How often do you need more then 4 strings?

[groovepump]

Often enough to justify having multiple 5/6 string basses.

Same here.

 

[RyanM987]

I use the low B much more often than the G

 

[Koshchei]

Never. Ultimately, the issue has always turned out to be one of arrangement rather than musical range, so I'm down to just four bangers now. YMMV, obviously.

 

[micguy]

I do church gigs - 4 or 5 songs is a set. There may be 1 song in a set where I don't use the B string - sometimes, but most weekends I'm using it every song in one capacity or another. It isn't just there for the notes below your open e string - the low notes that are there on your E string sound bigger and fuller when played on the B string, and there are a lot of times where you can play octaves on a 5 where it wouldn't be possible on a 4 - it's a more flexible, usable instrument, not just one with a "few more notes". In certain keys on certain songs, having the extra string is a real lifesaver.

The question for me is not "when I do I need a 5?", but...."could I ever find a use for a 4?".

I found a 5 string to be so much more useful than a 4....that I donated all my 4's.

 

[micguy]

I use the low B much more often than the G

That too - I don't really use the low notes on the G string much at all. The G string is used mostly for octaves, and the occasional 5th of notes played a string or two lower - The open G and the first fret are not usable octave notes, those notes (when I play them) are played on the D string.

 

[Jogobass]

All the time. I got a five and never went back to four. Well except for a cover band which didn't require five. But beyond that it's five and I'm not going back.

 

[groooooove]

constantly.

 

[_Obra_]

Not often enough to justify owning a five string bass

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I have three basses and two are fives, but if I am using the four, I do not worry about going lower. I play Eb and lower an octave up.

 

[DaveParker39]

There was a period of time I only owned a 5-er. It was a nice bass, Warwick Corvette.

It was also the time in my life I played the least. I would be looking for reasons to go lower than a D and never finding them, instead just being annoyed that I had an extra string in my way.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

I use my low B‘s quite often. I have 7 basses. 4 of them are 5 strings.

 

[el murdoque]

I play a disturbingly large amount of songs on my P bass that don't involve the G string. Yet, 3 string basses have not caught on.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

eh, couple two tree times

 

[davio]

If we're splitting hairs, how often does one "need" more than 2? A low B adds range, note choice options, timbre options, position/comfort options, and opens up stylistic/genre possibilities that frequently elude 4 string instruments. Does one *need* it? Does one *need* a fretless/fretted/upright/1kW amp/SVT/P bass? Is a 5 string yet another effective tool to play music the way we want to? Yes.

 

[BOOG]

Just curious for those that have 5, 6 ,7 string basses how often do you actually need the extra notes that a 4 string cannot do?
I do own one five string but play it like a 4 string probably 98% of the time when I use that bass. I guess I could have probably lived without one but have it "Just in case I need it"

I hardly ever “need” the B-string but it’s nice to have. On our (cover band) current set list there are a couple of songs that the low-D note is called for but most of the time, I just use it to play lazy so I don’t have to reach ALL the way down toward the nut Definitely, I prefer playing the 4-stringers but I make myself play the 5 just to stay relatively comfortable with it.

 

[TheMartianBassist]

All the time

 

[iiipopes]

When I rejoined my party band in 2012 after having been away for more than fifteen years before that, I only had 4-string basses. It was readily apparent that in the years I was away, the band's repertoire had not only increased in number of songs, but in complexity and diversity. I started needing a 5-string more and more. I settled on one that has been my main gig bass since, with one major change: as my hands have become less flexible, I had a custom 33-inch scale neck made for it. The body and the EMG actives have stayed the same. It is the only bass I take to gigs. The old saying is true: better to have and not need, than to need and not have.

 

[Bar Band Bassman]

As with so many other aspects of life: Better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. One band I always bring a 5 as they transpose some stuff down.

BBB

 

[J Wilson]

Buying a five-string bass just to pick up B thru E-flat is a bad idea.

It's a different instrument than a four string. The neck is bigger, the fingerboard is wider, you have five strings instead of four, and it forces some change in your technique, both in incorporating an extra string, your hand getting used to that and the fingerboard width, and it mutes differently. You may need more amp. As you can see, this is a change from a four in many significant ways.

I never subscribed to looking at it as a four with an extra string (my favorite 'thumb rest'), that would short-change it in my mind. I look at it as a complete instrument, and I use the notes along the B-string when it suits what I'm doing, and the bulk of that often isn't those extra low notes, it's often above the E on the B-string. A five allows me to play more 'across' the fingerboard than a more 'vertical' (up and down) approach I'd use on a four. Fours often short-changed me in that I'd start a line HERE and play part of it, then have to shift to THERE to finish the thought. Fives allowed me to shrink the fingerboard in a way and play more across, inasmuch as I can play two octaves across the fingerboard. And playing with horns/flat keys or fickle vocalists who keep wanting to change keys, transposing is WAY easy.

It just works better for me as a whole. I never think of it as a way to get a handful of extra low notes on demand, I play the whole thing.

And frankly I've never understood the implied test of your musical manhood being tied to how many strings your bass has. I think fours will always be the standard, and that's fine. I'm just glad to find something that suits me better, and has since the late 80's.

 

[groovepump]

I own one and used it as a main for a couple of years.
Benefit for me: I appreciated that it opens up the fingerboard playing across the strings, esp. higher up on the B string.

But: I haven’t played a 5 string yet where the money notes on the E string (F up to A esp.) sound and respond as good when those same notes are played on the B string. I’m not saying there isn’t such a bass, that’s just my experience.

I remember a bass forum in bass player magazine from long ago, where some of the top bass luthiers discussed and they all agreed with the above sentiment. Something about the physics of the instrument.

But that was a long time ago.. sure it’s gotten better

I use my low B‘s quite often. I have 7 basses. 4 of them are 5 strings.

. . . and I have 6 basses. 5 of them are 5 strings