any bass advice

[AgentNein]

Its not like, only one form of musician can exist. There is a place for musicians who want to change the world with their songs, there is a place for musicians who want to spend 36k on a uni course and there is a place for musicians who want to play bass in their brothers band to impress girls.

Live and let live and all that. Musicians can be such a judgemental bunch sometimes, eh? Like ripping on guitar hero. I mean, I can't stand guitar hero, it just makes we want to pick up my own guitar, but some people just want some fun!

More people trying out instruments, for whatever reason is a good thing. Maybe they'll find a real passion in it, no harm if they don't.

Damn right. My niece was I believe eleven when Guitar Hero hit. She fell in love with the game, and was inspired to learn how to play real guitar. For her birthday I gave her my old acoustic. Took awhile for her fingers to get strong enough or stretch far enough, but she persevered. She's still playing nonstop today at sixteen, and shes' gotten fairly good, playing in the school jazz band, studying theory and hoping to go to a nice school for music. I'm very proud of her.

Point being, no one should tell anyone what reasons are good or not good enough to get into music.

 

[Outright Villainy]

Its not like, only one form of musician can exist. There is a place for musicians who want to change the world with their songs, there is a place for musicians who want to spend 36k on a uni course and there is a place for musicians who want to play bass in their brothers band to impress girls.

Live and let live and all that. Musicians can be such a judgemental bunch sometimes, eh? Like ripping on guitar hero. I mean, I can't stand guitar hero, it just makes we want to pick up my own guitar, but some people just want some fun!

More people trying out instruments, for whatever reason is a good thing. Maybe they'll find a real passion in it, no harm if they don't.

Damn right. My niece was I believe eleven when Guitar Hero hit. She fell in love with the game, and was inspired to learn how to play real guitar. For her birthday I gave her my old acoustic. Took awhile for her fingers to get strong enough or stretch far enough, but she persevered. She's still playing nonstop today at sixteen, and shes' gotten fairly good, playing in the school jazz band, studying theory and hoping to go to a nice school for music. I'm very proud of her.

Point being, no one should tell anyone what reasons are good or not good enough to get into music.

That's an awesome story! Guitar hero has gotten loads of people into wanting to try instruments, and that's a great thing.

Also, I knew someone who played guitar only to write because they were a poor tortured soul. They played like crap. Go figure.

Inspiration comes in many guises!

 

[zen5887]

I play a Schecter and it's a fantastic bass, one of the best five strings I've ever played and certainly not the most expensive. IMO the best way to start is to get a firm grasp on how to read tabs and then learn a million AC/DC songs until you can play them perfectly. AC/DC's music is very, very easy and repetitive, which is perfect for building up the fundamental skill set that you'll need to play stuff that might interest you more.

The good thing about AC/DC is they are so fucking tight. Their music may be simple and repetitive but you couldn't slip a pin in between their timing. AC/DC is a great place to start because so many guitars know their songs (and the drummers can just make it up) and you can jam on the easily, plus it'll impress the punters.

Fun fact - AC/DC used to practice their songs 8 bars at a time, until it was perfect.

 

[Eumersian]

I've dabbled in bass. The band I used to play in had me on bass sometimes if the lead singer (and bassist) had to be more active or if the bass and singing together would be too difficult. Listen to all kinds of music that have any kind of bass part that you think is fun to play.

Do you like the thundering undertones of a thrash-metal bass line? Go ahead on that. Would you enjoy the upbeat, offbeat rhythms that are in funk? Go learn yerself some funk. Whatever you do, enjoy it, or it'll be waste of money.

 

[BonsaiK]

my brother has been telling me for ages that i should play the bass and after i saw scott pilgrim vs the world i was sold (plus the lead actress being a total babe didnt hurt). what is a good bass for a beginner, what are some good songs. thanks for any help

I'm a music teacher, I teach guitar and bass.

Firstly, don't listen to any naysayers. ANY reason to start playing is a good one. As long as you enjoy it, that's all that matters.

I won't advise about songs because it doesn't really matter. A good song to start with is one that you like, that has bass in it, that isn't too complicated. That'd probably account for over 95% of songs that you like, unless you're living solely on a musical diet of RHCP, Primus and Mr. Bungle, which I doubt.

