rickybails

old thread, but I've just started re-learning bass in fifths tuning. Bought a set of Red Mitchell strings (I first tried retuning my regular EADG set but not that playable) I came to try fifths after learning pivot shifting. I played orchestral bass to a decent standard at school, learning a solid Simandl technique. Gave up playing age 19. Then a couple of years back age 40 I got the urge to play again and got a stagg EDB. happily I found I soon got my old technique back. Then I spent hours googling on all things Double Bass to find out what had progressed in the last 21 years and discovered Rabbath and pivot shifting. Learned to pivot shift - watched Rabbaths DVDs and worked through the Vance books. Along the way I discovered that folk like Joel were tuning in fifths and with the new range I had with pivot shifting, realised that playing in fifths was completely possible. What I mean by 'possible' is that on the top G string I can stretch to C# with my 4th finger while keeping thumb in 1st position. With my old technique I would have been shifting all over the place. It's early days but so far the biggest hurdle is going to be the sight reading - relearn where all the notes are. In terms of playing by ear I find fifths a bit more logical. Relearning all the notes is just a matter of time spend sight-reading until I can do it instinctively. So in summary my advice to anyone wanting to play in fifths, just get started as there's a lot practice required. My motivation for Learning fifths as that so much of the orchestral repertoire suits 5ths better than 4ths.You need a C extension on a regular bass to be able to play 'anything' in an orchestra, and I didn't get on with a C extension. and my hands are a bit small for a 5 string.