any other girls besides me?

[Mekana]

Yeah... I play 5's, and I am definitely not a very advanced player.

I can play my 5's about as well as I can play my 4's. <shrug>. Well enough to gig and have fun, but I'm absolutely a student with a lot yet to learn. A 5 string doesn't require advanced skill to play. Maybe a couple different techniques than a 4 string... Muting that B string for example... But it's not really a big deal. (It does help if you have a teacher that is familiar with extended range basses & can show you those helpful techniques. A good teacher is really helpful in learning to play ANY bass!)

I agree, more strings certainly doesn't make the bass player better, but there is also no reason to put off getting a 5 string until you're great on a 4 string. Pick the instrument you are inspired to play, and then put the time in on it.

 

[esa372]

IMO there is bad advice in this video.

+1

...but he's just a guy filming himself in his bedroom, extolling his own personal opinions.

Proper technique - including hand/finger position - is actually quite important for musicians... on any instrument.

Using bad technique and then blaming your small hands or trying to justify it as "anything is OK in music" like the video is no substitute for technique that gets the most out of what you've got.

+1

 

[Old Fart]

FWIW bass-playing girls......that's cool and hot at the same time.

 

[IAmACrocodile]

FWIW bass-playing girls......that's cool and hot at the same time.

Definitely. Big, big, BIG +1!

 

[bethanaya]

Hey gals! Add one to your ranks of female bassists! I'm also left-handed but play right-handed.

I tried a lefty bass once when I was first learning to play and it was, well, backwards to me. lol.

Is anyone else a lefty that plays right-handed?

 

[SassyS]

Hey gals! Add one to your ranks of female bassists! I'm also left-handed but play right-handed.

I tried a lefty bass once when I was first learning to play and it was, well, backwards to me. lol.

Is anyone else a lefty that plays right-handed?

Yup! Lefty basses are more expensive and hard to come by. I played righty instead and never looked back. You should join the Lefties Who Play Righty Club!

 

[smcgov]

I can say as a guy that doesn't have huge hands I would check out before you buy something whether you can deal with 35 scale and what string spacing feels good for your hands.

also, I have a pedulla rapture and I think it just sounds incredible, and it has a fairly thin neck front to back.

that's probably another thing to check if you like thinner neck profiles or the larger

 

[bassbenj]

Hey gals! Add one to your ranks of female bassists! I'm also left-handed but play right-handed.

I tried a lefty bass once when I was first learning to play and it was, well, backwards to me. lol.

Is anyone else a lefty that plays right-handed?

You don't know how lucky you are. (or maybe you do) I'm a righty who plays bass righty but I learned a computer mouse lefty. It's just a HUGE hassle. you can't even find lefty mice anymore. I have a friend who is lefty but learned a mouse righty and he has it made. Everything is made for him. Doing something lefty is a real lesson in what lefties have to go though.

 

[Mark Wilson]

You're so lucky you posted about basses.
I was going to throw you into OT

 

[bigsnaketex]

I'm a man..........but I don't like 5er's either............so I have a 4 strung B-E-A-D for the songs I like the really low stuff on and it works great for me.

 

[Freddels]

Gail Ann Dorsey sometimes plays a 5 string and she doesn't have big hands at all. There are lots of other women that do also. It's just a matter of getting used to it.

 

[bethanaya]

Gail Ann Dorsey rawks the Stingray, there's no doubt! I was just listening to David Bowie's Earthling the other day and her sound is killer!

YouTube link is David Bowie 1997 Live @ 10Spot. Gail plays 5 string Stingray (& Mike Garson's on keys ):

David Bowie Live from the 10 spot live full concert video - YouTube

^SassyS, thanks Lady, I checked it out! pretty cool.

^Benj, definitely!

 

[Chlorophylle]

Hi. I'm a female bass player from France. I've been playing a Jazz Bass for three years but I've tried a Mustang and an Hofner once and wow, how comfortable they were ! I became instantly a short-scale lover. But no money means no short-scale bass...

 

[maruct85]

Seriously! All I see on here is men. Also, I really want a 5 string bass. But my hands have enough trouble fitting around my 4 string once I get to, like, the 15th fret. What do you guys or girls say? Should I, once my playing improves, eventually get a fiver?

You know I think even men have trouble deciding for bass as their instrument, us women are rare! Good to see there are more of us!

I have a Warwick Corvette $$ its great! IMO lightweight and just the right fret spacing. Not to mention the amazing sound. Quite pricey though but worth every penny!

Im also looking for a 5 string and find that Ibanez are the way to go for comfortable frets. I found also that ESP has nice comfortable necks.

Good Luck!

 

[girlonbass]

So is this a list for girl bass players, or a list for girls trying to find basses that are comfortable to play?

