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Should I begin playing five string?

#41
JRA said:
:)

he's a fine player. at least he has that going for him. and he teaches others, so he has that. and he seems to purposely avoid offending others --- a nice quality. and my guess is that he resists making impulsive/harsh judgments about other players. another good/cool quality. i personally like that he encourages others to play.

what's not to like? :D
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I don't think I'm alone in this....

 
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#44
Hmmm, personally I don't like the advice your instructor gave you. I think more appropriate advice would've been to initially just ignore your B string and use it as a thumb rest while you're learning your fret board.

While you're getting your notes on the fret board down-cold, learn 1 (ONE) note position on the B string, for instance the note D, and incorporate it in your note-finder exercises. As you become more comfortable and can quickly identify where your D note is on your B string with no problem, then incorporate the E note.

Follow that recipe until you learn all the notes on the B string, but continue to make your focus learning the notes on the EADG strings first because that's where you'll spend the most of your time.

B string aside, what helped me a lot was starting and finishing EVERY practice session with note finder exercises. A simple and good sounding one is identifying C,F,Bb,Eb,Ab,Db,Gb,B,E,A,D,G (just remember the word "bead" and add CF before it G after it...CF"BEAD"G) .

Pluck eighth notes for C on the E string. While you're doing that, find C on the A string then transition to plucking eighth notes there. Continue that process for the D and G string. While you're plucking the C on the G string, start finding the F on your E string and continue that process until you've gone thru C,F,Bb,Eb,Ab,Db,Gb,B,E,A,D,G on all four strings. Stick with the first 12 frets first, then add the higher register notes once you're more comfortable on the first 12 frets.

Take as much time as you need to find your next note while chugging out eighth notes, but after a while, start challenging yourself by limiting the amount of time you spend on a given note on a given string. Also, start challenging yourself to make the exercise more rhythmic...it'll actually sound good. You can spice it up by throwing in fifths and octaves to make it a little more fun. You'll likely mess up a little by challenging yourself to find the notes faster, but the beautiful thing is that your ears will tell you when you're off.

Start and finish every practice session with this exercise and you should start noticing improvement with your fret board navigation. If life gets busy and you don't have time for a full "practice session", you can do this unplugged while you're watching your family's favorite television program. There are more advanced note finder exercises there, but if you choose to do this one, I recommend incorporating the B string right out of the gate. Good luck!
 
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#45
I'd say yes, get a 5. And don't worry about string spacing. At first I found narrower string spacing to be awkward, but just play the thing every day until you get used to it. I prefer narrower spacing tbh even though I play 4 and 5 now and regularly switch between the two. It's good to be versatile and to able to use different basses for different sounds/styles, etc...
 
#46
I don't see why you need to learn the fretboard completely in order to play a bass that has four extra notes when you have been playing a four string for four years without knowing that. You can play anything you want without knowing anything at all about which note is what, if you know your intervals and have a good ear. That's how I started. Eventually I learned as much as I needed to learn in order to effectively communicate with other musicians I was working with, but I played just fine without knowing that for a long time.

The pros of playing 5 are that you have more flexibility in terms of what you play and where on the neck you play it. No more open E string unless you want that sound.

The cons are that you have another string to mute, and a wider reach around the neck, and the string spacing is more narrow.

I just started playing 5 string after many years with fours and I have to say I'm not having as much fun with it as my fours. But it's a skill I needed to develop in order to play certain shows, so I am doing it. I think it will never hurt you to have that skill in your arsenal and now is as good a time as any.
 
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#47
"Should I play a 5-string?"

Do you need those extra notes? Have you exhausted and feel limited by a four-banger? When I answered "yes" to those questions, I bought a fiver. The specific reasons are completely immaterial, and what makes you happy in a general sense carries plenty of weight.

You're no less a musician if you stick to four strings, but you may be less a performer and less able to execute if what you are attempting requires that extended range.
 
#48
It isn't just about the 4 extra notes. It's about the range you have within a very small area of the neck. 2 full octaves with one tiny shift.... I really enjoy extended range Basses for this very reason. It's even better with a 6 String. Tons of range with very little effort.
 
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#51
Billy P.jpeg
I bought a five string bass in 94'. I loved it so much my beloved 4 string precision stayed in it's case under the bed until I finally just sold it. I bought the fiver on a whim because a friend had it (Tobias) for sale and needed money. I then got hooked. I was playing a lot of weddings with pickup bands and found it easier to transpose music and still keep a nice low end groove with it. so 24 years later I'm still loving the five string setup. I just picked up a Fender Squire deluxe jazz V in a pawn shop with Seymore Duncan pickups and an SKB case for $200. I'm just getting that dialed in and be using as a rehearsal and outdoor gig axe. It has a shorter scale than my Fender Roscoe Beck V which kind of makes it feel a bit awkward but other than that it has tone for days.
I say stick with your five and get used to the string spacing. You'll find a comfortable position for playing. Toy around too with your guitar strap length. Cheers.

