5 string vs 4 string

[bfc]

Just get a bass that you like the range of. If you would use a low B string, get it. If not, then you don't need a 5--you need a 4 string.

 

[Jensby design]

Just get a bass that you like the range of. If you would use a low B string, get it. If not, then you don't need a 5--you need a 4 string.

For me a 6-string tuned F#BEADG does the trick you can't get to many low tones

 

[RBrownBass]

Maybe we should all be starting on single-course 12 strings?

Playing a 5-string and upwards requires a lot of advanced considerations in terms of technique. A beginner should be concentrating on gaining a solid grounding in technique. In most cases a 4 string will be much more ergonomic in terms of developing good left and right hand technique than a 5 string with wider necks, smaller string spacing and more strings to ring out and have to concentrate on muting.

Aside from that understanding the basic role of your instrument should come before you start using extended range, be it higher or lower register. It will make for a more sound foundation of your playing in general and will also make for more effective use of an extended range once you do apply it.

In regard to your reply about "needs", well it is definitely a need if you are going to play something in a higher or lower register to have those strings available to you. Those needs, in my opinion occur when you have a good solid foundation in your playing, though.

I apologize for not getting back to this thread any sooner than now, and again for not reading thru the rest of it, but this needed to be addressed.

The flaw in this post is that it dwells too much on history and accepts the four banger as the standard. That causes the poster to consider five and six strings as instruments to graduate to or step up to when in fact they are simply basses.

Mutedeity, once you stop seeing the sixer as "extended range" or extended whatever, it becomes simply a bass, and frees you from having to even wonder if you "need" it, any more than you'd wonder if your piano "needs" 88 keys (since you obviously don't use all 88 of 'em on any one gig).

I hope this clears everything up.

Tell your students to pick up whatever bass they think they'll need for the rest of their lives and learn to play it no matter how difficult it seems.