5 String Basses Suck for Beginners (7 Reasons)

So’s buying another bass :wink:

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I cannot argue with this logic

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Loved the video as per usual. They are getting very slick now :slight_smile:

Ive only played 4 strings overall but i did borrow a 5 string for a few weeks once, and it just broke my mind, in a bad way. I just couldnt pick it up and “settle” anywhere on it. Got some interesting riffs just noodling, but had to leave it after a while as it was starting to make me unlearn stuff in order to progress.

Which freaked me out a little, as it made me feel i still have a long way to go on 4 string yet. When i did pick up a 4 string again it was, “ahhh, thats better”

Maybe one day!

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As always the one and only @JoshFossgreen makes learning something easy and fun. Great new video. I gave up on my 5, stripped the frets, changed the bridge and made a bead fretless monster.
I’ve yet to find a 5 with with enough spacing for my sausage fingers…maybe if i was better with that damned evil pick.

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I’m late to the party, but I’ve put a .110 E on a bass that came with a .130 B and it worked out. May not always and it was a $200 Ibanez Mikro lol, but it worked🙃

That said, plastic nuts are inexpensive and you can slot them with a set of cheap diamond files and sections of the string itself to finalize it.

China (Ali Express) has them for $400 :eyes: lol…

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I’ve got short fat sausage fingers and i still love my gwb35 fretless with 16.5mm spacing. Still lots of room compared to a guitar :slightly_smiling_face:

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I wish. There was a crush injury to the plucking fingers many years ago.so They are essentially ruined for playing. I still try my behind off, though.

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Keep on keepin’ on, man.

Heart, soul and groove always win.

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Added 5 String Basses Suck for Beginners (7 Reasons) to Bass Gear Reviews of the BassBuzz YouTube Video Guide.

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Heh. I assume this has been done with not so serious mentality :smiley:

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The title is a bit click baitey but his reasoning is sound.

For example, a brand new musician deciding to learn bass from scratch doesn’t need the extra frustration of learning to mute a string they will rarely use in the very beginning. It’s about not making an already difficult task, more difficult and helping to remove potential barriers.

Regardless, plenty of people start on a five string. Most of us go with the idea that you should do whatever makes you happy and want to play more bass. If that means starting on a five string, then you should do that.

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I’m going to be building one soon so will be able to give a beginner’s point of view on this topic.

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So i recently bought the sub ray 5 from @PamPurrs, it’s really my first foray into the 5 string world. I had bought a cheap one before, but couldn’t play it and frankenbassed it into a fretless monster.

It’s been a steep learning curve, for sure. I want more metal in my life, so it’s going to happen-but it’s slow. I’m starting with some really slow stuff just to get the feel of it.
It’s definitively not the same as my standard 4 string models, and while this bass and i don’t know each other well (yet) we are slowly developing a relationship. One of the key things learned in b2b is that nothing comes without time and effort.

I wish i could say that it comes easy after learning how to play, but i simply can’t. But i think it’s worth it.

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One foot in front of the other. Good luck.

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For me, its harder to transition from the 5 string to a 4 string. That’s probably because I learned on a fiver.

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I tried 5 strings a couple of times, for the lower tuned songs etc. But I dunno… Even playing just the 5 exclusively to try and get more used to it, we just didn’t get along :joy:
I’ll just stick to 4 strings & the drop tuner I think, not really the same, but it’s cheaper & near enough :joy: Never once seen a song where I’ve needed all 5 strings anyway :laughing:

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I got tired of having to mentally remap the fretboard every time I changed tuning for a song. I borrowed a 5 string to try, and found it easy enough to adjust to so I’m adding a 5 string to the stable.

I think it’ll be easier (for me) to physically adjust to the extra string than mentally adjust to constantly changing multiple tunings.

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I’ve never become accustomed to a fiver, so hear is my answer

Ibanez MDB5, GHS Bass Boomers, BEAD tuning, SPB-4 and SJB-2 pups, all the clanky goodness I could ask for.

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Most likely what I’ll do too, once I get another worth keeping :laughing:

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BEAD is a lot of fun. I found few times where I wanted both a B string and a G string.

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