How long after adding another string to your playing did gig with it ?

[Philbiker]

How long after adding another string to your playing did feel comfortable enough to gig with it ? I think I had my first 5 string maybe 2 or 3 weeks before I took it out live.

Two or three days when I got my first five string. My four string was a piece of crap and I needed something professional and reliable. It just so happened that my first "good bass" (after years of playing on the old POS - I should not have waited so long) was a five string. A gig came up suddenly and I needed a good reliable bass and my POS was not it.

 

[ldiezman]

first time I bought a five string i took it out and played it as soon as I could.. don't remember how long though, that was several years ago. When I bought my 6 string this January, I took it on the road with me the next day and have played it on every gig since...

 

[Fuzzbass]

One week. I figured the best place to get adjusted was on the set. I now been playing 5 string for two months and I love it. I brought a four string to practice one day and it didn't feel right anymore. I felt restricted too. I just traded that 4 for another 5, which will give me three five strings total.

I have one remaining four string that I keep for sentimental reasons. I've lent it to a guitarist friend so he can record bass lines in his home studio. I can get around on basses with six or seven strings just fine, but five is just right for me: perfect combination of string spacing and neck width, and has all the range I need. I wish I'd started on five back in the 70's... but it wasn't a realistic option back then.

 

[fishtx]

I got my first 5-string and gigged with it that night about 3 hours later. but it was weird...and I definately grabbed the "B" string a few times when I was looking for notes on the "E" string.

Now it's a little weird when I play my 4-string for gigs...

 

[iamthebassman]

I was walking out the door to a gig when UPS drove up with my first Hamer 12-string. Took it with me and played it that night. The guys in the band freaked(in a good way).

 

[ras1983]

the week i got it was the week i took it to church. rest assured i stuffed up many a song for a couple of weeks, i kept reaching for the b-string instead of the e-string.

not good.

 

[Munjibunga]

That night.

 

[jomahu]

a few days after i got it, methinks.

i'm thinking of going back to 4-string, tuned D-G-C-F. i really want a passive p/j, but they don't offer it as a 5er anywhere and i can't afford to go custom (plus i hate commitment ).


wah wah wah.

 

[ggunn]

Sounds like the 6 string transition is a little easier then the 5 string.

I don't know firsthand, but it seems logical that the reasons for it would be twofold. One, the change from 4 strings to more than four strings is the big one, and two, adding a string on top is not as big a deal as adding one on the bottom.

 

[VroomVroom]

Same day - absolutely. Trial by fire. Seriously, each time (from 4 > 5, 5 > 6, and now 6 > 7) I spent some time shedding, but as luck would have it I always had a gig...or at least a rehearsal...lined up when I got the respective instrument.

There's always been one goof or another, but what's a fourth or a fifth among friends?