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Going from 4 to 5 (merged threads)

#61
I switched to fivers about 2 years ago and have never gone back. the neck feels so much better to me. On a four string, I always felt cramped, sorta squished into place (no, i don't have monster hands, they're actually pretty small). As soon as i started on fivers, my chops increased ten-fold.
 
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#62
unbasslichkeit said:
The bass' owner understood very well what I went through on that guest spot, though. He told me the day he picked up the bass from the store he took it right to a gig without sitting down to get some quality time with it. As a result he almost got fired from said gig.
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The female singer in the classic rock band that I was enjoying listening to asked me if I wanted to sit in on a few tunes during an extended intermission to play some Beatles songs and sing harmony as well. I agreed and picked up the bass that their bassist graciously offered to me. He asked me if I played a five string as my main bass and I told him that I'd never played one before, at which point he smiled and said "Good Luck!"

It was a near complete disaster. I would have probably been OK if I could have concentrated on just the bass playing and figuring out the extra string on the fly, but every time I had to sing something the automatic reflexes took over and I started plucking the low B as if it were the Low E.

The crowd wasn't too impressed after three songs full of flubbed up bass notes (at which time I finally gave up) but the group's bass player was laughing his butt off in the corner.:p
 
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#63
Ok I only played a four for about 4 months my band were playing in drop c so id always tuned down for theres, but whenever I brought it back home I would put it back in standard tuning to learn Maiden and Metallica stuff... one practice I broke 3 strings! I don't even know how I did it, I didn't strike the strings to hard or anything. But yeah I figured it was the tuning change all the time. So I brought a five string and my problems are solved.

1. It looks more impressive when your playing complicated stuff in a diffrent position then the guitarist is.
2. It works really well with some jazz
3. You don't have to tune to another tuning anymore! And better yet you get the challenge of learning all the lower tuning songs in your own way, even drop D.

Anyway if you do get a 5 string change the strings to a heavier gauge because it will pronbaly not be very thick strings, so your b wont sound very good. Just a suggestion.

As for slapping, I only really learned to slap on this, you just have to try and mute as many strings necessary. I find it easier to slap when I pick up a 4 string yeah but it's not much of a diffrence.

Hope this helped.
 
#64
I transitioned to a fiver after just under a year of playing bass, which was three or so months after getting my own. Of course it was an Ibanez SR305DX which has the supposed thinnest neck of all five strings. I caught on pretty quickly and loved it a lot, felt so perfect for me.

Of course I then tried out a meatier Ibanez SRX505 or something and that felt so unfamiliar..

And recently within the past few months, I tried out a Fender jazz bass five string, it felt easy enough to play.

Any idea of how that could have happened?
 
#67
I learned on a four string but i played a Shecter custom 5 at GC and i loved the tone and warmth i got out of the 35" scale. So i tried the 4 string version but this 34" scale didnt sound as good. So i researched on talkbass about 5 strings and there was a lot of negative talk about going from 4 to 5 strings. How its hard to adjust. How 35" scale is annoying. I have very small hands so i was worried about this. But i got the bass anyway and i love it. The string spacing is small and great. So my advice for anyone thinking about going to 5 strings is...do it. I love it. especially the octave range.
 
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#68
I have recently gone from 4 to 5. Correction, I have not left 4, just added a 5.

At first it was strange, and yes I flubbed a lot of lines, getting confused between B and E. However, that wore off quickly. I found the biggest thing that helped was not thinking about it as a 5. It's a 4 with one more string. Everytime I glance at the fingerboard for an adjustment, I mentally see a 4 string bass, with some weird extra heavy string grafted on. That helps me remember where to put my fingers.

Oh, and practice exclusively on the 5er. Going from 5 to 4 is usually not an issue. Unless I have learned a tune using the B a lot.
 
#69
bonscottvocals said:
I purchased a 5 after using a 4 since the mid 70s. It was not because I joined a metal band, but because I became a member of a Country band, can you believe that? They asked if I would use a 5 string so I could hit the low D in a lot of the drop-D songs. I actually like being able to play I-IV-V's in E, because I can play everything open if I like and maintain the pattern. G 12-bar blues take on a whole new feel with the C and D under the G!

It's taking me a little getting used to, but not as much as I thought. Still, it can be frustrating, because I don't tend to look at the notes, I just play them, so I'm getting used to where the notes are. The upside is that I have to re-think my playing, and it's making me work harder on the rudiments and play things differently than I did before. It's a challenge.
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I find that using the B string for a thumb rest (picking hand), only lifting it when I want to use that string gives my five string a feel much like my four. There is still a little chance for confusion with your fingering hand, but you kind of have to ignore the B string with your fingering hand until you need it. Now that I read this it sounds more complicated than it really is, but that is what works for me.
 
#70
Great thread!

There are two 5'ers here that have been case-ridden due to lack of practice time(family, day job, once or more per week gigs, 130+ songs on callout with no set lists). We have about 3 tunes that actually use a B-string note and a number of our originals benefit from the "octave below" concept mentioned earlier. One new original sounds GREAT with B-string stuff all over the verses(sinister song from the get-go anyway, low-low adds a lot). This week the 5's are being used exclusively for practice at home. Band members keep asking about the Line 6 bass and I've told them I'd rather hold off and be able to play ANY of our tunes on the 5's than trainwreck a song with flubs.

