Is it "cooler" to play a 4 string bass?

[Gremson]

I just switched from a six strings back to a four string. For me, it feels like four string basses are cool, while six+ strings are telling you they're cool.
Of course it's all subjective depending on the type of music you play, and there's plenty of people that just make it work.
When I see a standard four stringer, my thoughts are "oh, that's a bass player." But when I see a six+ bassist I think either "that's a cool bass player" or "that bassist is trying pretty hard to be cool."
Fivers are just kinda in the middle of that somewhere.

 

[Gakumonman]

Of course 4 string is "cooler" Name one cool bass player that inspired you that played anything other than a four string EXCLUSIVELY. Les Claypool, Feildy? Clowns!

 

[Korladis]

Of course 4 string is "cooler" Name one cool bass player that inspired you that played anything other than a four string EXCLUSIVELY. Les Claypool, Feildy? Clowns!

Fieldy, sure, but Les Claypool is no clown (though he is funny). Also for a lot of Primus songs he uses a 4.

 

[FunkySpoo]

I've never had any comment what so ever on the type of bass I play and I've played a 5 since the late nineties. Mostly because I've always played in cover bands and the singer can't always sing in the key as written. So sometime a song's chord progression needs to go to Ed or low D or something and I really don't want to detune a 4 stringer. So a 5 work for me and to hell with anyone who doesn't like it. I can't imagine a guiturdist would care if the bass player thought his Tele isn't as cool as a Strat.

 

[Dan Knowlton]

Nope, but if the 4-string players think it is more cool...have at it!

Dan

 

[NoMoreDeathStrs]

I just think that certain genres don’t really require five strings, and those just happen to the genres that are “cool” right now. Personally, I would never consider using anything other than a four string, but that’s because I don’t think the music I play would benefit from it. Plenty of genres *do* benefit from it, but I don’t play those genres.

Anyway, “cool” is subjective, so just do your thing and use whatever tools you need to get the sound you want.

 

[Michael ONeill]

IMHO I think we've pretty much beat this mule to death !

 

[Christcr]

IMHO I think we've pretty much beat this mule to death !

 

[radiomoscow]

I can transfer everything 4-string to the 6-string.
I can not transfer everything 6-string to the 4-string.
Question: what's more versatile?

A different bass player that can transfer from a 4 string to a 6 string is more versatile.
If you're really good you can play any song on a 1 string bass.

 

[bleedingfingers]

I don’t have time to read through the bulk of this discussion right now, so I’ll just weigh in with my two cents on the matter.

I’m a 5 String player, and have been since it came time for me to get my first bass back in middle school. We had a 4 String Squire P-Bass that I got started on, but the extended range always appealed to me.

I can’t count the amount of times I have been thankful to have that extra low string. Literally every time I pick up my Steinberger 5 String. I can play up a position for a more natural blues style as opposed to relying on open strings. Mike Gordon in particular has said some very insightful things about the power of a 5 String bass.

Truth be told, if I knew what a 6 String bass was all about at a younger age I would have liked to have started my bass endeavor on one of those. But, at this point my playing has progressed on 5 Strings so much I can’t justify getting a Pro Level 6 String on my current budget.

If Steinberger made 6 Strings I would have gotten one of those.

When I think of the 4 String P Bass Snobbery, I think people are going for aesthetics, and certainly what works for them.

If you want to see cool, look at Thunder Cat. I think what he’s doing with the instrument is truly ground breaking. Most of the guys playing 4 (gotta be careful with Blanket statements), are just rehashing what has always been done.

In this day and age, guitars in general are being outmoded digital tools, and keyboard players that can do everything.

So, 5 String for me keeps me honest as a bassist. Doesn’t let me totally wank on high notes, keeps me in the bottom end. But, opens up enough alternative positions and extra low end to keep things interesting and cool.

 

[FingerDub]

We don't need any five string aristocrats over here.

Stay right there with your spec ready five strings, while I play real gigs with my 4.

 

[bleedingfingers]

I play for a living and take a 5 to my gigs .
I own a couple of nice 4s one strung with flats that I really enjoy playing .
But there are tunes we do that require a 5 and we don't use a set list so no time to switch basses our drummer calls the tunes to us through our inear monitors .
I doubt very much if anyone in the crowd unless they are bass players can tell if I'm playing a 4 string jazz or a 5 string jazz .

I also spent years playing in female fronted country bands try doing that with a four or you could just play tuned down but I don't care to mess around with alternate tunings .
There are still a ton of new country and rock tunes that have bstring parts in them .

