I just ran into some 6 string bashing on FB...

[MNAirHead]

Originally Posted by Raven nevermore

First time i brought my six string to a rehearsal my drummer asked why i needed six strings and i simply said "options" .

I always say "one for every inch" ..... Steel guitar guys get a kick out of it

[NecroticImbecil]

Everyone's entitled to his opinion, no matter how wrong it is. Learned long ago not to argue with wrongheaded people, just a waste of my time. So is complaining about them. I just bask in my own smug sense of superiority and let it slide with a chuckle. Give it a shot. You can even try it here, with certain threads.

[Avezzano]

The X symbolizes The Infinite Level of the Deepest Inner Growth; and the continuous level of Growth; and wanting to Grow.

No, I'll kick him like a football over a roof top.

I guess... the second has not been written by the same dude, uh?!

Everyone's entitled to his opinion, no matter how wrong it is. Learned long ago not to argue with wrongheaded people, just a waste of my time. So is complaining about them. I just bask in my own smug sense of superiority and let it slide with a chuckle.

Agree 95%; the only thing I don't really feel comfortable with is the "sense of superiority" part: everyone is on his own "search", "growth", "hunt for wisdom" (call it as you want) and along the way he is at a certain given point of his own overall maturity. That does not necessarily mean inferiority: we are all equal creatures of somebody up there... I guess! So, the conclusion is right, "let it slide": the moment you feel touched by a stupid remark it means you are not sure of what you experienced already...

You know, we have a proverb here: "don't argue with a stupid, the difference could not be noted!"

[dukeorock]

I can honestly say, no one has ever talked directly to me about this one way or the other...there are foolish ideas that more strings equals better musician, and there are 4 string snobs as well...the chicks in the front don't really care one way or the other

[TigerInATrance]

This evening I got an email and a phone call from a guy with a decent band who is looking for a bass player. They have some gigs as early as this weekend and they have been through just about all the available bass players in the area. So after telling the guy that I could probably do it, at least this weekend and we'll see how it goes, he asks me what kind of equipment I've got. So I tell him about my Ampeg setup and all is well. He then calls me back ten minutes later nearly shouting and all worked up that I play a fiver. And not only that, but an active fiver. The same one I used in the sound clips that I posted on the Internet where he found me. So he says, that will never fit in with what we do. Can you get a Fender 4 string? So I told him that I could,but that I've never played a four string and I don't think that a few days would be enough to get the hang of it, so I'd just play the 5. So instead of filling the slot and making money this weekend, he's decided to cancel the gigs and keep looking for someone to play bass...

So it seems this thread is rather topical in my little world...

I don't understand what's wrong with some people...

[Byron92]

I wish I could play a 5 banger, my hands are tiny, like 4th grade girl hands tiny, if i go higher than the 12th fret on my bass on the E string, I can barely manage to use 3 fingers

/complain

[Avezzano]

So instead of filling the slot and making money this weekend, he's decided to cancel the gigs and keep looking for someone to play bass...

This is a clear indicator of a narrow minded guy. You are lucky NOT having been involved with such a guy, in the end, I guess....

[Avezzano]

I wish I could play a 5 banger, my hands are tiny

my hands are tiny, too but I play my fivers with no issues. And even the two 35" scale Skylines 55-02 (fretted and fretless) with a standard 19 mm spacing. No issues. Just try: you'll be surprised.

[pklima]

Originally Posted by TigerInATrance

So instead of filling the slot and making money this weekend, he's decided to cancel the gigs and keep looking for someone to play bass...

Annoying, but still kinda funny. Out of curiosity, what genre does this guy play?

[capnsandwich]

Originally Posted by TigerInATrance

This evening I got an email and a phone call from a guy with a decent band who is looking for a bass player. They have some gigs as early as this weekend and they have been through just about all the available bass players in the area. So after telling the guy that I could probably do it, at least this weekend and we'll see how it goes, he asks me what kind of equipment I've got. So I tell him about my Ampeg setup and all is well. He then calls me back ten minutes later nearly shouting and all worked up that I play a fiver. And not only that, but an active fiver. The same one I used in the sound clips that I posted on the Internet where he found me. So he says, that will never fit in with what we do. Can you get a Fender 4 string? So I told him that I could,but that I've never played a four string and I don't think that a few days would be enough to get the hang of it, so I'd just play the 5. So instead of filling the slot and making money this weekend, he's decided to cancel the gigs and keep looking for someone to play bass...

So it seems this thread is rather topical in my little world...

I don't understand what's wrong with some people...

This is probably the reason he's been through every bass player in your region. Douches don't deserve good bassists. They deserve to keep looking and never find one.