Right off the bat....righthand fingernails(now used to backup callouses and as mini-picks with 4's) have got to go shorter(hitting next string over) and my pluck/attack angle must change to master these things. Both basses(Line 6 Variax 705 and neck-thru cheapo beauty with killer B) sound and play great.
DouglasNatFX.jpg

It will just require a good bit of concentration and work. Playing "easy, low-end surfing tunes" like Nickelback, Satriani, and others are very easy already. The tough, tie-your-fingers-in-knots songs are the ones played very fast on a 4.

PLEASE kept this thread alive with more tips.....

PS: My 16 year old son played a junker 4 I had here for 2 years and was intentionally given a 5er for his first REAL bass. He loves it, so does the high school jazz band director. Maybe he'll let Dad use it when I learn how! :D
WhiteStein5er.jpg
 
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#71
Just last week my 5-string came in the mail.

I have to say, I almost went in my pants when I hit that low B.

The only problem is adjust my style to the extra string, I'm so used to E being my lowest, that everything I played just sounded lower. I'm getting used to it, slowly.

I have to say, it's got potential for more variety.

So, IMO, making the switch from 4-5 isn't a bad idea.

It doesn't mean I'll put the ole P-bass to rest though.
 
#72
SubGuitar said:
When I got my second bass after a year or so learning I ended up getting a 5 string. I've always liked playing low so it seemed like a good idea.

I found it only took a few weeks to get used to the 5th string being there, and also that playing normal four string lines felt more consistent, as I had something to stop my finger after plucking the E string.

For me I just think it makes things easier. I often prefer the sound, and definately find it more comfortable playing higher up the neck, and 5 strings means I can play lower lines higher up, so thats a bonus. Being able to throw in those really low notes is cool too, in the right kind of band.

I find mine easier for fast fingerstyle stuff as the strings are much closer together than my 4 string, but its harder to slap on. That depends on the bass of course :)
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I agree 100% with everything you just said, so I was going to reply but now theres not much point...:spit:

But really, I got my first 5-string, and now it actually feels weird playing on a 4 string when I bring out my old one, but I do feel your pain when you say its harder to slap... course my wrist doesnt move at all anymore because of an accident when I was 12 or 13 so I cant slap that well anyways, but thats besides the point.

I actually have no such use for very low notes, plus my cab doesn't handle them great, so I tuned by low B up to a D since i play a fair amount of drop D and it avoids the extra tuning or the awkward positions you can be put in when trying to play some drop D songs on a low B...(maybe that was because I tuned up to d like 2 weeks after i got it and i wasnt used to it yet... I never thought of that:p )

I honestly think that a 5 string is more comfortable and lets you really connect yoru hands to your bass, i know that sounds weird but thats what it feels like.
 
#74
I played an American Jazz for 10 years before I got my 5. Now I have a discontinued American Deluxe P-bass V and I love it! The transition was not as difficult for me as is seemed for some others on here. I also switched from finger playing to a pick as well when I got my 5 and I felt like that was more of an adjustment than the added B. I wouldn't worry adjusting from 4 to 5. And for everyone that started on 5, good for you! :ninja:
 
#78
My story comes at this from a totally different direction, so all these posts are fascinating to me.

I'm a long-time woodwind player (flute, sax, clarinet), and the very first bass I bought was a 5-string. Within a couple of weeks, I got frustrated, because it didn't have enough strings! I was accustomed to a 3-octave range without ever moving my hands. None of the sax lines I naturally ported to the bass would fit on the 5-string, and I was constantly chasing up and down the neck to complete the line.

So I got a 6-string almost immediately, and the relief was huge. I could play almost ALL the lines I "heard" without moving more than a couple of frets. After a year of this, I picked up the 5-string again, and by then it was impossible. Losing that C string was like losing a thumb.

I've never picked up a 4-string and probably never will. Why bother? If I should ever need one, I alread have one, right in the middle of my 6 strings. And my style still sounds very much like a baritone sax player would sound.
 
#79
Lots of interesting topics in here...

I'm in a metal band and we play in CGCF. I just got a fretless 5er for a gift and have been trying it out for about a month. Action-wise it's prety good, I tune CGCFBb so of course that's no different but fretting the thing is hard work. I hardly use it in band practice since I'm still "training" on it.

I would use the Bb for extra range in one position, "sweeps," and tapped or strummed chords, but fretting is too difficult. Think I might trade in for a fretted instrument instead. I like fretless but it's much harder to do all the normal techniques I use for metal.

btw its a schecter studio series 5
 
#80
I like fretless but it's much harder to do all the normal techniques I use for metal.
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This is really interesting. I also recently got a fretless 6 (Modulus Q6), on which I'm playing the same sax lines. And if there's any difference between the fretless and fretted, I find them hard to hear. I think this comes of fretting and picking every individual note - there's no sliding.

What techniques do you use that fretless doesn't work for?
 

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