I want to include guitar players (non-bass players) in this because I believe after a couple of years playing a guitar, you can probably fill in for a bass player if you had to. You might not be great, but good enough to take over for the bass player at a gig if he has to leave the stage for a song or two to take a leak.
So… a hypothetical situation: Someone is going to give you a bass guitar. Free. I don’t know why. But it’s free and it’ll be a good one. A Fender with the maple fingerboard, okay? But, it’s a 5-string bass. So, you’ve got 2 choices and have to decide.
You can have the 5th string as a “5th String”, that is, tuned to the B a 4th below the E string (the standard 4th string).
Or
B. You can have the 5th string as a “0th String”, that is, tuned to the C a 4th above the G string (the standard 1st string).
So, which would you choose?
Me? I’d go with 1. I pick up a bass rarely and don’t play much in the upper registers when I do. I play bass with “patterns” and with a B string, I can play a pattern off the I chord on the 4th string, off the IV on the 3rd string, and off the V on the 5th string. So, less moving up and down the fretboard. But that’s me.
I have one bass guitar, and I love to play it. It’s fun, sounds great and I think it really helps my guitar playing. It also happens to be a 5 string. This is my bass guitar, in case anyone is interested and because I like to brag sometimes.
I have it tuned BEADG, as in your Option #1.
If I wanted to play in that higher register (Option #2), I’d just get a 7 string guitar and de-tune it to C like I did with my Warbeast (so the 7th string would be, um, E♭, nearly a full octave below what most people tune their 6th string to. Hmmm… that would actually be pretty fucking gnarly. I might have to invest in this idea.
As a guitar player, I want a bassist who understands Job #1 for them is to hold down the low end. Lead bassists drive me nuts, because VERY few people are actually John Entwistle, who can lead and hold it down. So a low B gives me more lows to work with.
Have I mentioned I hate lead bassists? Adding another string up top is an invitation to play lead fills. Stop that.
Again, all of this is said from the perspective of a rhythm guitar player - very biased.
Getting comfortable with finding roots off a B instead of an E will take a bit for this creature of habit, but I would figure it out.
Bassists - what kind of tone is best for going down that low? Something real clean or can a pretty fuzzy tone work?
Rhythm guitar player here with not much knowledge of bass guitars. And a couple questions:
In order to have a low B, is there a specific “lowB” string (gauge) to be bought? Or do you buy an extra “low E” and drop that one down to B? Same question with an upper string?
Does the construction of basses allow for the strings to be shifted around like that? I would think BEADG would have a whole different tension matrix (couldn’t think of a better word to use) than EADGB. Is the guitar “set up” at the shop in a specific format and using different gauges would screw with that?
There are other similar questions I could ask, but I think those might give you an idea what I’m asking about.
I play a 5 string. Well, two 5 strings- one is fretless.
Wordman- I seldom use a overdriven tone, but it works on the low B just fine. I generally use a clean tone; I find that’s most appropriate for most music.
The thing about low B strings is that they generally sound a bit tubby, so I don’t venture down there too much. I call it an expensive thumb rest. I will use it, but it’s hard to get a lot of definition sometimes. I just love having the capability to play a lick using lower notes, though. Sometimes something in D or C just doesn’t go low enough on a 4 string.
I consider the term “lead bass” to be an oxymoron. Mostly it’s a good way to get fired.
Not really a guitarist or a bass player, though I’ve played very simple bass on my own for a bit in practice.
But I’m just chiming in to say that I never even knew that B was an option. Are there actual kits like that? I mean, I can see someone like Victor Wooten doing a custom job like that, but just an average bassist?
I thought the whole point of the fifth string was to get lower notes. (Well, that and to get a cleaner low E from the fifth fret.)
Well, they make 6 string basses, so there is a high B/C string available. But there seems to be some debate about 6 string basses. The bottom line (no pun intended) is it’s up to the player. But there seems to be 3 possible stringing/tuning options:
B E A D G C
B. B E A D G B
III. E A D G B E
#1 seems to me to be a standard bass with an extra string tuned a 4th above and below.
Letter B seems to me to be for a guitar player used to a string a major 3rd above the G string.
The difference between 1 & B is just a matter of tuning; the same string should work.
#III is just a standard guitar with everything an octave lower. True Fact: Back in 1961 when the Fender VI Bass was released and Fender was an authority, 4 string basses were just “electric basses” and only the Fender VI was an “electric bass guitar”. The idea was you could play chords on the thing, but I think that only happened if someone wanted to prove it could be done. The Beatles kept one handy for when Paul was playing piano. You can see John playing one in clips of them recording “Let It Be” and George with it when they did “Hey Jude”. Oh, and Jack Bruce in Cream was famous for having one also.
Nope. Much of bass playing is playing specific patterns, and tuning the top string to B would mess that up. The standard tuning on bass guitars, regardless of the number of strings, is a 4th between each string.
A 7-string bass could be either F#-B-E-A-D-G-C or B-E-A-D-G-C-F.
I’m having trouble imagining an F# bottom string on a 7 string bass. I’m not saying there’s no such thing, just that it’s going to be a thick mother. Would a standard bass tuner work with one of those or would you need a special one?
Certainly, they’re rare, but I’ve seen a couple. I’m not sure if an electronic tuner would do that job, or if you’d just tune it by ear. Given the low frequency, I suspect most people aren’t going to notice if it’s a bit out of tune. I suspect you’d be “feeling” those notes rather than “hearing” them.
A friend of mine has a 5 string bass tuned as in option 1 and I played it for a bit…it would definitely take me a while to get used to that low string. I kept hitting that low B when I wanted the low E. Regardless I’d probably opt for more low notes and get used to the new terrain.
By “tuner”, I meant the geared thing on the headstock that changes the tension on the string to allow the player to change the resonant frequency of the string.
Upthread, someone mentioned low “F#”; do you need a special amp/speaker combo to produce that tone? Do conventional bass speakers have a frequency response that low? Anything special about an amp playing that note? Special ears to hear a tone that low? Or are you really “feeling” it (someone else upthread touched on that)?
Anyway your option 1 is the standard 5 string bass tuning. I’ve never even heard of the second option, which is wacky to say the least. I’ve got a 5 string bass (which isn’t really any more expensive than a 4 string bass) and it’s tuned with the low B string.
And you’re absolutely right, any halfway decent guitar player is going to be able to pick up a bass and hold it down if needed. That’s why I have my bass.
