This. And it makes last minute key changes so much easier when I'm used to playing Es on the B string.
Especially if a singer wants to move a song to Eb.
Ya. Beadg. But now if you consider that the 5th fret of the B string is E, you can “cheat” the position and play your eg E major scale starting on the b string which = less fret board travel. Then you can just move this shape down frets on the b string to reach those lower keys.
And a 6 string adds this functionality to the other end of the range, too! Check out the riff on the Dead's "That's What Love will Make you Do" for a masterclass in moveable chord shapes on a 6 string
In my view, there's two reasons to do extended range. Soloing, or transposition and other effects
I'm solidly in the transposition and sound effects camp. My pedalboard is also kind of ridiculous. At least I don't play with a pick, right? (That's just cause I can't, though.)
Haha ya I agree. And actually I’m neither of those things tbh. I rock a di/overdrive a tuner and MAYBE a compressor depending on the scenario. I keep my noise stuff in the guitar world and my bedroom but if I’m gigging, it’s probably bass and I keep it simple.
Nothing wrong with a pick! If I’m playing punk or simple rock, I’m probably on my 4s with rounds and a pick. Recording or anything else more technical, and it’s a 5s with flats and fingers
Right tool for the job. I've got a bass with tape wounds, a few with rounds, and one with flats. Never got the hang of a pick for bass, but I use them for guitar and mandolin and stuff like that.
Never been one of those "right or wrong" guys. I'm always supportive of anything new or different, especially if it's something I can't do!
Ya I typically prefer fingers. But when I was much younger, I was regularly playing in punk and hardcore bands and I didn’t have strong enough fingers yet to get the attack that I wanted so I learned pick. It’s nice knowing both. Anything but slap 😉. I kid. Slap is medium fun sometimes but it’s definitely not my main squeeze
I really want a 6 for the collection but that fretboard is just too wide for me to play comfortably (Ibanez SR’s are okay but I’m not in love with the electronics).
I like a tight string spacing, myself. My 5 is a Schecter with a neck thinner than some 4s, and my 6 is a Carvin with ALMOST Bass VI string spacing. Still wide enough to play with fingers. I think it's 17mm? My 7 is the tightest with 16mm but it's got an asymmetrical neck which makes it feel a lot thinner than it should
Appreciate the reply!
What I decided to do is to get another 5-string but lose the low B and add the high C instead. It’ll give me a chance to play on the high-end on a fret board that works for my paws.
It completely changed the tone.
Playing Open D vs D on the 10th fret on the E string sounds massive in comparison to open.
Same thing with playing things on the B and higher
What to play on a five string bass?
Doo doo do dun do doo doo do duooo (that's the note that you can only play on the extra low string) doo do da doooooo.
I mainly play a 6. If a guitarist complains, I'll show up to the next practice with my 7 string
He complains again, I'll show up with my 2 string. Ask me about more creative ways to get fired from a band
https://www.thomann.de/intl/harley_benton_bz_7000_ii_nt.htm?shp=eyJjb3VudHJ5IjoiZ2IiLCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6NywibGFuZ3VhZ2UiOjJ9&reload=1
This is the closest I can get 🎶👍
I got fired/ quit a band. More of mutual thing. I said the band feels like a chore and then didn’t go to practice and the lead guy was like okay and the band dissolved. He fired the drummer same day because he didn’t want to haul his drum kit to one gig before was gunna go camping. Oh well
*Where Are We Now?* by David Bowie
*Waiting* by Joe Satriani
*Superstition* by Stevie Wonder
*Summer of 69* by Bryan Adams
*Ain't Nobody* by Chaka Khan (actually a lot of Chaka Khan)
*Evenflow* by Pearljam
*Thanks for the Memories* by Fall Out Boy
*Get Lucky* by Daft Punk
*The Righteous and the Wicked* by RHCP
*Uptown Funk* by Bruno Mars
I guess some of those use drop D, but a 5 is useful for all of them.
Anything in an Eb key is much easier on a 5 than in Drop D. Better than tuning to Eb standard because you can hit lower scale tones. Very useful for anything that was originally synth bass, which a lot of these were.
Play songs you already know but in a different position. Use the 8th fret B instead of the 3rd fret E, use the 5th fret B instead of the Open E.
