Re: I just read the piece," Why so many strings" well let's see

I'm with you Mark, 

I play an old Fender 4 string J and a Neck thru-Active 6 stringer.

I started out thinking about a 5 before I went to the 6er but I figured, what the hell. If it's going to be more then 4 then get the extra string above too. It kicked my butt for the first couple of weeks I had it but I'm completly comfortable with it now. It also makes the J feal like a ukulele!

Guess I have to say the 6 pays off as I get older and slower, especially at about 1am where it's a hell of a lot easier to reach either up or down a string instead of 4 fretts away.. 

It's also cool when you want to shoot out a few 3 and 4 note cords but the old 4 string Jazz Bass is still my 70% of the time bass when I play out.

As far as the 8, 12, and 130 string basses, you on you own,brotha.  God bless you but I have no use for them. 

Smokey

>
>From: mark monillas <[email protected]>
>To: [email protected]
>Sent: Thu, November 19, 2009 5:32:07 PM
>Subject: Re: [Bass Place] I just read the piece," Why so many strings" well let's see
>
>  
>its the 7,8,10,12 14,15,16 string basses i look at and scratch my head..but these players are those that are tap soloists etc. I'll never play that many strings but hey .......... 
>
>Yo Victa, whatsoever you do, remember this here. You can't hold no groove, If you ain't got no pocket !
>
>--- On Thu, 11/19/09, soulman928 <soulman928@yahoo. com> wrote:
>
>From: soulman928 <soulman928@yahoo. com>
>Subject: [Bass Place] I just read the piece," Why so many strings" well let's see
>To: bassplace@yahoogrou ps.com
>Date: Thursday, November 19, 2009, 1:52 PM
>
> 
>
>I grew up with four strings, then I seen a 5 and 6 string built by Fender, and I thought, not a bad idea. Then Anthony jackson comes a long, and detunes his Fender down to D. But, in the meantime, here comes both Stanley, and Jaco. While studying Anthony, he mentions a bass player I didn't know nothing about then, and His name is James Jamerson. The "spirit" of Motown, and I thought Jermaine played those bass lines with the Jackson 5!Anyway, back in the "swinging 70's", there was so many bass players to be "heard", no one thought about extra range, until the synch bass came along. So what really came first, extra range, or extra tones? Remember, active basses was just coming out, unless you could afford a Alembic, or something "custom". Marcus Miller, "hotwired'(added a pre-amp)to his stock Jazz Bass. Fender made a Precision Bass "special",which was both active and non-active,and plus had gold hardware, and a 60's neck width to it, but I remember,
>that bass was heavy! Then, Leo made the Musicman Stingray, and it was cheaper than the Alembic or a custom model, plus it had a somewhat "fender bass" feel to it. Even Leo fender said in a interview before He died, "He didn't see the need , for the extra strings". He built the Bass V, because, that bass had a high C to it. So, instead of playing "down" the neck, the bassist could play "across" the neck, with better ease? The Bass VI, was suppose to be a "baritone" guitar, like that "sound" of the Tick-tack bass sound that is used in country music, and sometimes on movie soundtracks, like Our Man Flint. Anyway, Custom luthiers, like Ken Smith or Vinny Fodera, built these "new monster basses", for those who were really studio bassists, who could afford these basses.I agree with Anthony Jackson, that playing with a organ, that "Hammond B-3" has that bass tone going on, not the Fender. So that low "B", did the trick! I was one, who didn't want to change,
>but, sometimes, change is good for some, and bad for others. Ron Carter, and other jazz purist, didn't like the Fender, but, Ray Brown, played both, and it didn't matter to him. Now, the 6 string, I played by Yamaha, was too wide for me, but their 5 string, is just right for me! I feel, anything beyond 6, well that's too much, I think. I think , it's over kill. Nowadays.the younger bass players are somewhat going "retro" these days, so range to them, really doesn't matter. I just wonder sometimes , why can't a upright,fender, and a 5 or 6 stringer, all play together?
>
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