Technically, you only need 2. But 4 makes it easier and 5 is just another tool in the box.
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Do you really need more than 4 strings on a bass?
- Thread starter SoulReflection
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Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
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- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
First off, five string basses have been around for well over a hundred years: 5-string upright history? I think they actually go back a lot further than mentioned in that thread though, IIRC.
Why? Why not? Do I need mine? Only for developing widgets for five string basses, really, but it also turns out to be a new challenge and hence a new way to have fun. And it beats downtuning for guitarists who feel that need, which I can understand in many cases. For me all the rest is fluff, but I’m not the Fun Police.
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I don't. 4 strings is tough enough! lol
Mark Sandman only needed 2.
Different strokes and all that.
Never have I owned a sixer. Tried a couple and gave up within seconds for a slew of reasons. I did, however, start toying with 5-string basses quite early in life, mid-to-late '80s. Never found a real purpose for them in the music I was playing back then so by the mid-90s I had sold my last fiver.
Fast forward 20+ years, back in the game and writing my own music one night I started feeling that I'm missing "something" in two bass lines I had just created. Had a strange sensation that I needed to go lower, but not transpose the entire line down an octave. So I sat behind the keyboard and after a *lot* of pain (I suck at keyboards but they are a valuable tool in many respects IME) came up with a version that I was pleased with. Problem being, I needed the low B string. So I tuned one of my basses BEAD. Not quite there. An awful lot of shifting - more like running up and down the neck realistically - which I really didn't care for. So I bought a 5-string. Hated the neck. Sold it. Rinse and repeat a few more times. Found what I was looking for. Done.
My fiver lives in its case 90% of the time and will get heard on two of the seven songs that are getting recorded this upcoming autumn. After there, there *might* be two more songs in the next batch of 10-12, likely just one.
I treat this instrument like one would treat an effect. Chorus, flanger, envelope filter, 5-string bass. If someone aked me to play a G Hungarian Minor Scale on it top-to-bottom using all the strings I'd probably just laugh. The only stuff that I practice on it - apart from hand-warming runs obviously - is what is going to get recorded on it. I've found out that practice on vastly different instruments - going from a 30.5" four to a 34.5" fiver - seriously throws off my muscle memory and I'm not having any of that.
Different strokes and all that jazz.
OTOH, I tried to get my son into playing fivers almost from day one. Nope. He wants none of that, barely got him to try two times. None of his heroes (mostly classic rock cats) played one, so he sees no need for it either. Maybe one day...
My experiences only....
Fast forward 20+ years, back in the game and writing my own music one night I started feeling that I'm missing "something" in two bass lines I had just created. Had a strange sensation that I needed to go lower, but not transpose the entire line down an octave. So I sat behind the keyboard and after a *lot* of pain (I suck at keyboards but they are a valuable tool in many respects IME) came up with a version that I was pleased with. Problem being, I needed the low B string. So I tuned one of my basses BEAD. Not quite there. An awful lot of shifting - more like running up and down the neck realistically - which I really didn't care for. So I bought a 5-string. Hated the neck. Sold it. Rinse and repeat a few more times. Found what I was looking for. Done.
My fiver lives in its case 90% of the time and will get heard on two of the seven songs that are getting recorded this upcoming autumn. After there, there *might* be two more songs in the next batch of 10-12, likely just one.
I treat this instrument like one would treat an effect. Chorus, flanger, envelope filter, 5-string bass. If someone aked me to play a G Hungarian Minor Scale on it top-to-bottom using all the strings I'd probably just laugh. The only stuff that I practice on it - apart from hand-warming runs obviously - is what is going to get recorded on it. I've found out that practice on vastly different instruments - going from a 30.5" four to a 34.5" fiver - seriously throws off my muscle memory and I'm not having any of that.
Different strokes and all that jazz.
OTOH, I tried to get my son into playing fivers almost from day one. Nope. He wants none of that, barely got him to try two times. None of his heroes (mostly classic rock cats) played one, so he sees no need for it either. Maybe one day...
My experiences only....
The first mention of a 5 string orchestral double bass was in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in 1880, so how old school do you want to be? 
I'm old school as well, but I don't find it abhorrent to embrace current trends and technology.
(Maybe this one didn't "couple" with anything, either)
Maybe it was a sincere question, but I get what you’re saying 100%. It’s a done to death question and debate that can easily be researched via videos or articles online and I’ve personally seen questions such as this from trolls over the years. It’s kind of hard to know when the questions aren’t malicious.
So that begs the question, if you expected more, meaning you expected the “triggered posts”, why open the can of worms?
I had a 5 that I was going to buy off a friend he wasn't playing it said keep it as long as you'd like, I had it for a couple months and learned well enough to gig with it however, I really couldn't find any use for it in my classic rock cover band at the time, so since I wasn't going to use it as it should be used I give it back to him and he sold to some guy that plays church services I'm glad it went to someone who need it
The question answers itself: You need them if you need them.
The music you're playing determines what you "need." If your job calls for a certain range, high to low, that is only found on a five string bass, then you need a five string bass to play the part. If it doesn't, then you don't. The heart of the matter is truly that simple.
Bass parts necessitating notes below E are not odd, and haven't been for a very long time. They are not only encountered in today's music, but they precede the bass-guitar by hundreds of years in Western classical music. Alternate tunings, fingerboard extensions, and 5 string basses were used to meet the needs of these compositions long before the bass guitar was ever conceived.
Today, more professional orchestral bassists than not have C extensions on their basses – and five strings are also used (though, again, they are by no means new, having existed as far back as the 1700s).
