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How did we get to this point....

#21
The OP is right. We would all suddenly become groove monsters if we only had fewer strings.
One string - washtub bass - watch us groove.
Better still - no strings at all. Absolute Zen Bassplaying.
:hiding:
 
#22
Not trying to put down my brother or sister bass players but alot of bassists are seeking an idenity and refuse to be a engine room player...they want to stand out. To each their own but i prefer tasteful pocket playing and bass used in its role a foundation with the drums.
I personally know a couple of bass players who get ticked off that no matter what they do or how good they lay it down the guitarists gets all the attention. They feel they need to ad more to get noticed, more strings over the top playing etc. Some bassists just need to know if you are doing your job it will show and people will know. I can live with that...Can you?
 
#23
To my tastes, the role of the bass is to mate the kick drum with the melody (oversimplified, yes). For that, four strings is enough. It's not a lead instrument and can be very effective in the range four strings provide.

It's not to say I don't appreciate or enjoy Wooten, Clarke, etc, it's just not my tastes. If it were, I'd probably need more strings.

I'm a huge fan of Charles Mingus. You never heard him tearing the fingerboard apart, but his music is nothing short of magic.

To each his own.
 
#24
kesslari said:
The OP is right. We would all suddenly become groove monsters if we only had fewer strings.
One string - washtub bass - watch us groove.
Better still - no strings at all. Absolute Zen Bassplaying.
:hiding:
Click to expand...

Fieldy uses 2 strings and 3 frets. Oh yeah, plenty of groove. :hiding:

bassbully said:
Not trying to put down my brother or sister bass players but alot of bassists are seeking an idenity and refuse to be a engine room player...they want to stand out. To each their own but i prefer tasteful pocket playing and bass used in its role a foundation with the drums.
I personally know a couple of bass players who get ticked off that no matter what they do or how good they lay it down the guitarists gets all the attention. They feel they need to ad more to get noticed, more strings over the top playing etc. Some bassists just need to know if you are doing your job it will show and people will know. I can live with that...Can you?
Click to expand...

Before this gets out of hand, I think we all have different goals. A lot of pop music has root 8ths these days and I can't honestly tell one bassist from another. There are a lot of meat and potatoes bassists, but you don't hafta remove any sign of your own signature style to stay in the pocket.
 
#28
It is possible to essentially solo for an entire song and yet provide a rhytmic foundation. Phil Lesh is a great example of this (has played 4s 5s and 6s at various points in his career).

The down side of this is that it's pretty difficult to do. It also requires that you spend more time on theory than double thumping.
 
#29
NickyBass said:
Even the great studio guys---James Jamerson, Chuck Rainey, etc--had their own indentity.
Click to expand...

The picture of Chuck Rainey on my wall shows him with a 6 string. IIRC, the Steely Dan Recording of Aja video shows him with a 5. Just sayin'
 
#30
debassr said:
I've never understood the need for anything beyond a 5'er myself.
Click to expand...

I have more than 5 clubs in my golf bag, do I use them all? Depends on where I'm at if you get my drift. Nothing wrong with learning to use a 6 string bass, it's just another discipline to learn and more variety of things to choose from. Also breaks the boredom of being limited to 4 or 5 strings. Some folks are intimidated by more than 4 strings to and I can understand that. :p
 
#31
I don't think any number of strings has an inherent "groove-factor" to them. Playing a 6 doesn't mean you have to play like a g-tard. Just look at Chuck Rainey, Anthony Jackson, Nathan East etc.

In my opinion, the idea of a generation of bass players growing up without appreciating groove and tasteful playing is scary but hardly a reality.

Think about in the pocket playing as a self perpetuating system - people who can't groove or hold it down deep in the pocket are going to be hired less and therefore it'll be more favourable to play with taste.

IMO there's a time for it all, a time to groove and a time to absolutely tear it up. We can take the bass to amazing new places and that's absolutely fantastic, but we should never forget our roots in terms of the groove.
 
