Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

McCARTNEY on recording "Free As A Bird": I played the Wal, and what I liked was I played very, very normal bass, really out of the way, because I didn't want to 'feature'. There are one or two moments where I break a little bit loose, but mostly I try to anchor the track. Therre's one lovely moment when it modulates to C, so I was able to use the low C of the 5 string - and that's it, the only time I use the low one, which I like, rather than just bassing out and being low, low, low. I play normal bass, and then there's this low C and the song takes off. It actually takes off anyway because a lot of harmonies come in and stuff, but it's a real cool moment that I'm proud of. That's my Wal moment.

And then there's this to go with it from the author,Dennis Alstrand :

2 ways to play a 5 string

One way would be to take a step back and re-approach the bass with all five strings in mind, to seek it out as a whole new instrument because in effect that's what it becomes with that approach. You've no doubt heard a number of bass players who have taken this approach, and they lean quite heavily on the low B. This can be troublesome: while we bass players tend to love low rumbling sounds, there are not many others like us out there in the world. One gets the feeling that these bass players are using their newfound low B string as a weapon to grab new power in the band sound. Interestingly enough, you 'generally' find these sorts of bass players in the club scenes and maybe it makes sense there.

The second way is to think about your bass as the old 4 string instrument -with a fifth string available on top for effect. For one thing it makes it much easier to play without thinking so much. It's so easy, while playing, to forget that the string at the top of your neck is now a B instead of an E that it's almost survival to adopt this method both live and in the studio. Approaching 5 string bass playing in this way also causes the bass player to use the B string a bit more sparingly, and hence to much better effect.

I got this from http://www.macca-central.com/macca-archives/evolutionplaying.htm
which someone from here suggested. It is a great site!

I play a Lakland 55-94, which has one of the best B strings around (35" scale). Still, that low B is my least frequently used note. I used low D quite a bit followed in descending frequency -- some pun intended -- by C#, C, then B. What I really love, though is having that B string to allow me to do patterns higher on the neck. The Lakland is so clean and even that I never hesitate to play it all the way up to the 12th fret on the B and E strings. This is great because I never really liked the way that B, C and D sustain when played on the G string on most basses. (I'm sure you're familiar with the dreaded dead C on the G string on most older Fender bass necks.) I love low, but I've been a fan of playing bass higher than the 7th fret since I first heard "Day Tripper." I will admit that after almost 40 years of playing 4 strings, it took me about two weeks stop thinking that my lowest string was E. Now, after playing 5 string exclusively for almost four years, any 4 string neck feels like a pencil. BTW, how many recall Chris Squire's custom bass with a low A string?

I thought his extended neck Tobias was tuned low B.

I have a great 16x20 b&w print of McCartney playing his 5 string Wal on a wall in my bedroom. Of course, I made the print myself from the original negative!

I put all of that up to say that is how I approached the 5 string. I've been playing one for almost 10 years.....til I got my Rick!

I like the 5 string cause of course you have those extra low notes. But also its easier to reach the notes. When normally you would have to go down the neck for that low F or whatever now its just right there for you. The hardest thing for me when learning 5 was to not just think of B as E.

I own 13 basses ... 12 are 5 string and 1 is a 10 string ... I love the full sound of the extra low notes ... and if you play blues in D D# E or F then the low B string really comes in handy ...

I also heard that McCartney has a 4003s5 and a 4004ci ... but I can't prove it ...

my biggest problem with learning the 5 string was grabbing the wrong string ...

Some modern music requires a low D or low C# ... I use every fret and every string on my 5 string basses ... and I like to Detune the 5 string bass 1/2 step once in a while ...

the 5 string bass works well for blues and country ... and it gives new dimension to classic rock ... it is necessary for modern rock and metal ...

For me a 4 string bass feels wrong ... it is missing a string ... and I was a diehard 4 string bass player from 1968 until 2002 ...

Jeff Scott: I'm sure I recall reading a magazine interview with Chris in which he discussed having a low A string. I recall because I thought he was crazy! It would have been around the time of the Big Generator LP. I searched on the web and came up blank. Maybe some Yeshead will clear this up for us?

yes Squire does have a 5 string with the low string tuned to A ... I saw Creed on TV a few years ago and the bass player was playing a musicman tuned to ADGCF ... the low A tuning is not that uncommon ... Chris said he never liked a low B ... I have a video taped interview from the early 80's where he showed many of his basses ... including an 8 string which had the D and G octave strings were tuned a fifth above ...

At church, I ended a lot of songs with low D. It just feels right. I will admit I didn't use it for much else as I don't get up the neck too often. I only play 5 or 6 songs a week so the pickins are slim for a whole lot of variety. We probably have a catalog of about 300 songs worked up to choose from and we repeat about every 9 weeks with some going in and out of the "rotation". Of course, we don't memorize, we have music stands. Since we're not paid(in the traditional sense!), we just use the chord charts. I doubt if I play any of the "original" bass lines to any of the music we do. However, I can't imagine anyone playing these a whole lot different. I do throw in some trombone stuff on the bass when the song feels a little thin. Our lead guitar doesn't always play lead so I need to "busy" up the bass line a bit in parts.

