5 string bass and Country music

[sylvanbass]

As a Nashville dude for about 25 years, I take a 5 string if doing cover lower broadway stuff. Its easier to mentally transcribe some songs for me without dropping dropping down to D on my 4string with a hipshot every other song. I'm old though and have killed lots of brain cells so I'm probably just lazy.

 

[pbass2]

Interesting thread. I just joined a country band that just got signed to a label. We do out law country. I have never found the need to bring out a five string out. But, I have been thinking about this lately.

When I think of Outlaw Country, I think pretty classic, even a bit retro, i.e the "Fender Bass" sound. Flats with fingers or a pick and some foam FTW.

 

[Pings Bass]

Not country, but we used to do "Mack the Knife" which modulates a half-step each verse. I'm passable and more of a pattern player so the 5 string comes in really handy.

Riis

Yeah, being able to transpose without thinking is critical for me; I can't think that fast anymore! But if you start playing a standard I know in a different key, I can usually find it pretty quickly, and more easily on a 5-string.

 

[MLC_BassPlayer]

BEAD or a 5 string for sure. Those 5 low notes are heavily utilized in the genre.

After seven plus years in a modern country band, that quote pretty much sums it up...

 

[fhm555]

A couple of nights back our local PBS channel was having a fundraiser(ugh) and part of that was a concert for the 50th anniversary of Dolly Parton being accepted into the Grand Olde Opry. She sang several songs and had a number of guest artists. I typically try to focus on the bass players when I watch concerts on TV. There were at least 3 different bass players who performed with the different artists. Two of the bass players were playing 4 string basses rather than 5 string. One player was using a Fender Jazz, another was playing something that looked like an Ibanez, and the third player was so far from the camera that I couldn't really tell if he was using a 4 string or a 5 string.

I have a number of basses, and a few of them are 5 string, but I am primarily a 4 string player. I have no bias between the two, but I just have many more hours on the 4 strings, hence I am more comfortable there.

I have read a number of times that for new Country you really need a 5 string. That's why I found it interesting that at least two of the three players at that concert where playing 4 string basses. Some of the guest singers were what I would call "New Country" as opposed to much of what Dolly does. So am I correct in thinking that the "must have a 5er" for New Country is really just a personal choice for the player and not accepted as a hard rule. What do you think?

Thump on,

One_Dude

I was playing country when i got a Peavey Dyna fiver not long after they were first released. I got it second hand because the guy who bought it hated it and sold it dirt cheap. At that time fivers were not at all common so it stood out like a sore thumb. The first time I took it to an audition the BL saw it when I opened the case and said “you’re hired”. I guess he figured any bass player with an extra string must be really good. I was about average but good enough to actually get voted in by the rest of the band. Every bass player who saw it wanted to know about it and several begged to try it out. I played it for a while but eventually (stupidly) traded it for a nice old P bass. I stuck with four strings for a number of years but kept getting calls looking for a country bass player but they all wanted a fiver. I got me a nice low mileage Cirrus fiver but try as I might, i was just not feeling it, so i sent it back out into the world. I kept getting calls looking for a country player with a fiver so I started passing them on to folks I knew with five string basses.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

A couple of nights back our local PBS channel was having a fundraiser(ugh) and part of that was a concert for the 50th anniversary of Dolly Parton being accepted into the Grand Olde Opry. She sang several songs and had a number of guest artists. I typically try to focus on the bass players when I watch concerts on TV. There were at least 3 different bass players who performed with the different artists. Two of the bass players were playing 4 string basses rather than 5 string. One player was using a Fender Jazz, another was playing something that looked like an Ibanez, and the third player was so far from the camera that I couldn't really tell if he was using a 4 string or a 5 string.

I have a number of basses, and a few of them are 5 string, but I am primarily a 4 string player. I have no bias between the two, but I just have many more hours on the 4 strings, hence I am more comfortable there.

