P with flats your only bass?

[SteveC]

Just curious. I sometimes think I'd like to do that, but then the band plays a tune like "Uptown Funk" and I need a 5 string with rounds?

Everyone says all you need is a P (with flats?) but sometimes that just doesn't work, right? I watch Sean Hurley talk about dumping his 5 string Lakland for a 4 string P. That's all he plays now.

Thoughts?

 

[bassist4dalord]

I exclusively play four string anyway so I would be totally fine with a P with flats as my only bass. It’s fun to buy more basses but yes, I could do it.

 

[Mushroo]

In my opinion, it is possible to play any song on a standard-tuned 4-string bass. You won't sound like an exact carbon-copy of the record, and that's okay. Looking at YouTube I can see, there are indeed players who have the skill to play "Uptown Funk" on a 4-string.

(Disclaimer that I come from a jazz/improv background, where the ability to reinterpret a tune is highly regarded.)

All that said, SO GLAD that I have more than 1 bass. Only having one, would be torture for me.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

It's easy to forget that ot everyone can afford multiple instruments.

If you only have one, play the living crap out of it regardless of what it is.

Create, express yourself and have fun.

 

[5StringBlues]

You need the right tool for the job.

Sometimes, that isn't a 4 string bass with flats.

 

[Kro]

I have other basses, but it's certainly the only one that's seen use since I picked it up.

My previous main bass was a StingRay5 with flats though, so what do I know...

 

[Luckydog]

I think a P with flats is fabulous in a recording environment, largely bc the mixing can make it poke out sufficiently, and the engineer can drop the levels of other instruments and eq everything to “play nice”. Think old Stax and most any 45 rpm record.

It is also great to play on stage, but I have much less success in a live environment being heard and EQing is less successful for me. Also, if you get in a volume war on stage playing a P with flats, I think you will very quickly get the stink eye from your bandmates, and the sound guy may just throw his hands up and take you completely out if the FOH mix. In a disciplined stage environment, you are more likely to be successful, but in my experience, volume-disciplined stage mates with awareness of and respect for other instruments’ frequency needs are like unicorns.

So, for me, I love love LOVE a P with flats...it is THE sound of bass for me...but at nearly every single gig, I am reminded why I have to bring a bass with rounds. It isn't that a P with flats can’t work in my band, it is the simple fact that there are just too many things that have to be done (some by me to be sure, but mostly by others) to make it work acceptably live.

Sean Hurley and others of his ilk have the power to command a professional level of discipline that will allow them to do their thing with P and flats, and it sounds gorgeous.

 

[buldog5151bass]

It all depends what you play and how you play it. Supposedly you need a 5 to play modern country. I did that for 6 years on a 4. Between the E string de-tuner and careful transposing parts, no one ever complained.

 

[Kro]

It isn't that a P with flats can’t work in my band, it is the simple fact that there are just too many things that have to be done (some by me to be sure, but mostly by others) to make it work acceptably live.

Not all flats sound the same either.

 

[JLubinsky-Mast]

Just curious. I sometimes think I'd like to do that, but then the band plays a tune like "Uptown Funk" and I need a 5 string with rounds?

Everyone says all you need is a P (with flats?) but sometimes that just doesn't work, right? I watch Sean Hurley talk about dumping his 5 string Lakland for a 4 string P. That's all he plays now.

Thoughts?

For obvious reasons, I haven't had one of these wedding style gigs in a while, but, I play uptown funk with an OC-2, and usually use an AVRI - 63 p bass, with Fender flats, and a D-tuner

 

[lermgalieu]

I think a P with flats is fabulous in a recording environment, largely bc the mixing can make it poke out sufficiently, and the engineer can drop the levels of other instruments and eq everything to “play nice”. Think old Stax and most any 45 rpm record.

