• 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.

How many years (if any) did you play 4 strings before buying a 5 string?

#101
14 years on a 4-string Fender Jazz bass (and early on my starter was a cheap Squier P).

1 year with a 5-stringer. I sold it.

2 more years with four stringers.

Now I use a 4-string tuned BEAD for lower tuned stuff. It works better for me for some reason. That's probably only because I don't play live at the moment. We're a studio band for the foreseeable future.

I can switch basses rather than needing to keep the same one for a whole set. Also, my guitarist will start filling up any space I leave in the mix making it hard to use the whole dynamic range of a 5-string bass at once. It's just easier to stick to the low-tuned stuff in BEAD, or to use a standard bass for the melodic/slap stuff in standard tuning.

I probably should tell my guitarist to back off, and buy a 5-string again just to force myself to use the whole dynamic range. My band situation is making 5-string basses redundant right now though.
 
Last edited:
#103
Antisyzygy, sounds like your guitarist needs a Gibbs slap-- they all do now and then. lol

I started playing bass in Nov 1966-- saw my first Fender Five (the old one with the weird long body, tuned E-A-D-G-C) in the hands of Mongo Santamaria's bassist and immediately thought "what if it went down" but fetched up against the lack of strings. In 1989 a guy I know got an Ibanez active 5, and I knew then I had to have one, but couldn't swing it until 2000, when I found a white American Std Jazz V at the local GC, a two year old model that had been hanging on the wall forever-- got it half price ($620) and have not looked back. Still play the Fours though, some of them just have a tone--
 
#105
My older brother was in a band in 1965 and were starting to be successful in Connecticut with a record. His band traveled to Manny's Music in NYC to get new band gear. The bass player in his band bought a new Gibson EBO and the latest and greatest bass amp on the market, a Kustom 200 bass amp with 2-15's. I was 14 and my brother fronted me the cash ($375) to buy his old rig-a Fender Jazz bass non stack knob and a Fender Bassman piggyback amp with 2-12's. I got a paper route and paid him back in a year and a half. I used the Jazz until 1970 when a sales guy/bass player at a local music store told me about Jaco and I should take pliers and rip out the frets. Being 18 and in awe with this guy, I did that and realized I had wrecked my bass. After that disaster, I primarily played P basses and in 1974 picked up a 1973 used P bass for $150 clear heavy ash body maple neck and was my primary bass for many years. Had a friend who had a Stingray and it amazed me when I tried it. In 2005, I bought my first Stingray 5 string and like these basses a lot. Presently I own 2 as well as a P bass.
 
#109
I started playing bass in 1977. When mainstream pop music (pop/rock/country) started using a low B in hit songs, and I decided a fiver would be more convenient than a D-tuner, that's when I bought my first el-cheapo Rogue 5. It was horrible, but I got with string 5 pretty quickly and moved up to something a LOT nicer.
 
#110
Bassheart365 said:
I finally bought a 5 string bass in 2014 - after playing 4 string basses exclusively since 1977 - that's 37 years! Still trying to break old muscle memory habits but it's getting better...
Click to expand...
Started on 4 in 1974, converted to 5 in Oct 2012. No turning back,.... I play Contemporary Christian and the low register B C and D's can be so supportive to a Praise and Worship setting. What I really love is the conservation of scalar motion,... I have one each Fender P5 and a J5 and and Musicman SR5, my one 4 string, my 1st big boy bass, 1977 Precision, defretted with an added Bridge humbucker,... The SR5 that I jus picked up in 2015 is tighter spacing then the Fender 5's. Took some getting used to. I've not had opportune to play the fretless at church but woodshed on it at least once every week. I think I've got things sonically spanned,... :)
 
Last edited:
#114
I started on a 4 string in '74 (I played guitar for 2 years before that). Added a 5 string in '94. So, twenty years, to answer your question. I had a few more 5 strings, fretted and fretless and now I'm back to 4 strings only. I am adding a drop D Extender to my Ibanez 4 this week, but I have given up on 5 strings. That bottom string on the 5 just never sounds or feels right to me. I like a thin neck, too. Now, I get the real low stuff from my bass pedals. I've always liked a low Moog sound for big bottom.
 
#119
Just about a year. Tried 4s again about a decade later for a few months- they're really fun, but there's always something missing with them. Didn't stick. 5s and 6s are where it's at.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back