BEAD thoughts

[elavate7]

Probably different reasons from different players. Some don't like the wider neck. Some don't own a five... etc...

For me though, I just never could wrap my brain around playing a 5. I've been playing on 4's 8's and 12's for 20 years. You put a 5th string on there and it feels like there's an extra string in my way no matter which string I'm aiming for. I could probably transition to a 6 string easier than a 5 if I was really forced to.

Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of a 5, but it just doesn't work for me. Doesn't feel natural.

so you can play a 6 string, but not a 5????

 

[bassbenj]

I suppose it just depends on if you play Jazz or not. If you have never touched the G-string in your life on the other hand...

I've tried BEAD in the past but it wasn't for me. The essence of the thing is to just try to keep track of how much you actually play the G string. I thought I barely used it. But once it was gone I soon discovered that this idea was wrong. Now if it were true that I really wasn't using it, then BEAD would have been just fine. For example for a time all I was playing were my 6s. I needed the range. And then I changed and discovered that I was pretty much never using the C string anymore. So I dropped back to my 5s and didn't notice a thing but the narrower neck.

 

[Nev375]

so you can play a 6 string, but not a 5????

The 6's that I've tried still feel awkward to me, but less awkward than a 5.

Something about having a middle string just makes 5 an odd number.

 

[hrodbert696]

I normally play 5s, but I've started having some wrist issues that seem to come from reaching around to the B. It's worse on one of my fivers than the other, I think because of neck shape. But I've been thinking about switching to using two four-strings, one EADG and one BEAD. I play songs that use the high notes and songs that use the low ones but I can't think of any songs on my list that do both. The only thing would be keeping which is which on the set list straight so that I can switch basses smoothly.