I'm Pulling My Hair Out !

[Rick in Dixie]

I've been playing for 35 years, multiple tours and sessions, but I've been playing nothing but a 4 string, after all this time I decide to go out and buy a 5 string bass, I've had it for about 2 weeks now and I'm still stumbling like a drunken mule. I was almost born playing and it has always been like a second nature with very little thought input to play, why is 1 extra string throwing my senses off so bad ? I'm almost ready to sell it before it ruins my feel all together.

[waynobass]

Maybe take a couple lessons from a 5-string expert?

[J. Crawford]

Originally Posted by Rick in Dixie

I've been playing for 35 years, multiple tours and sessions, but I've been playing nothing but a 4 string, after all this time I decide to go out and buy a 5 string bass, I've had it for about 2 weeks now and I'm still stumbling like a drunken mule. I was almost born playing and it has always been like a second nature with very little thought input to play, why is 1 extra string throwing my senses off so bad ? I'm almost ready to sell it before it ruins my feel all together.

35 years is a long time to expect it all to change in 2 weeks! Give it time my friend.

[Mike Shevlin]

When I started with a five banger, I described it as worse than having gum on my shoe. I started liking the fifth string when I started grabbing those lower notes while playing blues tunes. Eventually I looked forward to grabbing those low notes & then I was hooked. Now I can't play a four string to save my life.

[ChasBass]

Try a black nylon tapewound for your low B and use it as a training wheel.

[ryco]

It is really weird having that extra string in there at first, and having the "A" be the middle string.

What helped me get used to playing a five string was to play it exclusively until it was comfortable and seemed normal.

Give it time! I was playing strictly 4 strings as long as you. Now going back & forth to a four is nothing at all.
Have fun! Those low notes are killer! (*unless yer extra string is strung high - then I can't help you at all! )

[Hawaii Islander]

I like playing a 4 string with my thumb anchored on the pickup or the edge of the fretboard depending on where and what I'm playing. When I got my P-bass V, I found that I could not keep my thumb anchored for all 5 strings. I had to shift my thumb to the B string when playing the G string. That was the hardest to get used to. Left hand fingering seemed much easier to adjust to.

[Albatross]

i had the same problem at first
but a friend gave me a little hint
he said don't think of it as a 5 string but think of it as a 4 with a bonus string....i thought that sounded goofy until i thought about it.
plus i was overplaying the crapola out of the B.

[LiF]

After 20 years of playing a 4 I switched to a 5. I don't remember it being that difficult. Give it time. I'm sure you will be fine. I wouldn't want to play a 4 now.

[progrmr]

shoot man don't give it up - its a challenge! If it was easy everyone would do it! Seriously if you've been playing that long, you CAN do this - take your time, don't have unrealistic expectations and work at it one day at a time. You'll get there! And you'll be glad you did it!

G/L!

[Steve]

It took me two or three months of playing 5 nights a week to get really comfortable on a 5er but, I'm a neck looker. It seems to me that people that aren't have a much easier time of it.

[Nalte]

Originally Posted by Hawaii Islander

I like playing a 4 string with my thumb anchored on the pickup or the edge of the fretboard depending on where and what I'm playing. When I got my P-bass V, I found that I could not keep my thumb anchored for all 5 strings. I had to shift my thumb to the B string when playing the G string. That was the hardest to get used to.

The thumb shifting is definitely hardest to adjust to, but I don't rest it on the B string like it was a pickup. I lay my thumb over top of all the strings I'm not playing to mute them. Keeps things sounding clean.

[voodoobassist]

Same prob for me at first,...25 + years of 4 bangers. The "extra" string threw me at first too. I wound up locking my 4 banger in the closet and swore to only play the 5 until it seemed natural. It took about a month, and then,....voila!!!! Since the transistion, 5's, 6'ers and even one 7 string! After 15 or so years of that, I'm finally thinking about owning a 4 banger again,...just for the fun of it. Hang in there, it'll come to you fairly soon,...and you'll love it!!!

[Jazzdogg]

Originally Posted by Rick in Dixie

I've been playing for 35 years, multiple tours and sessions, but I've been playing nothing but a 4 string, after all this time I decide to go out and buy a 5 string bass, I've had it for about 2 weeks now and I'm still stumbling like a drunken mule. I was almost born playing and it has always been like a second nature with very little thought input to play, why is 1 extra string throwing my senses off so bad ? I'm almost ready to sell it before it ruins my feel all together.

For my first 35 years, my only electric bass was a four string fretless. When I decided to buy a fretted fiver, it was an adjustment - relying on muscle memory kept producing notes that were a perfect fourth lower than intended. Going back to basics - playing deliberately, and sight reading with a metronome - really helped. Singing the note names while playing slowly helped me play a G on the E string instead of letting ingrained muscle memory generate a D on the B string by mistake.

Give yourself the gifts of patience and forgiveness.

[arginator]

What are you playing? Perhaps a different 5 string would suit you better. When I switched I tried several, and most of them felt like playing a 2x4. But I eventually found the one I'm comfortable with, and the transition was pretty quick. And I played a 4 string for 25 years.