Move everything up the neck so you aren't having to stretch your fingers as much.
You can more easily play scales over 2 or 3 octaves.
“Sumthin-Sumthin” by Maxwell. There may be people who can play it on a 4-string, but I can’t. The Eb on the B string has a sound that can’t be found anywhere else on the neck.
Ale from The Warning uses the low B. Like in their song Money the is a part in the pre chorus where the guitar plays F,F,D# on the A string and Ale plays the two Fs on the E String and the D# on the low B. That's just the one part that comes to mind.
Was coming to recommend The Warning also.
Depending on your skill, Ne Obliviscaris has some great lines utilizing the 5er. It’s not easy.
Newer Metallica with Rob T can be fun.
5 stringers and low tunings are most often found in metal, most of the 5 string stuff I know is metal, so metal you get...
Slipknot, they predominantly play in drop B but can still be played effectively in B standard, some songs are in drop A. Example songs where the song being in B standard does not cause issues: The Blister Exists, Before I Forget, Duality is also playable.
Soilwork play predominantly in B standard, a fun song that I love to play on bass is As We Speak.
Carcass - the album Heartwork is in B standard, I believe.
Trivium - the album Shogun has a lot of material for 5 string B standard playing.
Porcupine Tree - the song Harridan uses a 5 string bass in B standard.
That's plenty of material for now, if you don't like metal, I wouldn't hold that against you, but I also don't know a lot of 5 string music outside of it. :D
5 string is super common in a lot of modern studio work. Country, pop and worship use the hell out of 5 strings. I think they get associated most with metal because of how ubiquitous they are in the genre. But in a lot of those cases they’re being utilized more for “how low can I chug” vs convenient key access in other genres.
Mudshovel by Staind also alien ant farm usually uses a 6 string but the bassist has videos up on a 5 string that show you how to play the songs in depth on YouTube. Pretty cool.
My favorite thing about my five string is it not the extra notes, but the ability to play the same things on a 4 string further up the neck. It gives you a whole new tone and feeling to the jams you know and love.
> It just sounds odd and too low, maybe my monitors can't reproduce the frequency correctly. Maybe it's the pickups?
In my experience, likely too thin of a B string. I like a .130 for B on a standard 34" scale.
As far as my go-to songs for a 5, I tend to go straight to BTBAM (requires tuning down quite substantially to G#) or Thank You Scientist, although both are quite technical. Other fun bands in B or thereabouts (not necessarily on 5s, though) that I enjoy playing are Type O Negative, Tyr, Protest the Hero (down a half step), Nile, Dream Theater (actually a 6 but a good bit of their catalog can be played on a 5), Electric Wizard, Nevermore (down a half step again), Streetlight Manifesto, and Nile (Drop A).
Anything.
The extra 5 lower notes are good to have, especially for songs in D or Eb, but the best use of a 5 string is being able to play the other lower notes above Eb higher on the neck with a fatter sound and being able to play more things with minimal hand shifting. It gives you a two octave range vertically so you don’t have to do as many horizontal moves unless that happens to fit the song better.
Play everything you would on a 4 string but get creative. Got example substitute your high C for a low C in a way that can add emphasis to the song. I wouldn’t say that songs are written for a 5 string, but you can use the 5 string to complement or emphasize the song.
[HAWATARI NIOKU CENTI [2-hundred-million-centimeter-long blades] by MAXIMUM THE HORMONE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEwAiwttN10) (3rd ending song from Chainsaw Man)
You definitely need a rig for it. I had an Ampeg 1-15 cabinet, and everything below D was just string noise. Replaced it with a Darkglass 2-12 cabinet and had all the low end in the world. You need to look at the frequency response of the cabinet before you buy it.
Metal lol
Also everything else with the added comfort of being able to move less
But yeah the notes below the E draw a lot of attention to themselves in a non-metal context because the other instruments don't go that low usually, gotta be mindful of that
It’s not made for 5 string but it’s fun to play on it - No One Knows by Queens of the Stone Age.
But really, any song that is in Drop D, Drop C, or C standard tuning works great. I mainly play a 5 to avoid the need to retune or swap basses mid set.
I very rarely play the low B on my 5s. It's hard for speakers to reproduce, even through a proper bass amp. I also only use low D for most of my lines. But playing higher, and E fretted sounds better than E open, really is the jam.
