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Who needs five strings??!

#161
Wow, I actually have relevant experience to contribute!

I currently play in a power trio where the guit/vox plays a Les Paul baritone, so many of our songs are in B. For the last two years or so I've been playing a Fender tuned B-E-A-D. After our tax return came back, my wife insisted (God I love her!) that I get a new bass to replace the Epiphone I've had for 20 years or so. After a lot of research, mostly conducted on TB, I settled for a Yamaha TRBX-305.

Main reason I went with the fiver is because I write in standard tuning as well as in baritone tuning (I'm a huge Kyuss fan and that "stoner rock" sound) and I really want a bass that will allow me to play either without re-tuning a 4 every couple of days. Since the trio isn't my only outlet, I want to be a little versatile in what I'm able to play. For me, this includes making sure I don't have to keep re-tuning and re-tuning ad infinitum. A five string gives me the ability to play with my trio as well as play any other type of music that comes along.

YMMV, but having played both the detuned 4 and the 5, the 5 wins out for what I'm doing.
 
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#163
I like sometimes hitting any note from C up on the A string and then going straight to the B and playing the same note, just sounds cool sometimes and makes things more interesting. Roger Waters does it on i think Goodbye Cruel World, plays D on the A string and then D on the B, ....hang on.....did he have a 5 string back then already...??
 
#164
Lets add two more strings.Who needs seven?
The great thing about a seven string is:Not only can you play regular bass Link Removed

You can also play it vertically.Like a Chapman Stick!Using all the strings! Snapshot_2015308 (2).jpg
You can also strum chords high up.Or tap massive polychords.
I got this because I wanted an N/S Stick.
But an N/S Stick is $2,600.00.This was $560.00.And is one string away from a N/S Stick.
 
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#166
I have a primary bass and one backup tuned to BEAD using 65,85,105,130 string gauge and it works great. That means I have filed the nut and set up the neck and intonation for BEAD. The bass plays in tune all the way up the neck. I rarely miss the higher notes and find that I'm using much more of the fingerboard to create dynamics by jumping octaves. I do NOT play in heavy, drop tuning bands, but find that I get more use of the lower register notes than the high ones. Playing blues with a guitarist that uses drop D frequently, and a top 40 band where newer tunes include keys that make the lower range notes extremely useful. I have 5-ers, but prefer a 4 string. A huge bonus was the fact that songs in the key of E through A make the fret 5 to fret 12 area of the neck much more useful and that middle area of the neck has a great low/mid tonal spectrum.
 
#167
I have been seriously tempted by fivers twice now, but always end up with fours. I once owned a Kubicki which had the drop d capo, and I'm getting a Hipshot Xtender put on my new American P. But I always love listening to people who can really play fivers and sixers well!
 
#168
I believe 10 years from now 5 strings will be status quo. I realize this is controversial but just my experience from producers demands and how music mixing is evolving over my years as a studio player.

I don't see 4's going away by any means, but I believe 5s will be the new standard by then - at least in the world of pro touring and session playing.
 
#169
AngelCrusher said:
I believe 10 years from now 5 strings will be status quo. I realize this is controversial but just my experience from producers demands and how music mixing is evolving over my years as a studio player.

I don't see 4's going away by any means, but I believe 5s will be the new standard by then - at least in the world of pro touring and session playing.
Click to expand...

Seems like it's the standard in a lot of areas already: theater work, gospel, metal, r&b, etc...
 
#172
Right thats why I said 10 years from now. The main issue with 5s in the studio now is the overtones. But so many 7 string guitars are being tracked that everyone has figured out how to use fretwraps, so that is not a huge issue.
 
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#173
AngelCrusher said:
Totally agree. And it is. I just think it will be the new face of bass in 10 years - 4s are still how you picture a bass now.
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I think that makes sense, but so much of music is about emotion and fashion. Looking retro with a P-bass and flats is just hip right now. Even great bassists like Michael League place that limit on themselves, while if he were ten years older, I'm sure he would be on an active five with rounds.
 
#174
Dr. Cheese said:
I think that makes sense, but so much of music is about emotion and fashion. Looking retro with a P-bass and flats is just hip right now. Even great bassists like Michael League place that limit on themselves, while if he were ten years older, I'm sure he would be on an active five with rounds.
Click to expand...

Agree but thats a real limiting tone for studio playing versatility and pro gigging. Its a nice tone, but not nearly as flexible.
 
#178
an interesting experiment would be to use something like a a walking pedometer or some other sensor that would count how many times you hit each string, in this case being a six or a five even, during the course of an evenings gig, than look at the totals of how many times you used the low B or the high C strings compared to the EADand G strings, might be interesting to see the result of that experiment. I know some will say I just like to have them , OK , but how much real use do you get out of them, thats what Im saying. I am speaking to the average bass player , not you virtuoso types, just the average dude or dudette hammerin out a weekend gig down at the pub.
 
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