Anyone moved away from bothering with a B-string?

[smperry]

Love having the B string. Not to sit on all day, but at the right time...BAM.

 

[cnltb]

Too bad quite a few of those players, including Wooten & Jaco, use/used 5 strings regularly.

Hence my post.
What I found specifically funny was the 'need' part.

 

[maxiegrant]

I've never owned a fiver. I just drop D or use an octave pedal.

 

[SteveC]

I just drop D or use an octave pedal.

Not the same at all - at least to my ear and experience.

 

[awilkie84]

I've never owned a fiver. I just drop D or use an octave pedal.

Octave pedals are a great effect, but they're no replacement. Drop tuning has 1 of 2 disadvantages. You either lose your top end notes as a compensation, or you lose access to regular patterns to gain 1-2 extra low notes.

 

[geddeeee]

If it's a 5 stringer... it's NOT a bass. Halfway to a guitar!!!

 

[curbowkid]

If it's a 5 stringer... it's NOT a bass. Halfway to a guitar!!!

Even though 75% of the time its an added low B?

 

[Herrick]

I've only been playing a 5-string for a few months (maybe longer?) so I don't want to say that I'll always be a 5-string player. However, I am really enjoying 5-string bass. I like that I can learn downtuned songs & immediately play a standard tuned song. Lots of fun for Herrick. The B sounds most sexcellent (on certain basses)

 

[FVESTRINGER]

I stopped using Low A strings and strings tuned higher than G. Still use strings tuned to Low B and Low B flat tho.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

If it's a 5 stringer... it's NOT a bass. Halfway to a guitar!!!

Ok with that logic how a 4 strings is really a bass when a 5 strings go lower ???

 

[topo morto]

Ok with that logic how a 4 strings is really a bass when a 5 strings go lower ???

I think geddeeee is just saying that to some, the familiar 4-string format is more important to the essence of a 'bass' than bass is...

 

[Brad Johnson]

Active pickups are quite popular. Many big name basses use them. Spector, Warwick, ESP, etc. More popular combinations are Passive pickups with an active EQ, though. It's not always the player, either. Sometimes it's just a poor design that leads to a sloppy B. Sometimes it's player's preference.

That handful of brands against the rest of what's out there doesn't sound very popular. The vast majority of active basses have passive pickups. And passive pickups can and do work fine with low B strings. Actually I can recall an active pickup bass that sounded as good as most decent passive ones.

I agree, sometimes its not the player... but more often than not it is IME. What people don't know about technique, setups, EQ and all manner of bass related skills could and has filled a forum or two.

 

[jamestown94west]

I had an American fender p bass v and the b string on it sucked. It was hard to get any kind of a good tone out of it, and it would just flop around on the fretboard. My Warwick doesn't have that problem.

 

[Korladis]

Personally I've always felt that (for me) "If it doesn't have a B string, it isn't a bass". But the difficulty in finding a really good B string sound (not just the bass, but the amp/PA system/room/mix as well) is making me consider going back to 'almost-basses' that stop at E until I can afford a really good 5 - at least a Lakland, maybe a Dingwall ABZ or something. And I should be putting my money aside for other things ATM.

Anyone else decided to KISS and stick to EADG?

I've had no problem with the low B on my 4-string Peavey. It's tuned BEAD.

 

[Im_telling_tim]

I have one 5 string bass that I've owned for 3 years and I've probably played it 10 timesit still has the original strings on it anyway 4 string is way more comfortable for me to play and with the right choice of strings tuning down is very simple.

 

[DrSpunkwater]

"Bass players got along perfectly fine with 4 strings for years."

....yes and keyboard players got along fine with just the harpsichord too. Screw this newfangled pianoforte contraption!

If you're going to be anti progress why be so arbitrarily 20th century about it? Get rid of the 4 string P with flats and get an upright.

I was responding to a poster who said they didn't consider a bass to be a bass unless it had 5 strings on it. Perhaps you should take time to inform yourself on the topic before posting this kind of nonsense.

 

[Dreamsinger]

I've played 5 strings exclusively for 15 years. What some players don't seem to get is that it's less about having a few lower notes as it is about the economy of moving *across* the 'board instead of up and down it. I did, however, recently pick up a MIM '50's P-Bass re-issue for a little old school mojo and to shut up some of the blues players who winge about anything more than 4 strings and not a Fender isn't "blues". I still lust after an Am.Std P-Bass 5. Am really loving the two knob simplicity of the P-Bass.

 

[spector_boogie]

Nope, but went the other way.
I'll never buy another 4 stringer.

 

[Beano_z]

I've played 5 strings exclusively for 15 years. What some players don't seem to get is that it's less about having a few lower notes as it is about the economy of moving *across* the 'board instead of up and down it. I did, however, recently pick up a MIM '50's P-Bass re-issue for a little old school mojo and to shut up some of the blues players who winge about anything more than 4 strings and not a Fender isn't "blues". I still lust after an Am.Std P-Bass 5. Am really loving the two knob simplicity of the P-Bass.

Amen to that, after 10 years of 5 and 6 strings and active electronics, it's very refreshing to have 4 strings and 2 knobs, and guess what, I'm actually using one of the knobs now! Just picked up my first 4 stringer and I'm feeling relieved, need to adjust to the stings spacing a little, but that'll go quickly since I have no other bass around at the moment.

 

[Korladis]

"Bass" is relative.

I pretty much only use my BEAD bass in a couple bands I'm in where that's how low the guitars are tuned. In my folk/rock band and my black metal band, I pretty much always use one of my EADG basses.

I've found that I rarely miss the G if I'm playing something that requires the B.