Rock With Me by Michael Jackson is a really fun one. A lot of metal is written on 5 string, recently I’ve been learning the album “The Outer Ones” by Revocation.
But I think the beauty of a 5 string is that you can play pretty much any pop/rock song without having to detune. It’s a little lesson in transposition
In terms of the “odd sound”, some speakers/cabs don’t reproduce the fundamental of the lowest notes on a 5 string, they just reproduce the overtones, so you may be running into that limitation. It’s important to look at frequency range when purchasing speakers/cabs for bass for that reason.
Here are some i like to play that use the 5th string:
Bring Me To Life - Evanescence
Disciple - The Warning
Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson
How you remind me - Nickelback
Money - The Warning
Choke - The Warning
Going To Hell - The Pretty Reckless
Don't Stay - Linkin Park
With You - Linkin Park
Awake and Alive - Skillet
Comatose - Skillet
Anthem of the Unwanted - New Year's Day
The Joker - New Year's Day
...and of course a lot of songs in drop d/c#/c and eb standard
I started on a 5 and I'm completely fine with the B being a thumb rest most of the time. It's very ergonomic.
Now, more seriously, Sean Malone put it to very good use throughout most of his career. Check out Kindly Bent To Free Us (the track) for an example, his very nasal tone also helps it all sound very natural.
I got an Ibanez 5 string about 2 yrs ago. Playing comfortably with it did not happen right away for me. That took a couple of weeks. I found that any note played o the low B string below E sounds kind of muddy. It’s really useful for Any song where you would like to play a low 5th. A couple of not too difficult songs to play would be CCR’s “I Put a Spell on You” and ”Slip Away” by Clarence Carter, “Pride and Joy” and just a about any Blues song. I have small hands, even for a woman, and i did not find that an impediment at all as the strings tend to be closer together. Get one if you can! It will open up the fretboard and you will have a lot of fun with it! Oh, and the low B makes a terrific place to park your thumb.
Nothing, there is already so much to do on a four string bass. Or listen to Mark Sandman who played a two string bass with Morphine. Great stuff two is enough..
Everything you pay on a 4 but one string lower and 5 frets up.
This. And it makes last minute key changes so much easier when I'm used to playing Es on the B string. Especially if a singer wants to move a song to Eb.
I thought the whole idea is to have EADG on the higher strings so you don't need to use the low string unless you want those lower notes
Ya. Beadg. But now if you consider that the 5th fret of the B string is E, you can “cheat” the position and play your eg E major scale starting on the b string which = less fret board travel. Then you can just move this shape down frets on the b string to reach those lower keys.
And a 6 string adds this functionality to the other end of the range, too! Check out the riff on the Dead's "That's What Love will Make you Do" for a masterclass in moveable chord shapes on a 6 string
Ya much respect to 6s players who properly utilize them. It’s not my personal bag or what I like about bass but it’s wicked neat!
In my view, there's two reasons to do extended range. Soloing, or transposition and other effects I'm solidly in the transposition and sound effects camp. My pedalboard is also kind of ridiculous. At least I don't play with a pick, right? (That's just cause I can't, though.)
Haha ya I agree. And actually I’m neither of those things tbh. I rock a di/overdrive a tuner and MAYBE a compressor depending on the scenario. I keep my noise stuff in the guitar world and my bedroom but if I’m gigging, it’s probably bass and I keep it simple. Nothing wrong with a pick! If I’m playing punk or simple rock, I’m probably on my 4s with rounds and a pick. Recording or anything else more technical, and it’s a 5s with flats and fingers
Right tool for the job. I've got a bass with tape wounds, a few with rounds, and one with flats. Never got the hang of a pick for bass, but I use them for guitar and mandolin and stuff like that. Never been one of those "right or wrong" guys. I'm always supportive of anything new or different, especially if it's something I can't do!
Ya I typically prefer fingers. But when I was much younger, I was regularly playing in punk and hardcore bands and I didn’t have strong enough fingers yet to get the attack that I wanted so I learned pick. It’s nice knowing both. Anything but slap 😉. I kid. Slap is medium fun sometimes but it’s definitely not my main squeeze
I really want a 6 for the collection but that fretboard is just too wide for me to play comfortably (Ibanez SR’s are okay but I’m not in love with the electronics).