Another original artist I play with has tunes that also require a 5 but even with a set list at shows you sometimes just don't have time to be switching instruments .
The other thing is sometimes I just don't have the stage space for another bass .

And last but not least Most sound techs (and I do this for a living as well so simmer down boys ) make what ever bass you are playing sound like a P bass strung with flats anyway .

As for cool
Cool is getting the job done and having a blast while doing it .

 

[Nunovsky]

I don't know if it's a cool thing or not, but I think it's probably a trend, like many others that come and go.
Joe Dart and Michael League both favour old school bass tone, so it's logical that they go after basses that have that tone references. Michael League is known for using some vintage p-basses and those obviously have 4 strings.
As for the other bands, I don't know them enough but I guess that the trend is about old school basses and some associate 4 strings with that.
But trends come and go and you still have genres that use 5 or 6 string basses.
In my personal experience, I used a 5 string bass from 1994 to 2015 (in fact it was my only bass until then) then I bought a 4 strings and started to use mainly these basses because they felt more confortable in the hand and the wider space stringing favoured some techniques, like slapping.
But I've always used my 5 strings bass now and then, and recently I've been using it more often. And the last bass that I bought is a 5 strings Yamaha BB.
I guess that the best is to be prepared for most situations and have diferent basses so you can present the best one for the job.

 

[chadds]

Cool is as cool does. Forrest played bass right?

 

[GroovyBassist]

I've never had any comment what so ever on the type of bass I play and I've played a 5 since the late nineties. Mostly because I've always played in cover bands and the singer can't always sing in the key as written. So sometime a song's chord progression needs to go to Ed or low D or something and I really don't want to detune a 4 stringer. So a 5 work for me and to hell with anyone who doesn't like it. I can't imagine a guiturdist would care if the bass player thought his Tele isn't as cool as a Strat.

My thought exactly. A 5 string has more versatility to cover a broader range of musical genres and gives you the ability to change keys on the fly without having to stop and re-tune or change basses. And who really gives a flip how many strings you have on your bass. Most non-musicians don't even know or care. The only ones who will really notice are other bass players.

 

[Christcr]

Interesting comments regarding what the audience does and doesn't notice. While I agree that the audience in general isn't going to notice or even know the difference if you are playing a four or five string bass... I would also make the comment that they probably won't notice, generally speaking, whether, when a D note comes along in a bass line, whether you are playing an open D or a D that is an octave lower on the B string. I can say this because I've done it for 40 years (when I haven't had a 5-string bass or have been too lazy to downtune the E string on a four) and never had anyone in the audience react in any way. And generally speaking, the rest of the band hasn't noticed either. Mind you, I'm not talking about very recognizable bass lines that hang on the B string, but lines that happen to throw a low note in once in awhile. It's not a big deal.

As for the sound man always making the bass sound like a P with flats... time to find a sound man that knows what he's doing (unless, of course, you are USING a P with flats).

I once did a few subs for a band where my bass sounded great through the in-ears, but horrible through the mains. Come to find out, the "sound man" had the bass only routed through the subs FOH with a crossover cutoff at about 80 or 100 hz. When I brought it to his attention, it became obvious that I knew more about his equipment than he did. Talk about incompetence. I ended up re-configuring/routing his entire setup for him. He had all kinds of things really screwed up on that two thousand dollar digital board--not the least of which, almost every channel's input trim was redlining and he was wondering where the distortion was coming from when he had the sliders down and it wasn't showing red/clipping on the mains meter.

On the other hand, I've done many, many shows where the bass sounded absolutely killer, FOH--and I guarantee you my Tobias or Modulus or Zon or Warwick or Stingray or J-bass or whatever I happened to be using at the time did NOT sound like a P-bass with flats. If it did on a consistent basis, I'd have given up playing bass a long time ago and taken up lap steel or something.

 

[bleedingfingers]

I don't think I said the soundman always does this .
And isn't it funny how some people on here always have to turn things into a debate.
Would also like to know how you know how your bass sounds out in a crowd of people when you are standing on stage with inears on .
Actually strike that I don't care .

 

[7615]

Which is cooler - not which is more versatile. 5 strings smack of effort- so uncool.

 

[basslicks]

All the cool kids are playing 1-string djent shovels.

 

[Basshappi]

View attachment 3050581

Oh we're not beating the mule anymore, we're swatting the flies.
Thought you knew.