I like a 5 so that I can play in a higher position on the neck. The 5th fret down is a fun place to be.
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any other girls besides me?
- Thread starter BassPlayer95
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I like a 5 so that I can play in a higher position on the neck. The 5th fret down is a fun place to be.
I am a girl. I found a short scale 5'er at GC today actually. I'm not sure about it yet. I might return it if the B is still floppy after I put heavy strings on it.
I played some Ibanez ones too. Felt good too but cost more.
I played some Ibanez ones too. Felt good too but cost more.
I'm a cat, but most humans think I'm female. 
Been playing bass 35 years. Even though I am only 5'4", my hands are very stretched out and flexible. Currently playing a 5-string with 34.5 scale. It's about doing it, over and over and over, warming up, stretching, playing, pushing. But if something hurts, stop stop STOP. I had a fling with a "real job" that required a lot of typing and it wrecked my wrists for bass for a year; could only play short scale, with braces on and ibuprofen in. Quit that job nonsense, healed up, new band, back to bass.
Been playing bass 35 years. Even though I am only 5'4", my hands are very stretched out and flexible. Currently playing a 5-string with 34.5 scale. It's about doing it, over and over and over, warming up, stretching, playing, pushing. But if something hurts, stop stop STOP. I had a fling with a "real job" that required a lot of typing and it wrecked my wrists for bass for a year; could only play short scale, with braces on and ibuprofen in. Quit that job nonsense, healed up, new band, back to bass.Another girl here!! My 5 is an Ibanez SR with a nice slim neck that's very easy to play. My 4 is a Fender Jazz, but I've kind of gone in the other direction and now I mostly play a big fat double bass. Go figure.
lots of 5 stringers comes in different specs: neck shape, neck size, string spacing, etc. I'm sure you can find something that feels good for you. I got a pedulla pentabuzz...super thin neck and super easy to play. string spacing is 17.5. I also got a warwick starbass ii 5 string...specs say string spacing is 16.5. also got a smith with spacing 18, neck is fatter and spacing is more, but by far the easiest to play.
it does take a little getting used to when transitioning from 4 to 5...but not as bad as you think...i swore off 5 for 20 years...but i can never go back...I'd say go for a 5'ver.
PS...my favorite 5'ver is a stingray classic...give any of the above a try, I think you should find something in the mix you would like....
PPS...2 of my favorite bassists are female: meshell ndegeocello and tal wilkenfeld...girl bassists rock! yah!
k.
it does take a little getting used to when transitioning from 4 to 5...but not as bad as you think...i swore off 5 for 20 years...but i can never go back...I'd say go for a 5'ver.
PS...my favorite 5'ver is a stingray classic...give any of the above a try, I think you should find something in the mix you would like....
PPS...2 of my favorite bassists are female: meshell ndegeocello and tal wilkenfeld...girl bassists rock! yah!
k.
+1 on Ibanez SR series. Very narrow. Carvins are pretty narrow, too.
Also look at older 5s from the late 80s and early 90s. At that time, most 5s had very narrow string spacing. A used ESP or Guild Pilot could be very comfy for someone with small hands.
Either way, everyone's comments about proper technique and proper warm-up couldn't be more on the money. With practice, you'll be able to play even the widest 5, but you need to work your way into it slowly to avoid injury and build good technique.
Once you do that... the world is yours!
If in doubt, take a look at pictures of Anthony Jackson. He plays a mega-wide 6-string bass and he has little, stubby Vienna sausage fingers. It doesn't seem to be slowing him down any....
Also look at older 5s from the late 80s and early 90s. At that time, most 5s had very narrow string spacing. A used ESP or Guild Pilot could be very comfy for someone with small hands.
Either way, everyone's comments about proper technique and proper warm-up couldn't be more on the money. With practice, you'll be able to play even the widest 5, but you need to work your way into it slowly to avoid injury and build good technique.
Once you do that... the world is yours!
