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when you started playing 5 string

#21
yeah i mainly remember playing my buddies 5 string stingray and feeling pretty comfy on it. im a reformed g****r player. i want a one bass does it all bass. Due to the modern dance, trip-hop ambient type stuff i play (kind of like modern jazz; dido,zero 7, frou frou type stuff) with all the keys, i figured having that low fifth string could help out with playing with the keyboard. and of course i could use a five string to play police covers still, so...

i talked to this same buddy the other night. hes a complete bass gear nerd. and has had it all. he said he would trade it all back, including his orig 70 svt, for that natural finish 5 string stingray he had. that thing did kill.

so im thinking of switching from the 4 string jazz i have to a 5 string stingray.

im still trying to figure out (and i do play them in a/b tests) which i find most versatile:stingrays, p basses or jazzes. i still dont know. but im thinking 5 string stingray may be leading the pack.
 
#22
I went from a 4 to a six string fretless. I was thinking about a 5 but then thought 'I really want a six so why stop at 5 on the way !!'

At the same time I heard Marco Mendoza on 'Screaming Blue Murder' so I ordered my Yamaha TRB 6II and then ask the guys at The Bass Centre in London (when it was in good old Wapping) to take the frets out for me... They thought I was mad, but did it anyway.

I had a five for a while but never played it, preferring my 6 and 7 string. Now I don't own one at all....
 
#23
Hey guys
I went 5 last week and am not finding it as dificult as i thought i would. mainly i think because of the great neck (i got a lakland 55-01). I even played my first gig only two days after getting it and i didnt take a back up. ok, so i made a few mistakes and did get lost once or twice but we had a laugh about it afterwards. I do feel confident that very soon ill be back up to speed.
The one thing i havent tried yet it to actually play it like a 5 string. im still playing it as though it were a 4 string most of the time. I see it as early days and i will change but for now this is the easiest way for me to learn.
Its funny though that i also went this route because one of my bands tends to play a lot of songs in D (transposed down from E).
Funny how we are dictated to by Guitarists still. i noticed a few of you have said its because your Band/guitrists tune down.
Just thinking out aloud
 
#25
dave_bass5 said:
*SNIP*
Its funny though that i also went this route because one of my bands tends to play a lot of songs in D (transposed down from E).
Funny how we are dictated to by Guitarists still. i noticed a few of you have said its because your Band/guitarists tune down.
Just thinking out aloud
Click to expand...

Yep. In my situation, at the end of the day, the song can still be enjoyable for people with just the guitarist and his vocals. So yes, I am just a supporting member to the song, but the song will live on without me so I take upon myself to take that supporting role. So the guitarist wants a Robin Trower tone, and finds it easier to sing a half step lower. Unless I'm singing all night, I'm all for either tuning down or transposing the songs on the fly. Not a problem, happy to know my role as a bassist.

To get back on topic, like others including myself, have mentioned, +1 to Fuzzbass! Playing in the G or E position on the B string feels more natural. I haven'tplayed an open note (non-fretted) for years, except for tuning of course. The low B gives me that freedom.
 
#26
One of my main reasons was that two of my bands do play the more or less the same songs but in different keys. i find it hard to transpose if it means playing the song differently, like having to go up the neck to hit a D rather than just a low E so for me i can now play the songs exactly the same and just move the position on the neck. Seems strange fretting a low E though.
plus i wanted a different sound so i killed two birds with one stone.
 
#27
I was hearing the lower notes as well. At the time I first got mine ('93), I was playing in an original band and the boys were always asking "can't you go any lower than that?". My thought was, you can always play what a 4-string can do on a 5. But you can't always play what a 5-string will do on a 4, so it seemed like a logical choice. When I got my first one, I ended up recording with it two weeks later. The adjustment wasn't as much as I expected.

Now, you have all the benefits like playing in different positions and not having to detune when you play in lower keys. I really don't like detuning. It changes the sound and feel of the bass, so I prefer to just play everything on a 5 and have the notes sound like they are supposed to sound.
 
#28
dave_bass5 said:
One of my main reasons was that two of my bands do play the more or less the same songs but in different keys. i find it hard to transpose if it means playing the song differently, like having to go up the neck to hit a D rather than just a low E so for me i can now play the songs exactly the same and just move the position on the neck. Seems strange fretting a low E though.
plus i wanted a different sound so i killed two birds with one stone.
Click to expand...

+1 Exactly! I've found myself in that exact same situation as well.
 
#29
I got my first 5-string in late 1991. It was a red Washburn Axxess Bass (XS-5, I think) and I got it because the arrangements of Dominican Merengue songs started to incorporate the lower register of the 5-string bass extensively. Simply put, you can't play in a Merengue band with a 4-string nowadays.

You can check an example Link Removed.
 
#30
biff malibu said:
why did you do it? what were your thoughts initially? i mean, take me through the process. do you feel "more prepared" or "better equipped" going into battle with 5 strings instead of 4? what type of music were you playing that made you start using a 5 stringer?
Click to expand...

I switched from 4 to 5 because I wanted to be "better equipped" and "more prepared" as you stated. But the first try was not the right one, and a few times then I went back to 4.

Now I have a 5 that has the perfect feel for me, and surprisingly I spontaneously felt "at home" on this 5. I had not had the same feeling with the previous ones.
 
#31
Alvaro Martín Gómez A. said:
I got my first 5-string in late 1991. It was a red Washburn Axxess Bass (XS-5, I think) and I got it because the arrangements of Dominican Merengue songs started to incorporate the lower register of the 5-string bass extensively. Simply put, you can't play in a Merengue band with a 4-string nowadays.

You can check an example Link Removed.
Click to expand...

Hmm... the link doesn't seem to be working. Just in case any of you are interested on hearing how a 5-string is used in a latin music context, I'm going to fix it right now. Please keep checking it.
 
#35
I strung mine (Ibanez SR305 with passive soapbars) up to have a high B to simulate a Bass VI as best as I could at the time. Since I got my OLP MM5 and MM2 I haven't really been using my Ibanez, and now that I have the MIJ P-bass I suspect I will be using it even less. I might throw a low B on it to see how I like that.
 
#36
i went to a five pretty early, maybe after a year or so of playing, i just felt that having those extra notes when i wanted them was great, i went to a six for about a year and didnt play another bass for absolutely ages, now my fodera is in teh shop i hae been playing a bit of four, and finding te wider string spacing a bit uncomfortable,

in short having a low B is real helpful and it dont take long to get usd to it either.


Dave
 
#39
the 2nd band i was in, the guitar player used a danelctro baritone guitar that had a 45 or 5 gauge low b on it...this wasnt the reason i bought my old tobias 5'er, but it sure did come in handy. i also love not havign to play in 1st position sometimes, just relax my left arm and play E scales on the 5th fret without sacrificing thos elow notes. i recently started stringign my 5 strign E-C which i like a lot, but sometime in the future im sur ei wil get back into havign a low b at my disposal.
 
#40
I just recently started playing a 5'er and I like it for the most part. I've gotten used to it pretty quickly and I am trying to go back and forth between my 4 bangers and 5'ers. (i.e. one night I'll play the 5 string and the gig the next night I'll play the 4 string) just so I can get used to switching back and forth. At first I couldn't really find many songs to use the low B string but I've started to realize I really like the fretted E and I find myself throwing in a low C or D every now and then and I love the difference of switching back and forth from teh low C to the C on the A string in a chord progression,, it spices it up a bit.
 

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