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i just can't play a damn 4-string...

#24
PlanetEarth said:
You're my hero man!!!! :bassist: :bassist: :bassist: :bassist:

-PE
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Pete's an honest but not so wise kinda guy. Gets wasted and looks for hot chicks?

Meanwhile his wife meticulously plans to take his beloved Roscoes and Beat the snot outta him with them.

Not only does he end up with a knotted noggin, his Roscoes end up dented and dinged which REALLY makes him cry.

Hell hath no fury like a Roscoeheads wife.:help:

:bawl:

:D

God Bless, Ray
 
#25
Freddels said:
Obviously, you don't play jazz gigs. :D
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Actually Fred, I now am in a jazz trio that has gigs. I was, obviously, joking about the wasted thingie.

I do "look" for hot chicks, but they could care less about me. It's usually the guitarist who gets the glances.
I'm happily married anyhow.

In the jazz trio- we are just background usually, which I like too. Never many hot chicks at the local museum of natural history functions - mostly "earthy types", if ya know what I mean (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) :p
 
#26
4-string basses just don't feel right to me when I play them. Learned on a 4 and played in my first band on a 4, but after playing for a couple of years I bought a five on a whim and it just felt right. Right heft, right weight, right neck... just flat-out right. I've picked up a couple of really nice 4's (both from Greg, actually :)), but ultimately they just never got played and I sold them.
 
#28
I haven't really even bothered to mess with 4 strings in a long time, because, frankly, I don't have any need to. I'm completely "at home" on 5's and 6's. And a lot of our music has me making use of my low B string in one way or another.
 
#30
FWIW, and Todd and I chatted about this offline... I'm generally very comfortable on a four, five, or six-string bass. Number of strings, scale, spacing, and for the most part, weight - I don't want to say they're irrelevant, but if I dig a bass, I can almost always adjust. To me, and even more so as I get older and make halfhearted attempts at maturing, it's all about the sound. Hard lesson learned, with much experimentation - and expense - along the way.

That said, you guys know me. I'm a total hypocrite. I've got a four-string bass that sounds THIS good. It's my main practice bass, and I just love it. Know how many gigs it's been on? Two. And on one I had a complete brain fart, starting a tune in Bb instead of F. Ain't easy being me. :D

I too am just addicted to the low B, and much of the music I get hired to play calls for it. However, I still long for the perfect gig where I can rock the four-string. And I have to tell you, I've played two four-string basses recently that would be very difficult to pass up on purchasing if I had the slightest justification in doing so. At least my heart is in the right place. :)
 
#31
nostatic said:
I think of it this way - a 5-string gives me 4 extra notes no matter where I am on the neck. So I can likely cover chord changes with little or no movement of my left hand. That and the ability to play a lower 5th (either regular note or ghost) in E through A.

Certainly multiple ways to approach the instrument. I prefer vertical to horizontal.
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Interesting point. I played vertically for the first 19 or so years, exclusively on 6 string basses from '92 to '07. I sold all my 6ers and bought my first 5er (avatar pic) in '07. Anyways, something happened about 3 years ago. Maybe it was a certain bass' tone or my ear finally got a message to my brain and hands, but I realized that I prefer the fatness of higher notes played on lower strings. In other words, you won't often see me using my D and G strings frets 1-5 (except for slap). If I can, I'll be up in the 5-12 fret area. So, I guess I play a mix: vertically on the B,E, & A until I need some higher notes, then I'll move horizontally into my favorite 5-12 region. And a B comes in handy in that position! As for confusing.... DADG tuning messes with me much more than switching from 4s to 5s or vice versa!
 
#32
Bipslapper said:
Actually Fred, I now am in a jazz trio that has gigs. I was, obviously, joking about the wasted thingie.

I do "look" for hot chicks, but they could care less about me. It's usually the guitarist who gets the glances.
I'm happily married anyhow.

In the jazz trio- we are just background usually, which I like too. Never many hot chicks at the local museum of natural history functions - mostly "earthy types", if ya know what I mean (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) :p
Click to expand...

Yeah, hot chicks at jazz gigs are like unicorns . . . sure they might exist but it's a rare sighting. :D
 
#33
Freddels said:
Yeah, hot chicks at jazz gigs are like unicorns . . . sure they might exist but it's a rare sighting. :D
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You guys need to just get attractive singers in your jazz band. They invariably have hot friends that come to the show :D

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#34
JEDI BASS said:
Interesting point. I played vertically for the first 19 or so years, exclusively on 6 string basses from '92 to '07. I sold all my 6ers and bought my first 5er (avatar pic) in '07. Anyways, something happened about 3 years ago. Maybe it was a certain bass' tone or my ear finally got a message to my brain and hands, but I realized that I prefer the fatness of higher notes played on lower strings. In other words, you won't often see me using my D and G strings frets 1-5 (except for slap). If I can, I'll be up in the 5-12 fret area. So, I guess I play a mix: vertically on the B,E, & A until I need some higher notes, then I'll move horizontally into my favorite 5-12 region. And a B comes in handy in that position! As for confusing.... DADG tuning messes with me much more than switching from 4s to 5s or vice versa!
Click to expand...

Fwiw, I don't venture down to frets 1-5 that much unless I want a very punchy sound on the lower notes. One reason I love the Roscoe is that I can play E on the B-string at the 5th fret and it sounds great. Not the same as an open E, but it is a great tone. Similarly, I grab low F on the B-string way more than on the E string.

Not sure if it is poor technique, too much computer work, or decades of accumulated sports injuries etc, but my hands/wrists/elbows are sensitive to overuse. This is one reason that ergos are a big deal to me - there are some instruments that just flat out hurt to play. I'm not crazy about the reach to the nut that 35" scale gives you, but the payback, at least with the Roscoe, is that the B-string is usable all the way up the neck. So I don't have to stretch to the nut all the time.

I actually picked up a short scale (RA Mouse) thinking that it would be easy on the hands. And it was - very short reach to the nut. But it also doesn't have extended fingerboard up the neck and I want it all. So playing the Roscoe often 5th fret and above gives me a short scale feel with extended range on both ends when I want it. That's evolved into my compromise setup to deal with physical limitations.

Or I'm just whack...
 

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