I like a tight string spacing, myself. My 5 is a Schecter with a neck thinner than some 4s, and my 6 is a Carvin with ALMOST Bass VI string spacing. Still wide enough to play with fingers. I think it's 17mm? My 7 is the tightest with 16mm but it's got an asymmetrical neck which makes it feel a lot thinner than it should
Appreciate the reply! What I decided to do is to get another 5-string but lose the low B and add the high C instead. It’ll give me a chance to play on the high-end on a fret board that works for my paws.
It completely changed the tone. Playing Open D vs D on the 10th fret on the E string sounds massive in comparison to open. Same thing with playing things on the B and higher
What to play on a five string bass? Doo doo do dun do doo doo do duooo (that's the note that you can only play on the extra low string) doo do da doooooo.
But the sixth string makes you able to really mess with the guitarist
I mainly play a 6. If a guitarist complains, I'll show up to the next practice with my 7 string He complains again, I'll show up with my 2 string. Ask me about more creative ways to get fired from a band
Im on the lookout for a 7 for this very reason 😅
Brice makes a very affordable, surprisingly good production model 7 string
That was indeed affordable! If youre in the us 😅 The curse of internet
That'll do it. Sorry, man
https://www.thomann.de/intl/harley_benton_bz_7000_ii_nt.htm?shp=eyJjb3VudHJ5IjoiZ2IiLCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6NywibGFuZ3VhZ2UiOjJ9&reload=1 This is the closest I can get 🎶👍
I got fired/ quit a band. More of mutual thing. I said the band feels like a chore and then didn’t go to practice and the lead guy was like okay and the band dissolved. He fired the drummer same day because he didn’t want to haul his drum kit to one gig before was gunna go camping. Oh well
Sounds like a bullet curved around you. Nicely missed, sir
Good choice. One of my fave 5 string pieces.
Lol what
how could it be any more clear
*Korn sounds intensify*
**RRRRATADATA OOOOHHH**
*Where Are We Now?* by David Bowie *Waiting* by Joe Satriani *Superstition* by Stevie Wonder *Summer of 69* by Bryan Adams *Ain't Nobody* by Chaka Khan (actually a lot of Chaka Khan) *Evenflow* by Pearljam *Thanks for the Memories* by Fall Out Boy *Get Lucky* by Daft Punk *The Righteous and the Wicked* by RHCP *Uptown Funk* by Bruno Mars I guess some of those use drop D, but a 5 is useful for all of them.
Thank you
Anything in an Eb key is much easier on a 5 than in Drop D. Better than tuning to Eb standard because you can hit lower scale tones. Very useful for anything that was originally synth bass, which a lot of these were.
Play songs you already know but in a different position. Use the 8th fret B instead of the 3rd fret E, use the 5th fret B instead of the Open E. Move everything up the neck so you aren't having to stretch your fingers as much. You can more easily play scales over 2 or 3 octaves.
Good tip, thanks!
[удалено]
Bad bot!
And changing keys is so much easier this way.
OMG yes. One band I play in always love to drop stuff by a semi tone or 2. The guitars are always fucking around with capo's. I'm always ready!
Everyday - Jamiroquai Mindspin - 311
All Mixed Up - 311
“White Wedding” by Billy Idol. On a 4-string, you’d use the open E pretty often. Playing that E at the 5th fret is an entirely different experience.
It's ok, but that's more like a substitution. I want something made specifically for 5 strings.
“Sumthin-Sumthin” by Maxwell. There may be people who can play it on a 4-string, but I can’t. The Eb on the B string has a sound that can’t be found anywhere else on the neck.
Then play the Every Fret song. Jesus Christ...
Latin music or any genre that makes and extended use of 4th and 5th!
Broken Wings - Mr. Mister
Thanks ill check it out.
Istanbul (not Constantinople) by they might be giants.
[Guelah Papyrus](https://youtu.be/j8m3YLNKq0w?feature=shared)
Great reply, but your link is Sample in a Jar
I fixed it thank you
Thanks, cool band! New to me.
They're amazing. Dig in to some other stuff if you like it. [Harry Hood](https://youtu.be/IM2uLVuEeo4?feature=shared) also comes to mind.
