Okay. So I'm getting a bass possibly for my Birthday. I've been looking it over online a bit. I was gonna get just a basic 4 string bass, but I've been learning the 6 String Guitar as well... Y'know, just to get used to actually playing a Guitar ( Not playing actually songs. Just learning scales and moving up and down the Fretboard).
Now to get to the point.
I'm wondering to anyone who has a 6 String Bass Guitar if it's anything like a normal 6 String. Is it easier to adjust from the one to the other? Does it really make a differance? Are the notes and finger placements somewhat the same? Any information ya got would be nice.
Another question (Don't hit me) is there a big differance between the 5 string bass and a 4 string bass? Or is the diffarnce... Err... Negliable?(Can't spell worth shit. And google isn't working. -_-)

The difference between a bass guitar and an electric guitar is not only the amount of strings but also the scale length. The length of the neck has so much to do with how it sounds and how it is played, with the exception being short scale basses. Which phail massively if they have any more than 4 strings.

Typically speaking, the more string there are on a bass, the flatter the neck is and the smaller the string spacing is. This typically means that if you're playing the low B string, your fingers are pretty much lying flat on the other strings. This is not universally true, especially when it comes to custom-built instruments, but it is typical.

Additionally, the industry standard is to tune a 6 string bass completely in fourths, from B to C (low to high respectively). I know of players who tune them like guitars, though.

I would start with a basic 4 string bass, unless you're wanting to play death metal. Then, I'd go for the 5 string. The difference between a 4 and 5 string bass is the added low B string, and a 6 string bass adds a high C string to that.

Tuning a 6 string bass is not like a guitar, and the fact that you're playing guitar could possibly throw you off at first, if you choose to get a 6 string bass. A four string bass is simple. The tuning of the strings is the same as the lowest 4 strings on your guitar (but an octive lower, of course).

I have a few 4 string basses, and one 6 string bass. The 6 string is pretty awesome for experimental stuff, but when I want to play some black or thrash metal (or Rush), I have more fun and less trouble doing it on the 4 string.

I say this to everyone, and I'll never stop saying it to anyone... Try before you buy. I wouldn't have my 6 string bass if I didn't pick it up and start playing on it. I hated 6 strings and how they felt until I played that one, and I fell in love with it.

Even if you are used to 6string guitars i would still start on a regular 4 string bass. The bass is a completely different instrument with different techniques, feel and sound and the more string you add the more difficult it becomes to play. The string spacing is much smaller in proportion with string thickness compared to electric guitars and its hard enough becoming proficient with 4. Dont put the extra difficulty on yet.

Saying that 6 string basses are harder to play than 4 string basses is bull. If you start off with a 6 string bass, it'll feel natural to you very quickly. The only people who have trouble playing 6 string basses are the people who have been playing 4 string basses for years and gotten used to it.

What you really should be asking yourself is whether you want/need to play a 6 string bass. If you feel that you do, then start off with a 6 string, if not, don't.

In any case, though, you'll find both a 6 string and a 4 string bass very different from a guitar.

The 4 string bass is normally tuned the same way as a guitar, only one octave lower and without the two skinnier strings. The neck is also longer and there's a bigger distance in between the frets.

Modern 5 and 6 string basses have a lower (thicker, bassier) string, which is not on a 6 string guitar, although it's usually tuned the same way as the other strings but it doesn't correspond in tone to the low E string on the guitar (it's usually tuned as a low B).

Older 6 string basses like 1960s Fenders, Danelectros and Gibsons are usually just tuned like a normal guitar, only one octave lower.

Also keep in mind that they can be tuned differently if you want.

Not to call anyone out, but two people so far have said that basses are one octave below guitar, and this is incorrect. Standard tuning for a bass is two octaves below standard tuning of a guitar.

Six string basses are easier to play, if anything.

I own a six string bass (a Peavy Grind BXP), and it's a magnificent instrument. String-thru and neck-thru, six strings for just over $400. It was a fucking steal. 6 strings gives you so much more room to write and be creative, and I wouldn't have written some kick-ass basslines if I hadn't been writing on a six-string. I tune my bass in 4ths. In the last band I was in, a tech-death band, I actually tuned up a half-step from standard tuning for a six-string bass (so it was low C to high C#), and it worked well. Now I'm tuned down two steps from standard tuning (low G to high G#), and though it took a slight truss-rod adjustment and fixing of the action, it still plays beautifully. I can no longer play four-string basses now, though, because the spacing of the strings is different, but I have no problem switching back and forth between my six-string bass and my six-string guitar.

The long and short of it is, there are a few really well-made six-string basses out there and for really cheap, owning a six-string bass opens up so many more options, and they're versatile. Get one.

I play a Grind, too, man, and they're the best! I would say the 2 biggest steals on a 6-string are the Peavey Grind and the Ibanez SR506, both great quality instruments at affordable prices.