Aversion to five strings: actual dislike, or unfamiliarity?

[Bunk McNulty]

I've tried on various occasions to play a 5. The first time was necessity; I'd gotten involved in a New Country project, and you really do want one for that genre. The other times ended in frustration. To be blunt, I'm too dumb to figure out how to play one. Although, as I've posted many times before, I did start to really enjoy playing in D. In any event, I don't need one to do what I do. If there were a really compelling reason to move to 5, I'd probably at least try. In the meantime, I got no problems with playing in Eb.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

In pursuit of upgrading from my Yamaha RBX 374 I have taken multiple trips to local music stores and have tried about 50 or so basses at different price points.

I have tried multiple five strings as an upgrade option and I have not liked any of them.

I think I can largely attribute this to two things. The thicker necks and tighter string spacing.

Did anyone have the same reasons for disliking 5'ers and learn to love them? Is this something that you can get used to over time?

There have really only been two basses that have really caught my attention in terms of comfort and playability in this search. An Ibanez SR500e and a Schecter C-4 GT. Both have pencil thin necks and slim profiles. Maybe I'm just so used to the thin Yamaha neck that those feel more like home?

I feel like I can really only justify my purchase if it's offering something drastically different from the Yamaha.

I'm considering that if I get more time with a fiver, maybe that will be my new home and I can learn to love it? Any experience on this will help. Thanks.

Thicker neck, muting differences. They're uncomfortable.

 

[DrBnz]

Oh true.... the first time I looked down a 5 fretboard it looked like a runway. JEZ! my fingers aren't that big. Actually, you'll get comfortable with it pretty quickly. I like em just fine now. The only thing that's a challenge is that I have to really be "in touch" with the bass. Sure its the same with a 4 or a 5, but..... With a 5 its more important that you're either playing it or you're muting it w the left hand and the right has to stay close to keep track of strings in order to play CLEANLY. So I tend to use more than two fingers (without really thinking about it). I believe that was driven by how I used to get lost and not know which string I was hitting (if only one or two fingers were playing). But I'm making it sound harder than it is. You'll adapt quickly and it actually helps your playing skills.

 

[Zooberwerx]

I'm more of a pattern player and those rat bast*** bandmates do a lot of material in D. Any Soundgear 5 is easier to navigate IME...I have two. It's truly a "pencil necked groover" and a solid platform for upgrades if desired. The 16.5 mm spacing may require some acclimation. Price(s) is right, too.

Riis

 

[smtp4me]

In pursuit of upgrading from my Yamaha RBX 374 I have taken multiple trips to local music stores and have tried about 50 or so basses at different price points.

I have tried multiple five strings as an upgrade option and I have not liked any of them.

I think I can largely attribute this to two things. The thicker necks and tighter string spacing.

Did anyone have the same reasons for disliking 5'ers and learn to love them? Is this something that you can get used to over time?

There have really only been two basses that have really caught my attention in terms of comfort and playability in this search. An Ibanez SR500e and a Schecter C-4 GT. Both have pencil thin necks and slim profiles. Maybe I'm just so used to the thin Yamaha neck that those feel more like home?

I feel like I can really only justify my purchase if it's offering something drastically different from the Yamaha.

I'm considering that if I get more time with a fiver, maybe that will be my new home and I can learn to love it? Any experience on this will help. Thanks.

When I started playing bass about 43 years ago, 5 string basses existed but they were not really a "thing". Not that I was aware of. I learned to play on 4 strings and I've managed for 43 years without 5.

My reasons are similar to yours - don't like the thicker/wider neck and string spacing, but there are others. Among which is, I guess, laziness. I've never played a song that goes below C, and I can drop tune for that (with the right strings and right setup). So it is a combination of: 1) Never really needed 5 strings, so why learn or adjust my technique when I don't need to, 2) I can drop tune for most songs I've ever played that go below E, and 3) I don't like the wider necks and spacing.