If in doubt, take a look at pictures of Anthony Jackson. He plays a mega-wide 6-string bass and he has little, stubby Vienna sausage fingers. It doesn't seem to be slowing him down any....
I tune some of my bass BEAD
don't know why, but I am just not too fond of my 5ers
Its not due to physical limitation either,
Koz I've been playing the URB since 14
I think unless you have child like hand
5 or even 6 strings would not pose significant physical hurdle
It would be more of a mental hurdle to navigation the bigger fretboard
don't know why, but I am just not too fond of my 5ers
Its not due to physical limitation either,
Koz I've been playing the URB since 14
I think unless you have child like hand
5 or even 6 strings would not pose significant physical hurdle
It would be more of a mental hurdle to navigation the bigger fretboard
Another +1 to the suggestion of checking out an Ibanez SR 5-string. The narrower spacing is one of the reasons I got rid of my SR535, the other being that it helped fund the Fender Pbass V I wanted.
Your hands will get used to it, your fingers/muscles just need to get used to stretching more. I had a similar situation when I ordered my 6'er from Chris Stambaugh, I ordered it with a 35" scale and 18.5mm spacing... nearly full Pbass 4-string spacing. That ain't a fretboard, that's a d*mn airport runway! lol That's not to say I have gigantic yeti hands or anything... I'm just an average guy but my hands are more comfortable with wider spaced basses.
My left hand had to get used to stretching a little more, but now I absolutely love that bass.
Don't get TOO hung up on the specs of a bass up front, within reason of course. A bass like my 6'er probably wouldn't work for you.
Just be aware and take things easy up front, like trkelley and Lo-E said. Stop and take a break if your hands start to hurt.
5sg.
Your hands will get used to it, your fingers/muscles just need to get used to stretching more. I had a similar situation when I ordered my 6'er from Chris Stambaugh, I ordered it with a 35" scale and 18.5mm spacing... nearly full Pbass 4-string spacing. That ain't a fretboard, that's a d*mn airport runway! lol That's not to say I have gigantic yeti hands or anything... I'm just an average guy but my hands are more comfortable with wider spaced basses.
My left hand had to get used to stretching a little more, but now I absolutely love that bass.Don't get TOO hung up on the specs of a bass up front, within reason of course. A bass like my 6'er probably wouldn't work for you.
Just be aware and take things easy up front, like trkelley and Lo-E said. Stop and take a break if your hands start to hurt.5sg.
I'm not a girl and even though I am an average sized guy my hands are not terribly comfortable on a fiver. To some extent you just have to get used to it, I suppose. If you play enough of them in stores you will hone in on the ones that feel most natural to you right out of the box. I would assume those will also be the ones that are easiest to adapt to.
Fender fives all (I think) have 19mm string spacings at the bridge and fairly wide necks. I find it difficult to finger the B string on most Fenders though my right hand feels at home on the string spacing which is the same as most fours use. I only tried it one time and my reaction to a given fiver can vary from day to day but oddly enough the Squier Active Deluxe V played much better for me. Don't know why but you should try one before you give up on Fenders if you find that the others don't work for you.
At the other extreme is the Peavey Millennium 5 AC BXP in a local shop that I have tried hard to love. I like everything else about it but the Peavey tech tells me the string spacing is only 15.9 mm. That makes it very easy to reach the B string. It makes my right hand feel like it is constantly "tripping" over strings that are just too close together at the bridge end for comfortable plucking. It may well be an ideal bass for those with smaller hands though so you definitely want to try one if other basses are too wide for you. I do not know if the other Peavey models use the same spacing or not.
In between those extremes and the most comfortable for me so far are the Ibanez SR fives at 16.5 mm and the Schecter Raiden series and Diamond P Custom 5 at 17 mm. I have played the SR305 and SR505 but I believe all the SR's are very similar in spacings and neck dimensions. They are about the best for me. The Schecters play very well too, they give me just a bit more trouble reaching the B. If I decide to buy a five it will most likely be a Schecter or Ibanez.