I have read a number of times that for new Country you really need a 5 string. That's why I found it interesting that at least two of the three players at that concert where playing 4 string basses. Some of the guest singers were what I would call "New Country" as opposed to much of what Dolly does. So am I correct in thinking that the "must have a 5er" for New Country is really just a personal choice for the player and not accepted as a hard rule. What do you think?

Thump on,

One_Dude

Depends on the song’s arrangement which is the best option. I think a 5er and getting more comfortable with it playing anything written after 1980, is a pretty good idea.

 

[QweziRider]

Common misconception.

Beat me to it.

 

[MikeBass]

I have a number of 4 strings, all with D-Tuners.
And some are tuned down a whole step, plus having a D-Tuner.

as someone else said, depends on what the charts say.

 

[NeckPickup]

Maybe it depends on whether sounding like the record is important to you. I seem to recall Keith Urban’s touring bassist using a 4 string (old P bass), even though the studio bassists played 5’s on some of those songs, and of course they killed it with the crowd. Playing live is more about putting on a good show with great energy, and only bass nerds like us might notice the bass line does not sound exactly like the record. Bottom line is if the band is connecting with the crowd, it’s highly unlikely the audience or people paying you will care how many strings you use.

 

[JRT64]

My thought is always, even if the tune “calls for” a low B, you can always play those notes an octave higher. Bassists have gotten by past 200 years with only 4 strings, I don’t see why it shouldn’t be sufficient now.

Exactly. I played country/rock in a band that toured the Midwest circuit for around a year, and backed a local country singer for a while, after that. I played a Rickenbacker 4001v63, a Fender Jazz, and a Hofner Beatle Bass. Never had any issues. In fact, I used my old Ovation acoustic guitar much more then I would have a five stringer with the latter singer. Because we did quite a few acoustic coffeehouse shows where I didn't have to play bass. Before all that though, I had gotten sucked into the "I now need a 5 string to play country" thing, because when I visited Nashville, when New Country was really starting to get big, Lakland 5er's were all the rage. So I bought 2 Carvin fives. I wound up selling both of them. Mostly because I rarely felt the need to use the low B in most songs, wasn't asked to, and just felt more comfortable with a 4 string in general. I play only 4 string basses now. Nothing wrong with having a 5 though, if you really feel the need to utilize it.

 

[Marc valero]

I was playing country when i got a Peavey Dyna fiver not long after they were first released. I got it second hand because the guy who bought it hated it and sold it dirt cheap. At that time fivers were not at all common so it stood out like a sore thumb. The first time I took it to an audition the BL saw it when I opened the case and said “you’re hired”. I guess he figured any bass player with an extra string must be really good. I was about average but good enough to actually get voted in by the rest of the band. Every bass player who saw it wanted to know about it and several begged to try it out. I played it for a while but eventually (stupidly) traded it for a nice old P bass. I stuck with four strings for a number of years but kept getting calls looking for a country bass player but they all wanted a fiver. I got me a nice low mileage Cirrus fiver but try as I might, i was just not feeling it, so i sent it back out into the world. I kept getting calls looking for a country player with a fiver so I started passing them on to folks I knew with five string basses.

My first 5 string was a Peavey Dyna bass, but I didn't like the neck. Got a 4 string Stingray and then a 5 string Stingray a year later in 1990 and it has been 5 strings ever since with the Stingray 5 still my main bass.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

Maybe it depends on whether sounding like the record is important to you. I seem to recall Keith Urban’s touring bassist using a 4 string (old P bass), even though the studio bassists played 5’s on some of those songs, and of course they killed it with the crowd.

Depending on the album, Keith's studio guy was likely Jimmie Lee Sloas, who mostly plays down-tuned 4s in the studio, including a Mexican P. I spent a lot of time trying to understand how to get "that sound", then I realized he was using a downtuned P (not just D-Tuned E-string).

 

[selowitch]

If you do opt for a five-string bass, how you will tune it is the next most important question. B-E-A-D-G is the most common tuning, but for country I could see opting for E-A-D-G-B or E-A-D-G-C depending on the arrangements you intend to play.

