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Are 5 strings on the way out?
- Thread starter Doug Bright
- Start date
There's nothing wrong with playing a Fender. However, 40 plus years in I've only played half a Fender in that time frame (a 60's Fender neck on a parts bin body). At this point, with a herd of 100% non-Fenders, I have more gigs offered to me than there are Sundays (I do church gigs). Not playing a Fender is not even close to a limitation in my world - if you can play, they'll call you for gigs. The number of times someone has commented negatively on my bass choice in 40 plus years, is....still zero. I do get compliments, and given that my basses are one offs, I do sometimes have other musicians that are interested in my instruments.
I get called because I always show up, I'm always prepared, I'm easy to work with, and I can play. The notion that people will hire you more if you play a certain bass is an interesting legend, but I haven't ever seen any evidence that it's true in the real world.
I would've asked our OP's question maybe in 2006 or so, when hipster bands were bringing back vintage Hagstroms and various Soviet instruments (see: Flight of the Conchords) and Mustangs and Jaguars.
Nowadays, 5ers are, if anything, shifting form; Ibanez owns the affordable-yet-cool hot rod market and there are offerings on the luthier-built high end all over the place. And Sire didn't exist till relatively recently, with some very competitive 5-string options.
And if anything is impacting the 5-string market, it's the rise of accessible 6-string basses and more knowledge & support for would-be players.
Currently, I own a handful of 4-strings, two 6-strings, and no 5-string basses. Prior paragraph + my own personality quirks are why. Still, I've bought two 5-stringers over the years so feel I've taken part in the market for them.
Nowadays, 5ers are, if anything, shifting form; Ibanez owns the affordable-yet-cool hot rod market and there are offerings on the luthier-built high end all over the place. And Sire didn't exist till relatively recently, with some very competitive 5-string options.
And if anything is impacting the 5-string market, it's the rise of accessible 6-string basses and more knowledge & support for would-be players.
Currently, I own a handful of 4-strings, two 6-strings, and no 5-string basses. Prior paragraph + my own personality quirks are why. Still, I've bought two 5-stringers over the years so feel I've taken part in the market for them.
I haven;t read the whole thread here but I just want to say that as a 5 string mainly kind of guy, a 5 string bass, the ones with the low B, is actually a 4 string bass with an added lower string. Someone wanted me for a recording once, and demanded I took my 4 string because he didn't want any of that low stuff. I told him that if I just don't use that low string he won't hear the difference but he wanted nothing of it 
Gets different with a 6 string though, playing wise, because the high C shifts the perspective on the EADG strings.
A 6 string still contains a complete 4 string though.
Gets different with a 6 string though, playing wise, because the high C shifts the perspective on the EADG strings.
A 6 string still contains a complete 4 string though.
I’ve used them since 2008 when I started playing again, but I still use 4s more.
I hope they go way out of fashion… so I can get more good deals on used ones! 
When I say Fender, I mean Fender sound which includes a myriad of 'clone makers'
90% of the time I see gigs, the one thing that is so so obvious is that the band needs a P Bass even if the guy himself doesn't know it. I'll bet most soundmen want that too.
If you work for guitarist band leaders, even more so. I don't think that is unique at all, there is reason Fender type configs get sold and copied so much.
In the real world, that is the way it is.
5 strings are declining as fast as fender (and fso) 4 strings.
I attended a benefit with most of the areas top rock bands last week,the top tier bands bass players both had fender 5 string jazz basses. Seems to be the norm in my neck of the woods(michigan),even the country bands in the area mostly play 5 string basses.
I also have some experience playing with some of the local r and b talent,also almost exclusively 5 string bass.
I also have some experience playing with some of the local r and b talent,also almost exclusively 5 string bass.
No one has asked me to play a 5 string in 26 years either, but no one has asked my to play a 4 string bass in that time either. If you are good enough, and don't play with guys who use their eyes rather than their ears, they'll trust you to deliver the performance they want on the instrument you want to play.
It's a fact that a 5 string bass is more flexible than a 4 string bass. It seems to be an irrelevant fact to many bass players and record producers, who seem to be very tribal when it comes to basses. If you are being paid to play by someone then they might have requirements. Sometimes those requirements make no sense, but the guy who pays the bill gets to make those decisions. That has nothing to do with the instrument.
Last year I recorded a track for a friend. I came in to replace a part already recorded. The song was in Eb and I played the root on the B string. Up to that point my friend was perfectly happy with the Eb being played high and the line dropping down. as soon as he heard the low Eb he said it sounded "right". A victory of ears over eyes!!
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This sounds more like what you want, rather than reality. We get it, some of you love your Fenders, but to throw out things like "most" or "everyone" wants a P bass is a ridiculous assertion. While there is nothing wrong with liking fender, there seems to be a huge insecurity from a few who see others wanting nothing to do with them and not using them. The name on my headstock has never come up in my years of playing live, in the studio or at a rehearsal unless it was to ooh and ahh over one of my Spectors. The absence of a Fender or any P bass has never come up, not even once.
And to be on topic, 5 strings aren't going anywhere. Too versatile to die.
That's the thing. I never wanted to play anything other than a 4 string but I felt I should have a 5 in my stable and be proficient at it in case the music required it. I've kept it for the same reason. Maybe someday I'll need it. I'm not interested in playing music that requires needing any more than a 5 string so I won't be bothering with a 6 or higher.
Has somebody posted this already?...Jaco only needed 4 strings.
That's fine. I didn't want any more than 4 until, in a moment of boredom, I bought my first 5 and we just clicked.
The only rule is to be the best bass player we can be. Everything else is just stuff.
Maybe it's just my anecdotal observation, but there's definitely more players around my area rocking 5ers recently. We live in a weird time where just about everything is in style, so anything wacky or different seems to be fair game.
Has somebody posted this already?...Jaco only needed 4 strings.
And Anthony Jackson plays 6.
And Anthony Jackson plays 6.
He did quite a bit on a 4 as well.
