Who made the permanent switch to 5 Strings?

[jimiwhite]

Interesting, most of my bass heroes play a 4 string. I won’t list them all, but, Jaco, jack Bruce, JP Jones, PaulMc, Jamerson, Marcus Miller, Billy Sheehen. The list is endless. I bought a Kiloton 5 recently and discovered i can’t play any better on a 5. I like having options of position on the 5, other than that 4 it is.

 

[Danm900]

I play 5's. To me it is the configuration that makes the most sense. If/when I switch back to 4 I run the risk of making unforced errors. I like going low to the D with no effort, and prefer the wider necks. I have seven 5-string basses currently.

 

[Fuzzbass]

Just got myself my first 5 string and after a few weeks of acclimatisation and technique overhaul I am loving it.

I’m loving it so much I’m seriously considering selling my 4’s and going with 5 strings - anyone done the big change over? Any regrets?

I played four string for 20+ years. Had detuners on pretty much all of them... but while they make low D (or whatever) easy, sometimes I needed different low notes. I became curious about 5-string back in the 90s, but didn't buy one until Y2K.

Long story short: took me a couple of months to get gig-ready on five, but once I did I realized that five string was Just Right for me. I don't have particularly large hands, so four still had a slight edge in comfort... but musically speaking, five string allowed me to become a much better musician*. It's not just the low notes -- it gives me more range in any position on the fretboard; I use the low B above the 5th fret more than I do below. Within 5 years I sold all my fours and now play five exclusively (though I don't recommend that anyone else do this).

NOTE: I said I became a better musician on 5 string. I am NOT saying that 5 string is better than 4. Point is, each of us has to make that decision. FOR ME, 5 string is best. Better than 4 or fewer, better than 6 or more. It's my Goldilocks number.

 

[ryco]

I use both; four and five stringers.
Have more 4 strings and use more often, but love the 5er, too!
Draw the line at 5!

 

[zon5string]

I love my 5er. It is my "main" bass, but it is the only 5 string I own. The other six are 4 strings. No issues switching back and forth. The only switching issue I encounter is going from long scale to short. All my basses, except one, are long scale. When I play the shorty, I frequently "overshoot" and play sharp (further up the neck) than I mean to.

 

[crabfunk]

I owned a very nice Yamaha 5-string for the better part of 20 years, but I didn't require the low B string often enough to use it as much I probably should have. So I sold it a few years ago, haven't missed it, and now I only own a few 4-string basses; I still have plenty to learn on a 4.

 

[T-MOST]

15 years ago. I still have my first 4 string P.

 

[ChrisWright]

Just got myself my first 5 string and after a few weeks of acclimatisation and technique overhaul I am loving it.

I’m loving it so much I’m seriously considering selling my 4’s and going with 5 strings - anyone done the big change over? Any regrets?

I did the big changeover, but didn’t sell any of my four strings. Then, about 10 years later, I went back to four string – worked out better for what I was doing, and sold nearly all of my fives.

 

[7615]

I switched back to playing mostly 4 strings incidentally as part of returning to my P bass. The simplicity gives me peace of mind. 5 strings tend to have more strings. Which I do like. But they also tend to be active and have more than 1 pickup, which is distracting. I'm happy now keeping my bass simple and constant, and I'm finding pedals to be a more rewarding outlet for knob twiddling nonsense. A P with an octave pedal is scrappier and more exciting than a sensible 5 string, and it's even a bit fashionable at the moment.

5 strings tend to have more strings. --- yes but not always!!!

 

[SteveC]

15 years ago. I still have my first 4 string P.

I so wish this was my history. I had fun and learned a lot trying dozens of basses, but I spent a lot of money and used a lot of time doing so. I wonder how much better a player I'd be if I just had "sucked it up" and dealt with my first. The first bass was a Hondo P bass so not the best. Cheap basses weren't a good 40 years ago as they are now. First good bass would have probably been a white 74 Rickenbacker.

 

[T-MOST]

I so wish this was my history. I had fun and learned a lot trying dozens of basses, but I spent a lot of money and used a lot of time doing so. I wonder how much better a player I'd be if I just had "sucked it up" and dealt with my first. The first bass was a Hondo P bass so not the best. Cheap basses weren't a good 40 years ago as they are now. First good bass would have probably been a white 74 Rickenbacker.

I will admit that did it (at first) bc it was the new trend and it looked cool. But I soon found that certain genres I played (R&B, Gospel and Smooth Jazz) were writing music in lower keys. I just got used to it and never turned back.