For a beginner just about anything will do the job. Squier's cheap versions of the Fender jazz and precision bass are reasonable, as are dozens of other copies of the same thing. Yamaha do some nice light basses quite cheap if you don't like the bulk of the Fender copies. More expensive brands are great but don't go too nuts at first, you can always buy something fancy down the track once you're sure that you really want to stick with it and aren't wasting your money. My main axe for gigging is an Epiphone Thunderbird and I've never felt the need to spend any more money than that on a bass.

 

[Rattler5150]

For the bass, I would get a Fender P-Bass, they arent expensive are easily available and can fit a wide variety of music

For the amp, any small combo will do, I prefer Ampeg, but Fender and peavey are also good. try to get an amp at least 35 to 50 watts

 

[zen5887]

My main axe for gigging is an Epiphone Thunderbird and I've never felt the need to spend any more money than that on a bass.

Bwaaaaaaaah?

Well I didn't see that coming.

Just out of curiosity, how come you picked that bass?

 

[BonsaiK]

My main axe for gigging is an Epiphone Thunderbird and I've never felt the need to spend any more money than that on a bass.

Bwaaaaaaaah?

Well I didn't see that coming.

Just out of curiosity, how come you picked that bass?

* I like the sound, it's punchy, clean and cuts through my guitarist's sandpapery distorted mush
* I'd like a Gibson more but I'd be afraid to treat an expensive bass rough or take it to the beer-stained yob-fuelled venues my band currently plays, also the difference between the two instruments is frankly minimal and absolutely not worth the huge price differential
* It looks cool (I've got the "gothic" one) and looking cool is important
* Carrying it around inside its hard case is good exercise when on tour - saving myself a lot of gym money here
* It's a good size for wielding as a melee weapon if things get ugly with the crowd, which has happened

 

[snow]

People play instruments and collaborate with other musicians to write meaningful songs because they have a message to share with the world, or they wish to express their feelings with others that would listen, that is the purpose of a band. If you are going to play the bass guitar because you saw Scott Pilgrim because it looked cool and the girl was cute, don't even bother. That's like saying you wanted to play guitar after watching FLCL, because you wanted to fight inter-galactic aliens.
I'm sorry if I sound like an asshole because of this, but 'it looks cool' and 'the girls are hot' are not good reasons to do anything.
I'm a guitarist (one who actually knows music theory), and hearing people say that sort of nonsense makes me sick. And not just me, every other mature musician I know as well.
Listen, if you want to play bass, go ahead and play, but do something with it and show emotional expression and then exceed and never stop practicing. But before that, find an actual reason to pick up the instrument. If you said this to an real musician, he will be laughing at you like I am now, and will never take you seriously.
Good luck on your endeavors .

I agree with this to a certain extent, but I also agree with

Firstly, don't listen to any naysayers. ANY reason to start playing is a good one. As long as you enjoy it, that's all that matters.

My reasons for being very mixed on this sort is, because there are many people around here that want to learn how to play guitar/bass, but for reasons that are what the first guy said are "laughable." (Note, I never laugh at anybodies reasons for playing, what I'm trying to say is, it is a lot harder to teach some one who doesn't have any real motivation to learn.)

Now, any reason to play an instrument IS a good one, but you have to sit down and think, ok is it really because of a movie and a cute girl from a movie, or is it that deep down inside, you really want to pick up the instrument and start learning how to play?

I suggest that you really figure this out before venturing further, because all to often, I see newcomers (around here) going out and buying an instrument, an amp, and all the other stuff. They tinker around with it, and lose motivation rather quickly and the guitar and amp sit in the closet until one day some one looks in and says "Oh hey I didn't know you had a bass!"

What I'm trying to get at is, I would hate to give you advice on something, you take it and go out and make some purchases and then lose interest. Money is funny these days and I would feel as if I gave you the wrong advice if it's something that is going to only be temporary.

If anything, I will suggest that you should go find yourself a cheap bass and an amp to get yourself started, get your feet wet and if you enjoy the water, then you're on your way to a good start, if you happen to figure out that this isn't for you, you'll be happy that you didn't spend a lot of money on something that's going to collect dust.

In no way do you have to feel as if you have to "Go big" when it comes to playing a string instrument like a guitar or bass, that is a stigma that often follows the instruments due to their popularity and their use in the majority of their songs.

I have a student that is going to begin lessons as soon as she settles into her new home that when I asked her what her goals were, she said she just wanted to sit around a campfire and play.