 

[Ric5]

In pursuit of upgrading from my Yamaha RBX 374 I have taken multiple trips to local music stores and have tried about 50 or so basses at different price points.

I have tried multiple five strings as an upgrade option and I have not liked any of them.

I think I can largely attribute this to two things. The thicker necks and tighter string spacing.

Did anyone have the same reasons for disliking 5'ers and learn to love them? Is this something that you can get used to over time?

There have really only been two basses that have really caught my attention in terms of comfort and playability in this search. An Ibanez SR500e and a Schecter C-4 GT. Both have pencil thin necks and slim profiles. Maybe I'm just so used to the thin Yamaha neck that those feel more like home?

I feel like I can really only justify my purchase if it's offering something drastically different from the Yamaha.

I'm considering that if I get more time with a fiver, maybe that will be my new home and I can learn to love it? Any experience on this will help. Thanks.

I used to be the guy who would only play old vintage passive 4 string basses, but then to play songs with a low D I had to bring basses with multiple tunings. I got my first 5 string bass and struggled. That was 22 years ago. Now I only play 5 string basses, the 4 seems and feels wrong to me. The low B string is the foundation of my playing.

To get comfortable with the 5 I quit playing all 4 string basses for a while.

The bottom line is some songs need to have notes lower than the low E to be played properly and you have to figuer out how you will do that.

 

[neddyrow]

tired a bunch and never liked them. not a fan.

do what you like.

 

[ezstep]

I ordered a Carvin 5-er back in the very early 90's, and I discovered that there is a learning curve to working with five rather than just four strings, just as with anything new - digital mixers, sweepable mids, parametric and semiparametric equalizers, etc. Now I have one four-string and four 5-ers.

Not for everybody? Okay. Necessary? Not really. More flexible? Yep. Are you missing anything by not owning or bonding with a 5-er? Nope. Different strokes....

 

[luciens]

In pursuit of upgrading from my Yamaha RBX 374 I have taken multiple trips to local music stores and have tried about 50 or so basses at different price points.

I have tried multiple five strings as an upgrade option and I have not liked any of them.

I think I can largely attribute this to two things. The thicker necks and tighter string spacing.

Did anyone have the same reasons for disliking 5'ers and learn to love them? Is this something that you can get used to over time?

There have really only been two basses that have really caught my attention in terms of comfort and playability in this search. An Ibanez SR500e and a Schecter C-4 GT. Both have pencil thin necks and slim profiles. Maybe I'm just so used to the thin Yamaha neck that those feel more like home?

I feel like I can really only justify my purchase if it's offering something drastically different from the Yamaha.

I'm considering that if I get more time with a fiver, maybe that will be my new home and I can learn to love it? Any experience on this will help. Thanks.

The short answer is yes, and yes.

The long answer is as follows:
A 5 string bass is not a "different instrument" than a 4. It's just a bigger, heavier bass with an extra string . That's really all it boils down to - the neck is wider and thicker, there's more neck dive (with extremely rare exceptions like the Carvin/Kiesel Bromberg 5 string which still has good balance) and the whole instrument is heavier. Other than that, it's just a bass.

So, it's perfectly legitimate to not play a 5 string for the same reason you'd reject a 4 string that's too heavy, or the neck is too wide or has too much neck dive, or any or all of the above.

That's pretty much it.

As for the issue of muting, a lot is made of this in 5+ string bass threads as if it's only an issue on 5+ string basses. When the truth is even on the 4 string you need a good muting technique. Guys who say you don't need to mute on a 4 like you do on a 5+, usually have ringing strings all the time on their 4's too.

As for the narrower string spacing, at least for myself, I never found it to be a problem and I always adjusted to it right away. In fact, crossing strings is easier with a narrower string spacing which made parts with lots of string crossing easier to play....

These days I only play 4's for no other reason than my fretting hand/wrist can't handle the wider necks anymore. Age and general wear and tear prevents me from playing a 5+ pain-free, so I've gone back to 4's. Maybe in the next life I can pick it up again....

