My neighbor suggested that if i wanted to buy a bass to get a 5 string. I did get a nice StingRay 5 and love the way it looks. My issue is that most books are ment for 4 string bass and also most online courses. Please excuse me for sounding dumb but i know nothing between a 4 and 5 string bass. Can I still take the couses but just practice and avoid the 5th string or are the notes completely differtent between the two? Does this make sense? What is a good site for me to learn 5 string bass? Thanks in advance guys.
My first bass was also a 5-string, you most certainly can use 4 string resources to learn, including B2B. It may be a bit tougher than learning on a 4-string, as you will have a fifth string in the way. But it is by no means impossible.
Whenever the course says to anchor your thumb on the pickup, anchor it on the top, thick B string instead. And you’re left with a 4-string bass.
Whenever the course says to move your thumb down and anchor it on a thinner string, move your thumb in such a way that it also keeps touching the B string.
That B string can be quite useful but until you learn some basics, and figure out what to do with it, you’re better off keeping it muted.
Also, whenever the course says major or minor scale on a 4-string, look up some videos about major/minor scale specifically for a 5-string, and practice both the 4 and 5 string scales. It’ll help understand the extra notes and the purpose of the B string.
unfortunately, that bass is not good for you anymore. Since you are almost local to me in SoCal I can do you a favor and help you pick out a nice 4 string for the lessons and take the 5 string off your hand.
The only difference between 5 string and 4 string is the B string the thickest string. On the top. Any thing below that is exactly the same as 4 string. You can learn any lesson that way.
Us 5 string players got the privilege of learning a few extra skills and muting exercises not to mention learning the notes in an entire string so we can gain 5 more notes
Yeah - honestly I would recommend a 4 string (having owned both) but nothing wrong with 5’s. Well except they are heavier and usually the strings are closer together than I like.
Opinions are just that - to each their own. I prefer 19mm string spacing; others prefer the closer spacing on 5’s. It certainly does make the EADG reach easier.
This is true. If you like generous string spacing there are only a handful of basses that offer that. The Yamaha BBNE2 is one and the Ibanez affirma 5 string is another that I can name at the top of my head.
I consider myself a beginner too and had two 5 strings for testing here a few weeks ago.
I am sure it can be fixed by practice and discipline, but the 5-string was much harder to play.
Sometimes I ended up on the wrong string (out of habit, so that will not be your issue), often I could not get the muting right and at least one string was ringing while I played. - and that is much harder to fix for a newbie, in my opinion…
Though I dig the concept of 5 string (as some of my favourite songs are in Drop D), it just took the pleasure out of playing for me!
I would comment that it is probably easier to adjust to a 5 string spacing if you start out with it, and have nothing to compare it to. The muscle memory is what gets you. One of my two regrets starting out is I listened to those saying learn on a 4 and I didn’t start on a 5er.
Same as everyone else said. You’ll do fine with a five string. If you look up “floating thumb” technique, this can help with muting the extra string.
When I got my 5 string violin it was funny. I could play pretty much perfectly normally if I had my eyes closed. If I could see the fingerboard my brain got super confused.
One of the harder adjustments for me at least, was reading tabs and brain saying “the note on the bottom line means the top string”, and I saw the strings from the top string down, which took a bit to retrain my head.
If I rested my thumb on the B and played I was fine, but if I looked at the strings, my brain got in the way
Which I don’t think would have been an issue if I started on a 5. Live and learn.
Does anyone remember the Carvin Bunny Brunneal bass? It was a 5 string bass with 4 string spacing. This resulted in a very, very wide bass body. I never tried one, just remember seeing one as a teen and thought i definitely needed to cut back on the partying.
unfortunately, that bass is not good for you anymore. Since you are almost local to me in SoCal I can do you a favor and help you pick out a nice 4 string for the lessons and take the 5 string off your hand. 
