How Many Strings Does Your Bass Have?

[Prometheus]

Four... Bases with loads of strings are for pussies!

My bass is an old heap of shit, but I don't want to part with it now because it dates back to the time of the Apollo missions and I wasn't born till 1975. I feel guilty if I abandon it and use other bases, so I had it refretted and had new wiring put into it after a litterally shocking experience ten years ago...

[Roflcopter]

Yup. There is.

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

Ok, so that's actually 11, but near enough

Also, why no 2 sting option?! HUH?! The Presidents of the USA would be most disappointed...

(Incidentally I realise I didn't actually say how many strings my bass has... It's 5 )

See your 11, .... and raise you one.

[Lazz]

See your 11, .... and raise you one.

Cheater !

That is no bass.

Looks like a fat stick if I am not a fool again.

[Roflcopter]

That's not fair. The 11-one was a fat stick too.

Survival of the fattest, in that case.

[Lazz]

That's not fair. The 11-one was a fat stick too.

Survival of the fattest, in that case.

You see - there's an example of what I was talking about some other place:

Your 12-string vid - I could see

That 11-string vid - nada - no longer available

sometimes yes sometimes no

sometimes stop sometimes go

sometimes trouble sometimes fun

sometimes vid and sometimes none

Rohan and Roflcopter both to the back of the line please.

(survival of the fattest, indeed - wish I'd thought of that)

[Roflcopter]

OK, I'll come in again.

I do use basses a lot, via keyboard - being a guitar player I do think I'm not doing a bad job even, but ofcourse I want the real thing. I've got a bid running on this one, an older 80's Ibanez 4 string with active pickups - I'm told they play *very* nicely.

[thelevellers]

Looks pretty sexy

*resists the urge to look for another bass*

*nearly fails*

[Roflcopter]

Looks pretty sexy

Yeah it does. Hope the seller accepts the bid. It's not very much lower than what she asks for it - but people can stubborn - well, so can I.

Had a mountainbike that exact same metallic blue/greenish colour, a Specialized (despite the daft name, actually a *very* good brand of bike).

[thelevellers]

Oooh, what model?! I am a keen biker myself Have a (in need of maintenance) Dialled Bikes 'Prince Albert' with various wallet hurting parts

Good luck with the bid

Rohan

[Steve]

I used to ride an old bike.

[msmd]

Gentlemen,

I see I am the first 6'er to answer. That's fine. You all probably hate me, but you are probably just jealous of my range.

I agree with some of the anti-6 sentiment on here. I don't really want to play a 6 anymore. I'm trading down to a 4 string again sometime soon, so I can be more like the rest of you -- regular, boring, etc (JK!! ) . Honestly, unless you are some extreme bass virtuoso, there is really no reason to have a 6-string. I enjoyed playing it while I had it, but I can't look myself in the mirror anymore. So, I'm done.

Jack

[biskitbass]

I have two. My main bass is a 5-string. The other one is my toneweaver, which has 6 melody strings and 6 bass strings.

Interesting bass you have there. Dug Pinnick from Kings X uses Hamer basses which are 8 string but doubles the note he plucks and octave up.

I play 5 string. Used to play 4 but when I started on 5 I never looked back. Love having the extra string to 'go down on'.

:-)

Graeme

[A1gavin]

Hey all,

New here but thought I would share on this old thread..... 5 strings it is for me.

I have an old Peavey dyna bass 4 string, Warwick streamer LX jazzman 5 and a Custom built Gus G3 5 extra long scale with 13 pin synth access which is my main bass these days.

G

[baloo]

ive had a 4 string for over a year an a half now. its also my first. im thinin about gettin a 5string

[LemonCrush]

3 strings. When I let someone borrow my bass, they restrung it and for some reason didn't do the G. I'm worrying about the neck bowing from tension

[Olghu]

I got 5 string Spector (Korean made model) few years back and I like it a lot. Never really learn to play with it, but I am trying. Still, I think I would be happier with 5 string MTD Zephyr, wich could be great bass to have.

[ZonSonus]

5 strings. I started on 4 then moved up to 5. Going back to 4 soon.

[jcjazz]

I started on a 4 in 1983 ,i movered to a 5 string about 12 yrs ago.Now i am back to playing my Squier VM 4 string,But i still love to play on my Traben Tribal Sun 5 string.

[pableezee]

Hey guys!

It's also cool to mention what the pros and cons are in terms of strings...

in my opinion, 4 and 5 string basses are in the same category, they can be easily confused in terms of the sound they produce...

• 4 string basses easier to slap, the 5th string gets in the way sometimes, now, depending on the style you play they may be all you need.
  

• 5 string basses are more versatile, (versatility is what i go for cause I play so many different styles with my band) when you play newer stuff the 5th string becomes handy. Not to mention the same pitch -or note- sounds very different on the E, D, or A string, having the 5th string allows you to add a lot of weight on lines that are playable without the 5th string...(I hope I'm making myself clear , for example a C on A string fret 3, the same C on the E string fret 8, and the king of phat C on the B string 13th fret are the same pitch yet the sound is a lot different), some choose to add a high C instead of the low B, I personally would never make that choice.
  

• 6 string basses are easily recognizable, having a specific brightness (that I personally don't like for my sound), but some players are great with it (J. Patitucci, A. Jackson, G. Carillo) when I say brightness I don't mean "the extra C string makes the range higher and that's why its brigther". Even when playing the low end stuff on the B string you can hear that crisp factor. Some may say 6 strings are better for improvising and jazz stuff by having a higher register, I would say much better for chords (on 5 and 4 strings, bass chords can get muddy) but there's no advantage when it comes to soloing on a 4, 5 or 6 string.
  

I wont get into 7, 8, 9 or 12 string basses cause its not my area of expertise.

Anyway, that's my whole view on the whole strings thing.

I personally play a Fender 5 string Jazz Bass, and a 4 string fretless Jazz Bass.

Cheers!

www.pablodellabella.com

http://www.youtube.com/user/pablodellabella/videos

[TapperMike]

When I play my babyz as a bass i tune it B-E-A-D-G-B in the bass range.  When I'd played bass with a real bass it was always a standard four string.  Yes it took awhile for me to adapt.  No it wasn't impossible,

 

 

I almost bought a stick and tried one out in a store for a few hours. I'd come in play it.  Leave,,,come back play it.  Back then there was no internet but it did come with a book and a vhs tape. I could never adapt to the bass strings directionality. I'd prolly fair better with a megatar, or a warr or an ns/stick.