Do you pretty much HAVE to play 5-string now a-days?

[Dr Stankface]

I think the 4 string will always be the industry standard for bass guitar. Me, personally, love a good 4 string. Will probably own one soon. Although, the 5 string just works for alot of us. I'm a relatively small guy but nothing feels better than a 5 string to me. Many many of the greats play 4 strings and there ain't a damn thing wrong with that.

 

[SharonG]

I've been dying to give a five stringer a good try. The Bongo 5er I bought for my son sounds great, and he plays it beautifully, but it tears my left hand up. (I'm on the small side). I just love the things I can do with different hand positions with the fiver, though. Still wating for the Sterling 5 string - I'm thinking the slightly narrower neck might just do the trick....

That being said, it's really only some of the newer country covers we do that call for the loewr notes, and even there a little creativity works fine. For standards, the four strings are golden.

 

[RitchieDarling]

Real men play 4 string basses....

How did I end up in there?

Ritchie

 

[spencer]

Still wating for the Sterling 5 string - I'm thinking the slightly narrower neck might just do the trick....

The Sterling was made to be like a SR5 but with 4 stings. Ever tried a stingray 5?

 

[SquidLizard]

I started on a four but very quickly changed to a five, which I played for quite a long time. Then I played both for a while and lately have been 100% on fours. Until the last month or two. Now I've picked up one of my fivers and have been playing it some.

I play in a classic rock band, we also do some R&B tunes and reggae. The four works fine but what adouglas says is absolutely true -- transposing easily was the first thing I noticed. It's a lot of fun. It's also fun to go to the B string when I want a deeper tone for some songs.

I had less trouble going back to the five from the four this time -- I think because I've improved as a player. I don't get "four-stringed" too much.

I have some fours I love so much that I don't think I'll ever be 100% on the fiver, but I may just start having both at gigs.

 

[Psycho Ward]

I'm a sax player first and I look at it this way, a 4 string is a tenor and a 5 string is a baritone, you should be able to play both when needed. For me the 4 string is a Sterling and a 5 string is a Bongo.

This is the way I look at it, that's all.

 

[jimcobb]

I play a fiver almost all the time these days. That B string makes one mighty fine thumb rest .

 

[spencer]

Im having this exact delema right now. I can't decide if I should get a SR5 or SR4. I play mostly christian stuff none of which uses anything lower than an E, only thing I would use it for is Chevelle covers and a few RHCP songs that flea played with a 5 string. If all im going to be getting out of is ease of low notes higher up the neck, then its not worth it to me. I rather a four but I like loose ie thin strings on my bass and when tuning down to 5 string the strings get rather floppy.

I like the looks of fours the sound of fours the spacing of fours and the tone of the SR4 over the SR5 though they are very similar. If I get a SR4 right now I will buy a OLP SR5 soon but if I get a SR5 I MIGHT get a SR4 somewhere down the line as in years.

 

[Goofball Jones]

The thing is, all my bass heroes played/play 4-stringers (the ones that are still alive that is). Yet all you see now is 5-stringers everywhere.

You look at picture threads of the "Show us your EB/MM's" or similar and they're dominated by 5-stringers.

But then again, I shouldn't look at to what everyone else is playing...but what I want to play. After all, my heroes aren't the ones coming over to play the bass I get anyway.

Thanks for the input guys!

 

[roballanson]

No worries, I am like Chuck play both when needed. At the moment the set we are playing called for the 5 about six times with drop D songs. Comfy on both.

 

[kaaikop]

See! that's why it's cool too have more than one...
I need to show this thread to my wife

I've had (and still have) a fiver... but use mainly the 4's (the 5 breaks my shoulders)
All my 4's are equipped with a hipshot (the low D is 99% of what I would need on a 5)

This being said, the Stringray 5 is one heck of a bass guitar, it has a distinctive growl
which cannot be compared, and like some already said, it has it's advantages...
Actually I would even say the SR5 is the best sounding bass in my stable, so it's a keeper!

 

[Goofball Jones]

Well, I'm more of a one bass kinda guy. I admire the guys that use just the same bass for most of their careers. Like James Jamersons "Funk Machine" or John Paul Jones using his '62 J-Bass for so long. Or like Willie Nelson with Trigger or SRV with his #1...or Clapton with Blackie.

