Layer on today I'm picking up a 6 string bass, this will be the first bass I've ever owned with more than 4 strings so I think there will be quite a big jump for me so does anyone have any tips or scales or exercises to allow !e to get used too have two extra strings
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Tips on moving from a 4 sting to 6 string
- Thread starter musicman96
- Start date
I had started a thread just like this a few months ago..now I use the 6 for my church gig and originals project, and my 4 strings for my classic rock bands...I'm not as good as I want to be on the 6 yet, but I have come pretty far....play along to songs, jam in different keys, and arrange Beatles songs for solo bass...
Try what i did when i adjusted to 7 string. If your going from 4string to 6 string buy a 4 string set of DR neons and 2 (non neon or different color neons for the low b and high c) this lets you see where the 4 strings you are used to are until you get the hang of it. For me by the time those strings were dead i went to a normal set of strings.
Another piece of advice is there is a learning curve to the switch. But you have to approach it in a positive way. A lot of people give up on ERBs before they ever actually get used to them. Stick with it and it'll become second nature in no time.
Another piece of advice is there is a learning curve to the switch. But you have to approach it in a positive way. A lot of people give up on ERBs before they ever actually get used to them. Stick with it and it'll become second nature in no time.
for left hand: run through scale fingerings and practice playing octaves, fifths, tenths. For the right hand: practice playing octaves, fifths and tenths and focus on a right hand technique that has efficient muting of the B and E string. Sympathetic vibrations can be a bitch on a 6 string.
If your technique of the right hand is sound, it would not be an issue as more strings mean more muting needed.
Take your time with it. You jave a lot of muscle memory in place and you're going to need time to adjust to 6's string spacing, unless, of course you have something in the 18-20mm range. If you do have something that wide, it's all a matter of remembering you now have a low B and a high C. Again though. Take your time and don't get discouraged.
I don't know how often you are planning on playing any chords, but I've been playing 6-string bass since '97 and I would really recommend tuning the first string, the C string, down to a B. It makes so many chord shapes so much easier (and if you've played guitar at all, it will make a lot of sense), your first string and sixth string will be the same note two octaves apart rather than a minor 9th which makes no sense harmonically speaking.
Obviously, if you aren't going to play many chords then just stick with the typical tuning. 6-string basses are great for chords, though, and open up whole new possibilities on the bass.
I did the same thing quite q while back. (I have settled on 5ers these days). What I did was laon my 4 string to a cousin of mine who was trying to figure out if he wanted to transition from guitar to bass. That forced me to play the 6 string exclusively. When it's your only bass in the house or at the gig, you will get good at it QUICK!
Yup. It's a different instrument. Key items to practice and get down:
1. Get used to wide neck. Thumb goes on back of neck.
2. Work out or look up cross-neck scales and understand how how patterns can be shifted up and down neck as well as from side to side string to string.
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3. Practice "floating thumb" string damping. Here your thumb lays across lower two or three strings for damping, higher strings damped with left hand. (5 string version is using B string for a thumbrest and 4 string version is do nothing as plucking fingers do the damping)
4. Learn some chords on high strings and high positions on neck. Note that tuning C down to B makes chords easier for guitar players but messes up the cross-neck scales! I prefer not to go with guitar tuning (even though I also play guitar) but I'm not big into bass chords.
5. Get familiar with highest range as something that might be useful for a solo.
That's about it.