I tend to obsess over the fingering ease of a five string because I want one primarily to get more range from a single hand position so I plan to use the B string a lot. If you primarily want one to get the lower notes and will not be playing the B string a great deal then most of them play as well as a four on the top four strings and you may not need to worry about this as much as I do.
There are other options. Restringing with the bottom four strings of a five string set will give you BEAD as mentioned above. It will require refiling the nut so that the fatter strings fit, you may want to have a guitar tech do that for you. It gets you the low notes and if that is all you want it is a perfectly good way to go. A more extreme variant of this will give you all the range of a fiver from four strings. You use the BADG strings from a five string set (which still requires filing the E string slot on the nut) and tune the bass like a cello, CGDA. The strings are now tuned in fifths so all your fingering patterns will have to be relearned though you do at least know the note patterns for three of the strings. They're just in the wrong order! Obviously you don't quite get down to the B this way. You could modify the tuning to BGbDbAb to get there if you don't mind learning four new strings.
I did a search here on TB on "cello" and came up with a modest number of reports of TBers using the tuning. One mentioned that a female cellist friend of his was picking up the bass guitar too, using the CGDA tuning, and loving it. I even found some links to links to links to a small but growing community of double bass players who use this tuning. Evidently it was quite common before EADG became the norm though in that era there was no standard DB tuning, there were several common ones.
Personally, I am close to giving up on a fiver and buying a second four to tune CGDA. I'd keep my present bass EADG until I became comfortable on the "cello bass" and then I would convert it too. If I do buy a five then once I get comfortable on it I would probably convert my present bass to CGDA to see how they compare and decide which one to keep in the long run. That's my story today, it is very much a work in progress.
Good luck with your decision,
Ken
Fender fives all (I think) have 19mm string spacings at the bridge and fairly wide necks. I find it difficult to finger the B string on most Fenders though my right hand feels at home on the string spacing which is the same as most fours use. I only tried it one time and my reaction to a given fiver can vary from day to day but oddly enough the Squier Active Deluxe V played much better for me. Don't know why but you should try one before you give up on Fenders if you find that the others don't work for you.
At the other extreme is the Peavey Millennium 5 AC BXP in a local shop that I have tried hard to love. I like everything else about it but the Peavey tech tells me the string spacing is only 15.9 mm. That makes it very easy to reach the B string. It makes my right hand feel like it is constantly "tripping" over strings that are just too close together at the bridge end for comfortable plucking. It may well be an ideal bass for those with smaller hands though so you definitely want to try one if other basses are too wide for you. I do not know if the other Peavey models use the same spacing or not.
In between those extremes and the most comfortable for me so far are the Ibanez SR fives at 16.5 mm and the Schecter Raiden series and Diamond P Custom 5 at 17 mm. I have played the SR305 and SR505 but I believe all the SR's are very similar in spacings and neck dimensions. They are about the best for me. The Schecters play very well too, they give me just a bit more trouble reaching the B. If I decide to buy a five it will most likely be a Schecter or Ibanez.
I tend to obsess over the fingering ease of a five string because I want one primarily to get more range from a single hand position so I plan to use the B string a lot. If you primarily want one to get the lower notes and will not be playing the B string a great deal then most of them play as well as a four on the top four strings and you may not need to worry about this as much as I do.
There are other options. Restringing with the bottom four strings of a five string set will give you BEAD as mentioned above. It will require refiling the nut so that the fatter strings fit, you may want to have a guitar tech do that for you. It gets you the low notes and if that is all you want it is a perfectly good way to go. A more extreme variant of this will give you all the range of a fiver from four strings. You use the BADG strings from a five string set (which still requires filing the E string slot on the nut) and tune the bass like a cello, CGDA. The strings are now tuned in fifths so all your fingering patterns will have to be relearned though you do at least know the note patterns for three of the strings. They're just in the wrong order! Obviously you don't quite get down to the B this way. You could modify the tuning to BGbDbAb to get there if you don't mind learning four new strings.
