5 string just to anchor your thumb?

[micguy]

I assume you are someone who actually uses the B string for playing and not just a thumb rest.

Absolutely - I play in pretty much every key; the flexibilty that the B string adds is very useful in what I do.

 

[Matty Koff]

I assume you are someone who actually uses the B string for playing and not just a thumb rest.

Absolutely - I play in pretty much every key; the flexibilty that the B string adds is very useful in what I do.

'

While I don't remember taking too long with getting used to note placement with a B string back when it was on a 7 string guitar... it did take me several months when I got my first 5 string bass to get used to muting with an extra string.

And that's not a knock on anybody.. some things have taken me way longer to grasp.

What did stand out to me more though is scale/mode patterns. For some reason it made it easier to visualize a concept like in C Major, C is the 5th of F Lydian making F the 4th of C major, even though I pretty much already knew it went CDEFGAB. Something about working through those modes from one position just kind of offered a perspective that kind of put things a bit more in place for me.

 

[Jazz Ad]

Well there's a design idea I thought about several times but never put to the test.
I'd use a 5 string bridge on a 4 string bass. The 5th string wouls only extend to the end of the body with either an anchor there or a wooden ramp to support it.
This string stub would then be used as a thumbrest or top of a ramp. It would give a stop to the fingers from the E string and being grounded, would allow silent operation.
I think it would be an elegant and distinctive solution.

 

[A9X]

^^ Why not just use a thumbrest? Simpler, cheaper and more elegant.

 

[Jazz Ad]

I don't see much elegance in a stock thumbrest. Plus if I want my fingers to have a place to stop when plucking, a string is ideal.

 

[RandalPinkFloyd]

Wrong reason to get a 5st which will be heavier, and cost more in strings.
You get a 5st because you hear parts that a 4 can't do.

I play a 5 string because I like the string spacing and if I ever need the B, it's there.