

[Ed_S]

46 minutes ago, neepheid said:

I just use a pitch shifter if the singist says "can we do this song x semitones up/down?"

 

I'm not re-learning the positions!  We have the technology!  I don't care if anyone thinks it's "cheating".

 

Wouldn't say it's cheating at all - I thought the Digi Drop was great for up to 3 semitones down when I was gigging 4s. Admittedly anything lower and it started to sound just a bit chorussy, but in a live mix it was close enough for many genres and, indeed, good for metal.

[chris_b]

10 hours ago, Belka said:

I suppose you have a point here, but I would guess a lot of these players came up when 5s and 6s weren't really around. Also, there is a big difference between famous and successful players and talented players. While the likes of Jeff Berlin, Marcus Miller, and Pino have stuck to the 4 string, a lot of the more talented players around today play 5s and 6s; Thundercat, Felix Pastorius, Hadrien Feraud (in terms of raw talent and ability he's almost certainly the best player out there today - doesn't mean you have to like him of course), Matt Garrison, Janek, etc.

Pino and Marcus Miller both play 5 string basses.

 

Top players are always going to be flexible enough play what's required, as the recently posted Sean Hurley video shows, when he got out his 55-94 Lakland. Only the silly billy's are going to push one side or the other.

[neepheid]

17 minutes ago, chris_b said:

Pino and Marcus Miller both play 5 string basses.

 

Top players are always going to be flexible enough play what's required, as the recently posted Sean Hurley video shows, when he got out his 55-94 Lakland. Only the silly billy's are going to push one side or the other.

 

Are you calling me a silly billy?

[Boodang]

Circle of 5ths and two octave runs make more sense on a 5 string but…. for me I find as a result of the range in any one part of the neck I tend to stay there and play across the strings whereas on a 4 it forces me to play up and down the neck a result of which is I play more inventive lines(but that’s just me). 
I do have a 5 string as well but I tune it high C and use it only when chordal work is needed. And, just me again, I’ve never heard a low B that sounds right! 

[JoeEvans]

If you play a 5-string but not a 6-string, you already know the reason why some people play 4-string basses not 5s...

[meterman]

Mostly it's the neck width on 5's that I can't get on with. Also, in 35 years of playing I've never been in a musical situation that's required even a drop D, let alone a low B. But then my playing is usually simple enough that even 4 strings is more than enough.

[MichaelDean]

10 hours ago, SteveXFR said:

My 5 string was multi scale with an extra long neck. Amazing sound on the low B and similar tone across all 5 but not as easy to play as a standard 4 string. It was a bit of a modern metal weapon but sometimes it was just nice to play a normal P bass

I know exactly what you mean. I play my 5 string Dingwall in my band, and only had short scale 4 string basses as my other options. I missed having something at 34" scale to noodle around on sometimes so picked up a PJ bass. It's fun having different basses in different tunings to play. 

 

I got my first 5 string after years of almost exclusively playing short scale basses. It took a while to adjust back to full scale, but the 5th string was never that much of an issue for me. Now I'm happy moving between all of my basses at the different scale lengths and number of strings. 

 

I'm getting a bit of GAS now though for a 6... Tuned GCGCFC for my band, it could be fun to have those extra low notes, but I really like having the three octaves of C to create a massive sound. Especially with a +1/-1 octave, fuzz, reverb and delay on. 🤔

[BigRedX]

I got my first 5-string in 1989 and haven't looked back. Apart for a few years where I alternated between 4-string fretless (only because I hadn't been able to find a 5-string fretless I liked) and 5-string fretted, I haven't played a 4-string bass since then. At the moment I play 5-string with one band and Bass VI with the other. I can't see myself ever buying or playing a 4-string bass ever again. TBH a lot of what I've played on the 5-string could be done on a two string bass, and I once took my Atlansia Solitaire 1-string fretless bass to a rehearsal for the Dad Rock Covers band I was in, where the fact that it was fretless was a greater hinderance than the fact that it only had one string!

 

Some general observations. IME cheap 5-string basses aren't worth the bother. I see lots of people buy something cheap to try it out and unsurprisingly they don't get on with it. I was lucky because although my first 5-string was cheap and not that good, my second one bought a few months later was a second-hand Overwater and payed and sounded fantastic. Also IME scale length on its own makes little difference to sound and feel of the low-B. Too many budget manufacturers add the extra inch to their 5-string versions when what they should be doing is making the neck stiffer and the neck joint better (or ideally make it a through neck). Yes there are decent 35" scale 5-string basses, but anyone making one should be capable of making an equally good 34" scale 5-string. The best 5-string basses I have owned have all been well-made 34" scale and worst have been cheap 35" scale. Also the choice of strings makes a massive difference. Don't just slap on the 5-string version of your favourite 4-string set and expect it to work. It took a lot of trial and error before I found the strings that work best with each 5-string I have owned.

[JapanAxe]

Reason for owning a 5-string: Uptown Funk.

 

Reasons for still mainly playing 4-string:

(1) Ease

(2) Comfort 

(3) Enjoyment 

[diskwave]

I suppose if you play in a modern pit, or on a boat where everything is in Eb for the horns then yes a five is gonna make sense. Personally Ive never liked either the look or the feel and during the short time I did both I muddled thru rather well on my ole P bass.

[neepheid]

As long as no-one strays into "5 string superiority complex" territory, we'll all get along just fine

[neepheid]

12 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

I probably would go with that if I found a pitch shifter that didn't sound like a pitch shifter.

 

I wouldn't record with it, but in the mix when the whole band is playing, I've found it tolerable.  Definitely don't go more than 3 semitones down though in any circumstance, at least with the one I'm using - yes it technically does what you ask but it's not happy.  Up seems to fair better.

[Woodinblack]

4 minutes ago, neepheid said:

As long as no-one strays into "5 string superiority complex" territory, we'll all get along just fine

 

Indeed - that would upset the "4 string superiority complex' people and then there would just be a war like there often is!

 

Luckily the 6 and 3 string people stay out of it

[neepheid]

Just now, Woodinblack said:

 

Indeed - that would upset the "4 string superiority complex' people and then there would just be a war like there often is!

 

Luckily the 6 and 3 string people stay out of it

 

I am a stirrer, but TBF I only phrased it that way because the OP came in swinging on the 5 string side of things and it's the premise upon which this thread was started.  I personally don't believe in any bass supremacy - I'll play what I like and I expect to be afforded the freedom to do that without judgement while I afford that freedom to others.  Anyone coming up to me giving it all the "5 string's better/why aren't you playing a 5 string?" bollox (and it has happened IRL to me, BTW) will get the short shrift they deserve.  I don't think I'm better than anyone else because of my choices that don't affect anyone else in the slightest, I just want to be left alone to work within the parameters I have decided are correct for me.

[MichaelDean]

5 minutes ago, neepheid said:

 

I am a stirrer, but TBF I only phrased it that way because the OP came in swinging on the 5 string side of things and it's the premise upon which this thread was started.  I personally don't believe in any bass supremacy - I'll play what I like and I expect to be afforded the freedom to do that without judgement while I afford that freedom to others.  Anyone coming up to me giving it all the "5 string's better/why aren't you playing a 5 string?" bollox (and it has happened IRL to me, BTW) will get the short shrift they deserve.  I don't think I'm better than anyone else because of my choices that don't affect anyone else in the slightest, I just want to be left alone to work within the parameters I have decided are correct for me.

I've had a similar schtick for my 5 string at a gig this year as well. "Why have you brought that extra string?" 🙄 This is the bass I'm playing, get over it!