Why do a lot of Country Bass Players play 5-Strings?

The only reasons to play a 5 string over a 4 string in any style of music is to get notes lower than low E and to be able to have more range within one fretting hand position.

Well, either that or they own multiple basses and prefer the sound or feel of their 5 string for the style of music that they're playing.

Five strings are used on a lot of modern country albums. Most of the live players in country are hired guns. If you want to play the part on the album, you gotta play a 5.
I never owned one until I moved to Nashville. I was offered a gig, and the FIRST QUESTION was "do you have a five string"? I said, "of course!" and bought one that week.

bassist4dalord said:

After seeing quite a few country music videos, I have seen that a lot of them play 5ers. Nothing against it, I just don't understand. Is it JUST for the thump of fretting the open E on the B? Or perhaps do they go lower than an E? Talk amongst yourselves!

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Not a country bassist, but I'll add something to what the poster above said (which made sense in itself)- the country bassist plays what he or she feels the music calls for just as bassists in any other genre would. I'd assume that they do occasionally go below E. What you're hearing and seeing is simply a matter of bassists hearing and using options they didn't have before. To even ask the question of "why?" assumes that they are doing something that isn't necessary, or, worst case, something they shouldn't be doing. Neither of those is a call anyone can make for another musician without paying him.

The concept of low E as the standard for electric bassist was formed by the early instruments. There were no fivers and few rigs that could make them heard clearly. Composers and musicians worked with what they had at the time, and as a result, we don't have a lot of country (or anything else) tunes with bass below E. again, musicians play what they think fits the song. What fits in some cases is a fiver, apparently.

Dude singers with lower vocal ranges.........

ALOT of modern country goes below E. I play in a country/classic rock cover band, and need to detune for Keith Urban, Dierks Bently, Jason Aldean, Brooks and Dunn, etc. I use the Hipshot D-tuner, because I prefer using my Stingray 4 over my 6-string Ibanez, but my wish list bass is a Sadowsky Metro 5.

A bunch of the guys use Sadowsky Jazz 5 strings. I think that's because there's a belief that you need to have what certain guys have. I think the low notes are used to make the music sound more powerful in a style that just isn't very powerful by nature.

I live in Nashville and work in the television industry, so I have been able to see a lot of these guys in action. The 5-string really started to gain traction here during the early 90s. I think there are several reasons:

1. A very influential country producer(and record company chief) who was all over the charts in the 90s used 5-string players on many of his records. When that became "the sound", many other producers adopted the 5 in order to sound more like said producer.

2. More "lush" arrangements in country music have resulted in greater than ever numbers of keyboard and orchestral parts in the recordings. The 5-strings are just another tool allowing the country bassist to stake out his "space" in the record.

3. It is most commonplace for Nashville songwriters to "drop-tune" their guitars. D is the most commonly used tuning, but C is not uncommon. This results in lots of songs being written in these keys. While some artists will require transposition, many will sing it in the key as written, making it perfect territory for the 5-string. For many, many years, country was A and E-centric, but not so much anymore.

Whenever I go to a country awards show, the band risers are loaded with almost 100% 5-string basses. The lineup usually includes Sadowskys, StingRays, Fenders, and the occasional G&L. I would say that the 'Ray is probably the current "king of the hill" in this market.

If you looked back 30 years, the same scene would have probably been 75% split-coil P-bass/25% single-coil P-bass.

I play some country-tinged tunes here and there with a four-string and I always find myself wishing I could drop to a low D (so dropping down a fourth instead of doing the same ol' I-V thing). It seems D is a lot more common now so that makes sense.

I should just suck it up and take my five string to those kinds of gigs but I hate the idea of dragging another bass just for two songs out of a 90-minute set.

Jimtoonz said:

1. A very influential country producer(and record company chief) who was all over the charts in the 90s used 5-string players on many of his records. When that became "the sound", many other producers adopted the 5 in order to sound more like said producer.

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That would be my guess...copying "the sound".

Keith Urban, Dierks Bently

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Keith Urban's bass guy uses Gibson basses and Dierks Bently bass man uses mainly four string Jazz Basses...

Alan Jackson's Bass player uses a '59 P-Bass most of the time.
Miranda Lambert--Uses Four String.
Kevin Fowler- Four String Jazz..
The Rascal Flatt's guy--Jazz and P-Basses--four string.

There are lots of Fives in Country, but there is still some guys using four string.. Not a big deal either way as long as the bottom doesn't fall out I don't care what's being used.

I use a four too, but I drop tune when I play "Every Mile a Memory" by Dierks and
" I Told You So" "Who Wouldn't Want to Be Me" & "Stupid Boy"
by Keith.

Those songs go below E.

I don't mind the alternate tuning, as the bass line is not labor-intensive, but a five would make things easier.

For the guys that don't like country music might like this

Michael Rhodes content:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oeJHnkUKg_M&feature=related

StreamerDavid said:

I think that's because there's a belief that you need to have what certain guys have.

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That could be said about a lot the products talked about on this site!

when you're playing root-five in G, you can drop down to the low D.

hypothetically you could string a 4-string B-E-A-D, maybe that's what a lot of current 4-string country players do?

FenderHotRod said:

For the guys that don't like country music might like this

Michael Rhodes content:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=oeJHnkUKg_M&feature=related

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man, Brent is one bad mofo!! I have wanted one of his Valley Arts BM sig tele's for a while, but now I really want one!... oh yeah Rhodes is killing it too!

envika said:

hypothetically you could string a 4-string B-E-A-D, maybe that's what a lot of current 4-string country players do?

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FME (I have been playing in a New Country parody band since about 1990... opening for many a New Country headliner. You name them, we've probably opened for them)-
They're playing 5s, not BEADs...most are of the boutique-variety, too. Bass Player mag once upon a time did an article on a few of Nashville's best known studio bassists (Glenn Worf, Michael Rhodes, Mike Chapman, David Hungate, etc)...all are using some pretty high end stuff.
Every so often, someone will pop up using a Fender 4-string...my feeling is that they have been part of that performer's road band for a while.

For a couple of seasons, I did re-string a bass to BEAD...with our set list, it was to the point where I wasn't even using the "G"-string & so a BEAD bass was used for that gig (FWIW, I have had 2 5s...didn't like either one & sold them both).

FenderHotRod said:

The Rascal Flatt's guy--Jazz and P-Basses--four string.D

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I like what this guy does, even on the slower songs he makes you listen.