I bougth my fretless 5 because i wanted it five and used that 5, so i am complitely satisfied.
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Is it "cooler" to play a 4 string bass?
- Thread starter phillipkregg
- Start date
It’s only cool if it’s the right tool for the job. I’ve experienced no bias one way or another. There is still a lot of music written today that requires a 5th string.
To answer the original question, the trend with a lot of younger players these days is to play a P-bass. Just like skinny jeans, long beards, tattoos, David Beckham style hair cuts.... 4 string Fender P bass. I network with a lot of musicians, and younger players that may have played Music Man's, Jazz basses, Ibanez's...they are all ditching them for 4 string P basses because that is what's considered "cool" these days
And 6 strings are enough for Anthony Jackson. You're not understanding that being cool isn't about the number of strings. It's about what you play and how you behave.
If he was here today Jaco would shake his head at such comments.
Please...Not that tripe again !
Ah yes ... and who are you the advocate of the national association of 5 and 6 strings bass players? For you Anthony Jackson is cool ? Well ... if you are happy I’m happy too ...
as a guitar player, turned 5 string bass player, turned 4 string passive bass player
so much this is the answer
who gives a crap
play what you like
Often three strings are enough for Tony Levin.
As far as what SHOULD be "cool," or should dictate what you play - play what you like, and chasing what other people think is cool, generally is not cool.
Still, as an observation of our current culture and fashion - yes.
Here's my take on it: retro is in, at least as far as popular music played on instruments goes. We're not quite back to the folk music wave of the early 60s, but along with the faux-lumberjack look there's a definite interest in music that at least SEEMS a little more acoustic and rustic. Five- and more-stringed basses "read" to an audience, still, as novelty and innovation (if they notice at all) and sparkly new things. But hip hop, electronica, and protools have taken sparkly new things into territory way beyond anywhere a stringed instrument can follow. An electric violin was the coolest thing ever in the 80s but seems quaint now. Somewhere between Keith Richards' and Kurt Cobain's legacies the culture moved away from shiny pointy space-age instruments and put its preference on old beat-up relics, and for bass that means keeping it to four strings.
Still, as an observation of our current culture and fashion - yes.
Here's my take on it: retro is in, at least as far as popular music played on instruments goes. We're not quite back to the folk music wave of the early 60s, but along with the faux-lumberjack look there's a definite interest in music that at least SEEMS a little more acoustic and rustic. Five- and more-stringed basses "read" to an audience, still, as novelty and innovation (if they notice at all) and sparkly new things. But hip hop, electronica, and protools have taken sparkly new things into territory way beyond anywhere a stringed instrument can follow. An electric violin was the coolest thing ever in the 80s but seems quaint now. Somewhere between Keith Richards' and Kurt Cobain's legacies the culture moved away from shiny pointy space-age instruments and put its preference on old beat-up relics, and for bass that means keeping it to four strings.
FWIW I've had that happen in the past. Granted, it had to do with genre; in about 2000 I bought a Dingwall 5 and, being a new toy, I had to use it on the gig and was playing with a blues band. At the end of the night, the BL said "that bass sounds really good. Still, if you don't mind, if you could bring your P-bass next time, I think it's a better fit." It was said with respect and as a suggestion - not as an ultimatum - but I did take his point and I do tend to now think of what bass might best fit the particular gig both in terms of sound and image (if that's a consideration - I know that might sound superficial to some - much the same could be said for clothes based on what kind of gig).
It has always been cool, but not necessarily “cooler”. I play a 4 and a 5 and to master both string configurations is probably the coolest.
If one day a Fender Precision with flats became the only available option out there for bass, I would switch to a different instrument...
While I've noticed the trend you've pointed out, I for one, will continue to march to the beat of my own drummer. Scratch that, he was fired last week. so I'll just stomp my feet.
Seriously though, my advice would be to stop worrying about what other people think. It's a message I've been trying to drill into my children's heads for years...
While I've noticed the trend you've pointed out, I for one, will continue to march to the beat of my own drummer. Scratch that, he was fired last week. so I'll just stomp my feet.
Seriously though, my advice would be to stop worrying about what other people think. It's a message I've been trying to drill into my children's heads for years...
You're stealthily un-cool!
One hipster to another: "Yee, he plays a 4-string. Lit! Oh, wait, he just hit a '5-string' note. Wack."
Pffft, Mark Sandman only needed two strings!
