4-5-6 and back.

tomb68

tomb68

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I started on upright in 7th grade (1980) and was an early adopter of 5/6 string basses in the late 80's. About 3 years ago I sold my last 6 string bass and even though I have a Thumb NT 5 I still tend to pick my corvette $$ (4) for most gigs. It's lighter, versatile and plays like a dream. That plus an NS CR Omni Bass covers almost everything I do. I miss the lower notes sometimes, but not enough to drag out the thumb or move to a 5 string EUB. I attribute part of this to getting older. Simplifying the rig. I like the ease of setup/teardown I get with my current setup. Typically I just go out with a GK MB112 (30lbs) so gigs are a breeze.

How many of you have migrated to 6 string basses in the past only to find yourself gravitating back towards 4-string for the sake of simplicity and comfort(or whatever reason you have)?
 
Before you know it you will be playing 12 bar blues on a P bass exclusively m8!
Haha j/k. I do play my four string basses more often then my fivers but I still love a good tight low B thunder.
 
I`ve never played a 6-string, mainly because I never see any lefties to try in-store, but I found myself ordering two Rockbasses in 4-string instead of 5 just because I felt for it. Easier on the hands, and sometimes limiting the options makes the playing easier.

I made a detune-patch on my Zoom-pedal for the small parts where I need a low D or B. On the occasional Cannibal Corpse-song, it`s all 5`ers ofcourse.
 
I've been gigging on a pair of 4's lately while my NT5 sits around. I know, what a waste. Still the gigs are usually 3-4 hours and my 4's are less fatiguing in every way. I have also found I rarely miss the lower notes in these settings. If I were playing a lot of more modern music it might be a different story though.
 
I brought a 7 becuase I wanted to have some fun haha it's gone now kinda silly at the time

I started with 5s, brought a low level Spector 6 which made me go off and buy an expensive higher level Spector 6 which I loved.

Now I'm hunting for a Warwick 6...

That being said, every song I play can be done on a 4 string so some may still call that silly haha

Buy hey! Be happy :)
 
Every couple of years I will convince myself that playing 6's exclusively is the next step, but then realize that im so comfortable on 5's that even though i love the chord extensions, its not worth the extra neck size etc.

I played 6's exclusively for about 2 years, but after playing a 5 for about a month I found that i played more "like a bass player" with the limitations in the high register. To each their own. If I could get away with playing 4's only i'd probably do that, but the I use the low B for so much, specially when having to read charts in Eb, Db or F...and its nice to have that power down low.
 
I started on a 4, one day got a 5ver. but always knew my home is at 4 strings.

I´ve never had a 6er, btw.
 
New project: Play all da stuff on a BEAD tuned bass. I loose the tones from 12th fret up on the g string. I think I can live with it! 8:

Stryker and BuzzTard have easy access up to the 24th/26th fret, this helps. :D
 
I've been wanting to try this recently so I can play the 4 bangers live.
At least I know it works now!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
OK done, tuned A# D# G# C#
Should have done it ages ago, plays great sounds huge!

VampBEAD.JPG
 
Hardy said:
New project: Play all da stuff on a BEAD tuned bass. I loose the tones from 12th fret up on the g string. I think I can live with it! 8:

Stryker and BuzzTard have easy access up to the 24th/26th fret, this helps. :D
Click to expand...

I don't need to be quite that drastic but Have considered going to DGCF. My preference would be a Kubicki Ex-Factor like setup. I'm not sure why that idea never caught on. I really just like being able to go to low D but don't much care to go lower in a jazz combo with a 1x12 Combo amp. I don't really want to install d-tuner's on my 4's.
 
If I ever quit playing Warwick, I will go back to 5-er.
6 string Warwick has so nice headstock that I just can't help myself.
 
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