It is also great to play on stage, but I have much less success in a live environment being heard and EQing is less successful for me. Also, if you get in a volume war on stage playing a P with flats, I think you will very quickly get the stink eye from your bandmates, and the sound guy may just throw his hands up and take you completely out if the FOH mix. In a disciplined stage environment, you are more likely to be successful, but in my experience, volume-disciplined stage mates with awareness of and respect for other instruments’ frequency needs are like unicorns.

So, for me, I love love LOVE a P with flats...it is THE sound of bass for me...but at nearly every single gig, I am reminded why I have to bring a bass with rounds. It isn't that a P with flats can’t work in my band, it is the simple fact that there are just too many things that have to be done (some by me to be sure, but mostly by others) to make it work acceptably live.

Sean Hurley and others of his ilk have the power to command a professional level of discipline that will allow them to do their thing with P and flats, and it sounds gorgeous.

Not to discount your experience, but I have played P with flats in live environments for years with zero problems like you describe. Cuts just fine, no volume wars...in fact the mid character of the P makes it cut without trying to impinge on the high frequencies being used by guitars and cymbals. For the past few years I have been using a Mesa D800 and the together the P slots into the mix nicely playing soul, rock, etc.

 

[Killing Floor]

Just want to clarify that Nobody says all you need is a P with flats. That's not a thing. It's something people say on TB. Like tort or Jaco stuff or carrots. Your drummer doesn't need only a snare, your guitarist doesn't need only a Tele without overdrive.
I think if you are a highly in-demand session player with a signature sound you should do whatever you must to maintain that sound, your Sean Hurley example. I think if you're in a band that plays multiple styles, especially poppy upbeat styles, having a singular restrictive tone might not be a good career move.

 

[Mantis Tobaggan]

Almost. P with rounds.

 

[bmusic]

I’m bass rich right now, but yeah, eventually (before I die, not wanting to saddle my family with a huge sales task) I’ll be down to one, and that one will be a P with flats.

Sometimes I think the sooner I get there, the better.

(The releasing of basses, not the death.)

 

[CallMeAl]

Almost. P with rounds.

Same here. I think I’ve had em on nearly a year now. That’s the same as flats, right?

 

[Jefenator]

I love a good passive one-pickup bass with flats; it's what I use more often than not. Not quite ready to confine myself to that, though.
Even for a slow old fart like me in the middle of a pandemic, there has been sufficient justification for keeping an active 2-pickup 5-string with rounds handy. (The pop cover band actually did two weddings last month!)
Career & client considerations aside, I just like them sometimes.
YMMV

 

[scuzzy]

If I could only have one bass, it would be a 35" scale 5 string with a 3 band active eq, with a passive switch with passive tone control. Likely J/MM pickup.

I prefer 4 strings, but when I need that low B...... Nothing else will do.

 

[alack]

My answer would be yes depending on the P bass in question. I have a 75 that has just become too heavy to gig with. Of course the bass didn’t change but rather my willingness to hold it up for 3 hours. I have a beautiful 74 that’s too nice for the bars. So I bought a nice light Squier and slapped some Chromes on it. I could play it on every gig from here on. If I didn’t have the Squier I’d probably gig one of my Jazz basses.

 

[Luckydog]

Not all flats sound the same either.

yes I agree. I think I’ve tried most flats, including the ones that are now extinct that ppl wish would return to the living world. I’ve spent several hundreds on flats alone, and still have nearly all of them, coiled up in zip lock bags. I still play flats...just rarely in a live mix...and always with thought about the other players, the venue, and the specific brand/model of flats. I’ve done a significant amount of recording of the mixes and, as a result, I can now almost always tell if flats will work for me in a particular circumstance.

 

[garp]

I subscribe to the "P with flats for your only P bass" theory. I own just one Fender Precision, and it has worn flats from Day One, and it's only because I bought it for a specific mission (covering Motown stuff). I'm fortunate enough to have a (non-Fender) P/J with rounds, and for me, that satisfies the other end of the spectrum.