Musicwise or instrument wise?

Either's fine. Don't know much about gear though.

I play a Fender P-bass, but I also have an Ibanez acoustic I use when I need to. Music wise, I play a lot of indie stuff, but I'm heavily influenced by grunge and classic rock. What about you?

I play an Ibanez GSR200L. Pretty cheap stuff. I'm looking to upgrade to 5 strings but it's not easy to find a lefty 5-string within budget.
Musicwise... well, I am a metalhead but what I play is anything from classic rock to stoner, loads of Sabbath.
Big fan of Geezer Butler and Al Cisneros of Om.

I have the same bass. It was my first bass, so I don't really use it anymore, but I've been covering it with stickers. I've been thinking about modifying it so I can play it with a bow, but I haven't otten around to it. How long have you been playing?

The exact same bass or the right-handed version. And ehh, just over a year.

Right handed. IT's a great bass for the price. Ibanez makes great entry-level instruments. Their mid price stuff is shit though.

Heh yeah I'm pretty happy with this one. Still I want that fifth string. The music I play is just begging for a B-string. I really feel like it's a creative wall I keep hitting. Playing stuff an octave too high really takes the punch out of stoner riffs.

I personally don't like 5 string basses. The neck's too thick for my taste. I play exclusively in drop D, which is plenty low for what I play. Most of the riffs I play are in the mid/high range of my bass. The pianist and guitarist in my band usually just play chords, so I play a lot of "lead-bass" type riffs, while keeping the rhythm.

I dislike drop D. It brings my bass out of alignment. I've tried 5-strings, and I really liked it.

Only time I ever really play drop D is when we're practicing Killing in the name of.

Yeah, it's probably not a good idea to switch between standard and dropD on your bass. On higher quality instruments, it's not as hard on the instrument. I've done a lot of custom adjustments on my Pbass, so it handels Drop D pretty well. I've also done some minor modifications on my Ibanez, so it handels it decently. I also hated Drop D until recently. My band recorded an EP in the studio, and our producers kept pushing me to play lower bass lines, so I had to play in drop D. I would play in standard when we weren't in the studio though, and then I just got tired of switching back and forth, so I just kept it in Drop D. I had to relearn my scales, and adjust my playing style a little bit, but I actually really like it. It would be nice to get a five-string, because I could get the lower end, and keep my bass instandard tuning, but I also do a lot of bass chords, and they're arranged so that they're easy to play in drop D, but hard in standard. If I ever get more into slap-bass, I'll definitely get a five string though. It'll probably be my next bass, after I get a Fender Jazz.

I'm thinking more along the lines of warwick, since they seem to have left-handed 5 strings well withing my budget. Thing is the closest warwick dealer is in another country. Ever played one?

I haven't. I know they're great basses though. Like I said, I play more indie/alternative music, so I go for basses that are almost more like guitars, so Warwicks, which are very "bassy" basses, don't really appeal to me. Which were you looking at, and what's your budget?

I don't want to spend more than 500€ on a bass yet. And I'm not looking at anything in particular until I've actually held it in my hands. I just saw that warwick had lefty 5-strings in the 200-500 range.

I'm completely biased, but if you want a recommendation, look into Fender basses. I don't know about about the $ to € conversion, but my Fender P bass was about $600-$700. I don't know how it works where you live, but I live in 'Merica, and here Fender basses are made both Mexico, and the US. I got the Mexican version, because it was quite a bit cheaper, and is honestly as good as the US version. If I were you, I'd look into getting a 5-String Fender Jazz Bass. It's probably a little out of your price range, but it's a very versatile instrument. If you're serious about music, you'll probably need another bass in a few years, and a J Bass is a very good bass. The Warwick is also great, so getting that wouldn't be a bad choice, but I figure you'll "outgrow" it faster than you would a J Bass. But definitely check both of those, and more, out before you think about buying any particular bass. You might find a bass you really like for a lot cheaper if you keep an open mind.

I have played the 5-string jazz bass and LOVED IT, only problem was, they didn't have it in lefty. They did have the American one in lefty, but that shit was like, over 1000.

Oh, right, I completely forgot about the fact you're a lefty. That's a huge problem, because most businesses only keep a few lefties in stock at a time. I know (At least at Guitar Center) you can have them order the bass you want, in lefty. It takes some time, and it costs a little more than the instruments they have in store, but it might be worth it. If you can, get an instrument in store. They're a lot cheaper, and because many people play them, they're already partially broken in. I went to GC the other day, and the American version of my bass was only a $100 more than my Mexican. I was so upset, haha. I found a beautiful J Bass, that I loved. Definitely gonna be my next bass. The problem is I don't have a job, so it's hard to get the money for an instrument. My band has been getting paid more heavily lately though, so hopefully that will be a source of income for me soon.

Oh the problem isn't stock.
I know I can have them ordered.

The problem is mstly the basses simply don't EXIST.
In 2011, Ibanez didn't deliver a single lefty bass aside from the starter GSR200.

Fuck, you know what they did with Paul Gray? He was a lefty, and they built him a memorial bass as he'd always endorsed Ibanez. It wasn't available for lefties. Dick move, Ibanez, dick move.

I suppose that's true. But I'd imagine that a lot of lefties go get basses from different companies that do provide left handed instruments.

Do they not realize that they're missing out on a large group of people? Sure, there's less lefties, but it's still enough that they're missing out on a profit.

They're not missing out, because the lefties just succumb and either go right-handed, make due OR get a custom instrument which brings in even more $$$.

Now I'm gonna go sleep, 'night dude.

Oh really? Nevermind then. That's just what I've heard from some of my lefthanded friends. That's a real problem then. I am surprised that you can't even order left handed guitars. I knew they didn't stock as many, but I didn't know that you couldn't order them. Is it possible to special order lefties? The building process is exactly the same, just mirrored, so I don't see that being a problem at all. That's really stupid.

Also, it wouldn't let me reply to your other comment, so I jsut replied to this one...

Please don't get me wrong, they do exist, and you can order them. It's just that MOST right)handed basses don't have a left-handed equivalent. So the choices are very limited, and I haven't come across the bass I'm looking for yet.

Are you serious? That's fucking stupid. I have a friend who's lefty, and he has a similar problem finding guitars. So many great musicians were lefties, so it's a real shame they don't make as many lefty instruments. If you had just started playing bass, I would have recommended that you play a right handed bass, because when you start out, it's just learning curve. You'll be able to learn either one almost just as easily, because there's really no right/left handed preference . But because you've been playing for over a year, it'd be hard to switch. It's expensive to be a lefty.