How much range do you need out of a bass?

#43
The five and six-string bass necks are too heavy for me and tend to dive, as well as making the overall instrument too heavy for me. Plus the necks are too wide for me to mute properly. I do very well with a four-string 20 or 21 fret neck. I have a couple of EBMM Sterling's with 22 frets but I don't need the upper frets, I just like the bass. If I need to go deeper I have Hipshot X-tenders on all my four-bangers, and I own one fiver just because.

Ultimately it's about what works for you. If Jaco and Marcus Miller could/can kick ass the way they did/do on four string/20 fret basses then it's pretty clear to me it's not about how many strings or frets you have available.
 
#44
Les Fret said:
I play 4 and 6 string basses.
More than six strings is just over the top for me. Besides a Chapman Stick I hate basses with more than 6 strings.
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I've got basses with 5 and 6 strings. Even though I played only 4 strings for years I still find them limiting. I've got a couple 7 string basses but I don't play them much. Yes, they are heavy with wide necks and are about my limit of a wide neck. But the problem is really ME. When I'm playing them I keep looking at the extra string wondering what I should be playing on it? Clearly some woodshed time is needed for me to figure that out. At present I just feel sort of helpless about it. I do know what to play on a 8 string bass. I've never been into tapping so a chapman stick or more than 7 strings is pretty much nothing I can deal with.
 
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#46
If I ever get around to joining a band, I suppose that anything with a split coil pickup, four strings, and a half dozen frets would do everything I ever needed. But as long as I'm just playing for kicks in my living room, I gotta have 5 strings and 24 frets. I love my acoustic U-bass, but so so often I have to 'make do' with the notes that are available instead of playing the ones I want. It's just frustrating, dang it. With 5/24 that happens way less often. When it does, well, I look over at my wife's piano, sigh, shrug, and keep playing.

One could keep adding to the bass, of course, but I'd rather shop for left-handed basses than for 25+ fret basses. And I have my doubts about the ergonomics of 6+ strings, though I'd like to get one for chord melody someday. So, 5 and 24 for me.
 
#48
I use a 24 fret 6 string most of the time.
From the top of my head, I can recall one song in our current playlist that has notes below E and notes that are played on the C string. This could all be played on a 4 string with a D-Tuner but it'd be a lot more work, plus the higher notes sound a lot better played on a thin string with some room between the fret and the bridge instead of a thicker string with less room to ring.
What I do like is the comfort of having so much extra room under my fingers in any given situation. This far outweighs the 4 higher notes I get from using 24 frets plus the 10 more notes the two strings get me.
Usually, I'm able to pluck a chord straight from the root note without moving my fretting hand to a higher register.
 
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#49
bassbenj said:
I've got basses with 5 and 6 strings. Even though I played only 4 strings for years I still find them limiting. I've got a couple 7 string basses but I don't play them much. Yes, they are heavy with wide necks and are about my limit of a wide neck. But the problem is really ME. When I'm playing them I keep looking at the extra string wondering what I should be playing on it? Clearly some woodshed time is needed for me to figure that out. At present I just feel sort of helpless about it. I do know what to play on a 8 string bass. I've never been into tapping so a chapman stick or more than 7 strings is pretty much nothing I can deal with.
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Just don't like the looks and the sound of 7 string basses. Too much out of the bass range and too exaggerated. 6 strings is the limit.
 
#50
I prefer 4 strings with 2 octave fingerboards. I use a combination of pedals, harmonics, and forks, knives, metal slide and other kitchen-sink tricks to go up high into piccolo territory, or sub lows up to 1 octaves below the low e.

I have considered tuning in fifths (D-A-E-B), but haven't found the courage yet to commit to that.
 
#51
Depends on the gig. Sometimes I need 5-string range, most of the time I don't. Can't say I ever needed 24 frets, though I have 3 basses with 24 frets and really like them. I'll generally play most everywhere on the bass by the end of the gig, but the thing I don't like, however, is shoehorning ultra-low or ultra-high notes into the music just because they're there. If I play them, it's because I think they need to be there to make the song sound good.
 
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#52
I usually play a 6-string Yamaha TRB6P. I play a lot of jazz standards where I am expected to solo, so I use the C string frequently, but I rarely play above the 12th fret. To be honest, I don't really even know the fret board very well above the 12th fret. Use of the C string is less frequent with commercial music. I probably used it more when I was playing modern country than any other commercial style.

For most jazz standards I don't really use the B string that much as I don't think it sounds right. But I use the B string frequently when I am playing various commercial styles. Lot's of more contemporary music has been written for the B string, and it's also great to be able to cover the original bass line on a classic tune when you have to transpose a part down because the vocalist can't cover the part in the original key.
 
#53
Hi Dexterzol :)

Dexterzol said:
22-24 fret
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I play fretless! :p

I went to five strings, because tuning down for singers is normal

when you play a 3 or 4 hours gig.( I played a lot of metal too :D)

I can play relaxed with less position changes and without fiddling with the tuners.

Higher than that? (with a C string)

I tried that. It 's pretty cool for solo stuff.

But it 's not my thing.

Even when I do solos, I get "high" on the lower positions.

I am a low note junkie! :D

I am a bassplayer! :thumbsup:



may the bass be with you

Wise(b)ass
 
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#55
How about you not worry what other people need? If your happy with your two strings and seven frets, good for you. If you feel like you need to have 12 non-redundant strings and an uncountable amount of frets, set up micro-tonally, be glad you can have that built these days. But stop trying justify your limitations and/or needs by superimposing them on others.
 
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#56
Mushroo said:
4 strings, 20 frets is the exact range necessary to play a full 2 octaves in every key. Works for me! :)
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Same, but I like a 5 string because I'm lazy and it reduces position shifts, and also makes transposing on the fly way easier. And dropping a low D or C or B once in a while can really goose the dance floor.

Extended finger boards are lost on me; I've never run out of frets. Same with high C... I suppose it would be good for transposing, just like the low B is, but I've never wished I could play higher than I can with a 20-fret 4 or 5 string.
 
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#58
'73 Ric 4001.JPG Personally? Not all that much, really. Ever since I learned to play back in '69 (on one of these), a 4001 Rick has taken me anywhere I ever wanted to go. Still does...:cool:
 
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#59
I could get by with four strings, but I feel much more at home with five. On a five-string tuned in all fourths I need 24 frets to play everything I do with my current band. Just got a six again after over a decade and I love it.
 
#60
I usually get by with four strings but sometimes need the lower range I get from my five string. I think I only ever ran out of frets on the high end of the G string once, when I was playing something silly that could have been played lower.
 
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