Learning to play Bass

Ok, first of all the first Got the Time tab is actually a half step lower.
Second of all, yeah guy from Mudvayne is pretty cool.
Third of all, @Hellfire, ever hear of Steve DiGiorgio? Victor Wooten? Geddy Lee? Jaco Pastorius? Sean Malone? I could go on for a while...either way there are plenty of great bassists out there, you just gotta really want to find one hehe...

And as for tips...to start, you know how all those guitarists (and many bassists) have their left-hand thumb parallel to the neck? If you're going to do that with a bass, you will be making a large mistake. You don't really need as much stability with a guitar, while you have a wider neck with one. But with the bass, you gotta have your thumb so that its directly under your middle finger (if it's holding a fret) and perpendicular to the neck. You gain SO much in the long run as far as technique and precision.

Get some good, easy stuff to start out with. You know, get used to fingering and such, build up decent right-hand technique first. Anthrax is a decent way to do that, playing along with those songs. Avoid the harder ones though, like Madhouse...not really hard, just harder than the rest. Oh, and immediately after you read this, buy a metronome and a book of scales. Start as fast as you can, and work on PRECISION. Not speed. Much more important, speed can come later. Again, bass is a much more technical instrument than guitar, you really gotta build technique before you can wank away. Explore other bassists to build up a style of your own, and once you got a bunch of scales down start improvising off them. See if you can play some nice melodies. Screw around.

Try those funk bassists - the aforementioned Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller, a bit of Flea, Robert Trujillo (in Infectious Grooves, not Metallica! Doing Metallica would be a complete waste of time...) all those slapping guys. You either like it or you don't, but the vast majority of bassists like it a LOT.

Most importantly, LEARN THEORY. Learn every ounce of theory you can get your hands on. Every opportunity to learn something labeled "theory," take it! You will begin to understand the bass, and music in general, a lot more. And it's a lot more fun to have an idea what you're doing rather than just guessing your way through everything.
 
coolsnow7 said:
Ok, first of all the first Got the Time tab is actually a half step lower.
Second of all, yeah guy from Mudvayne is pretty cool.
Third of all, @Hellfire, ever hear of Steve DiGiorgio? Victor Wooten? Geddy Lee? Jaco Pastorius? Sean Malone? I could go on for a while...either way there are plenty of great bassists out there, you just gotta really want to find one hehe...

And as for tips...to start, you know how all those guitarists (and many bassists) have their left-hand thumb parallel to the neck? If you're going to do that with a bass, you will be making a large mistake. You don't really need as much stability with a guitar, while you have a wider neck with one. But with the bass, you gotta have your thumb so that its directly under your middle finger (if it's holding a fret) and perpendicular to the neck. You gain SO much in the long run as far as technique and precision.

Get some good, easy stuff to start out with. You know, get used to fingering and such, build up decent right-hand technique first. Anthrax is a decent way to do that, playing along with those songs. Avoid the harder ones though, like Madhouse...not really hard, just harder than the rest. Oh, and immediately after you read this, buy a metronome and a book of scales. Start as fast as you can, and work on PRECISION. Not speed. Much more important, speed can come later. Again, bass is a much more technical instrument than guitar, you really gotta build technique before you can wank away. Explore other bassists to build up a style of your own, and once you got a bunch of scales down start improvising off them. See if you can play some nice melodies. Screw around.

Try those funk bassists - the aforementioned Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller, a bit of Flea, Robert Trujillo (in Infectious Grooves, not Metallica! Doing Metallica would be a complete waste of time...) all those slapping guys. You either like it or you don't, but the vast majority of bassists like it a LOT.

