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any other girls besides me?

#61
Are you counting the frets from the bridge towards the nut, or from the nut to the bridge? They are usually counted from the nut to the bridge. I.e. on the e string the first fret corresponds to an f. It sounds like you're counting them the other way. (not all basses have the same number of frets, so they are usually counted from the nut)

If you are counting them backwards, and you have small hands, then a five string might actually help you - because you can play a bass line five frets up (closer to bridge) but on lower strings... (except for low B - Eb).

Jim

BassPlayer95 said:
I really only have issues at the lower frets, 15-22. I had an oppurtunity to play at fiver at GC last night, I don't know if it was because it was upside down (I'm lefty), but it was freaking hard.
Click to expand...
 
#64
BassPlayer95 said:
I had an oppurtunity to play at fiver at GC last night, I don't know if it was because it was upside down (I'm lefty), but it was freaking hard.
Click to expand...

Now you tell us! Invalid Link Removed Since I am neither a girl nor a lefty I cannot tell you how hard they are to come by or if they work well for a girl. At least two of Schecters five strings use a fairly narrow 17 mm spacing (Diamond P and Raiden Deluxe) so I suspect they would be a good choice to look at. Schecter was quite fast at responding when I asked them about the string spacings on those models so look over their lefty models, pick a few you like, and then email them some questions on spacings and where you might go to try one.

Ken
 
#66
My friend plays bass. She always wanted to learn, so I loaned her my Squire P-Bass. I'm new to bass, but always had that Squire lying around so I played it like a guitar. (Hello carpel tunnel!) I need to show her this site and I'll priobably let her keep the bass for her birthday.
Anyway, she's awesome. And awesome(r) for learning bass. So for all bassists- rock on!
 
#69
If you can find an old Fender or Squier MB5, its pickups are the size of a jazz4 string and the nut width is the same as a P bass P & MB5.jpg
 
#71
MysticMichael said:
OT

With all due respect, "palming" the back of the neck is terrible technique. Almost as bad as wrapping one's thumb around the top side of the fretboard. Please don't tell me you do that too, do you?

IMO, these are shortcuts most often used by guitarists - who can more easily get away with using bad technique, since they play a smaller instrument that has more physical room for error. It makes me cringe every time I see someone play like that! :atoz:

/OT

MM
Click to expand...

There is absolutely nothing wrong with wrapping your thumb around the neck. It is not bad technique, as explained in this video:

That pesky thumb in playing Bass. - YouTube
 
#75
Lowactnsatsfctn said:
I used to thumb wrap till I noticed that Classical guitarist and my favorite Bassist all pressed their thumbs close to the bottom of the neck. Reachin the top strings is easier if your thumb is lower.

I've seen Les Claypool thumb wrap though:hiding:
Click to expand...

Those necks on his basses are so thin it would be hard NOT to thumb wrap.

I think it has it's place and isn't necessarily bad technique unless you do it all the time. It's handy for muting the E string sometimes when you're doing a lot of open A string stuff.
 
#77
KingRazor said:
There is absolutely nothing wrong with wrapping your thumb around the neck. It is not bad technique, as explained in this video:

That pesky thumb in playing Bass. - YouTube
Click to expand...

There absolute positively IS something wrong with wrapping your thumb around the neck! Even the guy in the video says so (while trying to pretend he isn't saying so) He says and I say it very much restricts your motion and your reach on the neck. He tries to make a point by putting his thumb on the back of the neck and bending his wrist WAY down. I looked at that and thought "Crap! Is my wrist bent like that?" Sorry NO IT'S NOT! He's just exaggerating the position to try to make his case for grabbing the neck like a broom handle.

So he can play his bass without a thumb on the neck at all. I've seen this claim before. It's nonsense. It's just a parlor trick. How low is his action anyway? I've tried this on my basses and you've got to clamp them in a vise bolted to a bench to do that! Your thumb provides the pressure clamp to press strings down. Without it you are just tapping. And of course the icing on the cake is he's doing all this with a 4 string bass. No doubt he's also of the "all you ever need is 4 strings" school too.

Hey. I just WANT to see this character demonstrate the "thumb wrap-around" and how great it works on my 7 string Conklin! That will be a big laugh! Here's the point of this rant. You can get away with all kinds of "restrictive" hand positions on a 4 string playing root-fifth. I'll even go so far as to agree with the video that there may even be times when the restrictive position is an advantage. But as a general rule? I don't think so. It's like saying it's OK to play your bass behind your back. Yes, people DO THAT, But the question here was about small hands playing 5 string basses. And I presume there is something of a problem with hand strength for girls as well. So why make life difficult. Use that thumb to provide the pressure on the strings with your fingers through finesse rather than brute strength.

Hey, as someone already said, uprights have large necks and take a LOT of hand strength to play. I know a number of women with small hands who play the strings off uprights. I started playing on an upright so I know a little about it, it's not just speculation and imagination on my part.

Using bad technique and then blaming your small hands or trying to justify it as "anything is OK in music" like the video (Well anything IS OK in music, BUT if it doesn't do the job, then it's not going to work for you, is it?) is no substitute for technique that gets the most out of what you've got.

Sorry, Rant over.
 
#79
Great to see some ladies on Talk Bass which tends to be too male oriented.

I'm going to say something that will probably get me thrown under a bus and that is somewhat controversial. However looking at a question from different angle is key.

I would question your idea of playing a 5er. Yes they go real low but they mostly get lost in the mix. People can't hear that low particularly if you play with more than 2 other musicians. They also require some really top speakers to translate all these low notes.

To me bass is 4 strings and the 5th string does not add much. All my bass heros play 4 strings. I also think you need to be technically very advance to use a 5 string.

Tight spacing might help your hands on a 5er but thight spacing makes an instrument harder to play IMHO unless you are very advanced.

Rather than investing in a 5 string you might want to consider upgrading your 4 strings or upgrading the rest of your setup.

Best wishes in your quest.
 
#80
Laurent said:
Great to see some ladies on Talk Bass which tends to be too male oriented.

I'm going to say something that will probably get me thrown under a bus and that is somewhat controversial. However looking at a question from different angle is key.

I would question your idea of playing a 5er. Yes they go real low but they mostly get lost in the mix. People can't hear that low particularly if you play with more than 2 other musicians. They also require some really top speakers to translate all these low notes.

To me bass is 4 strings and the 5th string does not add much. All my bass heros play 4 strings. I also think you need to be technically very advance to use a 5 string.

Tight spacing might help your hands on a 5er but thight spacing makes an instrument harder to play IMHO unless you are very advanced.

Rather than investing in a 5 string you might want to consider upgrading your 4 strings or upgrading the rest of your setup.

Best wishes in your quest.
Click to expand...

I agree with 99.9% of this post!

The OP said something to the effect that maybe she will wait til she gets more advanced before she looks into a fiver.

More strings does not equal more advanced. If you really want a 5, then get a 5. But more strings won't make you a better player, and you don't need more skill to pluck a B string.

Jamerson-4 strings, McCartney-4 strings, John Paul Jones-4, Entwistle-4, Geddy Lee-4, Jaco Pastorious-4, I could go on and on. Someone could also make list of great players who used five. My point being the number of strings on your bass don't make you a more advanced bassist, there are only twelve notes.
 

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