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

[Count Bassy]

20 hours ago, Woodinblack said:

no, your reply is absurd because he didn't say he held that opinion at all, so you made up an argument to be outraged against.

WARNING! Do not feed the trolls!

[Baloney Balderdash]

On 27/11/2024 at 15:22, Count Bassy said:

WARNING! Do not feed the trolls!

Yes, you are right, I am totally a troll, this discussion makes so much sense, and following is total BS:

 

On 26/11/2024 at 18:07, Baloney Balderdash said:

This discussion is absurd.

 

Why can't people just accept that some prefer 4 string basses, other people again 5 string basses, some even 6, or even 12 strings, and it is all good.

 

Non of them are lesser instruments, or less real basses.

 

Edited November 28 by Baloney Balderdash

[Rich]

I played fives pretty much exclusively throughout the 2000s and 2010s, and still do with the soul band. I started playing a 4 for my ska gigs just after lockdown because I just didn't need the 5th string, and still do. So I now play roughly 50/50 fours and fives. I love them both.

At the end of the day they are tools, and as with all tools you use the right one for the job. You wouldn't use a screwdriver to hammer in a nail, and you wouldn't use a hammer to insert a screw unless you are my ex-wife. Anyone who will argue that fives/fours are totally superior to fours/fives is completely missing the point. 

[tauzero]

 

[DDR]

Amazing yes.

 

Just a reminder that there's nothing antagonistic about this post, it's just a question to the forum that's trying to help and resolve an issue for the Author (me!). Sorry to see it being misinterpreted as some kind of judgemental statement which it isn't.

 

I guess if i was to rephrase it I'd direct it more specifically to bass players who are involved in bass-line composition (improvisers for example). Would it ever make sense to limit oneself to a low E (or in the case of BEAD to not have access to that upper register the G provides) when considering a new instrument?

 

I think there's been plenty of valuable input here so again thank you everyone!

 

D

 

Edited November 27 by DDR
Typo

[Bluewine]

I've never played a 5. After 55 years playing 4s I could never make the transition. 

 

Daryl

[OliverBlackman]

34 minutes ago, DDR said:

Amazing yes.

 

Just a reminder that there's nothing antagonistic about this post, it's just a question to the forum that's trying to help and resolve an issue for the Author (me!). Sorry to see it being misinterpreted as some kind of judgemental statement which it isn't.

 

I guess if i was to rephrase it I'd direct it more specifically to bass players who are involved in bass-line composition (improvisers for example). Would it would ever make sense to limit oneself to a low E (or in the case of BEAD to not have access to that upper register the G provides) when considering a new instrument?

 

I think there's been plenty of valuable input here so again thank you everyone!

 

D

 

Depends on the music style you’re composing… In metal, big band, classical, gospel, the lower notes are often used. Is there a singer, what’s their preferred key ect. Lots of variables that justify owning a 5. Of course many composers and session players have been fine with just a 4 for many years.

[diskwave]

Whats really extraordinary here is if I was to ask a question or make a statement about 'practise'.. it'd be lucky if it ran to a couple of pages yet this subject of 5 v 4 strings appears to occupy so much thinking?

My moneys on practise..,Practise enough and you can sound great playing anything and forget about how many strings you have.

Edited November 27 by diskwave

[rmorris]

A couple of points here:

A. Many audio setups (including your typical bass rig) have difficulties reproducing the lowest frequencies involved, in terms of both:

A. efficiency (Level)

B. Distortion (THD + IMD)

[tauzero]

2 hours ago, rmorris said:

A couple of points here:

A. Many audio setups (including your typical bass rig) have difficulties reproducing the lowest frequencies involved, in terms of both:

A. efficiency (Level)

B. Distortion (THD + IMD)

 

But if a low D (below bottom E) and a D on the 5th fret of the A string are played, you can tell the difference and that the low D is lower than the next D up. So although the fundamental may not be coming through, your brain can work it out.

[rmorris]

6 hours ago, tauzero said:

 

But if a low D (below bottom E) and a D on the 5th fret of the A string are played, you can tell the difference and that the low D is lower than the next D up. So although the fundamental may not be coming through, your brain can work it out.

 

Yes. The psychoacoustic aspect of hearing is fascinating especially wrt ability to "fill in" missing harmonic information.

[BigRedX]

10 hours ago, diskwave said:

Whats really extraordinary here is if I was to ask a question or make a statement about 'practise'.. it'd be lucky if it ran to a couple of pages yet this subject of 5 v 4 strings appears to occupy so much thinking?

My moneys on practise..,Practise enough and you can sound great playing anything and forget about how many strings you have.

 

There's any number of threads in the Theory and Technique sub forum about practicing, but AFAICS you haven't contributed to any of the recent ones, and yet you are happy to post on this one which means your statement is pretty much worthless. Practice doesn't attract that much discussion because either you need to do it, in which case you just need to get on and do it, or you can come up with an alternative thing to play that doesn't require you to any practice. Simple. 

[dave_bass5]

Basschat isn’t what it used to be 😔

[Reggaebass]

Imo there’s always something to practise if you want to improve, even if you are at a high level, I work on technique, scales, arpeggios, intervals, ghost notes etc, the list is endless really 

[BigRedX]

And it would be equally valid to say that a lot of people who try a 5-string bass and then go back to playing 4-string basses do so because they haven't spent enough time PRACTICING with the 5-string bass.

