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Four or Five Strings?

StringThing

StringThing

Dec 6, 2007
168
24
San Diego
www.myspace.com
#1
Hi everyone, I've been struggling with this for about 3 years. I made the jump to 5 strings. Here's a list I personally made on the pros and cons. Writing this out may help me figure it out.

Pros:
Low B is a bit much but the Ds and Cs are great!
A new position for E. And fatter versions all around.
Less position shifts.
Great for Covers that require it and dance club sounds
Extra range for loop station

Cons:
I play guitar too, so I'm a string off way too many times. Second-guessing or screwing up following guitarists or vice versa. I watch the neck too much.

Always wondering if I should or could play something lower instead of focusing on the groove. Sometimes it works other times not...

When your so low if seems as if there needs to be another bassist for where you would have been.

Amplification is a challenge

All my fav recordings were on a 4 string

not very suited to studio work

________________________________________

As far as 5 string live, to get a good low note, I went to the Lakland 55-02 35" scale and maple neck. Clear. Could always go louder, softer, fatter or cut at any time. The vibrato could just bend the room sound freakishly well. The low String was nice on about 4 songs.

Playing my 1991 American deluxe 5 is really nice too. (I wonder if I was to string it EADGC....) doesn't hang as well against a loud drummer as the 55-02.

But the big question is:
would I just have more FUN and enjoy a simpler world with 1 jazz 4.

I need to just make the decision and run with it.
Thanks for your thoughts...
 
#3
It all depends on what you need out of your instrument. I started on 4 string basses, but when I started playing more top-40, I needed the 5 string.

But about 4 years ago after not touching a 4 string bass for many years I picked up a Jazz 4 banger and WOW! I truly forgot how fun it was to play a 4 stringer! Since I mainly play Blues and R&B now, I found no reason to keep my 5 stringers. Sold them all and have not looked back! Just have 4-stringers and very happy with that!
 
#7
I've owned a few 5s and 6s in the past and wound up not being able to get used to the extra string(s). Swore up and down I was a 4-stringer for life. Today, I happened to go to GC, found an amazing 5-string Fender P-bass and it's now sitting here next to me. Lately, I've been playing with a band that tunes to either Eb standard or drop C#, and I find myself wanting to get down even lower, so I think having the B string will be cool. I tuned the whole bass down a half-step, so I've got a low Bb which is pretty awesome. I've been playing the bass since I got home and so far, no problems incorporating the B or playing the wrong string. I'm psyched, but also afraid my prized Reverend 4-strings are gonna get lonely.
 
#10
StringThing said:
Cons:
I play guitar too, so I'm a string off way too many times. Second-guessing or screwing up following guitarists or vice versa. I watch the neck too much.

Amplification is a challenge

All my fav recordings were on a 4 string
Click to expand...

I was a 4- string player (I also play guitar - have for 40 years now) up until I found my Zon lightwave fretless 5. Or should I say it found me. Picked it up, instantly fell in love, and sold my 4 string basses, picking up a fretted 5 companion. That was 10 years ago.

I still play guitar (mostly solo acoustic these days, but will be doing some electric work soon), and have never had any confusion switching between 5-string bass and guitar. I do get totally lost when I pick up a 4-string bass. Maybe I'm just really mis-wired. I think the issue is that on bass I now key off the lowest string. I assume it is always a B, and work from there. On guitar I am more focused on chord shapes, and solos often key off the highest string. That cognitive difference is enough to make bass/guitar swaps not a problem. Going from 5 to 4 on the bass though, my mind assumes I'm playing bass and wants to key off the low string which now is changing.

At some point I kinda hope I can break through that and figure out how to play a 4-string bass without a mental breakdown as there are a couple of instruments I'd like (eg Rob Allen Mouse 30). I do have this fantasy about a 4 being "easier" to slap since you don't have to worry about managing/damping the B string. But the benefits (for me) of a B-string far outweigh that, and the reality is that I just need to pay a bit more attention and woodshed regularly to erase that thought.