 

[getBAK]

I've never really understood people's aversion to 5-strings. If you're comfortable with it, the Low B string is just a tool in the toolbox. When gigging I have played 5-string exclusively for years. In a 90 minute set, I hit an open B less than a 20 times, but being able to hit the 8th fret G and play straight across the fretboard is magic.
For classic country sound, I use my Yamaha BB435 (think P-Bass with everything done properly) and D'addario Tapewounds or Flats. It looks the part, sounds the part, and gives me all of the flexibility I could want.

 

[Wasnex]

I ran a country band from 1998 to some time in approximately 2000. I played a Yamaha TRB6P. We played everything from really old tunes like Ray Price's "Crazy Arms" to contemporary top 40 country hits. There were a few songs that I am pretty sure were originally played on a 6-string. These songs had fills that required a pretty big jump up to or from about the 15th fret on the C string.

Here is a couple of tunes I remember covering the required the low B.


Both songs hit #3 on BB's Hot Country

 

[JW56789]

It takes a bit of practice, but a few months of working at it, learning all the notes on the fingerboard, learning to incorporate the low B string as opposed to thinking of it as a thumb rest until you need to go below low E all are important to making the issue go away in your mind. The reason I say this is because your statement makes it seem like you don’t want a 5 string in your hands on a bandstand unless it’s really needed. One of the biggest pleasures to me about 5 string is I have all the notes on the 4 string above the 5th fret on the 5. For instance, 5th fret B string is the low E, 6th fret is the F you find on your E string at fret 1, 7th fret is the F# you find at fret 2 on the E string- this means that you can have your hand at the middle of the neck and be playing in the full traditional bass range, if you want. Learn to work with the 5 string and learn to think of the B string as useful, and you won’t worry about ‘needing a 5’- you might start wondering if you even want to take a 4. Personally I play 4, 5, and 6 on a bandstand and don’t think twice about it, just have to mentally roadmap what I have in my hands for a few seconds.

This, exactly.

Do NOT think of it as a 4-string with an 'extra string'. And moving your 'open E' up the neck on the B-string as GG mentions opens up lots and lots of possibilities, none the least of which is now they can call out 'weird' keys all night long and all you have to do is shift up or down the neck and you're there THAT fast.

Of course, it's different for each of us. I prefer to stay with a five. Others shift seamlessly between 4,5,6, upright, you name it. None is better than the other, it's just down to what works best FOR YOU.

New country? Hell, if I had a nickel for every time I had to play Ray Price's 'The Other Woman' in shuffle-walking D and just played it WITHOUT having to come back up for the D on a four-string was a great luxury !

 

[MNAirHead]

some dorks look at tuner count.... some acoustic folks buy heaaaavy strings and detune

My upright and pbass are both BEAD

you should see them freak out when I bring in a 7 string (can always ignore the strings -- can't invent them)

 

[chris_b]

". . . . even if the tune “calls for” a low B, you can always play those notes an octave higher. . . . . "

You can, and, depending on the bass line, playing an octave higher might work, but there are many situations where playing a low note works better. I was called in to finish an album for a friend after he'd fallen out with the original bass player. One song was in Eb, so I played the line starting from a low Eb and his jaw dropped. He was happy with the previous version where the 4 string guy had to start up an octave, but he immediately knew that the low Eb was better for the bass line and better for the song.

IMO that's why we should be playing the best lines, not trying to bend the song around the limitations of our equipment.

 

[chris_b]

As a Nashville dude for about 25 years, I take a 5 string if doing cover lower broadway stuff. Its easier to mentally transcribe some songs for me without dropping dropping down to D on my 4string with a hipshot every other song. I'm old though and have killed lots of brain cells so I'm probably just lazy.

I do that and could be described as lazy. Then again, I'd say we were experienced and show good judgement.

 

[jmlee]

I'm surprised that @BassCliff isn't in on this one. He's playing a 6-string I think for most of his country work.