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Who made the permanent switch to 5 Strings?
- Thread starter tonymcbony
- Start date
I converted to skinny neck 5s when I started playing for church, years ago. It was originally an Ibanez, but that was too tight much as I wanted to like it. I am now pretty exclusive with my Schecters. The neck is still pretty skinny, but that nice flat radius is just perfect for me. I have a 5th string on a 24 fret 8.5 lb bass. How cool is that? I do have one 4...
I'm still most comfortable on a 4 but have been practicing exclusively on a 5 for the last few months. I will likely keep the pair of 4s I have (an Epi T-bird pro and an L2K that I have both fretted and fretless necks for) but can't see myself purchasing anything but 5ers going forward.
Got set list #1 from my new band... woot! Everything on there was perfect for a 4 string! Even the one drop d song on there plays better on a 4 in drop d vs a 5er. Got my 4’s ready and focused just on them. Had a blast! Then I got set lists #2 and #3. Also changed the key for a few songs. Back to my 5’s and still having a blast. I just don’t want to switch from a 4 to a 5 in the middle of a gig- so it’s all 5’s for now. But *someday* those 4’s will be perfect for something, so they are keepers!
Spent my first 7 years on 4 strings...then the next 3 years on 5’ers...then a number of years on both...then mostly 4’s with the occasional 5’s ever since...
If you like your fours don't sell them.
I go through periods of where I'll play nothing but five strings, fretless, and then rotate back to four string basses. I like how they make me think differently about the fretboard, and it stimulates creativity imo. These days I mix them all up, depending on my mood (and how fresh the strings are). I started practicing tonight on my fretted RW strung p bass, moved on to another p bass with flats, and finished up on my five string jazz.
Lately I've been playing four string precisions due to a certain project I'm working up, but the five string basses are never too far away.
I go through periods of where I'll play nothing but five strings, fretless, and then rotate back to four string basses. I like how they make me think differently about the fretboard, and it stimulates creativity imo. These days I mix them all up, depending on my mood (and how fresh the strings are). I started practicing tonight on my fretted RW strung p bass, moved on to another p bass with flats, and finished up on my five string jazz.
Lately I've been playing four string precisions due to a certain project I'm working up, but the five string basses are never too far away.
I made a "permanent" switch to 5-string in about 1987. Well... okay, I thought it was permanent at the time. Couple of years later, I was on 4-string again. Since then, I've bounced around at bit between 4, 5, and 6. For awhile starting about 1992, I thought I had permanently switched to a 6 and 6 fretless. That lasted a year or so until my band "broke up" (aka I got quasi-fired but they didn't want to tell me). Later I learned that it was because the main cat wanted a bassist who would just go boom, boom, boom (yeah, well, couldn't I go boom, boom, boom on a 6-string fretless?). I took it to mean that I'd better start playing "traditional bass" again if I wanted gigs playing traditional bar band type music--and I'd damn well better do it on a P-bass or risk another "band break up." So, back to 4 string--except for I rebelled against the P-bass brigade and got a Jazz. 
.
Since, I've had a 5-string or two or three or four or five, and a 12-string twice, but for the most part it has been back to the good old 4-string. At this point, I'd simply have no use or call for a 5 or 6 string. Nothing against them, but they just don't turn my crank these days. I guess I've decided to simply go "boom, boom, boom."
Well... wait a minute... I do have four six strings right now. But they are three flamenco guitars and a steel string. Three Flamenco Guitars and a Steel String--sounds like a cheap B-movie title.
.Since, I've had a 5-string or two or three or four or five, and a 12-string twice, but for the most part it has been back to the good old 4-string. At this point, I'd simply have no use or call for a 5 or 6 string. Nothing against them, but they just don't turn my crank these days. I guess I've decided to simply go "boom, boom, boom."
Well... wait a minute... I do have four six strings right now. But they are three flamenco guitars and a steel string. Three Flamenco Guitars and a Steel String--sounds like a cheap B-movie title.
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Not really. Since my 5-string cost a couple of Clevelands, and my 4-string is a couple of Franklins, I take the 4-string on adverse weather days. It's been raining here a lot.
madbass6
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- Jan 13, 2009
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Don't sell your 4!
especially if you like it , you'll regret it!
Nothing's permanent (everything's on loan here, even your wife and kids), but I sure like playing 5. I got one about a year ago after 30+ years of 4 string, and it's been my number one from the day I got it.
It makes you see the circle of fifths differently when you can play three keys across five strings in one position anywhere on the neck. (That's more valuable than the B0-Eb1 range extension in my book).
But I wouldn't sell my 4. In fact, I just picked up another. You can play almost all the same notes on a 4-string... you're only missing 5 notes.
It makes you see the circle of fifths differently when you can play three keys across five strings in one position anywhere on the neck. (That's more valuable than the B0-Eb1 range extension in my book).
But I wouldn't sell my 4. In fact, I just picked up another. You can play almost all the same notes on a 4-string... you're only missing 5 notes.
- Aug 21, 2003
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Never played a 5. Never owned a 5.
I'll be that guy
All the great songs were written and played on a four string.....
I think if you play bass and stick with it, you'll have 4-, 5-, and 6-strings lying about.
Only reason I've got a 4-string initially was because the dang than just looked at me...
fiddled around with it in a pawn shop because I liked how it looked...and was
totally AMAZED at how good it sounded!! Fricking $80 craptastic Vietnamese bass...
and it sounds better than a lot of much more expensive ones. Setup is Everything.
Hell, I'm even afraid to change the strings for fear I'd screw up the SOUND!!
My Schecter Stiletto 5 I'm always messing with...looking for the golden trick pony...
it'll sound good one day, freaking odd the next...depends on what I stick on it.
Only reason I've got a 4-string initially was because the dang than just looked at me...
fiddled around with it in a pawn shop because I liked how it looked...and was
totally AMAZED at how good it sounded!! Fricking $80 craptastic Vietnamese bass...
and it sounds better than a lot of much more expensive ones. Setup is Everything.
Hell, I'm even afraid to change the strings for fear I'd screw up the SOUND!!
My Schecter Stiletto 5 I'm always messing with...looking for the golden trick pony...
it'll sound good one day, freaking odd the next...depends on what I stick on it.
I switched to 5-string nine years ago and haven't looked back. Kept my last 4-string around until I needed a new set of golf clubs. I've been thinking about a 4 again lately for no good reason, because I cannot go back. As some famous player once said, it would be like taking off a finger.
