Ancient Vegan wrote:I'm with Talbot way to many big strings for me
Looks like they'd hurt my fingers
24 fret neck? Do you use that upper register much?
I know with a guitar it's cool to have those couple extra frets down there
to play around in, but the job can still be done with 22 frets
I'm a pretty good bass player but only with 4 strings
Anymore I'm trying to develop my left hand on the piano
And the right hand too
Lynard, please don't think i was ignoring you.
and look! i've quoted your WHOLE post here so you don't have to have to get testy about me "cherrypicking" or "plagiarizing"(?) what you had to say!
like everyone here who's ever picked up a bass....i came up playing four string basses. but then we started hearing all that low stuff coming from basses w a low B string....and from keyboardists (playing bass lines) who would get down below the low "E" of a 4 string.
I knew it'd be an adjustment both physically and mentally getting my hands and my brain around a 5 string so i figured ...."what the hey, I might as well just go all the way to six string". it wasn't too much of an adjustment and i learned right quick that "the money" was on the low "B" string and much less so on the high "C" string.
I do use the high C string as it gives me the option of playing ACROSS the fingerboard in one position as opposed to climbing up the neck to find the same notes on a lower string.
and as we all know .... you can find and play the same pitch in several spots at different frets on different strings.....and they all sound a little different tone wise. suck on THAT keyboardists!
as an example...on a four string bass, the open G string's pitch can be found again higher up the neck on the other three strings as well, and they all sound different because of the physics involved....
an open G string = a long skinny string and very clear, "less bassy" tone.
and as you move to the fatter strings, each time w a shorter "speaking length" the pitch becomes fatter/warmer. aha! choices!
so, that's one of the nice things about having that high "C" string".....though you can find a lot of it's same pitches on the "g" string further up the neck....because of it's longer "speaking length"on a skinnier string to get the same pitch...it cuts thru a little better. and that's good when you need that.
i didn't buy that bass because it has a two octave 24 fret neck. it just so happened that it does. i DO get up there pretty high on the skinny ones sometimes when i'm soloing and when i'm "trading fours" w a gtrst. do i get up to that high C at the 24th fret? hardly ever.
the other thing that's handy is that when i'm playing three pc, backing up a gtrst, or playing in the sax/drums/bass PJAZZ lineup, i can grab some chords here and there to flesh things out some.
now here's something interesting, or maybe funny.....tho i can get around on a 4 or 6 sting bass....i'm absolutely a goofball on a five string!
i still have my very first bass that i picked up while still in H.S. ......a 1963 PBass that i snagged in a NYC pawn shop for $75 back in the early '70's.
it's the best playing bass i've ever laid hands on. hands down. i run light gauge .040 - .095 flatwounds on it with very low action.
unfortunately ( or fortunately for you and everyone else) i don't have any video of me playing the Washburn but if you're curious about that old PBass....and have some time to waste, you can check this out as it comes fairly close to representing what that old girl sounds like....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZEVx76CjgY&t=526s
