Hey! This is my first post on TalkBass!
I'm about to purchase a 5-string bass. This definitely is something I can use, I'm playing a lot of metal that needs that low B, and it'll be nice to be able to play in lower keys that would usually require different tunings (like drop-D) without needing to detune. However, my original 4-string was a big investment for me, and I'm worried it'll become obsolete once I start playing this 5'er. Is there any situation you'd rather use a four stringer over a five stringer? The only ones I could think of would be that the 5-string requires more accuracy when playing slap style, and it's more difficult to play bass lines incorporating chords on a five string. However, both of those can be overcome with the correct technique. So, will I have any practical use for my four string? I'm a bit worried it will end up collecting dust in the corner and I'll only play it because I want to use it for something, not because I need to.
Sorry if this has already been covered, I couldn't find an answer to this exact question with a search. Thanks!
Hi, JustRoots. Welcome to Talkbass.
This post -- or some version of it -- comes up fairly frequently. When it does, I usually read some of the replies, get hot and bothered about it, start to type up a lengthy response, decide it's not worth it, hit delete, and walk away until the next 4/5/X string thread pops up.
While there are issues I'd like to address in this whole discussion, I'll say that, for you, the answer will depend on a number of things. No one else will be able to provide the answer for you and it might take some time to make itself known.
Regardless of the number of strings, each bass might do different things for you -- a different tone, different personality, be better suited to certain types of music. Or not. You might find a use for those characteristics. Or not. You might like moving between two instruments -- or not. You get the picture.
For me, a five string bass (and I've played fretted and fretless fours and fives and fretted sixes -- very comfortable on the fives; sixes would take some work before I could say that) does not contain a four-string bass. It contains the notes of a four-string bass, sure, but a four string has a different feel (and I think, often a different response) and encourages subtly (or sometimes not-so-subtly) different ways of thinking and moving around the instrument and creating a musical line.
Playing something on a five (or a six) and then playing it on a four often teaches me something new. Same for the reverse, though via a slightly different mechanism. (Same for fretted-fretless, now that I think about it.)
This is for me. This might not be the case for somebody else -- if so, for them, a four string may well be redundant or even counterproductive (I wouldn't use the word "obsolete" as that implies something in a larger context) and, in that case, there would be no good reason (at least musically speaking), barring some professional obligation, for that person to hold on to one.
If you have a good use for a five now, get it. You'll find out what your relationship with the four is over time -- and it might change at different stages of your musical life (as the stories of others in this thread have shown).
Have fun, good luck -- and happy playing!
-Mark