L

 

[brianrost]

Did anyone have the same reasons for disliking 5'ers and learn to love them? Is this something that you can get used to over time?

I used 5s off and on over the years because I was doing gigs playing zydeco and the current Louisiana players all uses 5s or 6s. Lots of songs in D makes the B string very useful. I had a Fender JDlx5, G&L L2500, Reverend Rumblefish 5 (one sale I've regretted), Carvin B5 fretless, a Guild Pilot 5 an AmStd P5 as the gigs came and went.

I didn't really get on with them in general because I was still playing 4s on all my other gigs. I should mention that after decades playing the DB, the bigger necks of 5s were never a problem, it was working out new fingerings.

What changed was I got an NS Radius CR5. I wanted one as my "last bass ever" but they were too pricey (over $3K) but one day a CR4 showed up on Craigslist for $1600 so I got that instead (and loved it). I really wanted the 5 so when one popped up locally for $1700 I checked it out. Very nice but I was concerned about laying out the cash and having trouble selling the 4 and how much did I really need a 5, so I passed. About two years later the exact same bass showed up again for sale by it's new owner. I contacted him and he told me he knew someone looking for a CR4, so we worked out a 3-way where I got cash for my CR4 and used that and $200 to buy the CR5.

Anyway, fast forward to where I was in a bicycle accident and had to stop playing for 5 months. To get my chops back up I started out just running scales and arpeggios for 30 minutes a day, then an hour a day, then 2 hours, etc. all on the CR5 because it is totally unforgiving of sloppy technique. When that was comfortable I started doing the same on DB. After two months of shedding on the CR5 and DB, when I finally picked up one of my P4s, it felt like I was racing a Ferrari, the neck was so slim

I still used a P-bass with flats for blues gigs but when I had sub jobs that could use the roundwound tone of the CR5, I'd bring that instead. Finally I got into a band that was moving from a blues repertoire into funk so I starting using it for that. I was playing it enough that I decided I needed a 5 string FSO with flats, too.

I had foolishly sold my AmStd P5 here about a year earlier but waited patiently until an AmStd J5 popped up here and got that. Luckily it already had TI flats on it, so I didn't even need to swap out the strings. So now I have those two 5s, one with rounds and one with flats.I still have a 4 string Steinberger L2 (rounds) and two vintage Ps (flats), those are not going anywhere because unlike that P5, they can't be easily replaced for the money I'd get for selling them.

One real advantage of the 5 over the 4 for me is after two more bicycle accidents (is someone upstairs telling me something?) it's far more comfortable for me to play up the neck on lower stings than near the nut on higher strings. A fringe benefit is I get a fatter sound up there, too.

 

[jam.majors]

I got into a 5 string just last year (been playing for >25), but I knew I'd have a problem from the get go because of muscle memory pointing me to the "wrong" string perpetually. So I practiced for an hour minimum every day on that thing for 6 weeks before my first time playing it live. still flubbed a bit, but it made the difference.
In the end, I love it. I don't have to tune down and I really like the tighter spacing. I feel like everything is a bit easier: don't have to reach as far to hit the other strings; runs can go across the fretboard instead of up it.

 

[willddd]

Two reasons for me...

the big one believe it or not is the lack of symmetry. Odd numbers mess with my head and the symmetry of a 4 string bass is more appealing to me than the asymmetry of a 5 string.

Second is I just have not found a 5 string where the Low B sounded good.

I hear you ! but in a different way...the 5ers have a middle string... that's symmetry too !
TBH I haven't found many basses with low B that sound good, but lots with low D (fretted) or low E (fretted on the B) that sound great.

 

[Ralph Manak]

For me, the distinctions between the instruments are less in play than the consideration of what music I want to play. Can the 4-string facilitate the sounds I want to make, or will a 5 or 6 be the better choice? Knowing I have to learn to play any of them is a given, and I've found that time with each informs how I approach the others. But the main thing is not choosing between a four or a five—it starts with the demands of the music.