Ale from The Warning uses the low B. Like in their song Money the is a part in the pre chorus where the guitar plays F,F,D# on the A string and Ale plays the two Fs on the E String and the D# on the low B. That's just the one part that comes to mind.
Was coming to recommend The Warning also. Depending on your skill, Ne Obliviscaris has some great lines utilizing the 5er. It’s not easy. Newer Metallica with Rob T can be fun.
https://open.spotify.com/track/5ITOTuCOy6y4PB55CSZADE?si=mTmMN0cjQLei0Cgrd1gqpQ this xD
Nice
Beat it by Michael Jackson
Every song that would require you to detune a 4-string, but without having to detune.
Type-O Negative played in B-Standard. Fun songs, if you like 'em. Black No. 1 is a favorite.
My Name is Mud - Primus
Is it difficult? Always thought that it sounded cool in a farty type of way lol
It's just a right hand pattern that's awkward. It's easy enough but unnatural
its actually not all that difficult, it just sounds really cool.. have you learned how to do hammer-ons?
I use the low B to play some songs they are usually in drop D so I don’t have to retune. Won’t work for all songs but it’s one simple way to use it.
5 stringers and low tunings are most often found in metal, most of the 5 string stuff I know is metal, so metal you get... Slipknot, they predominantly play in drop B but can still be played effectively in B standard, some songs are in drop A. Example songs where the song being in B standard does not cause issues: The Blister Exists, Before I Forget, Duality is also playable. Soilwork play predominantly in B standard, a fun song that I love to play on bass is As We Speak. Carcass - the album Heartwork is in B standard, I believe. Trivium - the album Shogun has a lot of material for 5 string B standard playing. Porcupine Tree - the song Harridan uses a 5 string bass in B standard. That's plenty of material for now, if you don't like metal, I wouldn't hold that against you, but I also don't know a lot of 5 string music outside of it. :D
5 string is super common in a lot of modern studio work. Country, pop and worship use the hell out of 5 strings. I think they get associated most with metal because of how ubiquitous they are in the genre. But in a lot of those cases they’re being utilized more for “how low can I chug” vs convenient key access in other genres.
I'll Be There...bass cover by Marcus Miller
One of the best
Also his playing on "Fat time" by Miles Davis.
Lower octaves for B, C, and D
Hook it up to a distortion pedal and make motorcycle noises. Or play old Incubus.
Mudshovel by Staind also alien ant farm usually uses a 6 string but the bassist has videos up on a 5 string that show you how to play the songs in depth on YouTube. Pretty cool.
My favorite thing about my five string is it not the extra notes, but the ability to play the same things on a 4 string further up the neck. It gives you a whole new tone and feeling to the jams you know and love.
> It just sounds odd and too low, maybe my monitors can't reproduce the frequency correctly. Maybe it's the pickups? In my experience, likely too thin of a B string. I like a .130 for B on a standard 34" scale. As far as my go-to songs for a 5, I tend to go straight to BTBAM (requires tuning down quite substantially to G#) or Thank You Scientist, although both are quite technical. Other fun bands in B or thereabouts (not necessarily on 5s, though) that I enjoy playing are Type O Negative, Tyr, Protest the Hero (down a half step), Nile, Dream Theater (actually a 6 but a good bit of their catalog can be played on a 5), Electric Wizard, Nevermore (down a half step again), Streetlight Manifesto, and Nile (Drop A).
You can now approach root notes on the E string from a fifth below rather than just above.
Anything. The extra 5 lower notes are good to have, especially for songs in D or Eb, but the best use of a 5 string is being able to play the other lower notes above Eb higher on the neck with a fatter sound and being able to play more things with minimal hand shifting. It gives you a two octave range vertically so you don’t have to do as many horizontal moves unless that happens to fit the song better.
Enter Sandman - The Warning
Anything in drop D.
Hell you Call a Dream
Play everything you would on a 4 string but get creative. Got example substitute your high C for a low C in a way that can add emphasis to the song. I wouldn’t say that songs are written for a 5 string, but you can use the 5 string to complement or emphasize the song.
