Getting used to four strings again: E string shy

[scottfeldstein]

I played fivers exclusively for the last ten years. I still have one, but I recently decided to get a four string so I picked up a Sire Marcus Miller V5 (love it). Here's something weird I noticed last night when I was out playing a set.

I was hesitant about playing notes in the first position E string. Especially of hitting an open E. I realized why right away: My brain has gotten used to the idea that the thickest string is a B and that if you're gonna play those notes down there you better think and don't hit them too hard, etc. But of course my thickest string on the Sire is an E. I learned to play 40 years ago just banging away at the E string with wild abandon.

I got rid of my four string basses ten years ago so I would get used to fivers. Now I'm going to have to get used to four again!

 

[Nashrakh]

I can empathize. I mainly play six strings but have ye ole trusty pbass with flats for the special occasion. However, I also play double bass, so as weird as it sounds, I imagine playing the upright when playing four strings, because I know the transition would trip me up otherwise.

 

[bassGtar]

I played fivers exclusively for the last ten years. I still have one, but I recently decided to get a four string so I picked up a Sire Marcus Miller V5 (love it). Here's something weird I noticed last night when I was out playing a set.

I was hesitant about playing notes in the first position E string. Especially of hitting an open E. I realized why right away: My brain has gotten used to the idea that the thickest string is a B and that if you're gonna play those notes down there you better think and don't hit them too hard, etc. But of course my thickest string on the Sire is an E.

Why did you decide to get another 4 string after ten years of playing 5-stringers?

I don’t play enough to have anything learned by “muscle memory”, so I don’t know what that feels like, but I’d think the real panic would come when you needed something lower than E. How did you react to that?

 

[scottfeldstein]

Why did you decide to get another 4 string after ten years of playing 5-stringers?

I don’t play enough to have anything learned by “muscle memory”, so I don’t know what that feels like, but I’d think the real panic would come when you needed something lower than E. How did you react to that?

I didn't! This was a 60s and 70s "summer of love" jam. Mini festival out in the sticks. No need for a B string anywhere!

I bought it because I had a hankering to play something that my 17 year old self would have felt at home with. The Sire is it.

 

[Groove Doctor]

To get used to a 4, play ONLY the E string until your head rewires itself.

 

[Malcolm35]

It will come, but, you will have to work for it.

 

[bherman]

Shouldn’t take long to get back in the groove. But if you’re going to keep on with fivers it really doesn’t matter.

 

[J Wilson]

I'd last owned a four in the early 90's, and strictly played 24 fret neck through fives until just a few years ago.

I'd always wanted a matching headstock Fender in Lake Placid Blue, and when Squier came out with the James Johnston Signature several years ago, I just had to have it. It became a very nice modded piece and it was and is fun, occasionally.

I must admit that with that tiny neck and 21 frets, it felt like a mandolin, just so small.

And I had the opposite reaction from many years ago:. My hands kept asking me 'where'd the B string go?'.

I won't be going back. But it's fun once in a while to blast along on older rock on the open E and A.

But . . . . it's a fling, not true love. I'm far too comfortable on a five to go back to the things I just didn't like on a four string.

 

[vindibona1]

It's a conundrum of sorts. I suspect that most bass players start with guitar and at some point adopt the bass. As guitar players we learn chords, largely focusing on the roots of the chords, at least at first. We start learning bar chords (why some spell it "barre" is beyond me- but I digress) and recognize the roots with our first barred E major shape up the neck. Then power chords...

...So (I believe) our orientation gets locked in as EADG(BE) as if the low E is the 1st string (and feel upside down when reading tabs as well :0 ). The conundrum comes in when the string numbers are now identified as 1e/2b/3G/4D/5A/6E. So that low E string on the bass become "home base" and (I believe) we then tend to base our left hand orientation on that lowest string. I think that's why going from 4 to 5 string gives so many players difficulty that takes time to work out. I know it did for me.

But now in reverse, going from 5 to 4, though less of an issue somehow, can put a player in "cerebral mode" because you have to remember that you can go for that lowest string which will be that open E and subequent fretted notes. I know because I've been playing 5ers exclusively for about 3 years now but have been practicing with my Jazz4 again because it's such a great bass (over-improved Squier VM). I really want to gig it again, but seem to have a mental issue about it and have been more than reluctant just to take it with me.

But here's something I learned as an orchestral trumpet player: IN PRACTICE, CYCLE THROUGH ALL YOUR INSTRUMENTS. You think going from 4 string bass to 5 and/or back on a bass is tough? Try playing C trumpet, then having to switch to an Eb or piccolo trumpet with only a few seconds to put one down and pick up the other. But when practicing I would lay them out on a table and play them all in a single practice session, sometimes going back and forth. And the crazy thing is that somehow eventually the mind/body knows how to adapt automatically even though they blow radically differently. The bass guitar is really no different.

So incorporate your 4 string in your daily practice, but also cycle between it and your 5 strings and you'll find that when it's time to gig either you won't even notice.

 

[MrLenny1]

A five is a four with a great thumb rest.