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4 String vs 5 String ?
- Thread starter Infa Red
- Start date
You can't really go "wrong" either way. But please don't use the "small hands" excuse. I've seen Victor Wooten and Steve Bailey do AMAZING things on 5 string, 6 string, and even upright basses. They both have really small hands. I held my hand up to Victor's once and my fingers are almost a full INCH longer than his. That pretty much throws the smalls hands thing right out the window.
All that being said, go with what you are most comfortable with as long as it gets the job done. Play as MANY basses as you can get your hands on. Good luck.
All that being said, go with what you are most comfortable with as long as it gets the job done. Play as MANY basses as you can get your hands on. Good luck.
- Feb 27, 2005
- 3,218
- 125
- Disclosures
- Full disclosure, I'm a certified Fender technician working in a music store that carries Fender, Yamaha, and Ibanez products among others.
Play what's comfortable and sounds good to you. Four strings is the current standard, but I can see in about ten years where it won't be anymore, and to get work you'll have to be able to navigate on 5.
As someone who jumps between a four string and a seven string regularly, I'd advise ignoring the number of strings, and just playing the bass you like. Learn it well; if you need to add strings later, or learn to play without them, it'll be easy if you learned your neck well.
Like bassbenj said, let the music pick the bass, not the other way around. Just find one that fits right in your hands and sounds good on your ears; that's the one that you'll practice with. Never mind the number of strings, all that comes later.
Having said all that, I'd check into the BTB series from Ibanez if I were you; the fivers are spaced like four-bangers, and the neck is nice and comfortable. The higher-end of the series sounds great right out of the box, too.
As someone who jumps between a four string and a seven string regularly, I'd advise ignoring the number of strings, and just playing the bass you like. Learn it well; if you need to add strings later, or learn to play without them, it'll be easy if you learned your neck well.
Like bassbenj said, let the music pick the bass, not the other way around. Just find one that fits right in your hands and sounds good on your ears; that's the one that you'll practice with. Never mind the number of strings, all that comes later.
Having said all that, I'd check into the BTB series from Ibanez if I were you; the fivers are spaced like four-bangers, and the neck is nice and comfortable. The higher-end of the series sounds great right out of the box, too.
The thing I am really sensitive to is not so much the overall width and depth of the neck but the distance between the strings. I have a noticably harder time playing on a 4 string bass with 1 5/8" or worse a 1 3/4" neck width than I do on a 5 string bass with narrower spacing but ultimately a wider and deeper neck. It's odd because for years I felt good on my old G&L basses with 1 5/8" necks and not-too-deep but not-too-shallow depths. Since I got an EBMM SR5, which I thought would pose problems due to the ultimate neck size, the G&Ls are harder to play on. Short fingers I guess.
Just another view, and I don't know if it's come up because the thread's gone on this long, but think about the versatility in the studio, since that's what you seem to be aiming at.
Currently, in the band I play in, we tend to change keys of the songs we learn due to the vocalist's range. I don't have to "retune" or learn any new fingerings, or tune down the E string to play in a lower "D" key, just because the singer needs it in that key. It's all RIGHT THERE! Just call the tune, call the key and I'm ready to go. Period.
Most of us started on 4 strings because back in the day, 5 strings did not exist. I started playing bass in the early 80s and even the first few years 5 strings did exist, most of us didnt know what they were for!
I got my first 5 string around 1997. It was a Korean Ibanez copy with P/J config. For a cheapie it sounded great. It took me about a month to initially reposition the songs I was playing with my band at the time and another year before it seemed natural and I was organically thinking from the B string.
Slapping is really hard on a 5. I finally started to get it last year-personally, I have to divide the 5 into two different 4 string basses in my head in order to slap- a EADG and a BEAD. Slapping is more organic on a 4 string.
If I had it to do all over again as a novice id start on the 5 right away! Transitioning from a 4 to a 5 was traumatic and the end of the innocence-there was really no going back. The 5 is a much better tool for real bass playing-it makes the job so much easier and more fulfilling all around.
Initial 5 string theory was wrong by the way-it was created by 4 string players who considered the B string a novelty addendum- most early 5 string experimenters suggested thinking from a 4 string perspective and treating the B as something to dip down to only when necessary. The only reason for this was at the time, a B string was a foreign body and we treated it as something alien.
With decent entry level 5's starting at $300.00 I'd say start on a 5 and if it really sucks trade it in for a decent 4. I love my Cirrus BXP 5 and practically stole it from GC for $194.00 cause it was missing a couple of knobs!
I got my first 5 string around 1997. It was a Korean Ibanez copy with P/J config. For a cheapie it sounded great. It took me about a month to initially reposition the songs I was playing with my band at the time and another year before it seemed natural and I was organically thinking from the B string.
Slapping is really hard on a 5. I finally started to get it last year-personally, I have to divide the 5 into two different 4 string basses in my head in order to slap- a EADG and a BEAD. Slapping is more organic on a 4 string.
If I had it to do all over again as a novice id start on the 5 right away! Transitioning from a 4 to a 5 was traumatic and the end of the innocence-there was really no going back. The 5 is a much better tool for real bass playing-it makes the job so much easier and more fulfilling all around.
Initial 5 string theory was wrong by the way-it was created by 4 string players who considered the B string a novelty addendum- most early 5 string experimenters suggested thinking from a 4 string perspective and treating the B as something to dip down to only when necessary. The only reason for this was at the time, a B string was a foreign body and we treated it as something alien.
With decent entry level 5's starting at $300.00 I'd say start on a 5 and if it really sucks trade it in for a decent 4. I love my Cirrus BXP 5 and practically stole it from GC for $194.00 cause it was missing a couple of knobs!
Very true. 5 string was not a realistic option when I started back in the 70's. But when I switched to 5 in 2000, I wish I'd done so at least 10 years earlier. When beginners ask my opinion, I encourage them to start on five. If I were starting now, I am certain I would do the same... assuming I did proper TB research as the OP is doing!
