Just bought a new 5 strings

[bassric]

I just bought a brand new Godin SD 5. It is a five strings, fretted, hard body, with P and J pickups, a hard maple neck, 34 scale. It is black with a white pickguard.

It was a little less than the price a MIM Jazzbass. I played both to compare and I preferred the feel, the touch and the tone of the Godin. It was a no contest. This bass was exactly what I was looking for. This was a surprise, since I went to this store to buy a Jazzbass.

My other bass is an old fretless,Yamaha, which I believe to be a BB350. It is a neckthru and a five-piece neck. It sounds fantastic, and I got it for almost nothing. For now,I find it very confusing to play with a low B and with frets, but I guess practice and time will take care of this.

I have looked at all the threads dicussing the old 4 vs 5 issue. But mostly,I want to thank you all for the precious information your informed discussions gave me regarding all that is involved in choosing a bass.

[patrick_dont_fret]

No problem. i just bought a 5er about a month ago...you'll get used to it. Just don't use it too much, cause you'll sound like one of those Korn-y bands (unless that's what you want). Have fun with your new bass!

[_Sweet Willie_]

Have fun with your new baby!

[g.]

Just don't use it too much, cause you'll sound like one of those Korn-y bands

A few preconceptions here, or just passing on what you've heard? I've got quite a few dates Anthony Jackson played on and he was all over that B string. As far as I could tell he didn't sound like Korn ; }

 

Actually I think it's kind of funny how many people still have rules for the B string. It might be argued that it was introduced in the first place to be played lots, to compete for synthesizer bass turf where low notes were desired.

 

Be that as it may, someone who is a has an original conception or is a tasteful player really may use the B string as much or as little as s/he cares to ; }

 

bassric, congrats on the new bass! My guitarist has a great Godin guitar, very well made and flexible, a look that isn't stuck in someone else's rut, and can blend piezo and magnetic sounds. I think you picked an interesting way to get started.

[cornbread_medhotmail.com]

Godin makes great basses, and since they're made in Canada, I'm sure you got a really nice price. I had an American Deluxe Jazz 5 and it was great, I played a friend's Godin and it was just about as nice as my $1500 Jazz at about half the price.

 

As far as getting confused on the B, I did that all the time. I would constantly find myself playing the B when I should have been playing the E. I found that I had to relearn the bass. I tried for about a year and I couldn't handle it, so I sold it. It never did take.

[HypnoBassMan]

Congrats on your new 5-string!

 

I just bought one a few days ago, a Fender Active Jazz Deluxe MIM. I love the tone! It was just what I was looking for. But, everyone has their own taste.

 

I found that it takes a little more attention to manage excess string vibration with 5 strings than 4. But it is worth it.

 

One of the cool things that I noticed right away was that it was easy to get reorianted when I just thought of the fifth fret on the B string as being the same as the nut on the E string. Now I can just play in that position and have two octaves or range without having to move my hand position. Since I was very familiar with the first five frets that knowledge easily translated to the next five.

 

The biggest challenge is remembering that the big fat string is not a E. And, that can only be overcome by drilling yourself with practice.

 

There should be a web site dedicated to the 5-string bass.

[Mike F.]

just curious and i know this is odd and yet redundant and out of place but have any of you guys who own a five string tried tuning that b string to an E? double up youre own notes on the bottom end? frustrate cabinet makers world over? or just nearly pop a string and sound like crap?

how about double d's ?

how about double c's ?

how about stringing 2 e gauge strings on the bass?

im sorry if this is more rediculous than i had originally intended. i just got out of a acoustic g***ar clinic with Artie Traum and all he did was talk alternate tunings so now im on a sonic youth, even i dont know how im tuned kick...

[g.]

Actually I messed with two low B strings for awhile realizing before hand that if I needed more bass all I had to do was get it out of my rig. "She's givin' all she's got captain - and she canna give no more!"

 

Two strings of the [nearly] the same tuning in bass freqs can actually detract from attack and volume as their output choruses/beats against each other. A better way to get MO' is to have octave strings as eight-strings do.

[Mike F.]

thanks green, i guess i wouldnt ever figure out a scale like that on the fly anyway

[bassric]

Thanks guys.

Couple of quick responses and a question:

I read from Godin's web site that the guitars and basses are assembled in New England from pieces that are made in Québec. They also say that our hard and long winters results in harder maple wood. (I knew there had to be an advantage to these winters, besides hockey...)

I want to emphasize that my preference over the Jazzbass was totally and exclusively a matter of taste. And the model I played to do the comparison was the passive, standard model. My surprise was that I actually preferred the sound of the Godin - which resembles more the sound of a PBass, than the sound of a Jazzbass. I always though that I was rather a J than a P guy. But, hey, you never stop learning.

I understand what was meant by the "don't use it too much" comment. But I also agree with GB on this one. Although my biggest concern here is that by concentrating on getting comfortable with the extra string and by playing a fretted instrument, I might lose the (little) hability I worked so much to acquire on my fretless 4. Guess I only have two solutions: double my practice time and/or acquire a fretless 5....!

 

On this topic, I have a question : I noticed that some bass players who play fretted and fretless basses only use their fretted bass to slap. This is not my case, mainly because I am really bad at slapping. But I thought that maybe it might be a good way to manage the fretted vs fretless issue?

What do you think? How do you deal with this issue? Is it a real problem or something that will fade away with practice?

[Tom Capasso]

Interesting question about tunings - I haven't experimented much, but suspect greenboy is right. Try playing an open A and the A on the E string at the same time. It's not that it's bad, it just doesn't seem valuable enough to bother.

 

In the upper register world, there are many instruments that use multiple strings tuned together. We have a guy here from Iran that plays an instrument called a tar with this feature (and some quarter tone fretting as well). The multiple strings adds to the flavor...

 

FWIW, I played my 1.5 week old Kinal 5 with some guys last night for it's first night out. I had practiced the songs (which were not difficult), so I figured I'd be OK. Then the guy says "let's record" (he's got a studio set up, but we've never done this before). The sound was damn fine, but I was nervous - recording on my first night out with a 5 !! The fudges I made weren't because of the 5 - that was some comfort anyway...

 

Tom