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

[neepheid]

1 minute ago, MichaelDean said:

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!

 

"Why have you brought that brain?  You're clearly not using it..."

[Richard R]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

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.

 

This is so true.  I have a set or Rotosounds on my number one 35" 5er at the moment and I don't like them as I can't get the intonation on the B properly. I tried them as they're UK made, but they don't work on this bass.  

[diskwave]

Reading back thru this thread. The only person who cares about how many strings you play is you. Ive worked with band leaders that have never even heard of Fender/Gibson/Ludwig/Tama etc.. tho in the main they do know their keys  etc etc. At the end of the day if your groove cannot fill the dance floor then its time for a re-think.

[tauzero]

3 hours ago, JoeEvans said:

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...

 

Not a valid comparison. If the notes you play are mostly or entirely those available on a 4-string, playing them in the same position on a 5-string means the same stretch for the fretting hand, whereas playing them in the same position on a 6 means stretching across an extra string. Which is why I play 5s and not (often) 6s.

[tauzero]

1 hour ago, 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'm not going to mention my 10 string then.

[BigRedX]

42 minutes ago, Richard R said:

This is so true.  I have a set or Rotosounds on my number one 35" 5er at the moment and I don't like them as I can't get the intonation on the B properly. I tried them as they're UK made, but they don't work on this bass.  

 

IME Rotosound are incapable of consistently making good bass strings that aren't standard gauge for 34" 4-string basses. I had a number of sets where the B string was completely dead. Luckily a friend recommended Newtone who are more than capable of making suitable strings for less conventional basses.

[JoeEvans]

21 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

Not a valid comparison. If the notes you play are mostly or entirely those available on a 4-string, playing them in the same position on a 5-string means the same stretch for the fretting hand, whereas playing them in the same position on a 6 means stretching across an extra string. Which is why I play 5s and not (often) 6s.

So you're saying you don't like stretching across an extra string...? 🤔

[chris_b]

The tribal thing gets very tedious.

 

Everyone's choices are equally valid, even when they obviously made the wrong choice!!

[12stringbassist]

The thing with 5-string basses for me is that I get lost on them because I don't persevere with them enough. I have had two that I've sold (my third made a second one redundant).

I haven't opened my 5-er case for a few months. It's an Ibanez SR1405 and it's great to play. I may have to break it out this weekend and make myself get used to it again. The bottom B is really good on it and the tones are fabulous.

I have some lovely basses and wouldn't stop playing them for the extra few notes on a 5-er.

 

Edited November 25 by 12stringbassist

[tauzero]

1 hour ago, JoeEvans said:

So you're saying you don't like stretching across an extra string...? 🤔

 

If I'm not using the C string for anything then there's no point having it.

 

You do realise that with a 5-string strung BEADG you don't have to stretch across an extra string to reach the E, A, D, or G strings, don't you?

[tauzero]

28 minutes ago, 12stringbassist said:

I have some lovely basses and wouldn't stop playing them for the extra few notes on a 5-er.

 

I don't understand the misconception that the only point of a 5-string is the bottom 5 notes. It isn't as if it's a huge secret.

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

IME Rotosound are incapable of consistently making good bass strings that aren't standard gauge for 34" 4-string basses.

 

I got a set of rotosounds recently while checking out new strings, and they were not very pleasant and didn't  stay long. Didn't even think it was the non 4 string thing, the other 4s weren't great either!

[JoeEvans]

16 minutes ago, tauzero said:

 

If I'm not using the C string for anything then there's no point having it.

 

You do realise that with a 5-string strung BEADG you don't have to stretch across an extra string to reach the E, A, D, or G strings, don't you?

 

Yes, of course. I'm only making a light-hearted point - stretching across to the B-string on a 5 is just like stretching across to the E-string on a 6; you mentioned that you didn't like that stretch on a 6, so no doubt you can fully empathise with people who don't like it on a 5.

[PaulWarning]

never really considered a 5, guess it depends on the style of music you play, not many punk bassists use a 5 string, I avoid playing anything below a G on the E string anyway, for instance I usually play F or F# on the D string seems to cut through better, to my ears anyway

[martthebass]

There are times when I would appreciate a move to a 5er.  In my current band a few songs are keyed down which makes playing the 'correct' line tough on a 4 so I have to improvise.  I have tried to make the move a few times and found in each case that it had to be an 'all or nothing' for me as swapping between 4 and 5 ensured I'd make plenty of mistakes on gigs so I stuck with my comfort preference of a 4.