Is that a bad reason? Not at all, she is really motivated in wanting to play and I can feel her enthusiasm for our first lessons together. On the other hand, I'd be a bit worried if she had said "Because I saw it in a movie and one of the characters was good looking." Because, well, it did spark an interest, which is a good thing, but I would be left wondering if that spark actually lit a fire, if you understand what I mean.

Though unlike you, she already has a guitar, which in a way the problem with the whole ordeal doesn't really exist no matter what her goals was, but even then, I would give her the same advice if she didn't have an instrument, pick up something cheap and see if it grows on you!

 

[zen5887]

* I like the sound, it's punchy, clean and cuts through my guitarist's sandpapery distorted mush
* I'd like a Gibson more but I'd be afraid to treat an expensive bass rough or take it to the beer-stained yob-fuelled venues my band currently plays, also the difference between the two instruments is frankly minimal and absolutely not worth the huge price differential
* It looks cool (I've got the "gothic" one) and looking cool is important
* Carrying it around inside its hard case is good exercise when on tour - saving myself a lot of gym money here
* It's a good size for wielding as a melee weapon if things get ugly with the crowd, which has happened

I found the sound dead, flat and muddy, even with a pick I didn't hear much more than a dull thud.

As rad a Gibson guitars are, their basses are seriously lacking. Maybe not 20 years ago, but the quality has certainly declined. Kind of like Marshall bass amps. Plus, a Gibson T-bird is like, $3000. I'll admit that Gibson version gets rid of a lot of the design flaws the Epp one has, but for 3k I could get pretty much any other bass out there.

Yeah, it does look pretty damn cool, I'll give you that.

My major beef with this bass (seeing as the tone is pretty subjective) is the design. The reverse body makes it a pain to get into the higher frets. The position of the strap button combined with the weight of the headstock means epic dive and my strap kept popping out unless I held onto the neck for dear life. Plus, with all that weight on my left hand I felt it was trick to play any fast passages and almost impossible to get any space between the neck and the palm of hand.

It looks badarse, the tone is subjective but the design flaws kill this bass for me. I owned one and about a month in I went back to playing my P bass copy, then traded it in as soon as I could.

 

[BonsaiK]

* I like the sound, it's punchy, clean and cuts through my guitarist's sandpapery distorted mush
* I'd like a Gibson more but I'd be afraid to treat an expensive bass rough or take it to the beer-stained yob-fuelled venues my band currently plays, also the difference between the two instruments is frankly minimal and absolutely not worth the huge price differential
* It looks cool (I've got the "gothic" one) and looking cool is important
* Carrying it around inside its hard case is good exercise when on tour - saving myself a lot of gym money here
* It's a good size for wielding as a melee weapon if things get ugly with the crowd, which has happened

I found the sound dead, flat and muddy, even with a pick I didn't hear much more than a dull thud.

As rad a Gibson guitars are, their basses are seriously lacking. Maybe not 20 years ago, but the quality has certainly declined. Kind of like Marshall bass amps. Plus, a Gibson T-bird is like, $3000. I'll admit that Gibson version gets rid of a lot of the design flaws the Epp one has, but for 3k I could get pretty much any other bass out there.

Yeah, it does look pretty damn cool, I'll give you that.

My major beef with this bass (seeing as the tone is pretty subjective) is the design. The reverse body makes it a pain to get into the higher frets. The position of the strap button combined with the weight of the headstock means epic dive and my strap kept popping out unless I held onto the neck for dear life. Plus, with all that weight on my left hand I felt it was trick to play any fast passages and almost impossible to get any space between the neck and the palm of hand.

It looks badarse, the tone is subjective but the design flaws kill this bass for me. I owned one and about a month in I went back to playing my P bass copy, then traded it in as soon as I could.

I don't go to the higher frets much and I don't play all that fast or do anything fancier than say, Steve Harris. I use gaff tape to keep my strap in. The neck-heavy thing I got used to, and it has benefits. One time we were playing and some asshole in the crowd was giving us shit, throwing stuff at us and trying to start something, so I cracked him in the head with the headstock. "Sorry, it's neck-heavy" I said. The crowd laughed and he stopped bothering us after that.

I agree that for a different sort of player that bass wouldn't be appropriate. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone doing advanced techniques, slap or really high work. It's perfect for what I want though.