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How many 5 string players actually use the B?

#163
As a four string player for over 40 years,it has taken me a while to adapt to a 5 string. Now that I have been using it for a year now,I would not go back to a 4 banger. I have begun to use the "B" string to play older classic rock songs in the lower register. It really adds some good bottom to the tunes. Also quite a few country tunes are recorded using 5 strings now. We just learned 8 Second Ride by Jake Scott. Listen to this tune and hear the bass player uses that low register. That's what makes this song full sounding.
 
#169
spade2you said:
If you read more posts, you'll understand. ;)
Click to expand...

I wasn't really being so serious.

Anyways, I play a 4 string too, it sits under my Low B.


Ever since I began studying with my 5 string, the Low B doesn't sound as low as it once did... To me its just another string now. To be able to hit a full two octave scale without changing positions if the best part. I never go into a song, or think about "reaching for that low B".

The way my bass teacher taught me; every note is equally important. You gotta be able to play the low B, play above the 12th fret, actually use the G string (many bass players seem to play a 3 string bass). etc
 
#170
EAdanikDG said:
I probably felt that it was in the way because I don't have experience playing a 5 string and I don't know how much I would use it, hence the question asking how people use it and for what.

Basically, if I only need four strings, why have one sitting there in the way?

PS: The majority of my playing is not P&W.
Click to expand...

It's not in the way if you practice with it. Scales, arpeggios, chord voicings etc. If you practice, then you'd use it. Then you'd start to incorporate it.

You don't need four strings. I mean, really all you need is one right? One string has all the notes you need, why have the other 3 in the 'way'?
 
#171
I recently started playing my 5 string Jackson again and have found that I use the B way more than I would use the E string. I actually prefer tuning a 4 string to D, C, or B (depending on what I'm playing) and hardly ever play in E. Don't know why.

I will say that I almost never use the G string though.
 
#173
All the time. My metal band writes music that utilizes the low notes on the B string in every song.

In my cover band I use it almost every song, even the songs that weren't originally recorded with a 5 string. It is great for playing 4th's below the fundamental i.e if playing an F or G chord in the 1st position where a 4 string player would play the 5th of the chord the 5 string or 6 string player can chose between playing a 5th above the fundamental or a 4th below.

I personally think that the bass guitar, as a member of the guitar family of instruments, was destined to have 6 strings B E A D G C.

Extended range bassist for life :bassist:
 
#174
I use it fairly often, both for low notes and for alternative neck positions. This morning I sat down to work out a song by ear -- Better than Ezra's "Like it Like That" -- and I was THRILLED. The whole bass line is rooted on an OPEN B string. I've never had a song that hit the B string open before, so that was a fun discovery.
 
#177
CapnSev said:
Constantly. The low B is not there for the really low notes for me, it is there so that I can play in E in the 5th position/not have to slack tune/drop D. In fact, I hardly use open strings anymore.
Click to expand...
+1. It's all about reducing the total left hand neck travel. I hardly ever play a low C or low B note - maybe swell one of the low notes in at the end of a tune for effect or something - but I use the B probably 80% as much as I use the other strings.
 
#178
Even though I've regained a usage and liking of playing 4-strings that I thought I'd left behind after many years of dedicated 5 & 6-string playing and am back to having 3 in my stable, I absolutely feel most "comfortable" on a 5-string... whether it be my customized Spector ReBop DLX FM & EXs (custom-wound Nordstrand Big Single pickups & Aguilar OBP-3 preamps @ 18V) or my "SuperJazz" Mike Lull Modern 4 & 5s. I've even gone back and reworked lines that I recorded during *early* studio sessions on 4-strings on my current 5s and wish I could go back and record them over, both for the extra range as well as positioning issues.

...but then again, there's one song that I was told was going to be recorded the evening before the session, never felt I had the time to get it "under my fingers" and ultimately punched a great deal of the line in that I've recently gotten to playing on a 4-string because of it's walking nature and ease-of-playing with slightly more room between strings.... although I still also practice it on 5s as I'd then have to punch in a few low Ds & Cs. So whichever tool is needed is my general feeling on the matter. :)
 
#179
I use it alot.(again for lots o reasons mentioned above)

I learned bass on a fiver.(An Ibby with narrow string spacing)so playing a 4 was tricky for me.

Then there was a time I thought it would be cool just to have a Fender P 4 string.
thats when I really noticed how much I used it. (Don't know what you got..til its gone.)


Its also funny when the guys in my band are all drop tuning to get to a certain song's tuning.
E flat?...no problem...
drop D, no prob...I'm ready to go.

Now I have 2 fivers, and 2 4 strings...BUT, one of the fours will be sold...for another 5-er


.
 

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