Point being, a bass occupying the area outside of the standard range offered by E–G tuning is common, historically and contemporaneously. It's just not something that was common in the realm of mid-20th century popular music (i.e. jazz, R&B, pop, rock) that so many people have never ventured, or even looked, outside of.
Additionally, major points of playing a five string, that are often overlooked by those questioning why they exist, are: 1) Opening up new positioning in "standard" keys, and 2) not necessarily playing as low as you can, but rather, opening up only slightly lower keys like D – but with standard interval fingerings, unlike with downtuning.
I might sound like a five string devotee, but I am not. I play 95 percent of the time (or maybe even more) on four string basses, and didn't own a five string till I had already been playing for 30 years. I am just someone who understands that each job has its ideal tool, and feels no need to exclude anything on generalizations based on my own tastes.
I pick up one of my few five strings mainly to play in low D, or occasionally C, with standard interval fingering. For playing in low B, I usually don't also need the upper range, so I prefer my purpose made extra long scale BEAD bass. It gives me a more traditional four string feel, as well as tightening up the low B note with the extra scale length.
FWIW, I also have two narrow-spaced five strings that I keep tuned E–C. That's the other end of the five string approach – and, actually, how standard five string electric bass-guitars were made, up till B–G tuning was introduced in the mid '70s.
The music you're playing determines what you "need." If your job calls for a certain range, high to low, that is only found on a five string bass, then you need a five string bass to play the part. If it doesn't, then you don't. The heart of the matter is truly that simple.
Bass parts necessitating notes below E are not odd, and haven't been for a very long time. They are not only encountered in today's music, but they precede the bass-guitar by hundreds of years in Western classical music. Alternate tunings, fingerboard extensions, and 5 string basses were used to meet the needs of these compositions long before the bass guitar was ever conceived.
Today, more professional orchestral bassists than not have C extensions on their basses – and five strings are also used (though, again, they are by no means new, having existed as far back as the 1700s).
Point being, a bass occupying the area outside of the standard range offered by E–G tuning is common, historically and contemporaneously. It's just not something that was common in the realm of mid-20th century popular music (i.e. jazz, R&B, pop, rock) that so many people have never ventured, or even looked, outside of.
Additionally, major points of playing a five string, that are often overlooked by those questioning why they exist, are: 1) Opening up new positioning in "standard" keys, and 2) not necessarily playing as low as you can, but rather, opening up only slightly lower keys like D – but with standard interval fingerings, unlike with downtuning.
I might sound like a five string devotee, but I am not. I play 95 percent of the time (or maybe even more) on four string basses, and didn't own a five string till I had already been playing for 30 years. I am just someone who understands that each job has its ideal tool, and feels no need to exclude anything on generalizations based on my own tastes.
I pick up one of my few five strings mainly to play in low D, or occasionally C, with standard interval fingering. For playing in low B, I usually don't also need the upper range, so I prefer my purpose made extra long scale BEAD bass. It gives me a more traditional four string feel, as well as tightening up the low B note with the extra scale length.
FWIW, I also have two narrow-spaced five strings that I keep tuned E–C. That's the other end of the five string approach – and, actually, how standard five string electric bass-guitars were made, up till B–G tuning was introduced in the mid '70s.
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I don’t need more than 4 strings, but all of my basses ( including EUB an DB) are 5ers strung with a high C.
I can play up yo a high Eb on my C string with minimal shifting.
This is especially useful when reading charts.
I can play up yo a high Eb on my C string with minimal shifting.
This is especially useful when reading charts.
@SoulReflection why do you feel to make this an issue? Lots of reasons it was not done back in the day, simply because they were not available. Time was we didn't have air conditioning or central heat, the internet or Netflix would you be such a luddite as to prefer those days? I certainly do not.
I started out on four string and played it for probably two years before jumping to six string. I played six string for another three or four years, then purchased a five string.
Five string to me seems to be the best balance between comfort, range, and general acceptance (from the audience perspective). A five-string J bass to me is just as popular to use in the modern cover band circuit as a four string P bass.
Five string to me seems to be the best balance between comfort, range, and general acceptance (from the audience perspective). A five-string J bass to me is just as popular to use in the modern cover band circuit as a four string P bass.
OK, so we've got another, "Why isn't your preference the same as mine", thread!!
The real question is, why do so many 4 string players need 5 string players to explain themselves?
The real question is, why do so many 4 string players need 5 string players to explain themselves?
No, my "friend". I did not expect triggered posts. I expected honest, truthful answers. The "can of worms" are from others...
One or ten strings at the end of the day unless ur playing to a select invited group of musicians, the average audience won't know, don't know and don't give a crap what ur playing as long as you make some kind of low droning sound that is tune with the singer. Being in tune is all that matters, the amount of strings you use to get there....doesn't.
I grew up on 4 strings, so it's what I'm used to and what I'm comfortable with. 5 string basses weren't available with I started, and they were kind of an oddity for a long time. I can play a 5 string, but it isn't second nature, so I have to think about things I normally don't have to think about.
For anybody who's starting to play bass now, I'd recommend getting a 5 string. They're ubiquitous rather than rare, they don't cost much more than a 4 string, and having that extra string adds flexibility. And it probably isn't any harder to learn when starting on the ground floor.
For anybody who's starting to play bass now, I'd recommend getting a 5 string. They're ubiquitous rather than rare, they don't cost much more than a 4 string, and having that extra string adds flexibility. And it probably isn't any harder to learn when starting on the ground floor.
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