Charly, your church gig sounds a lot like mine (although I do get paid). I have heard the original bass lines but I never play them. We also play 5-6 songs per service, but we don't approach anything like 300 in the catalog. It's more like 100. We do two contemporary Christian, followed by a standard hymn, followed most weeks by two more CC "hits." Choir sometimes does some very gospel flavored tunes midway, with our help. After the service it's another hymn followed (for the last year now) by "God Bless America." The pastor likes identical services, and we do three per week, back to back, so it's a challenge not to get bored. We have music, but bass, guitar and drums (we all came out of rock backgrounds) don't bother to read after the first few times. Oddly enough, the people who do read (about 12 total in the praise band, counting horns) are the ones who most often get lost. I'm not above making the bass lines sound like McCartney's, and the guitarist loves to throw in very U2 sounding voicings. Lately, we've been doing a lot of things that could have been borrowed from "The Lion King" -- very African, sometimes reggae. Most weeks it's fun, but Episcopal hymns can be pretty stiff at times. Every three months or so, the music minister gets in a mode where we do a string of Celtic tunes, all in D. That's when the B string really comes in handy!

We're PCA, conservative. and we watch the lyrics pretty close for "up with men" stuff, which seems to be getting more prevalent. I introduced them to Take My Hand, Precious Lord, so we can say we do Gospel Blues! Amen, Oh Happy Day, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, always seem to be enjoyed. We have fun at the prayer service on Sun nite by letting the people make requests! They have the song book so they just have at it! I have the most fun there as I can let loose a bit and try new things.

Im a pagan so i dont go to church. But when i was trying to find something for me religious wise. I went to church with a friend a few times. And I thought this kind of funny... but During the whole drink and eat thing (i dont know what you call it sorry). I noticed they were playing Orchid from Black Sabbath. At 1st it hit me as odd but once i thought about it, it wasnt so bad. Im guessing this was an old song that they did. Yeah not sure why i said all this tho.

You guys sound like your doing in church what i want to do all together. I want to find some guys i can play with and just really kind of make it up as we go. Everyone I know my age sucks and cant really write music. Much less make it up on the spot.

Jeff how do you go 30 years of playing nothing but 4 and not even own a 4? No disrespect intended.

For me personally i can never make up my mind what to play. If im not doing a specific song then im switching between every bass i own almost. I dont see 5 string much different from my 4 any more tho. I didnt go about learning it in any way really. I just picked it up and played. After a little while it just became some what natural. Im just hoping the same thing happens with 8 and 10.

Jacob ... How do I go 30 years on a 4 and then give it up ... well ... I got into modern music ... I was die hard retro ... I loved the old 70's progressive rock ... but disco, punk, metal, and MTV turned me off ... so in the 80's I got into blues ... I started liking modern music in the 90's ... then about 2001 I started playing in bands that did modern music ... for that you need a low D ... I tried the detuning thing but that was a little cumbersome ... finally I got a 4003s5 in 2002 ... at first the transition was painful the string spacing was different ... my low string was no longer an E and the E A and D string were all together in the middle ... I went through the grab the wrong string brain freeze thing ... but I stuck with it ... I realized that a 5 can do everything a 4 can do but a 4 can't do everything a 5 can do ... so I either converted or sold all of ny 4 string basses ... 4 string basses now seem uncomfortable and unnatural to me ...

I do some Christian music once in a while ... but for the most part I play with these guys right now ... www.m2midnight.com ...

I'm also pagan (wiccan), but I go to, and play at a Religious Science (Science of Mind) church. It's a sort of "new age" church. The music isn't very exciting, and we don't play the songs the way they were written... mostly because that's how the guitar player learned them before I was there. Sometimes I try and fix things, but he's set in his ways. I do get paid for the gig, and my wife and I went there anyway so...

On the subject of 5 strings, I played four string basses since '69. I also played a lot of prog rock... Around '86 I started feeling like I wanted to do something different, so after playing 4 string bass, both fretted and fretless, with a pick, I bought an Ibanez 5 string, and started playing with my fingers. I was trying to get a different sound than I normally used, so I also started using flats for a while, and then switched back to RWs.

Talk about feeling like I was starting over from the beginning! I didn't want to take the approach that I was playing a four string, with an extra string as a thumb rest, so I tried to incorporate the low B into regular playing, whenever possible. What I don't do is play the low notes just because I have them, and in fact probably not that often. Depends on the music. I recently decided to string up one of my basses with a high C to try it, but I haven't put that bass back together yet.

I still own two 4 string basses, both 4001's, and an 8 string I made, but I mostly play 5's.

I was a bit disappointed that Macca played so "normal" on those new tracks.

I have two 5-string basses, a 4003s/5 and a Lakland Skyline 55-02. I don't use them now since the music my band's doing doesn't require the low B, but I'm keeping them just in case something changes. Besides, I like the way they play.