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Four bangers on the decline?

Kwesi

Kwesi

Sep 19, 2007
8,150
161
35
USA; Mitchellville, Maryland
#1
Seems like it to me. I can't say if they'll ever go "extinct" but I don't see anyone playing them around where I live. And beyond that it seems like most custom builders are building many more fives than fours. What say you, TB?

EDIT: I should have edited this sooner but what I mean to say is that I've seen a pretty clear increase in the number of 5s around in general and I was wondering if others had noticed the same trend.
 
#4
four_string_masters.jpg
 
#5
Kwesi, you have been spending too much time with the highend crowd. Go to a GC, and you will see a bunch of four strings. Check out a Sam Ash or some other mass retailer, and you will still see a preponderance of four string basses.
 
#13
I only bring what I need. If I can cover all the material with a 4 and not have to do a bunch of stuff for the band below E, I'll just bring my 4 banger. I see guys playing just the 4 middle strings on a 6 string and it makes me smirk.
 
#14
I doubt it. At the end of the day there's nobody to do for five-strings what say, Jaco did for the fretless. Maybe that day will come? And the long list of bassists of all time (as shown in the picture above ;-) is predominately 4-string guys. I think if people are honest then 90% of the desire for a 5 or 6 or 7-string+ bass is kind of a macho, showing off thing as if music is a contest. I heard an anecdote of Jaco about this and he summed it up "you can't play 4, you don't need more!"

I mean why is it that you see the top bassists (the likes of Vic Wooten, Marcus Miller, etc) consistently with 4-strings?

PS - I just saw Anthony Jackson with Mike Stern at Yoshi's in San Fran a few months back - and I think he could have done the whole gig on a 4-string rather than his 6-string Fodera!
 
#15
After years of a 5 I'm liking 4 strings. I find I don't really miss the B string much at all. One time in the last dozen gigs maybe I thought it would have been nice for an alternate position, but not for a lower than E note.
 
#18
I haven't seen a 5-string played in a club yet. As far as I'm concerned the 4-string bass owns the market, and basses with other string configurations are rare exceptions to the rule. 1 in 10 would be an extremely generous estimate.

I suppose they're a bit more common in some types of music - but evidently not music that I follow.
 
#19
Hmm. The past 5 national level shows I've played (where I'm sharing the bill with other acts out of my home state), every bass player has had a 4 string. Although I do play what many here would consider "oldies" and roots music, I only see 4 stringers. Even the locals are only using 4 bangers where I live. Sometimes there's a 5 string floating around the clubs downtown with the modern rock or reggae players. I would say 90% of what I see out there while on the road and back home is 4's.
 

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