Six String Snob!

[DTB]

I tried really hard not to let it happen. 
I only started playing six string within the last couple of months and I mentioned to my wife about a couple of web pages I had read from six string players I termed  “six string snobs” who thought their instruments were superior, and whilst I don’t share that point of view, I picked up my Jaco replica (the Vintage make not the custom shop one) to play Sledgehammer yesterday only to put it down to go back to the sixer. 
Can’t see the four string getting much use now. 
But I guess it doesn’t matter just as long as one plays as much as possible. 

[SumOne]

I'm generally snobby against 6 strings! ....but Thundercat is helping to solve that prejudice:   (still a bit 'busy' and too many chords and high notes for my usual bass liking though)

 

Edited January 27, 2023 by SumOne

[TheLowDown]

I do all my practice on 6 string bass. My reasoning is that it makes for flexibility and prepares me for being able to play whatever I want to play on 4 string, 5 string or 6 string. A bass is just a tool for a job, so I don't think there's any superiority about them, because all have pros and cons which makes each better for specific scenarios and not so good in others. Using a 6 string rather than a 4 string or vice versa is like choosing between a hammer and a screwdriver.

Edited January 27, 2023 by TheLowDown

[MacDaddy]

I sometimes wonder where my old Shuker 6 string ended up, and maybe tracking it down and buying it back.

[Horizontalste]

This reminds me of the kind of elitism I used to see in triathlon, there were plenty of rich blokes with super light bikes that cost thousands of pounds & most of them could've easily lost a fair bit of weight by addressing their tubby bellies.

They'd look down on me with my self built racing bike that probably weighed twice what theirs did. Then my (then) skinny frame & crap bike would kick their butts.

 

I'd love a six string TRB but I know it'd be wasted on me, I'd have to become much more musical inside to do it any justice.

I play fives mostly because the shapes make more sense to me & that means I get around the neck better than I do with a four string. 

[Russ]

I love Thundercat. But he's either a really little bloke, or that Ibby six-string he plays is just comically big.

 

I've been playing a sixer as my main bass for over a year now. Getting comfortable and loving the sonic possibilities, but I still find myself skipping over the D string occasionally! 

[fretmeister]

Anybody who is a string number snob is a weapons grade cretin.

All the "Jaco only needed 4" nonsense... well Bottesini only needed 3... because the original double basses only had 3 strings.

 

I play a 4 a lot, and a 5 when I need it for the low notes. A 5 is very useful when I'm playing in reed and brass friendly keys. I'm in B flat or in E flat quite a lot and jumping octaves can ruin the direction of a piece

[SumOne]

5 minutes ago, Russ said:

I love Thundercat. But he's either a really little bloke, or that Ibby six-string he plays is just comically big.

 

 

 

I think his Bass is comically big, and Thundercat must be fairly large this guy who is 5'10 pretty much can't play it:

 

[fretmeister]

That bass is huge!

 

🤯

[Lozz196]

Jaco only needed 4

 

Which explains why he’s twice as good as me as I only need 2

[fleabag]

Django Reinhardt only needed 2 fingers

[WinterMute]

Tried a few 6ers, always find the neck profile too wide for my small hands or, if the profile is ok, the string spacing is too tight. 

 

I love the idea of more strings, if I were a braver man I'd buy a Stick, but time and opportunity are no-ones friends these days.

 

Kraftwerk and The Human League et al didn't need strings...

[Count Bassy]

2 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

Jaco only needed 4

 

Which explains why he’s twice as good as me as I only need 2

Surely, if you only need 2 and he needed 4 than that makes you twice as good as him. No?

[Lozz196]

Just now, Count Bassy said:

Surely, if you only need 2 and he needed 4 than that makes you twice as good as him. No?

Good point 

 

I am better than Jaco!

[Waddo Soqable]

10 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

Good point 

 

I am better than Jaco!

And you're alive, even better still... 😁

[Owen]

I own a six string. It makes my head spin. If anyone wants a top quality Overwater 6er give me a nod. 

[Waddo Soqable]

I had a 6 for a short while, a real cheapo just to see what they're like.. It sounded very good tone wise, active elecs and kind of emg style PUs, usual broad table of a neck etc, but played OK I guess. 

I soon got rid of it as for me it had no point really, I could do what I needed with a 4 and prefer the more "open spaces" of the regular 4 bass strings ( call me a stick in the mud but I wouldn't want a 5 either tbh) 

So I'd be an inverted Snob I guess 

[lownote]

I wiggle back and forth.  Started on four.  Went to six because of the lovely high chordal possibilties. Went to four again.  Then five.  Now back on four fretless. But increasingly none (gone to sax). If I stay with bass  the obvious answer for most stuff is a wide strung five.

Edited January 27, 2023 by lownote

[Waddo Soqable]

2 minutes ago, lownote said:

I wiggle back and forth.  Started on four.  Went to six because of the lovely high chordal possibilties. Went to four again.  Then five.  Now back on four fretless. But increasingly none (gone to sax). If I stay with bass  the obvious answer for most stuff is a wide strung five.

Funnily enough as a youngster I played the saxophone before moving to bass... 

[josie]

My Ibanez Premium BTB 1406 (bought from @paulie of this parish in 2018) is ridiculously light and comfortable and easy to play. Really came into its own in lockdown for playing solo, and with my duo partner, who has a wonderful voice but plays very flat rhythm guitar, I play conventional bass under his vocals and "guitar" instrumental breaks on the high strings. When my band was together I gigged a 5, sometimes a 4 depending on the set - I love the 6 but she is a bit bling, to be honest, so I tend only to take her out when I am planning to use that high C string.

[Gwilym]

3 hours ago, WinterMute said:

Tried a few 6ers, always find the neck profile too wide for my small hands or, if the profile is ok, the string spacing is too tight. 

 

This for me too. Also for me the C string just feels too thin.

[Horizontalste]

2 hours ago, josie said:

My Ibanez Premium BTB 1406 (bought from @paulie of this parish in 2018) is ridiculously light and comfortable and easy to play. Really came into its own in lockdown for playing solo, and with my duo partner, who has a wonderful voice but plays very flat rhythm guitar, I play conventional bass under his vocals and "guitar" instrumental breaks on the high strings. When my band was together I gigged a 5, sometimes a 4 depending on the set - I love the 6 but she is a bit bling, to be honest, so I tend only to take her out when I am planning to use that high C string.

What a cool photo 😎

[DTB]

37 minutes ago, Horizontalste said:

What a cool photo 😎

+ like 1 million on that. 

[bass_dinger]

 

18 hours ago, Horizontalste said:

I gigged a 5, sometimes a 4 depending on the set - I love the 6 but she is a bit bling, to be honest, so I tend only to take her out when I am planning to use that high C string.

 

I do wonder how bassists manage to switch between instruments!  I think that that addition of a high C or the loss of a low B would confuse me!

 

I admire people who can switch. 

[Richard R]

26 minutes ago, bass_dinger said:

I do wonder how bassists manage to switch between instruments!  I think that that addition of a high C or the loss of a low B would confuse me!

 

I admire people who can switch. 

 

Absolutely this!

I bought a 5 string in lockdown, and have hardly played the 4 since as I'd have to re-learn the chord shapes again.

I can see when a six would be useful, but if I was playing notes that high the keyboard player would complain I was treading on his right hand.