Most importantly, LEARN THEORY. Learn every ounce of theory you can get your hands on. Every opportunity to learn something labeled "theory," take it! You will begin to understand the bass, and music in general, a lot more. And it's a lot more fun to have an idea what you're doing rather than just guessing your way through everything.
Click to expand...
man he is just learning lol,start off with simple stuff and dont destroy the fun before he even picks it up,not putting u down but that info is alot to take in.paly some songs first thats the real deal
 
I think what G.O.H.F meant was that on a local musician level that good bass players are hard to come by. I know in my local music scene, we bass players are hard to find. There are plenty of great bass players that record contracts. of course there will be differences of opinions as far as who the greats are, but none the less, there are some industry heavies.
Anyways, Merry Kwan-chanu-mas or something and enjoy the bass!!
And now a quick joke for everyone.... How do you get the guitar player off your front step?!?!
Pay him for the pizza!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Hey should I start out picking or fingering?? Does it really matter?? Also two songs I am interested in learning are Milk and March of SOD. Anyone got tabs for them?? I just really like how those two songs sound
 
i dont play bass but i would say picking is easier to play,alot of metal player use a pick with the exception of a few


march of the sod should be easy one to learn
1 0 - - 32 - - 1 0

not good at writing tab on here the the hyphen marks are muteing top string.

the whole tuning is on top string.

the other part is 2365 00 8765 00 2365 00 i hope that helps,u might want to buy sod tab book,very good riffs that will help u learn.

the last part of the sonmg goes 8765 7654 6543 5432.
 
OneManStandsThrax said:
Hey should I start out picking or fingering?? Does it really matter??
Click to expand...

After playing since I was 11, I think it's finally become obvious to me that playing bass with a pick and playing fingerstyle is like playing two different instruments. If you want to be a bass guitarist, then play with a pick. That's just fine, I can do it though I don't, but you have to be honest with yourself about being just a de-tuned guitar player. Fingerstyle is about 10 times harder to get really good at, but some day it will be well worth it. You get an infinately greater amount of tonal variations playing fingerstyle, and in the end you will actually be much faster than if you were to play with a pick. I'm twice as fast on bass with my fingers, and I've been playing guitar for longer than bass so I am quite fast with a pick.

If you are going to learn fingerstyle, I have to reccomend that you immediately start learning to use your thumb on your picking hand in addition to the other 4 fingers. Once I started playing with my hand in the 'crab-claw' position like John Entwistle, I got so much better, and I wish I would have done it from the start.
 
OK, go check out www.thetabworld.com I was looking at the tab for Milk earlier today. Good tune, but it's a pretty quick moving song. I'm a finger player personally. The only time I play w/ a pick is when I'm playing my acoustic. It gives it a little more attack, and I have a softer and warmer feel when I play acoustic w/ my fingers. Makes it too easy to be drowned out by the acoustic guitar.
 
I use both a pick and my fingers but I also made a miracilous recovery from an "accident" that severed my ulnar nerve in my right arm. There's nothing wrong with either but if you're ever gonna slap and pluck you'll have use your fingers . Until you play for a while it won't matter. Eventually, I would bet, you mainly use your fingers.
 
Awesome dude. There is not enough bass players in the world! Follow the drums not the guitars. Well see what key the guitar is in then see what the drums are doing and follow that.
 
Personally, I don't like that idea, being married to the drummer. If he's playing a great groove, jump in a play, but if not no reason to be tied down.

As far as pick/finger, like the other dude said, go fingers. You will go far faster, not just at how many hardcore blurred distortion you can play, but also as far as how fast you can play melodies and the like. You don't have to have anything to do with alternate picking or such, and you really get a feel for the instrument. And of course, there's the amazingly better finger tone and the many possibilities of slap and such. No playing Jaco with a pick either.

Lastly, yeah the other guy was right. Don't take my advice for the short term. You will get discouraged instantly, and feel noviced too. Take your time, but make sure to cover everything, so that you really get the most out of the instrument.
 
So far so good. I have a beginners book and cd and so far it has been pretty easy following along. Thanks for all the tips and keep them coming. I ran in to the tough spot of moving my fingers around to different notes. that will come with time, it even gets easier as I was doing it, just gotta get my head and fingers to work together.
 
ok stupid question. How do you know if the action is to high and if it is how would one adjust it? sorry for the stupid question but I read about that somewhere and was wondering what to do
 
ok I founf out what the action is, or means but I still cannot find out how to adjust it. anyone have any advice???? Thanks
 
Yea right!! I have been learning a few songs though. I don't just want to play stupid beginners shit. Thats no fun. I have been doing some STP stuff, and of course Milk, but I need to try some easier stuff to start out with. Any suggestions??
 
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