Six string stigma?

[Garret Graves]

I get the occasional snide remark, but I always bring either a 4 or 5 with me too, as a back up or alternate bass to play. In many music circles it's welcome, in some, it's not. Strictly speaking, you are the bands resident 'bass expert'- you spend time learning your parts, you have studied bass lines of various types and styles for years, practiced techniques, picked apart and analyzed bass tone production and how it blends or sticks out and really care about the craft. Then someone takes all your hard work and basically tells you with a snide comment that your choice of instrument is bad? They should, in theory trust that your instrument choice is going to be great.

 

[ixlramp]

I was blessed in my early career (89-90) to study under Steve Bailey. I specifically wanted to study the six string with him, as the instrument was still in its infancy. This led to me buying my first professional bass, a Modulus Quantum 6. I played that bass exclusively for over twenty years. It was my voice, before I traded it for a sweet 70 fretless P.

Wow, that sounds like it was a big mistake to no longer have a 6.

Does a stigma still exist against six string basses?

Yes but who cares? =) Even more reason to own one and weed out the narrow-minded.

 

[JimmyM]

Yeah, Felix does. I think he has two sons who play bass.

Felix does. His brother Julian is apparently a drummer, though, but they have a cousin named David who lives in Cocoa Beach and plays bass with Pat Travers and just did a summer tour with Carl Palmer.

 

[JimmyM]

Truth is that while there is a stigma in some circles, in most circles nobody cares as long as you play well and cop a sound that works for the band. Even Prince, who was notorious for wanting his bassists to play 4 's and telling them "Larry Graham only needed 4 strings," let Andrew Gouche get away with a 6 when Andrew told him, "Well this bass has those strings on it, too."

I'm in a band now where there definitely IS an ERB stigma. That suits me fine, though, since I greatly prefer 4's. But in the band I was in before that, they didn't care, and the oldies band before that I replaced a 6-string player and I could pretty much bring anything. That was the only good thing about that band other than us being pretty tight.

 

[RodneyMac]

I play Pavel 6ers...an Aryel and a Gibor - both custom 6 string neck thru. Sometimes I get the "Geez! How wide is that neck??" but mostly they shut up once they hear what it sounds like.