#32
I love my 4's & my 5's equally, but I am continuously humbled by something the great Geezer Butler said. In a recent interview, when asked why he plays only 4 string basses to this day and not 5 stringers, he said something to the effect that he still hadn't played everything that could be played on just 4 strings. Whether you like Sabbath or not, the man's earned a pretty good living as a gigging bassist for nearly 4 decades. I respect that!
 
#33
PSPookie said:
It is possible to essentially solo for an entire song and yet provide a rhytmic foundation. Phil Lesh is a great example of this (has played 4s 5s and 6s at various points in his career).

The down side of this is that it's pretty difficult to do. It also requires that you spend more time on theory than double thumping.
Click to expand...

Phil is my hero. Jack Casady, too.
 
#34
bassbully said:
Not trying to put down my brother or sister bass players but alot of bassists are seeking an idenity and refuse to be a engine room player...they want to stand out. To each their own but i prefer tasteful pocket playing and bass used in its role a foundation with the drums.
I personally know a couple of bass players who get ticked off that no matter what they do or how good they lay it down the guitarists gets all the attention. They feel they need to ad more to get noticed, more strings over the top playing etc. Some bassists just need to know if you are doing your job it will show and people will know. I can live with that...Can you?
Click to expand...

100% Agree!
 
#35
PeeJay21208 said:
As a bassist, I have been wondering over the last few years how we got to the point of needing soooooo many strings! We started out with the 4 string and now you see everything under the sun including 12 strings. What the heck is going on!
Click to expand...

Well, perhaps it's only here on the Talkbass forum that such a thing goes on...?

I've never me anyone who plays more than 4 strings here in London...
 
#36
There is no correlation between playing in the groove and the number of strings on a bass.

There is no correlation between being a busy player and the number of strings on a bass.

There is no correlation between being a GC wanker and the number of strings on a bass.


I fail to understand what possible bearing the number of strings on a bass has on a bassists ability to do his job in any given situation. I also don't understand why that matters to anyone other than the bassist and his band mates.

Play what makes you comfortable .... :cool:
 
#38
PSPookie said:
It is possible to essentially solo for an entire song and yet provide a rhytmic foundation. Phil Lesh is a great example of this (has played 4s 5s and 6s at various points in his career).

The down side of this is that it's pretty difficult to do. It also requires that you spend more time on theory than double thumping.
Click to expand...

Good point. Phil started out as an accomplished musician though. He has forgotten more about musical theory than I will ever know.
 
#39
PeeJay21208 said:
As a bassist, I have been wondering over the last few years how we got to the point of needing soooooo many strings! We started out with the 4 string and now you see everything under the sun including 12 strings. What the heck is going on! As I watch these younger generations of bass players grow up, they have no sense of holding down a pocket or locking in a groove. But give them 8 bars and they will throw in every lick they have learned off of YouTube! I think it is getting out of hand sometimes. I love the creativity and the thought of the bass not only being the foundation but also having the freedom to spotlight. But that seems to be the focus now and not the pure art of being a bassist. What does everyone think?
Click to expand...

In the 80s we got modern keyboards that could play lower notes. In the 80s we also got modern bass amps that give you more low end, and in the 80s we got modern pa systems with good subwoofers. Then modern composers started writing music that used the notes lower than the low E. Modern bass players need to either have the extended low range to play modern songs and get modern tone.

I find the extend low range helps with Metal, country, gospel, blues, jazz, and even classic rock.
 
#40
Gordon of Eden said:
I am mostly a groove player. I dislike taking solos. I use mostly 5 and 6 string basses.
Go figure!
Click to expand...

This describes me quite well, with one exception: I don't OWN a 4 string bass, not ONE.

Anyone that's seen me gig, or heard me recorded will avow that I don't ever overplay at any time, because it goes against my way of being as a bassist.

If you judge me by the number of strings on my instrument, you are listening with your EYES, and not your ears, and therefore are by definition a FAILURE as a musician. The people dancing to what I play aren't counting my strings, why the heck are you? Because YOUR ego is in the way - a listener doesn't HAVE an ego.
 

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