The Five Fret Prison---who knew?

[u2brothr]

This meme never gets old for me.....

 

[6-3-2]

I'm mostly 3rd to 12th fret. I also routinely ignore the first five frets on the G-string. It's just more comfortable to move up the D-string for me. I keep getting strangers asking me to jam when I'm trying out basses in guitar shops, so I must be doing something right.

 

[Ellery]

Give Scott a break, he's just trying to pay the bills

 

[Sam Evans]

One day I broke free of the 5 fret prison by plucking the string while my fingers weren't on a fret, I now walk around knowing the basslines I thought were cool were merely shadows on the cave wall.

Nice Plato reference!

 

[LBS-bass]

there's no money to made above the 7th fret

There's none below it, either.

 

[MCF]

I couldn't help but chuckle at this
I tried SBL for one year but I just found all this kind of stuff really patronising. But I'm glad if it helps others, of course!

I lasted maybe three months. I completely ignore him now. I appreciate his ability and knowledge. But he's just not for me.

 

[Element Zero]

For the most part, I could easily get by with B E A and 7 frets… but I'd miss the other 2 strings and 17 ish frets.

 

[cnltb]

The Five Fret Prison

Nonsense.

 

[cxcxcx]

Give Scott a break, he's just trying to pay the bills

Rest assured- his bills are paid. Outside of uber-legends like Sting or McCartney or arena-fillers like Gene or Nikki, Scott earns more with the SBL platform than almost any famous bassist you can name. Sign of the times.

He's not doing anything different or better than any other online presenter has ever done - no wheels were reinvented. He did, however, hire marketing experts, publicists, and internet commerce specialists to position himself where he is now.

 

[Nashrakh]

There's none below it, either.

That's why the term "money zone" is so funny to me. It's delusional.

 

[Lance Bunyon]

I've watched my playing closely for approximately 40 years and I believe I'm in the 15 fret prison.
Which is why the Fender Bass V would have been perfect for me.
Until yesterdays "Squier Re-issue" thread dashed my hopes to the rocks below...

 

[TreySonagras]

Frets 1 through 5 represent food, rent, car payments, orthodontics for kids, financial security.

Frets 6 through 20 represent alcoholism, nicotine addiction, tortured artistry, divorce, poverty.

 

[Julian G]

What's a fret????

 

[BarfanyShart]

I always like Whalen Jennings' quote that "if a bass player goes above the eighth fret, he's fired." That at least gives three more frets, and gives us an alternative to prison.

 

[lunarpollen]

All I had to do was listen to the bass lines of some of my favorite popular tunes to realize that the concept of the "money zone" or "cash register" was totally fallacious and idiotic. And learning how to play the bass parts of a lot of well-known tunes and make them sound as much like the recordings as possible only reinforced this realization.

I think the whole first 5 frets = $ thing is just a dumb lie that people perpetuate in order to self-justify their laziness and lack of adventurousness, or perhaps their submissiveness under a controlling band leader.

 

[2saddleslab]

I always like Whalen Jennings' quote that "if a bass player goes above the eighth fret, he's fired." That at least gives three more frets, and gives us an alternative to prison.

That's called a halfway house.

 

[Lance Bunyon]

All I had to do was listen to the bass lines of some of my favorite popular tunes to realize that the concept of the "money zone" or "cash register" was totally fallacious and idiotic. And learning how to play the bass parts of a lot of well-known tunes and make them sound as much like the recordings as possible only reinforced this realization.

I think the whole first 5 frets = $ thing is just a dumb lie that people perpetuate in order to self-justify their laziness and lack of adventurousness, or perhaps their submissiveness under a controlling band leader.

I partially agree however...I think the 12th fret and under is a pretty good indicator of where pop music parameters fall.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

I am self-taught and I played just about everything in the first five frets early on. I would venture higher on the G string if I needed higher note, but 9th fret, A string, quick - I don't know. I used this book which taught different playing in different positions and quickly learned the notes to get out of my self-imposed 5 fret prison.

https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Jazz-Bass-Book-Gately/dp/0786646861/

 

[lunarpollen]

I partially agree however...I think the 12th fret and under is a pretty good indicator of where pop music parameters fall.

Maybe most, but not all... For example, try playing the opening notes to "Penny Lane" from the 12th fret or under! Sure, most of the main bass parts of most songs will fall at 12 and below, but I can think of a bunch of tunes with important parts of bass lines that are played above the 12th fret. And tons of songs have large portions of their bass lines played at the 12th fret and just below, so the 5th fret rule is just plain ridiculous.

 

[MultiScaleMale]

The "fret rule" is not really a rule. It's just a way to quickly say "Play something that fits the song and don't noodle". The first five frets are the "money notes". That doesn't mean that if you play frets 6 and above you won't get paid tonight. Adjust for capo and the "money notes" trope could apply to acoustic guitar and rhythm guitar as well.