I did a search here on TB on "cello" and came up with a modest number of reports of TBers using the tuning. One mentioned that a female cellist friend of his was picking up the bass guitar too, using the CGDA tuning, and loving it. I even found some links to links to links to a small but growing community of double bass players who use this tuning. Evidently it was quite common before EADG became the norm though in that era there was no standard DB tuning, there were several common ones.
Personally, I am close to giving up on a fiver and buying a second four to tune CGDA. I'd keep my present bass EADG until I became comfortable on the "cello bass" and then I would convert it too. If I do buy a five then once I get comfortable on it I would probably convert my present bass to CGDA to see how they compare and decide which one to keep in the long run. That's my story today, it is very much a work in progress.
Good luck with your decision,
Ken
5'4" gal with small hands here. I used to play only boutique 32" 4-strings until I discovered the Ibanez SR series 5-string models. I now own 4 of them and seldom pick up my 4-bangers anymore. I also have 3 35" scale basses, which I find almost as easy to play. For me it was just a matter of getting used to full and extra long scale basses, but YMMV. Try out a bunch and see what feels good.
Oh come on man, doing those big runs up and down the fretboard are great!!
Your point is definitely one of the pros to going with the 5'er for sure. For me, I'm a ball of energy so I like the Ryan Martinie-style basslines
YMMV! Words to live by
I've known a couple of people who played in cello tuning (an octave down); both cellists who had switched to bass and were already used to the 5ths tuning.
I would give a fiver a chance before I went off the rails and started getting into alternate tunings, personally. ...but that's just me.
I would give a fiver a chance before I went off the rails and started getting into alternate tunings, personally. ...but that's just me.
P.S. This is why I love Talkbass... We can come here and pose honest questions and get a bunch of useful feedback/input/suggestions. Bass players rule.
5sg.
5sg.
Hello, another girl here! I primarily play 4-string basses, but I do have a fretless 5-string. All of my basses are 34" scale, but I don't really have much trouble adjusting between the 4 and 5-string basses. Basses with thinner necks seem to be more comfortable for me, though.
In case it interests anyone in this discussion, I just happened to see this thread talking about an ESP Short Scale 5 string. That bass may be worth a look for you...
5sg.
5sg.
There's a thread in "bassists" for a girl bass player club, though I think it's been dormant a while. Lots of members of the female persuasion in CWB over in "bass humor."
Not female myself, nor small in the hands, but thinking about fivers - one I have and one I don't; the one I have is the Washburn Taurus T-25. It keeps the string spacing pretty tight all the way down rather than letting them spread as they get to the bridge. The nut width is no narrower than any other 5 but the neck is slimmer at the body.
The other is Luna's Paz Lenchantin signature model. It also keeps the string spacing very tight so the neck is slim all the way down (and Paz is a teensy little thing, if this is the 5er she would play, any small person should be comfortable with it).
Not female myself, nor small in the hands, but thinking about fivers - one I have and one I don't; the one I have is the Washburn Taurus T-25. It keeps the string spacing pretty tight all the way down rather than letting them spread as they get to the bridge. The nut width is no narrower than any other 5 but the neck is slimmer at the body.
The other is Luna's Paz Lenchantin signature model. It also keeps the string spacing very tight so the neck is slim all the way down (and Paz is a teensy little thing, if this is the 5er she would play, any small person should be comfortable with it).
As someone mentioned earlier, technique will go a long way so I would say dont get to discouraged just stick with it and I think the more you play eventually you will start to feel more at home on a five, I know it took me some time to get use to but now I really enjoy playing the five. Actually I never could find one at a music store that felt comfortable to me until I got my Stambaugh fiver and it fits my playing style like a glove. I would also consider a 34" scale as opposed to 35" might make that stretch just a bit easier. If you cant find a store bought five string that works for you and you have the funds available you might want to consider a custom built instrument designed to your playing needs.
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