5-string bass - again....

Hey Vic, it's Rick (DemoEtc).

It was fun to work on your tune by the way, thanks for the opportunity!

Anyhow, yah, I settled on the 5-string after trying the 4-string Squier. Sometimes just changing an instrument gives you a different perspective and stuff just falls into place.

As far as the history, it's new and old as far as I know. I believe there's been five string double basses in orchestras for awhile, and...if I remember correctly, there were five-string instruments in viol ensembles - which predate the violin family. It's a little bit of a puzzler for the fingers at first though, because with a 4 or 6 string instrument, you get a feel for 'top half' of the neck and 'bottom half;' like a pair of strings and another pair. With regular guitar you have a group of 3 and another group of three.

There isn't actually something running right down the exact center of the neck in other words.

So you pick up a 5-string bass and...what's that thing doing there?

It's just a theory, but Keith Richards had that custom-designed 5-string guitar made for him in the 70s, and there's a few pictures of him playing it, but it sorta went away. With something like that (for his open g-tuning) you'd either have to have a narrow neck, which would feel weird when switching guitars between songs, or you'd have a standard width neck but with the strings spaced out wider, which would also feel weird when changing guitars - which Keith does a LOT.

Back to bass though; I don't remember any being in any of the classic rock type videos or tunes. Jack Bruce played that 6-string Fender sometimes with Cream, but...even in the 80s they weren't around. I think maybe in the 90s? Guys trying to get into the keyboard left hand range, especially (I think), with gospel type R&B.

So as far as rock/pop music, it's relatively new, and to tell the truth, I'm unsure if it's actually a good 'musical' developement. I mean, it changes the way the bassist creates the lines he plays simply because you can 'go down' instead of having to 'jump up' to certain notes.

Fun to play with though.

Six string bass; I'll probably never get one because...well, it doesn't go lower than the five; most of them just have the high string and you get to play across the neck for faster stuff without having to move positions. Again, that sorta alters the shape of the bass melody.

Good or bad, I don't know. I mean lots of classic bass lines were created with just the four.

Vic you should probably just get one, or low-tune your 4-string to get a feel for what you can do.

Don't tell the wife I said that though :)

And once again, thanks for the chance to collab!

Best

Rick

Fender had a 5 stringer in the 60s, but it was tuned EADGC. Alembic made the first 5er with a low B string in 1976 for studio bassist Jimmy Johnson, but 5-string basses didn't become more popular (and more broadly available) until Yamaha teamed up with Nathan East in the 1980s. East has played with Clapton, among many others. Then in the late-80s, early 90s, the 5ers became popular with the heavy metal crowd. So, basically, not many "classic rock" songs used a 5er.

(Above based on various articles found on the web.)

Great info Slej. I never even heard of the Fender V; only the VI.

I figured Alembic would've been there too, and they were, but I was thinking Stanley Clarke, and remembered him just having that piccolo bass.

I wonder, when the 5vers were getting popular in Metal, which was the first brand that started putting them out on a non-custom basis. Yamaha or Ibanez? I wasn't really into Metal back then so I didn't have a lot of conversations with fellow bassists about which 5-strings were 'happening.'

Thanks for filling in the blanks for us.

Best

(I'm going to go google some stuff) :)

I tried looking up some more history but couldn't find much.

But I think Vic shouldn't stop at 5 strings. He needs an ERB!

Hey cut it out man, Mrs. Vic might be reading over his shoulder.

Sshhhhhh!

Eight strings? That's nothing. Go full hog and get a twelve string bass with the range of a piano.

An eleven string:

I can't even imagine how the heck someone would play that bass... in my head I imagaine the bass laying in front of the player on a keyboard stand, using their right hand to hold down the frets (kind of like the way some people do the tapping) and using a xylophone drumstick (the kind with a big round hard ball on the end) to strike the strings. I'd like to see someone playing one of those monster basses and actually playing something good (I'd even go so far as to say play something good that is in some way easier to play thanks to the extended range of the bass). In other words, does anyone play these things or are they simply show pieces? And how many truss rods for that last one's neck....

Yah I think for that last one you have to forget about 'keep thumb in center of back of neck' and maybe keep it at the bottom of the neck ;)

Or like with cellists going up high, don't have the thumb behind the neck at all.

I think I saw some video with Ralphe Armstrong playing one. He wore the bass pretty high up and he sorta just had his hand flat across the fretboard - his whole hand.

A nice fiver would do Vic fine though - but of the Mrs. is looking over his shoulder right now, we're...talking about 5-packs of guitar picks. :)

I've only just in the last week gotten comfortable with the fret spacing near the head stock, I wasn't extremely uncomfortable with it, it's just a stretch for a four fret space there and involved more hand movement.... when I was trying out bass guitars in the store I accidently picked up a 5 string bass and immediately felt wrong (even though I didn't notice the extra string, it just was uncomfortable). I'm sure that'd change in time but who knows.

I kind of figured that something like that 12 string would almost have to be played upright, but the body didn't look like it was really made for that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJSEaxJalco

An 11 string bass playing the theme from "Super Mario Bros"

found one on yer side of the pond Vic
http://www.cmtc.co.uk/acatalog/Washburn-T25.html
what's "education price"?

Whoa, beautiful!

We get educational prices where I work, which is basically a discount for students, teachers, staffers at educational institutions.

Man that finish looks great!