 

[G On Bass]

In pursuit of upgrading from my Yamaha RBX 374 I have taken multiple trips to local music stores and have tried about 50 or so basses at different price points.

I think I can largely attribute this to two things. The thicker necks and tighter string spacing.

-This varies greatly by manufacturer. I play only 5's and my necks are not thick nor the string spacing narrow (18mm, with 1 other bass having 19mm)

I feel like I can really only justify my purchase if it's offering something drastically different from the Yamaha.

- A 5 string is very different from a 4 string i general. IME, it's just a matter of finding the one that fits. And yes, there is an acclimation period.

There are also people who dislike 5's and 6's on principle as they often consider basses designed in the 1950s to the absolute pinnacle of bass technology, often backing that up with the belief that certain famous bass players 'only needed 4'. We have to hope they are mostly kidding, but at a minimum that'll give you an idea of how valid those opinions count in this matter. Some people have made the switch easily while others take longer, some never do. And that is A-OK. Play what you are comfortable with and what works for you.

 

[DonaldR]

I haven't tried an SR five string. How does the neck compare to an SR 4 string?

So far I've tried a MM bongo 5, multiple Jazz V's and an Ibanez Affirma 5 string. The Affirma felt the best to me, by far, but still not entirely comfortable.

Since you love your Yamaha, have you tried a TRBX-505? It's really the first 5-string I liked and felt at home with. I bought it and the next day I gigged it.
Since then I have a Jazz V and a P-style V, but the Yamaha is still the one I like the most regarding the ergonomic.

Small hint: use the B string as a thumb rest for the first times you play, just like a 4-string. Then add the B string as additional notes when needed. When you are comfortable, start switching positions and play low E from the 5th fret on the B string.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

Never tried one, just no interest. But to each his own.

 

[Smokey P]

I only play a 5…a talk bass rarity I only have one electric bass. The exact reasons OP mentioned for not liking them is a big part of why I like them. String spacing isn't very important to me honestly, I wouldn't want to go below 17.5 probably and it takes some adjusting especially for right hand technique when slapping. I like my necks THICK, baseball bat please, being an upright bassist as well with larger hands a thin neck is super uncomfortable for long playing times and it wrecks my tendons. I am in love with the neck on my stingray 5 because it just feels like a 4 string neck but scaled larger as opposed to 5 string necks that are D shaped being wider but flat like a boat paddle on the back…I hate the boat paddle. However the reason I got in to playing 5s was covering low notes and key changes on musical theater gigs and recording sessions. If I was to get another bass I'd go for a 4 cause I like those too but I'd probably put a hip shot drop tuner down to low C cause I really do use those notes a lot.

 

[Jefenator]

Funny how spacing & neck profiles are so all over the place for ER basses. (They can be for 4-strings as well, but you definitely notice less standardization when shopping around.)
The profile on my Roscoe is so shallow, it actually feels smaller than my 4-string necks. At the other end, the Warwick "Broadneck" is insanely wide and deep - like a 5-string version of the '72 Telecaster "baseball bat" neck I once had. I've learned to like 'em all. (Maybe it's from playing double bass half the time - playing one of those things makes any guitar neck seem manageable.)

 

[Isaac_James]

I was strictly a 4 string player for most of my 20+ years as a bass player, always figuring I didn't really need the extra range, so why bother with it. But I finally got myself a 5er a few months back and have been using it almost exclusively since then. At first it was an effort to use - none of the strings were where I expected them to be, and the neck was wider, and it was just a new instrument that took some getting used to. But after a few weeks it became my favorite instrument (it's a Yamaha BB735).

The main motivation for getting it was that my band plays several songs in drop D tuning, and I didn't want to keep going back and forth. Of course the guitarist still has to do it, but now I can take a drink of my beer while they're going from E to D or vice versa.

 

[mambo4]

My aversion to 5 strings stems from lack of money.
I wouldn't kick a G&L L2500 out of bed.