Link Removed makes basses specifically for girls. Most are student grade but a few are pretty decent.

Can I join the list?

Terri
girl-on-bass

 

[c_maj]

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 haven't read the entire thread yet, but I also am a cellist/bassist that tunes CGDA. I switched to heavier gauge strings on my bass so my C and G wouldn't be so sloppy and it's working out just great.

I highly recommend the Ibanez SR that everyone mentioned previously. I originally switched to the Ibanez when I was pregnant** because my current basses were getting too heavy the bigger I got.

Even thought the alternative tuning gives me 99.9% of the same range of a 5-er, I'm very seriously contemplating getting one.

**I guess it goes without saying that I'm a woman.

 

[lindseyp]

Add Rhonda Smith's name to the list of petite pro bassists who can handle 4- and 5-string axes well.

Also, I can vouch for one of Daisy Rock's guitars. Although I'm a guy, the Rock Candy Custom is one of my favorites in my collection.

 

[kurosawa]

Seriously! All I see on here is men. Also, I really want a 5 string bass. But my hands have enough trouble fitting around my 4 string once I get to, like, the 15th fret. What do you guys or girls say? Should I, once my playing improves, eventually get a fiver?

Looking at your profile (that lists you as male), I'd say what you need is a giggable amp, or the first time an opportunity to gig comes along, you won't be able to take it. There are plenty of threads here about cheap, giggable amps.

A 4 is good enough. There aren't enough tunes that demand a low B, C or C# that you need a new bass more than an amp, though you do need to hit a low D or Eb every once in a while. So don't tune BEAD on a short scale. It cramps your range.

Don't tune DGCF, either. Enough classic ostinatos are built around open strings that you want EADG. Just learn to detune the E string quickly to D and back, and after you practice a few tunes that way, you'll have the hang of it.

When you do have idle money laying around, don't be scared of a wide-necked 5. Watch this to see how Ida Nielsen AKA Bassida handles being small-handed with a long scale wide 5:

 

[khutch]

I haven't read the entire thread yet, but I also am a cellist/bassist that tunes CGDA. ...
Even thought the alternative tuning gives me 99.9% of the same range of a 5-er, I'm very seriously contemplating getting one.

I'm not a girl but I have been playing CGDA for a couple of months now and I am still liking it more and more as time goes on. In truth the CGDA gives you 105% of the range of a traditional BEADG fiver: 21 versus 20 semitones. It just starts a semitone higher. My SR505 is currently tuned CGDAE and besides giving you a bass cello on the bottom four strings and a contra-bass violin on the top four it also gives you 112% of the range of a six. I don't care that much for a fiver, as it turns out, and will probably trade mine for a fretless four but if you like five strings and you like tuning in fifths you will love a fiver tuned in fifths!

BTW, BassStringsOnline.com and Circle K strings will both sell you individual strings so if you order your strings through them you can build your own fifths tuned string sets with the tensions tailored any way you like. I'm using GHS Precision Flats on my four in 0.128, 0.085, 0.055, 0.040 gauges to keep the tensions at about 40 pounds. My five has GHS Pressure Wound Flats (which I am starting to favor over the Precisions) in 0.128, 0.084, 0.058, 0.040, 0.028. The E string really needs to be smaller (it's 51 pounds tension) but that is as small as GHS makes them.

Ken

 

[c_maj]

I'm not a girl but I have been playing CGDA for a couple of months now and I am still liking it more and more as time goes on. In truth the CGDA gives you 105% of the range of a traditional BEADG fiver: 21 versus 20 semitones. It just starts a semitone higher. My SR505 is currently tuned CGDAE and besides giving you a bass cello on the bottom four strings and a contra-bass violin on the top four it also gives you 112% of the range of a six. I don't care that much for a fiver, as it turns out, and will probably trade mine for a fretless four but if you like five strings and you like tuning in fifths you will love a fiver tuned in fifths!

BTW, BassStringsOnline.com and Circle K strings will both sell you individual strings so if you order your strings through them you can build your own fifths tuned string sets with the tensions tailored any way you like. I'm using GHS Precision Flats on my four in 0.128, 0.085, 0.055, 0.040 gauges to keep the tensions at about 40 pounds. My five has GHS Pressure Wound Flats (which I am starting to favor over the Precisions) in 0.128, 0.084, 0.058, 0.040, 0.028. The E string really needs to be smaller (it's 51 pounds tension) but that is as small as GHS makes them.

Ken

*lol* My bad, I was only considering the low end, not the entire range. Thanks for the mathematical correction.

And yes, thank you, I've been exploring both sights (and working with a luthier) in my quest to get that sound/feel that I'm looking for... but judging by many of the much more experienced bassists on this site that's going to be a life-long quest.