Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
5 string bass players in "famous" bands?
- Thread starter ThingsAbove
- Start date
It's not Rock, but in the Country world I think Tully Kennedy's overall success, as well as his success with Jason Aldean, would qualify him as having "made it big" as a primarily 5 string player:
rockstarbassist
Inactive
Rick Savage
Tom Hamilton
Hugh McDonald
That's probably close to 200M units moved alone, my friend.
Def Leppard, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi. Ever heard of 'em? You also didn't state genres- just multi-Platinum artists. :wave:
Interesting thread. It does seem that 5 bangers pop-up more for weekend warriors, gospel, nu country and metal players. Seems that most pop/rock pros still rely on the 4. Doesn't seem so popular in pop/rock alt/indie type bands.
rockstarbassist
Inactive
Stick_Player
Inactive
- Nov 13, 2009
- 4,149
- 937
- Disclosures
- Endorser: Plants vs. Zombies Pea Shooters
Beatles, Anthology 1 - 8 x Platinum (RIAA, US Sales), Rest of the World at least another 2 x Platinum.
Track: Free as a Bird.
McCartney (not primarily a Double Bass player) also played Bill Black's Upright Bass on this track.
It's not Rock, but in the Country world I think Tully Kennedy's overall success, as well as his success with Jason Aldean, would qualify him as having "made it big" as a primarily 5 string player:
I was gonna say, you'd be hard pressed to find a touring country A-lister who's bass player WASN'T sporting a fiver. LOTs of MM Sterling 5's in touring country bands. Probably the one I see consistently NOT playing a 5 is Jerry Flowers (Keith Urban).
most of them guys listed ,I think play one once in a while ?. I remember almost all those guys playin 4's , they might pull one out on occasion , . So should the question read "which bassists play 5's , for their main bass ? " just askin , cuz alot of guys pull them out for a song or have a four that is strung and tuned low . (Billy Sheehan). but the rest of the set is their trusty 4 .
90% of the jam band scene's bassists play 5 or 6 string basses. TBH, I'm not all that concerned what famous people who own instruments play, but I do take note of what musicians are using... There are lots of the latter using 4s, 5s, and 6s... Who cares what some famous hack uses, really? Odds are he's not the bass player on the record anyway......
Stick_Player
Inactive
- Nov 13, 2009
- 4,149
- 937
- Disclosures
- Endorser: Plants vs. Zombies Pea Shooters
A ton of the guys doing the top 40 gigs are playing ERB these days. Not so much in pop rock but the R-n-B side is dominated by more than 4 strings.
I think he meant non-pedophile bassists, his "artistic photo shoot" BS was more transparent that Reynolds wrap.
And he's a monster bass player.
Not when he was a Beatle. He played a five in some recent concerts for some songs only. I think it was a Yammy.
Yeah my OP said "Primarily 5 string" players. I realize most pros play 4 or 5 but at the time I posted I couldn't "visualize" any pictures of big name (to me) bands with 5 string players.
I've been googleing all the names listed and looking for bio's on them and indeed there are more fiver's than I imagined. I had no idea Sir Paul played a 5 string through the 90's, of course now he's back to his Hofner so he still is probably considered to be "Primarily" a 4 string player.
I posted the question not so much because I care as I was curious. I play 4s, 5s and even an 8 string bass so I'm certainly not biased against basses with more than 4 strings. Just curious because I don't see them often in the bands that have gone big that are on MY radar. Admittedly my radar is in a narrow range.
Some folks seem to have assumed the thread was an attack on 5 string players but that certainly wasn't intended.
