• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Has anyone here abandoned their 5 string basses totally for 4 strings?

#121
I started on a 4, then switched to 5. Never thought I'd go back, as a 4 seemed to be missing a string. After selling my gear a while a go, from lack of use, and changing interests, I recently got bitten by the bass bug again. I had resigned to getting a 4, mainly because I couldn't afford a new/find a used 5er. I had been playing with a Broco, and was looking at a Peavey Milestone. Then "it" showed up at the used electronics store. I picked it up and started playing, and my first gut reation was, "I'm home!" I'm trying to get used to the wider neck on the RBX375, as the Samicks I had were closer spaced with a narrower neck.
For some, it's just the right feel, others, not so much. Personal preference reigns.
 
#122
At tonight's gig, as I was playing a Vivaldi transcription, I was wishing my acoustic was a 5 string. It's highly acrobatic playing it on a 4 string. Plus there were a few places a nice low D would have really made the moment.

As soon as I can swing it, this 4 string is going out of rotation.
 
#124
:cool:

I'm going through this now.
Just played a gig today with a 5-string. (Sounded great)
But more and more I'm back playing 4-string basses.
I see all my 5-string leaving soon.
I could live with a good P-Bass, and my fretless Jazz.
 
#126
I'm new to playing bass, but I never intend to get a 5-string for several reasons. One is the law of physics. Below 40 Hz, the human ear rapidly loses the ability to hear and the cost of reproducing those frequencies properly increases exponentially. I own a test CD where I can use a sound level meter to set up my stereo system bass down to 20 HZ. Even if my bass output is flat to 30 HZ by the sound level meter, the note sounds much quieter than at 40 Hz, and at 25 Hz you can barely hear it at all. From 20 Hz on down, it is a vibratory sensation and not a sound. Sound reproduction below 40 Hz is best left to pipe organs, synthesizers, concert grand pianos, permanently installed massive sound systems, earthquakes, field artillery and atmospheric disturbances.

A 4-string bass just feels better, and I'm doing this for entertainment. My desire is an output transformerless (OTL) tube amp and a high impedance speaker cabinet to go with it. It will sound killer and be different. I will be a nice little space heater with a cheery orange glow to snuggle next to on a cold winter night. Have most of the components gathered up for the amp head. I want a lightweight speaker cab with controlled resonance construction, like some of the new European luthier inspired loudspeaker designs (Ocellia). Nothing unique about a 5-string bass anymore. I need something that will keep my interest up, and a 5-string bass isn't going to do that.
 
#127
Switched to 5 for a couple years in the 90's, and went back to 4's because I just didn't like playing a 5. I still have a 5 and I practice on it fairly often, but I only use it on gigs where people request it, and that rarely happens anymore and I'm quite happy with that.
 
#128
Schecter 5

First time playing a bass. Thought i would use the 5th string so i bought this bad boy. After a long break and un-garaging the bass, ive noticed i have no use for the extra string. Actually. I taped it down to the pick to avoided hitting it! Although its not severe it was annoying that a slight nudge or movement, you would hear that low B just start ringing through the amp. So, i taped it down.

Now. I don't want to say i don't enjoy 5 strings. One thing i noticed while playing other bases in stores is that even though i never play the B. I still prefer the 5 over a 4. And the main reason is i became accustomed to having that string there as a gap or rest for my palm. Even then, i prefer the close spacing of strings that 4 string basses arent set up for.
 
#132
I personally moved on to a 5 pretty early, then a 6 soon after. Stuck with the 6 for a long time, but was never using the high C, so I went back to a 5, and have been perfectly happy with it ever since. A 4 would probably be fine with me most of the time, but I play Contemporary Christian music lately far more than anything else, so the low notes get constant use. A lot of those songs just sound awful with the C and D on the A string... I find it awkwardly high. Even the Ibanez 4 string I have right now is in drop C (usually a metal tuning, but it gets me those low notes for the Church stuff too).
 
#133
I've done the opposite. I used play a 4 banger exclusively until I discovered a 5'er. The music I played at the time required a low B (urban gospel) and a 4 banger wouldn't cover it. Then I discovered the 6 string bass and have never looked back. The music I'm playing now (prog rock, fusion, and church music) doesn't necessarily require a low B but it's nice to have it just in case. However, it's also nice to have a high C when soloing or chording, which I often do playing in my fusion band.

The one thing I've found a 4 banger to be better at than my 5 or 6 string is slapping. Sometimes a B string can get in the way and a C string can definitely get in my way when it's under 18mm string spacing at the bridge. However, since I'm not slapping much in my current bands, I'm cool with what I've got.
 
#134
I've only ever owned 1 five string bass, a Gibson T-bird Studio 5. While I had no problems with it, I discovered that a 4 string tuned to D standard works just as well for me, so the 'bird was sold, and now I have only 2 basses, both with 4 strings, but 1 tuned DGCF for the monstrous low end.
 
#136
Count me in. Had a fretless Brice HXB-405 for a couple of years...30 years' muscle memory from playing a 4 (mostly a Fender J) kept tripping me up over the narrower string spacing and presence of the low B. Decided to refocus my efforts on more economical playing, so I bought a P over the winter and put flats on it, sold the 5er, and decided to just detune my 4's when necessary. That works at church where I have time to detune/retune, but wouldn't necessarily work elsewhere where things are moving more quickly.
 
#137
It has always seemed to me that the three octaves that the 4 string electric bass gives, is sufficient for most anything. Three octaves is plenty of room to say what you need to say.

Fives and sixes are fine for those who want them. Not my cups of tea though. I get into enough trouble with four strings.

I always said that I would buy a fiver the minute it became necessary. That never happened.

Just my $ 0.02
 
#138
I have also returned to playing strictly 4 strings. I bought a 5 string because I was looking for a new challenge and played it constantly for about 3 years. However, I found that most of the songs I play didn't really need it and the B string became mostly a thumb rest. Playing anything about the 5th fret on the B didn't sound the way I wanted so I saw little advantage in it for the extra 5 low notes. It also caused problems when switching between 4 and 5 strings unless I practiced with both consistently. It also meant I had to carry more gear to the gigs. After I bought a Geddy Lee jazz and started playing it regularly, the neck on my 5 string Warwick felt like a tree trunk. :D
 
#139
iridiumrocks said:
Playing anything about the 5th fret on the B didn't sound the way I wanted so I saw little advantage in it for the extra 5 low notes.
Click to expand...

As mentioned elsewhere, it's possible to accomplish this. I have a few basses where higher notes on the B string sound very similar to the E string. My Conklin and CBs do this well. It's a matter of good construction, good setup, and good strings. Any deficiency will produce a huge difference between string to string consistency.
 
#140
I went the other way as most of you guys. I actually love the feel of a 4 string and still play my 4 string fretless when the job calls for it but I am pretty much a 5 string player through and through.

I agree that I would rather play anything above a low D sharp on the E string but I often find myself in situations where those extra low notes come in handy. I play with a Big Band who have a lot of tunes in Eb and Bb where the Eb comes in handy. I play with a lot of different singers, each of whom seems to play the same songs in different keys, so having those extra low notes gives me options when transposing on the fly.

Also, I've found that sometimes if a tune is transposed down, some parts which are specifically intended to sound low notes on the bass do not work as well when played higher. A part might for instance be written with a droning low F. If the tune is transposed by a tone downwards you'd have to play the drone on a high Eb which might not work as well.

Maybe I'm rambling but as much as I understand that overuse of the low notes is a vice, I find that those notes can have their uses.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back