[Ed_S]

13 hours ago, DDR said:

I guess if i was to rephrase it I'd direct it more specifically to bass players who are involved in bass-line composition (improvisers for example). Would it ever make sense to limit oneself to a low E (or in the case of BEAD to not have access to that upper register the G provides) when considering a new instrument?

 

I wouldn't have called myself a composer, but I guess I fit 'improviser' to a certain extent in that even though I play written songs (originals and covers) rather than improvised jams, I never have a completely set idea of what I'm going to play when I get on stage. I don't use manuscript, tab or charts, I don't consciously employ any theory beyond 'what my ears know', and I don't even know what any of the notes I'm playing are unless my tuner tells me, so as long as the bass is tuned 'correctly' (conventional intervals between the strings - don't care what the actual notes are) I can use it to play what I hear in my head. The oversimplified way I've put it before is that I use the bass to be able to play any song I've committed to memory in a standard manner, where some appear to commit a selection of songs to memory in a specific manner so as to be able to play the bass. I wouldn't say I practise.. but I play every day.

 

And the point? I'll use what I have available, so if you give me a 4 then I'll still be able to play something to anything I know - it just might not be what I would have preferred. If that 4 is tuned BEAD then that's fine - it'll just be a different something and again might not be what I would have preferred. If you give me a 5 then I have the amount of room to manoeuvre that I like, and it gives me scope to play exactly what I want to in the moment. 5 has always been 'home' for me, but I limited myself to 4 for some specific reasons (covered in my earlier post) until it made sense to return. When I have a 6, I generally have to force myself to use the highest string; it rarely figures naturally in what I want to hear, so that's the musical basis on which I classify it as broadly unnecessary for me.

 

What I have no concept of is choosing a bass with a certain number of strings to play a set of songs, knowing exactly what the correct lines are and that I won't need any note below an E to play them. I'll play what I play, and if I have a 5 then it'll be what I wanted to play. If I have a 4 in either direction it might be partly what I had to play ...and if I have a 6 it'll be what I had to stretch a bit further over to play. On balance, I don't think it makes sense to limit yourself to a lower number of strings than you personally find optimal if you're a 'make it up as you go along' type like me, unless/until you're doing it for non-musical reasons.

 

Of course this all works for me and might not work for anybody else, and that's fine.

[dave_bass5]

13 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

And it would be equally valid to say that a lot of people who try a 5-string bass and then go back to playing 4-string basses do so because they haven't spent enough time PRACTICING with the 5-string bass.

Is that also why people

‘NEED’ multiple basses? Because they don’t practice enough on each one🤣
 

 

[Leonard Smalls]

34 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

it would be equally valid to say that a lot of people who try a 5-string bass and then go back to playing 4-string basses do so because they haven't spent enough time PRACTICING with the 5-string bass.

 

Personally, I spent about 1/2 an hour playing a five string, plus about the same again being harangued by the chap at Bass Direct saying that I had to buy a five string if I wanted to be a proper bass player.

I decided I was happy with four and that I probably wasn't willing to practice for the thousands of hours it would take to master it to what was possible on that, never mind learning the extra stuff a fiver would entail. That way I saved myself £Loads which I spent a bit on doing the Gary Willis bass course, and the rest on hookers'n'coke.

[cetera]

I bought a five once..... then calculated I'd spent the £500 on £100 per extra low note, of which I would barely ever even use the 1st £200 worth in 95% of what I play. Didn't seem like a worthwhile investment so returned it. Bought a 2nd hand Digitech Drop and tuned one of my other basses down so I could use either when required.

[Dan Dare]

1 hour ago, BigRedX said:

And it would be equally valid to say that a lot of people who try a 5-string bass and then go back to playing 4-string basses do so because they haven't spent enough time PRACTICING with the 5-string bass.

 

Ah, that's where I went wrong. I practiced, whereas  I should have PRACTICED. Thanks for the tip.

[ped]

1 hour ago, dave_bass5 said:

Basschat isn’t what it used to be 😔

I’m sure I can find some equivalent threads from 2008ish

[chris_b]

16 minutes ago, ped said:

I’m sure I can find some equivalent threads from 2008ish

 

Oh yes. . . . . . . . !

[Dad3353]

I'm a drummer; I also play (modestly...) guitar and bass. When I say 'play', I don't mean that I play 'songs' (although I have done in the past, in bands...); I mean that I play whatever I'm 'thinking', or 'hearing in my head', much of which is chordal. I find a six-string very useful for bringing out the upper chord extensions (9th, 11th, 13th...), in similar fashion to guitar. I play most often a four-string, but my sixer comes out often enough, and the 'C' string gets used maybe more still than the low 'B'. It all depends on what one wants to hear, really; I like to hear full chord tones when playing solo bass, in chord/melody style (not the same as fitting in to a typical pop/rock band riff...). Horses for courses..? 

[EssentialTension]

1 hour ago, ped said:

I’m sure I can find some equivalent threads from 2008ish

 

 And any and every year since?

[SumOne]

 

Top 5 Bass arguments:

 

1. 4 vs 5
2. Plectrum vs Fingers
3. Tonewood
4. Compressors
5. Solid foundation vs technical noodling