TheLowDown

You've cut down your range of choice by a significant percentage then. I doubt that there is many, if any, company that has an unblemished human rights record when you dig down through the supply chains, whatever BS they give you about their corporate ethics. I would go for a Harley Benton because they're inexpensive and I've never found a reason not to recommend one.

This? https://apps.apple.com/us/app/notes-sight-reading-trainer/id874386416

Money saved, unless you're a collector.

Still a big fan of Joy Division.

One exercise I do is to set the metronome to something like 13/4, but have it so that only the 1st beat is audible. Start off at a tempo of 90 and play a note when you think the 1st beat is, so you have to train your internal sense of rhythm to guess where each pulse is. In another exercise you can try guessing the 3rd and 12th beat. Or decrease the tempo. You can also try playing each of the standard basic building-block sudivisions such as these, but play the same one on each beat for several measures. After you've learnt them and got the timing right, play each one randomly when you're jamming. Hope it helps.

Incredible value for money, so I bought the B650 and B450 too.

If you can't hear intervals that well, so what. People aren't born knowing them, and it often takes work to become good. It's something that you can gradually improve upon. Think baby steps, then there's no mountain to climb. Personally I don't aim to be the best bassist there is because it's never going to happen and it's not important anyway, I just aim to become the best that I can and to enjoy myself along the way. The problem with a lot of people is that it's always tempting to compare with someone else (don't take too much notice of social media, kids. Full of fake and carefully pruned lives), and they feel demotivated because there is always someone 'better'.You may see people who seem to be good, but you won't see all the hard work and pain that they've gone through to get there, and it can give the impression as if it's come naturally to them. Good luck.

It's not. I didn't say that it's complicated. I said it's more complicated compared to 4 string. Big difference, except to some. Whereas Doddy says "I also don't think that it particularly complicates the navigation of the fingerboard. Once you've spent a bit of time learning the notes on the added strings there's not much extra thinking involved.". Ah that's OK then, so there is no added complication when playing a 6 string compared to a 4 string? Nope, because Doddy reassures me that: "At least nothing that an hour or two in the practice room learning the notes won't sort out.". Wow, that was quick!! Otherwise it shows that his understanding of the fretboard leaves a lot to be desired, and which perfectly explains his views. Anyone unfortunate to read Doddy's guide to the 6 string for advice is going to be very misinformed.

Well that's one reason why I chose unlined.

So I would be better using a fretwrap rather than trying to become the best I can be at muting. Fair enough.

I didn't say that either. 🤦‍♂️

I prefer to go higher rather than lower to avoid bending the wrist on my fretting hand, and tilt the neck at 45 degrees so that my plucking hand is kept as straight as possible. I'm not in the game to look cool, but to keep playing as long as I can without health issues.

I prefer not to use 'crutches' because I think muting should come from the player. The only time I think they come in handy is for tapping or slapping, but I don't go there.

That's not what I said. Sorry for my "ignorance". Please educate on where I'm wrong so I can learn from your greater knowledge?

Major 3rds was an example to make the point. You should be at least aware of where all the major/minor 3rds, natural/flat 5ths, and minor/major 7ths are depending on what chord type you're playing. Playing scales across the entire neck teaches you more than just note positions so you don't have to rely on beginner shapes. A 4 string means that there is less to consider which makes playing much nippier when you need it. If you know the fretboard well enough, going up or down the neck where necessary shouldn't be a problem, and even encourages a certain creativity. If you think a 6er doesn't add complication to navigation then maybe there is still a lot of work to be done on fretboard awareness. But if you just play in the box all night every night, a 5 or 6 string will definitely suit you much better.

You don't think it complicates it at all going from a 4 string to a 6 string? Take any root note on the fretboard, compare the number of major 3rds between a 4 string and a 6 string. If you just want to play within a box on the fretboard, then I would agree with you.

Any 10 string bass that includes the elixir of youth, I'm taken. I will overlook the strings. For my strap I use 4 inch ones as in the pic, and they're the best I could find for around the 20 quid mark. The 6 strings weigh around 8.8lb, but even with a 4 inch strap it's like a boat anchor after a while.

Sadly, not on the recording.

I play them all at some point, but I believe in using the best tool for the job. This is why I have them all as you can see. Others may not have that view. If I'm at a gig and I'm playing some songs that use a 4 string and some that use a 5 string, I will still take both. Arguably, most songs can be played on a 4 string, so I wouldn't be playing to the best of my ability if all of those songs were played on my 5 string, always having to mute the B string while complicating my playing unnecessarily. For the weight issue, I'm not getting any younger, and every lb of weight every hour intensifies. This is why I choose to play the lightest bass I can. I don't want to lug around a 5 string when I don't have to, and definitely not a 6 string. Binky makes the point about home projects, and I've stuffed that into "niche work and practice". I agree that the 6 string is ideal for such things and this is why I bought them to begin with. At home, the weight issue, neck dive and most of the other issues are negligible. There's never going to be a bass which is all things to everyone. And that's why I choose to use the best tool for the job whatever. I'm only going to use a bass if I absolutely have to. So the lighter, the more simple, the less strings, the less neck dive,...., the better for what I want to achieve.

Honeymoon period. You have all these new strings to play with and it's like being one of those transformers with weapons oozing out of every pore. You're now Galactus and you never need another bass because the 6 string does it all. And more. But then reality kicks in as you become more acquainted with the saying "with great power comes great responsibility". The extra weight hour after hour, the constant muting of the C string and the permanently rumbling B string, the (at least slight) neck dive, the extra price of strings, the extra mental calculations required to effectively circumvent the fretboard when going from chord to chord, to name but a few, all begin to take their toll. Regarding the point in italics, even though it's only 2 strings more than a 4 string, that hugely expands how many patterns you need to keep in your head when looking for the right note to play, and when performing you really want to keep things as simple as possible. No need to complicate things. And that's when you realise that you should only use the right bass for the job. Don't use a 6 string when a 4 or 5 will do. Don't use a 5 string when a 4 will do. It turns out that even though the 6 string is a whole lot of fun, it often doesn't need to be used that much except for niche work and practice.

I have a 4, 5 and 6 string fretless(not 5 string though) and fretted, so i don't need any more bases. If I did buy another I would get a Harley Benton 4 string short scale for around £100 and save the other £600.

You could buy one of those fan fret 4 strings and then just buy an extra B string. I also believe that getting the best B string that is possible is not about the scale, but more about the setup.

It would be difficult to say the best, but one of the best for me would be New Order's Blue Monday

Price is invariably equated with quality, and marketing people know this all too well. Unfortunately, a lot of consumers don't. This is why I do my research and buy a bass or other at a reasonable price to get the best quality at the lowest price. Nowadays you really can get an awesome quality bass at a low cost because of the level of technology available and manufacturing centres in the East. Therefore, all of my basses are each under £200. There is literally no reason why I need to spend above that that will offer anything more than the basses that I have already. I don't really see the point of paying £567 for a packet of biscuits when I can get good quality biscuits for significantly less, although some people buy into the idea that a £576 packet of biscuits with a prestigious brand name on the packet will give them the best quality biscuits that money can buy.

I've never had any problems with them.