There seems to be some sort of anti-anything over 4 strings movement going on within the 30 and under crowd in local bands here in the last 5 or so years. It's kind of like everyone wants their bassists to fit the criteria of a bassist in the late 60's/early 70's era with their big Ampegs and 4 string Fenders. There's also an arrogance to them towards anyone who doesn't fit that criteria. I just can't get over the fact that when it comes to making music, as long as you do your job and play your parts correctly, who cares what you use to do it.

[HuntYouDown]

Originally Posted by spade2you

If you think that's bad, spend a little time in a guitar forum. Guys that barely know the guitar are usually "experts" on bass. I didn't last too long before getting banned. Those guitarists can sure dish it, but can't take it.

Yeah, well I know the feeling, I amquite the opposite. i have played guitar for 20+ years. Finally got pretty good at it. I have gone in and out of that mindset. Oh, bass is too easy or blah, blah. Or guitarists are way cooler blah, blah because they got all those strings and they are smarter. Well, to tell you the truth, when I played guitar you know what Ilistened to...the bass, of course because it was the root note. But, I was never good, in a group setting at locking in the finale of songs. You know when then drums and bass just click to end it. In other words, my timing wasn't as good because I wasn't locked into the drums like a bassist. But, you know, I got sick of the outrageous prices, people spend on guitar crap, a new pedal, amp, guitar, to improve your fricking sound, blah, blah, the money is infinite with six string guitars. They don't just play, it's about the newest sound gadget. Plus, there are like 50 guitarists to those 1 bassists, probably. Also, most drummers I know, like bass players better than guitarists, of course. To me drummers are cool, just a skill I cannot do, but truly think they are awesome. Plus, the bass is a big manly instrument, where I need no books, etc really. I really think it's very lame to see like two or three guitarists on a stage and no bass player. ***? I am sure they sound really crappy. So, anyway, I have kind of gotten to know bass better. It is NOT an easy breeze, like I thought when I was a guitarist. Granted, notes are in same place, but, spacing is wider, strings bigger, use fingers not pick. But the main thing is the low tones, just getting the sound in you, it's a lot different than the high pitch of guitar.

[testing1two]

Originally Posted by capnsandwich

Douches don't deserve good bassists.

sig worthy

[Blue_Whistle88]

My experience has taught me that the sort of person who would be concerned with how many strings someone's instrument has is probably suffering from the same kind of insecurity that makes them concerned about the dimensions of other "instruments" as well.

I played 6-string basses for about two years (I now play 5's but may switch back later on), and the amount of flak I copped from other musicians (mainly guitarists) was actually one of the reasons why I stopped. Insecurity amongst musicians runs rife, but fortunately I had other reasons for stopping, including finding strings for the high C being an issue, finding a 6-string that felt comfortable but not flimsy (biggest reason of the lot), and wanting to "grow into" 5-strings a bit more (read "get better as a musician before changing the state of my gear").

[Martin89]

Aren't we friends on Facebook? Why did I not see this nonsense? I get some crap for my 5 every now and then jokingly but I can imagine you get a lot more flak for 6 strings.

[alaskaleftybass]

Facebook is a dying medium anyway. It's too easy for gray tshirt smellies to sit in their bedrooms slamming other people. Facebook is losing thousands each month because people are no longer interested in hearing if you're drunk, hungover, just woke up or bored. This is where the real discussion is anyway!

To be honest, I've been a 4 stringer all my life, but when no one's looking, I've been coveting an Ibanez 506 lol.....

Here's a bass a real man could take to gigs... the Bogdon....

4 or 6 strings, Bass rules, that's why there are only half of us compared to twice as many guitarists

[wes stephenson]

oh yea and piano players only need a 2 octave pianos/keyboards... drummers only need kick, snare and some hats blah blah blah.

[JAUQO III-X]

Originally Posted by Avezzano

I guess... the second has not been written by the same dude, uh?!

You could have posted where you got that from so that readers would have a better understanding of what you're trying to point out.

[capnsandwich]

Originally Posted by Martin89

Aren't we friends on Facebook? Why did I not see this nonsense? I get some crap for my 5 every now and then jokingly but I can imagine you get a lot more flak for 6 strings.

Yeah, we are, but the post was posted in a local bass player's group that has mostly bassists from the Columbus, Ohio area. I belong to 3 or 4 bass groups on FB. I don't join them. People mostly just add me without me being asked. I'm cool with it just as long as crap like this doesn't keep happening.

[joe vegas]

absolutely correct.. and while we're at it, let's start off every piano player with a 2-octave keyboard for the first 5 years of their studies, so they can learn to "lay it down". absolutely.
yeah, forget about all that 400 years of western keyboard music, we wanna get those "BIG FAT BLUES RIFFS up in ya, boy"...
having an extra octaves' range always seems to pose a dark, "foreign" threat to the "4-banger way of life", and this dinosaur argument keeps surfacing like a cold sore.

[Randyt]

Bashing 6 strings...The Fools!!!!!