 

[bigtone23]

I'm not a permanent switch, but I love 5s and if I had to pare it down, it would be a 5.

 

[BoydG]

I haven't sold off any of my 4s, but I can't imagine ever buying another one. The closest I've gotten to doing that is my recent purchase of a Dean Rhapsody 12, which is really just a 4-string, three times over. I probably would prefer a Rhapsody 10, but they're much harder to find than a 12 for some reason.

At any rate, I much, much, *much* prefer playing a 5, and haven't played a 4 (other than my acoustic) in years.

 

[SteveC]

I will admit that did it (at first) bc it was the new trend and it looked cool. But I soon found that certain genres I played (R&B, Gospel and Smooth Jazz) were writing music in lower keys. I just got used to it and never turned back.

For sure. I was a fairly early adopter of the 5 string - around here anyway. I also used to play (not so much any more as there's no market, venue, demand or players) Yellowjackets and stuff like that where a 5 - or 6 - string was useful. Now, we've kind of given up on doing anything different and exciting so it's back to the usual covers. A 5 is nice for a couple tunes we do, but other than Uptown Funk, I can play a 4 for all I do - cover band and church. I almost always play with a keyboard player so he can cover the "octave down on the last note" kind of things just fine.

 

[jltray]

I do own a 5-string and play it from time to time, but mainly play my Spector Rebop 4 string, love me some Spector. We have such a wide range of song that I use a drop pedal and allows us to quickly move from song to song.

 

[7615]

Interesting, most of my bass heroes play a 4 string. I won’t list them all, but, Jaco, jack Bruce, JP Jones, PaulMc, Jamerson, Marcus Miller, Billy Sheehen. The list is endless. I bought a Kiloton 5 recently and discovered i can’t play any better on a 5. I like having options of position on the 5, other than that 4 it is.

And if they moved to 5ers they would probably put on a high C - especially Jaco.

 

[T-MOST]

For sure. I was a fairly early adopter of the 5 string - around here anyway. I also used to play (not so much any more as there's no market, venue, demand or players) Yellowjackets and stuff like that where a 5 - or 6 - string was useful. Now, we've kind of given up on doing anything different and exciting so it's back to the usual covers. A 5 is nice for a couple tunes we do, but other than Uptown Funk, I can play a 4 for all I do - cover band and church. I almost always play with a keyboard player so he can cover the "octave down on the last note" kind of things just fine.

I’ve been thinking of getting a 4 string bass. My next purchase will likely b a 4 string Jazz bass.

 

[Leonid Nidis]

I got a jazz 5 for 2 months.Had a realy hard time with the extra string,lots of mistakes.now its growing on me,makes you use notes you wouldnt on a 4 cos they are close by.
It also helps with transposition.

 

[SteveC]

I’ve been thinking of getting a 4 string bass. My next purchase will likely b a 4 string Jazz bass.

I have a cheap 4 string jazz bass but I think part of the reason I don't play it is the pickups. Unfortunately, the wholes and screw holes are just off of normal so replacement is tough without routing and that gets to be more work than the bass is worth. I used to play jazz basses a lot, but I find myself trying to make my Roscoe sound like a P bass lately so I think I'd go P for my next experiment.

 

[Jonathan Couper]

Started learning on a cheap (but surprisingly good) 4. But I've always wanted to play a wide range of music including Jazz and jam/improv, and so my second bass was a 5-string. So was my third, fourth, sixth, and seventh. (Fifth was a 6-string, the 4 is long-gone and I never bought another.)

My Reasons for not owning a 4:

* I want to play a wide range of music. A 5+ is essential for Jazz (IMHO) because of Bb and Eb instruments that heavily favor Eb.
* I want to play with multiple vocalists and give them a free choice of key. This means I never want to learn a song based on open strings, I'd rather play up a few frets and down one string.
* I want to play improv/jam and do pick-up Jazz work. That means working off chord charts. It's easier to work the chord shapes if you can stay away from the open strings.
* I have small hands and I like working a little further up the strings.
* I like having the option to use the tone of the higher frets on the lower strings.

And the big one. In my mind, there's no reason NOT to have that 5th string on standby. That extra string does not get in the way. You don't have to reach over the B at all. You can completely ignore it when you don't need it. And when you do want it, bam, there it is. It's like carrying a spare tyre, or some spare cash while travelling overseas, or having a mistress.

Note 1: The same is not true of the 6-string. That top C does get in the way of normal business, you have to reach over it. But the 5 is a free, bonus string and I'll take it every time.

Note 2: Swapping between 5 and 4 is mentally demanding, so I just avoid it by not doing it.