Small hands and the 5 string bass.

FWIW, the Pilot has a 35" scale, which may give small-handed people problems. There are 5-string basses out there with incredibly thin 34"-scale necks--the Zon Sonus 5/1 comes to mind.

 

Go for the 6. I have tiny hands, and I play a 7 with no difficulties. It's a matter of getting used to the bass.

 

Alot of ibanez 5'ers have short string spaceing,,,,any 5'er besides the btb really....like the edb 5 and the soundgears

 

I beleive the size of your hands draw no limits in what kind of bass you play, style you play or size of it. How about a philisophical(sp?) question here:

If we link small handers to 4 strings, avg. size handers to 5's, large hands to 6's....... then shouldn't the guys who play upright/double bass have hands 3× the size of their heads?

No but seriously, I say don't let the size of your hands scare you away from your dreams goals and aspirations. GO FOR IT.

-T

 

Yeah having small hands really doesn't matter.... I Have huge hands.. but the Guitar prof. here at My college has Small hands but he is one of the best Jazz guitar players around.... hands down. Dr. L.H Dickert. the man is very good. and he plays bass very well also

 

A person with small hands (most of us) should not try to cover 4 frets in the lower positions. This is asking for hand and wrist problems. I teach my pupils to play in the double bass style, ie; 4 fingers over 3 frets, in the lower positions. 1st finger on 1st fret, 2nd finger on 2nd fret, 3rd and 4th finger on 3rd fret. The 3rd finger acts as a support for the (weak) 4th finger. I use this method up to about the 7th or 8th fret.

 

Interesting technique, Marty. I haven't heard this before, and now I'm wondering how many here play this way. I too have small hands so I'm going to see how that feels. Thanks for the comment.

Mike

 

MJB, I have small hands also, and my solution for the R-3-5-6-8 walk is to play the 3 on the same string as the root, 5 frets up. It involves a position shift, but when you shift up the 5-6-8 are all within 3 frets of each other. I taught myself to play the walk that way, and only found out a couple of years later that most people play it with the 3 on the next string. Now I can play it both ways, but in the lower positions I usually play it the way I learned.

 

I am learning that it helps to use as much "correct" technique as possible. I know correct is subjective, but things like keeping the thumb on the back of the neck and keeping fingers arched really lessen the pain for me. My arm starts to tense up if I try to play with my wrist bent and fingers flat. Is this just me? Keep posting ideas, I enjoy reading about other things I can try.

Thanks,
Lee

 

I think it's important to have a neck that fits your hands; a neck that's too thick or too thin for the size of your palm can cause a lot of pain. I have huge palms and short fingers--my palm is almost an inch longer from the heel to the middle finger than the middle finger itself--so my Dean 5-string's thin, narrow neck isn't doing the job. My next bass will have a somewhat thicker neck with a fairly round back profile.

 

mine IS over an inch bigger

my neck, at its thinnest point is about 1 inch, and the thickest, nerly 2 inches.

scary

 

I too have small hands.


BUT I HAVE HUGE FEET !!!!!!!!

 

I don't think going from a 4 to a 5 requires that much adjusting. THe B string is on top of the E string. Therefore the left hand should be able to play the E, A, D, and G, strings in the same manner as on a 4 string. The only adjustment you would have to make is when playing the B string. You would have to reach higher for the B string.

If you were to get a 6 string, or add a high C on a 5 string, I think you would have to make a much more significant adjustment because the C string would always "get in the way." You would always have to play around it. Playing the E string on a 6 would be like playing the B string on a 5.

Do you guys follow my explanation? On a 5, the B string just sits up there and if you so desire, you could choose to ignore it and use it as a thumbrest.

I've played both 4s and 5s and I found them both equally easy to play.