THe biggest issue is that the B string is now totally integrated into my playing approach now. And not so much for the lowest notes, but rather that I can be reading a chart and have a few more notes available without moving my hand. Plus playing a semi-damped 5th ghost below the root played on the E string is quite useful. And sometimes, a gentle low C or D really fills things out. Plus the B string on the Sadowsky slaps quite well, so I've got even more to work with. Just a lot more options that simplify things rather than complicate.
 
#13
JohnMCA72 said:
Another option is to string up a 4-stringer as B-E-A-D. You'd gain the lower range, but lose the higher, while still only have to manage 4 strings. Might be easier, might not.
Click to expand...

I know guys that do that, but I do depend on the G string as well. A lot of the times the B string is my thumbrest. I guess I've just gotten very used to the options that the 5 presents and would have a tough time going back to 4. It is more work for certain things though...
 
#14
I've been wondering about this lately too. Which is why I'm gonna order an SX P/J 4 string. I've also been gettin into the passive vibe lately, so I'm hopin to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I do like the low Cs and Ds but I often feel like the low B string is boomy. I've been using Chrome flats, maybe that has to do with the boomy-ness?
 
#15
I think I have a good answer on this one. I own some of each and can tell you that I mostly use the 6.... I use the 5 quite a bit as well... but the real point of this??? I use the minimum amount of strings that I can for each song. So do I love fours?? Hell, yes...
 
#17
LaklandBass said:
I think I have a good answer on this one. I own some of each and can tell you that I mostly use the 6.... I use the 5 quite a bit as well... but the real point of this??? I use the minimum amount of strings that I can for each song. So do I love fours?? Hell, yes...
Click to expand...

Do I own 'em all? Yes I do. Ok, (to ask the quintessential TB question) Which is "best"? NONE are best.

I was playing 4 string back when that's all there was. I started playing bass on upright. And I tell you true, I hated 4 strings even when 5's weren't available yet! I kept having this gnawing feeling that there just HAD to be a better way out there! Horn keys always drove me nuts looking for that Eb that was never there. I felt there was WAY too much jumping around the neck when playing. And just when you got down to the E where the bass really started to kick some butt, you run out of notes. I hated it. I always felt frustrated.

And then I bought my first 5 string. Whoa! Now THIS, I said, was what God intended a bass to be like. But before I got many hours on a 5 I bought my first 6 string. And THEN I finally got it! Extended range both up and down. Two octaves straight across the neck. Proper hand position enforced with no "ball bat" grips of the neck allowed. I figured out and learned all the cross neck scales and memorized them. From then on I mostly played my 6 string basses. That was true even if I was not using the extended range. My statement was "better to have the notes and not play them than to need the notes and not have them!"

But then my musical direction took a turn and I found the extended high range that worked so well before was now pretty much sitting there unused. I just didn't need it. Well, hey, I've got 5 string basses too so I simply started taking them instead of the 6ers. This created basically no difference in what I was playing it just was a tad more convenient to not have the unused high C and the look of the 5 was closer to traditional than the 6. I felt that was a plus too.

But what bout my 4 stringers? Well, I really hate to play them (with the exception of my 8 stringer (doubled)) but the truth is that once again it's all about music. If for some reason I were to suddenly get a big vintage blast come over me as some people do and started going back to old school stuff, it's pretty clear to me that the bass that fits the music would be the same bass that played it originally. It's the reason I bought my Fender V and put flats on it. But a 5 is not a 4! If I REALLY were to get old school serious, it's clear that only a 4 will do.

And that to me is what it's all about. The bass is there to serve the music not to personally make me feel comfy!
 
#18
i started on a 5 after years of playing guitar. the learning curve was about 2 weeks. havent mistaken B for E since then.

everything i listen to is on a 4. everything i play almost HAS to be a 5 string. ill find a place to use it in everything.

i cant play 4's. feels like a toy.
 
#19
The pros of the five-string far outweigh the cons. Besides, if you're going to be one of us, you shouldn't be playing guitar.

Seriously, you should think of the guitar and the bass as two completely different instruments with two different roles in the band. If you're playing guitar-style riffs on the bass, you'll come off as a wanker.
 
#20
im also in a constant struggle between 4s and 5s. i own 2 4s right now but im thinking of selling one and buying a 5. i play gospel and rock and i could definitely use a 5 for church. all and all, i think its good for a bassist to have both!
 

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