I never was into collecting or trying different basses to get a different sounds. I'm more into doing different techniques on the same instrument. It's just finding that one, excellent instrument that's the perfect match.

I've found that when you have limits on the tools you use, your creativity and innovation shoots through the roof. If you have many many tools to choose from, sometimes you get bogged down in trying to decide just what tool you should use for what and second guessing yourself and not concentrating on the one thing you should be, the actual music. At least that's the way my brain functions...I'm kinda weird.

 

[Moondog]

At least that's the way my brain functions...I'm kinda weird.

You're not alone, I feel the same way. But, I do collect . . I have over
a half dozen basses at any time but all kinda the same . . some sort of Stingray.
I like to keep things simple. I have a favorite and use it most of the time.

 

[tegzsa]

Well, I was in the position of being able to afford one (1) quality bass, and although I had never played a fiver before, I figured I had better get something that could cover all my potential needs. Four months later, I opened the box on my Bongo HHP5 and I'm still a GAS-free zone two years down the road. To be honest, I don't use the B that much, but it's nice to have it and not need it, rather than need it and not have it.

 

[Dead Seven]

Get the SR5, you can't go wrong. When you need the low notes, they'll be there.

I got back into playing about 2 years ago after almost a decade off. I started back on a 4 stringer after my last stint before the layoff was on a 5'er. It drove me nuts, but the 4 was someone elses so I wasn;t complaining. When it came time for me to spend my own money, I was making the investment wisely. 5 strings.

You can ignore the 5th if it's there, but you can't make it appear if it isn't. Besides, the SR5 is just so damn perfect!

 

[Musicman Nut]

I've seen other forums, I've seen the polls to where 4-string basically beats out 5-string in preference polls. But it seems that EVERYWHERE I read or look, everyone is playing a 5-string.

Is it pretty much a for-gone conclusion now that if you want to get any gig you need a 5-stringer?

I'm about to make my big bass purchase (which I've been saving up for a year for) and now when it gets down to "go time", I start to second-guess myself.

Not to mention the unholy Bongo now invading my thoughts. I've been saving for a year to get a HS or HH Stingray, but I hear the call of the Bongo....though my wife says there's no way she's letting that thing in the house.

Bah, no matter WHAT I get, I'll always think I made a mistake.

Anyway, if you were starting over today, would you just go naturally to 5 stringers instead of 4? Just you're opinion.

Well I was always told it's how much your Phone rings to how much you or your playing is in demand. I have been a 4 string player all my life and at 48 years old have more work then I can handle.
The real bottom line I think is this, no mater 4, 5, or 6 string, Just learn your instrument to the best of it's ability and i think you'll be just fine. DJ

 

[1Echo]

I was reading an old UK "Guitarist" mag interview with Tony Levin who had a 3-string EBMM bass.

Yeah, but that was strictly for use in the early days of funk fingers where he needed the extra string spacing. Seems to get along just fine nowadays with the funk fingers on an SR5.

 

[meeder2]

Its good to have both, 1 fretted five, 1 fretted four,
and/or fretless in the same config.
It really depends on what you feel comfortable with, and what your budget allows.

 

[1Echo]

That B string makes one mighty fine thumb rest .

I use the B-string as more than a thumbrest but I have to admit that my thumb gets a bit confused when I play a four-banger. That floating thumb has nowhere to rest when playing the E-string. I guess a 4-stringer is just as uncomfortable for me as a 5-stringer is for a lot of guys.

By the way, be careful making the assumption that a B-string saves you from drop-D tunings. Some of the lines used by riff-based bands (who in turn use drop-D) are quite difficult when you don't have an open D-string at your disposal. I've actually tuned to B-D-A-D-G a number of times to save my fingers.

 

[diptixon]

As someone said earlier in the thread, it depends a lot on the music IF you are doing covers... for Classic Rock, Old School R&B, etc., not a requirement.. but if you are playing anything newer, especially country and new R&B, the 5-string is pretty much a given - just about every country tune recorded in the last 10 years seems to use the low B string at some point.
At this time, I think the 5 is pretty much The Standard. I would think that anyone that is starting to play the instrument now would be learning on a 5 string, and if they're not, they should...
I made the switch to the 5 about a year and a half ago (after playing 4's for almost 30 years) when I got a gig with a Country-Pop band, and honestly can't go back to a 4 string anymore...I've gotten so used to that bottom string...