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| The BASS Place Talk about Bass guitars and the low end of the scale. |
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#1 (permalink) |
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Friend of Leo's
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: New Florence, PA
Age: 17
Posts: 3,031
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My Duh Bass Moment
On 4 string bass it's simple enough, E, A, D, and G.
I always though that 5 and 6 strings would following suit, starting at E and going up two octaves to another E. But now I find out that a lot (if not most, according to a video I saw) of 5 string basses at a low B to the bass guitar. Drumroll please....
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If it don't twang then it ain't worth havin'! |
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#4 (permalink) |
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Tele-Meister
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Schenectady, NY
Age: 44
Posts: 443
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I've got a six string bass, too, it's like a bass within a bass >>>the inner four strings are normal, then you've got the Low B and the High C string.
I too was surprised by all this the first time I ever picked one up. That, and the fact that the neck seems as wide as a canoe paddle up around the 12th fret... Once you get used to it, though, it's awesome
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Regards, Dan |
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#7 (permalink) |
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Friend of Leo's
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SE PA
Age: 41
Posts: 2,011
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I recall seeing a F#-B-E-A bass in some catalog or another in the not too distant past. Presumably a 35-inch scale.
But that's kinda silly, I think, though a B-E-A-D might be practical...how often do I go all the waaay...up....there...lookin' for a note. Shoot, I rarely pass the 12th fret!
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#9 (permalink) | |
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Friend of Leo's
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: Virginia
Posts: 2,511
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Quote:
Yeah, sorry, this is pretty much common knowledge. Basses are tuned in perfect 4th's so the next lowest string would be a 'B.' * And the extra string gives a player a whopping five more notes ... most of which can't be heard by the human ear. Waste of steel IMHO. * But yes there are instruments with low octave EADGBE strings. |
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#10 (permalink) |
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Friend of Leo's
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Irving, United States of Texas!
Age: 44
Posts: 2,312
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Since a 5-string bass neck is too big for my hands, I've decided to install a Hipshot D-tuner on my E string. Drop the E string to a "D", fret the second fret, and hey, you have a fretted "E"!
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#11 (permalink) | |
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Moderator
Doctor of Teleocity
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Ocean Pines, Maryland, USA
Age: 50
Posts: 13,150
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Quote:
Tim
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http://www.moodswingers.org |
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#14 (permalink) | |
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TDPRI Member
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Dover - Delaware
Posts: 78
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Quote:
I missed the G
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>:^{I)>Kenny Belmont www.Myspace.com/BadJuJuBlues |
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#15 (permalink) |
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Friend of Leo's
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I don't care if I don't have the low B, but I do find myself wishing for the low Eb, and occasionally the D
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"Turn it up and it doesn't need any reverb." - Danny Gatton www.dannygatton.info Tiger Town Aces - Music That Bites Back In Redd we trust! Free Bill Kirchen! If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted, cowboys deranged, models deposed, tree surgeons debarked, and dry cleaners depressed? |
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#18 (permalink) |
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Tele-Afflicted
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Yup. I play a 5-string, but almost never go all the way down to the B. I can't, however, live without the low, low D. I've done drop-D tuning on a 4-string and it was OK. If I had a 4-string now, I'd go B-E-A-D with it.
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Two Teles + One Strat + Three Acoustics (6, 12 & solidbody 6) + Two Mandolins (4 & 8 strings) + One Bass (5 strings) = 59 strings total |
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#19 (permalink) |
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Friend of Leo's
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SE PA
Age: 41
Posts: 2,011
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I spent the months learning the 5, and was slightly better than proficient at it, not as good as I was on my 4, but certainly capable of getting through my gigs with it, but like many of us, I found that I never used the low B.
Installed a hipshot detuner set for D on my Rickenbacker and never looked back. Lookin' for one for my J & P now, if anyone wants to get rid of one... As for Lerb, there was a point in my life when I thought that a 6-string bass GUITAR was just a regular guitar, an octave lower, eg the B & E strings, but there were a lot fewer of them around back then...
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#20 (permalink) |
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Friend of Leo's
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: The Gorge
Posts: 2,510
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I played cello elementary school through high school. Heard Zep 1 and thought "can't do that with a cello..." So off to the music store to find bass. 4 strings from one to the other... I pick the thing up in the store and - it's tuned all goofy - so I tune it properly - I'd heard some blues & boogie so I tried the 1-4-5 kinda thing... Sales guy comes over listens, looks and my fretting hand, frowns - does is best 'gimme that, kid...' and retunes it wrong again...hands it back. Says - 'that's how you tune a bass ...' I probably shoulda known but the people who were playing bassin the orch at school were sorta developmentally disadvantaged and I just kinda avoided back there ... 4ths ... who knew ? Now I have the same reaction to tenor guitar - a lovely instrument tuned in 5ths mando style. Every time I pick one up, I want to tune it in 4ths and my luthier buddy who makes them just rolls his eyes ...
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#21 (permalink) |
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Tele-Meister
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Austin,Texas
Age: 51
Posts: 239
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Both of my 6-string basses are tuned E-E, that's how you did it "back then".
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Proud owner of Dee Murray's Steinberger! http://www.myspace.com/shapedsound http://www.eggmen.com |
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#23 (permalink) | |
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Tele-Meister
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Austin,Texas
Age: 51
Posts: 239
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Quote:
It didn't have a regular number of frets as it was meant to be played across the fretboard as opposed to up it, but I always thought it was a full-scale bass.
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Proud owner of Dee Murray's Steinberger! http://www.myspace.com/shapedsound http://www.eggmen.com |
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#24 (permalink) |
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Tele-Holic
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I love my 5ers. I rarely go down all the way to B, but, I love having the low D and a fretted E.
One think I don't care for is when bass players forget it's a "bass" and are playing way up the neck in the range of the guitars. Just my personal pet peeve.
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Just about everything I say has been stolen from someone else. |
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#25 (permalink) |
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TDPRI Member
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Florida
Age: 56
Posts: 47
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I thought the same thing until I picked up a 5 string and started to play it. That was quite a rude awakening! I imagine it would take a good while to get used to playing the 5 string. I'll stick with the 4 that I know.
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