BTW.. On a funny note. A
When I bought that first Tobias Five I took it on a gig instead of my 4 string precision after about a couple of days playing it at home. I was doing a gig with The Coasters (one of the many) on a bill with Billy Preston and BJ Thomas for a benefit. At sound check we finished our set with the Coasters and Billy comes out. He was going to do a solo set with just him and a B3. He caught us before we left the stage and says "Hey, You guys want to play my set with me?" To say the least I was a bit freaked and made it just fine with my new bass. And to top it off I had a deviated septum surgery the day before and I was still on my pain meds and had a funny looking bandage under my nose. Me on the left in the pic. Like the tape under the nose? HA HA
 
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#52
'Should I begin playing five-string?'

My usual answer #1:

Yes.

My usual answer #2:

No.

I'm often puzzled by these kinds of questions. If you want to try one, go for it. The only way you'll really know is to go hand-to-hand with the beast. If you don't like it, you can later trade it for something that suits you better.

This is not a 'rest-of-your-life' question, and more strings doesn't increase your manhood or broadcast that you're a 'sear-E-us meeyuzission'. It's just another, different axe, and if you can make advantage of the difference (for most of us it's a little easier to play across the fingerboard and key changes are a breeze) and not spend all that money to buy a few extra low notes you have to use carefully, by all means you should have one. Your fingerboard will be bigger and wider, strings cost more. But not a lot of penalty or difference.

Up to you. I play both, and think of them as different instruments approached a bit differently; smarter guys than me see it as a 'bass with an extra string'. There's so many ways to think of these things, but until you live with one for a while, you'll only be wondering. The homework you've already put in will serve you well, and believe me, there's lots of us (and I'm at the top of the list . . . .) that are still working to 'master the fingerboard', but I must admit I'd way rather play music than scales (There! I SAID it . . . . ).
 
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#54
The addition of 5 extra notes on a five-string is only one reason to play fivers. I was an old beginner and, after lurking and absorbing what I could on Talkbass for a while, I decided to ignore the advice of those who suggested starting on a four and maybe working my way up to a five-string later. I'm very glad I did that. My reasons:
- Guitars have 6-strings and even GUITARISTS don't have a problem with six of them. I figured I was smart enough to be able to handle learning my way around five. ;)
- You have more notes in a given position on the neck
- Can be easier to transpose key in real time
- I assumed I'd probably be playing covers far more often than originals, so I'd probably be transposing frequently to accomodate a singer. That turned out to be very true.
- Having more notes in one position can make sight reading easier (don't always have to read ahead as far in order to prepare for positional shifts, and you can often reduce the number of shifts you need to make).
- You have the additional notes if you want them (use them wisely!)
- Finally, you get to have some sadistic fun watching the confused looks on your guitar players faces when they try to follow your fretting hand before remembering that you play a fiver. :D

It's possible you'll get some stink eye from band mates. I've taken some crap from a couple of guitar players*, partially in fun and partially not, and have also had a band leader ask if I had a "pro level bass" that I could use (I was playing a USA made G&L L-2500 at that audition). Not to defend them, but they were all older than me and had literally never played with a bass player who played anything but fours, so I guess they didn't know what to make of my basses. Not sure what they were worried about, but apparently they decided they liked my playing enough to not make anything of it. I suspect that if you fit musically, very few people you play with will actually have a problem with the instrument you play.

I say go for it you want a five string. Same goes for a four. Or a six. And if your teacher protests, I'd find a new teacher who is concerned with helping you become a better musician and is capable of helping you use your tool of choice to become that better musician.


* After playing my Stingray 5 and Jazz 5 the first several times I played with one band, a guitar player asked me if I had a "normal" bass. I asked what that was and he said something like "You know, like, a normal bass.". He wouldn't say it but I knew what he meant so I asked "You mean a Precision?". "Yeah, a Precision!!!". "Yeah, I have a Precision. I'll bring it next time". After I brought it a couple of times he was happy and told me how great that bass sounded compared to the others. So I asked him how it looked and he was confused. Then he realized he only looked at the name on the headstock and not at the number of tuners on it. It was a Fender Precision V. :D He never complained after that, but he'd still kid me about them sometimes.

At least I think he was kidding ....
 
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#55
rashrader said:
I don't think I'm alone in this....
Click to expand...

i'm sure you're not. and i respect your opinion on the matter and don't mean to quibble with you about why you should or shouldn't like SBL videos. your knee jerk reaction at the mere mention of SBL though is sorta ironic, because the video i linked to makes many of the same suggestions that the fine people of talkbass have made here in this thread.
 
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#56
And I said:
i'm sure you're not. and i respect your opinion on the matter and don't mean to quibble with you about why you should or shouldn't like SBL videos. your knee jerk reaction at the mere mention of SBL though is sorta ironic, because the video i linked to makes many of the same suggestions that the fine people of talkbass have made here in this thread.
Click to expand...

Lol. K.
 

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