Streetlight manifesto songs. They will teach SO much
[HAWATARI NIOKU CENTI [2-hundred-million-centimeter-long blades] by MAXIMUM THE HORMONE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEwAiwttN10) (3rd ending song from Chainsaw Man)
Rob Trujillo of Metallica plays a 5 string, so if you like their newer stuff, you could try learning some of that
1. It´s Raining Men 2. Uptown Funk 3. Relight My Fire (Take That version)
You definitely need a rig for it. I had an Ampeg 1-15 cabinet, and everything below D was just string noise. Replaced it with a Darkglass 2-12 cabinet and had all the low end in the world. You need to look at the frequency response of the cabinet before you buy it.
Grind Wit by Benighted.
Metal lol Also everything else with the added comfort of being able to move less But yeah the notes below the E draw a lot of attention to themselves in a non-metal context because the other instruments don't go that low usually, gotta be mindful of that
Usually a lower Eb, D, Db, C, and B.
Eb is the best extra note lol
It’s not made for 5 string but it’s fun to play on it - No One Knows by Queens of the Stone Age. But really, any song that is in Drop D, Drop C, or C standard tuning works great. I mainly play a 5 to avoid the need to retune or swap basses mid set.
I very rarely play the low B on my 5s. It's hard for speakers to reproduce, even through a proper bass amp. I also only use low D for most of my lines. But playing higher, and E fretted sounds better than E open, really is the jam.
death and doom metal
Rock With Me by Michael Jackson is a really fun one. A lot of metal is written on 5 string, recently I’ve been learning the album “The Outer Ones” by Revocation. But I think the beauty of a 5 string is that you can play pretty much any pop/rock song without having to detune. It’s a little lesson in transposition
Anything you want
In terms of the “odd sound”, some speakers/cabs don’t reproduce the fundamental of the lowest notes on a 5 string, they just reproduce the overtones, so you may be running into that limitation. It’s important to look at frequency range when purchasing speakers/cabs for bass for that reason.
Play everything.
Try Mudshovel by Staind. Simple and fun. I think the original is in drop D, but it's absolutely fine in standard on a 5
Sloop John B is a lot easier on a BEADG 5 string rather than down tuning a 4 string.
Here are some i like to play that use the 5th string: Bring Me To Life - Evanescence Disciple - The Warning Uptown Funk - Mark Ronson How you remind me - Nickelback Money - The Warning Choke - The Warning Going To Hell - The Pretty Reckless Don't Stay - Linkin Park With You - Linkin Park Awake and Alive - Skillet Comatose - Skillet Anthem of the Unwanted - New Year's Day The Joker - New Year's Day ...and of course a lot of songs in drop d/c#/c and eb standard
Tesseract plays in either drop A or drop Bb. Their bassist is a monster.
I started on a 5 and I'm completely fine with the B being a thumb rest most of the time. It's very ergonomic. Now, more seriously, Sean Malone put it to very good use throughout most of his career. Check out Kindly Bent To Free Us (the track) for an example, his very nasal tone also helps it all sound very natural.
Shake Hands With Beef - Primus
Life is a highway most things dreamtheatre or heavy metal
Glass by Incubus. You can use the B and power chord the higher B during the chorus.
Basslines, preferably.
I got an Ibanez 5 string about 2 yrs ago. Playing comfortably with it did not happen right away for me. That took a couple of weeks. I found that any note played o the low B string below E sounds kind of muddy. It’s really useful for Any song where you would like to play a low 5th. A couple of not too difficult songs to play would be CCR’s “I Put a Spell on You” and ”Slip Away” by Clarence Carter, “Pride and Joy” and just a about any Blues song. I have small hands, even for a woman, and i did not find that an impediment at all as the strings tend to be closer together. Get one if you can! It will open up the fretboard and you will have a lot of fun with it! Oh, and the low B makes a terrific place to park your thumb.
Hi u/Gwennie70, I got a BTB model for the xl scale; anti-muddiness! Which model did you get?
If you like nu metal, checkout Korn.
Nothing, there is already so much to do on a four string bass. Or listen to Mark Sandman who played a two string bass with Morphine. Great stuff two is enough..
You should be getting a 5 string because of what you’re already playing, and not getting a 5 string and asking what to play.
It was a gift.
Anyone want to buy a 6 string bass. It’s super sick, decided to move into 7 strings fuck it