[BigRedX]

In retrospect, I think I was lucky when I switched to playing 5-string basses. Previously I had played lots of different stringed instruments with different tunings, numbers of strings, scale lengths and neck widths, so 5-string bass was just one more of many options to get used to. Also I had just come from 7 years of mostly playing synths, and even my not brilliant 5-string bass was a superior instrument to the 4-string I had been using before that. That combined with the fact that I decided I liked the idea of 5-string bass, then my next one was a truly excellent instrument in every respect. 

[Baloney Balderdash]

While the fretboard does appear more logical to me, I enjoy the narrower string spacing, and the extra range, of a 5 string bass, the 4 string just feels more at home to me, that and I like the idea of being limited to just 4 strings.

 

Also 5 strings basses always look somewhat off to me,.

 

And as someone has already pointed, but then what about 6 string basses, don't you think you are missing out, and that 5 string basses are kind of pointless compared to 6 string basses?

 

Edited November 25 by Baloney Balderdash

[KingPrawn]

On 24/11/2024 at 04:58, BassTractor said:

One point of a four might be that (if true) one never gets "that" low E timbre from a five.
Just throwing this in: I have no idea myself, but this was said by a producer in a well-known studio. Me, I'd imagine that a wider neck's stiffness would indeed change the timbre, but you guys must know a lot more about this than I do.

There's a great interview on YouTube that Rick Beato does with Tony Levin. He touched on this exact issue when Musicman asked him to consider one of their 5 string basses. He asked them if the E string sounded like an E string on a a  4-string bass. They assured him it did and he never turned back

[Count Bassy]

I am not a particulary good player but still find the B string very useful.

 

Obviously it gives you the extra range, but also also allows you to play (say in E) higher up the neck (useful with my small hands),

The extra range gives you the low minor 7th in E, and obviously the low D and C giving for those keys.

 

As for why not a 6 string. Well, it's a bass isn't it? Extra range at the low end  is far more useful than extra notes at the high end, and 6 starts to make the fretboard too wide.

 

I still have some 4s, but they rarely get played.

 

 

PS: I am not the sort to get worried abot using notes that were not in the original!

Edited November 25 by Count Bassy

[SamIAm]

I'm a 3/10 player but made the 'jump' to 5 strings when I built my first bass and I love them!

I have one 4 sting (which is sadly neglected) and three 5ers which I find more to my preference ... why?

I do not play many really low notes, but the 5ers allows me to stay in one fretting position more then a 4 does, and for those times I need them the low B++ is really useful to me.  Bridge spacing is not all that I could wish for, but at the moment I only play a 5.

Sam x

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I've owned two five string bass guitars. I didn't really get enough benefit from having the extra string on either occasion, the B didn't sound particularly good, and I don't really like active basses so I sold both of them.

 

When I upgraded from a dean pace EUB to an NS Design seventeen years ago, I went for the CR5M. I have no plan to ever sell it as it is a wonderful instrument, and having a 43" (or thereabouts) scale means the B string sounds as good as the other strings. Also The EMG/Haz labs electronics make sense on the CR5M.

[Beer of the Bass]

I brought my 5-string to a very 70s sounding band where the bassists on the first two albums were both short scale 4-string pick players. I wondered at first if it was appropriate, but it turns out no-one else in the band had even thought about it that way. My bass is passive and basically does what a Jazz bass does apart from the extra string, I use lower notes very sparingly and I'm running into an Ampeg. I'd say it works fine in that context.

I probably could use a four string in that band, but I don't own a large number of basses, so if you want me and you want fretted electric, that's my bass.

[lozkerr]

2 hours ago, Count Bassy said:

As for why not a 6 string. Well, it's a bass isn't it? Extra range at the low end  is far more useful than extra notes at the high end, and 6 starts to make the fretboard too wide.

Same here. I'd tried a couple of six-strings a while back, and had another go when I bought my Stingray earlier this year. Both times I found the neck on the sixer was far too wide for my girly wee hands as I use the B string a lot.

 

So I bought the five-string Stingray and I'm chuffed to bits with it. It's far punchier than my Fender Jazz Deluxe.

[OliverBlackman]

I’m surprised that so many of BC is playing 5s because the classifieds are full of 4s! Maybe it’s everyone realising that they don’t play the bass so will sell those, and hoarding 5 strings.

[JohnH89]

Just got rid of my only 5 String , a Sire P5R to allow the purchase of a lovely Burns Bison '62 reissue . Don't miss it one bit . I do have one of mine that is tuned BEAD that I love more than the 5 . The shop that took the 5 from me said that they are hard to shift for him .