The Bass in Fifths

[Jeff Moote]

Originally Posted by Ken Smith

The concept has been around for centuries. It takes a great player to do this and be able to play all the material and play it in tune. The Bass is hard enough to play in tune in fourths, so why make things even more difficult.

I think the 5ths thing is interesting but thinking about it and doing it for real are not the same thing!

Interesting that you say this. I agree entirely that it is a huge challenge to re-learn the instrument, and certainly to gain the left hand proficiency required. It does take a great player to do this well, but in tune?...

Playing in tune would not be a challenge I think fifths presents, as for each individual string the intervals are all the same. The increased shifting does add a degree of difficulty, but shifting is not the biggest cause of intonation problems for most players (tuned in fourths) anyway.

Still, your thoughts are valid and the challenges are very real. It certainly is something else altogether to actually do this and play the bass in fifths but like I said above the advantages are really appealing to me right now...