Combining 4- and 5-string Basses. . .

[oddjob]

Playing with hipshots on my 4s made me think way too much about moving back and forth with 4s and 5s so I just went back to my roots with the 4s (cause I'm lazy). It is a good thing to be able to move between them and if you work at it a bit it isn't too bad... so listen to the little voice (my little voice doesn't get me in tooooooooo much trouble - no, actually it does, but listen to it anyway)

 

[Joe Nerve]

I switched to a 5 out of necessity a couple of years ago. I couldn't go back and fourth cuz I'd screw up constantly. I play more off of feel, memory, and emotion than off of actually knowing what I'm doing, so the B string easily became the E on the 5, the A the E on the 4, etc. Sooooooo confusing for a guy a like me.

I recently, after not touching a 4 for over a year picked one up at gig and surprisingly had no problems at all. I think I just had to get over the 5 string hump cuz I had been playing a 4 all my life. I'm considering adding the 4 back to my arsenal as I always considered myself more of a 4 string guy than a 5 string guy.

 

[NoFrets80]

I never had a problem going from 4 to 5 strings or vice-versa, but the one thing that really can mess me up, especially on fretless, is a difference in scale length. That's part of the reason I sold my W@rwick for another MM... I played a gig with the Warwick and I was chasing positions and intonation all night because it was a longer scale length, not to mention a different bass entirely in terms of its geometry. My left hand was stretched to an uncomfortable position and was at an uncomfortable angle the whole time. I sucked the entire gig because I was fighting the bass all night. I must say that EBMMs will spoil you in terms of their ease in facilitating right-hand technique. I barely have to touch the bass to get a huge sound. After years of fighting F*nders (and now Warwicks) and feeling like I never had a really strong tone, this is heaven. I'm a 100% EBMM dude now.