Bass Guitar Players
 

Any of you fellow B&G members play the Bass Guitar?

I'm jumping on the self taught bandwagon and would appreciate any insight some of you may have. I've been reading and am familiar with some of the nuances, I do not read music, I'm not looking for the easiest way but rather the most effective way to learn.

Present skill level.... Pink Floyd's Money almost sounds like Money.

Best teaching tool?
Any Apps you could recommend?

Bass Guitar Players
 

I kid you not but my son learned scratch Bass from the latest guitar hero game. It lets you plug the guitar directly into the xbox. He knows a few songs now but it will only teach you minimal.


But I think if you learn to read music your skill level will be much higher. And it isn't really too hard.

Good luck!

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Thanks! I agree that learning to read music would be the best route, that would still leave me learning to play the instrument. Baby steps ;)

When you say, "latest guitar hero game", I haven't seen one come out in a while, I've looked and I know there is t one for xbox one yet.... I need to dig I to it as that's a damn good idea.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Sorry Oak. Not guitar hero. It's called Rocksmith.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Thanks, I'll look into it.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Balls! I packed to my 360 when the One came out.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

There is a PC version.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

If you really want to learn, like from the ground up, go to Guitar Center and let them recommend a book, or better yet take some lessons. That is if you really want to learn. It isn't hard to learn to read music, and honestly you can do that reading a book, but music theory is quite another animal. Take it from a self-taught guitar player. If I could only go back 20 years to learn theory...

Outside the theory, technique matters too, and you can learn a lot about that through a good teacher.

Just don't give up. That'd my advice, regardless of which method you go with. Stay with it. The world needs more bass players!

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Im with you on this. I've been playing guitar for 20 years and was self-taught from a book by Mel Bay. I learned bass along the way because its similar to guitar (bass has the same tunings as the top 4 strings on a guitar,only its 2 octaves lower),and that intrigued me to learn to play it. I was fortunate to play trumpet in a school band for two years where I learned music theory. I took more theory classes later on after I sterted playing guitar. My point is ,Oak, even though I dont think you should take theory classes(unless you want to),I would suggest learning some basics of music theory to get a better understanding of what your doing. You never know where your playing will take you, and you will be better off having that knowledge. But no matter what classes you take or who you get to teach you,or however you learn......nothing is better than practicing. Spend as much time on that instrument as you can!

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Honestly I tried to teach my self guitar about 8 years ago and got frustrated and gave it up. My frustration was a combination of a few things, not being able to read music, no understanding of technique, but honestly I think my biggest obstacle was that I am not physically suited for the guitar.. Ill rephrase, Bass is probably better suited for me to learn on. A good friend of mine recommended trying the bass and I will stick with it until i am buried or Hendrix tells me to put it away.

Basically I have meat paws lol. It effects more than just fret work, I stay away from some pistols as well because my thumbs are short... seriously my wife doesn't have large hands by any means but my thumbs are 3/4 in shorter than hers... When I hold a Sig-Sauer in my hand my thumb doesn't reach the decocker unless I rotate the pistol in my palm.

What I am learning on is a 2014 Gibson SB, the neck felt thinner than most of the other Basses I picked up and from all of the reviews I read its probably a good fit for me. It is a little pricier than most learners but having dealt with guitars before I knew what my target was. I wanted to hit between having to tune every day and $900... it also needed to be something i could live with, i am not a flashy person, no reds, blues, or glittery purples.
Gibson SG Special Bass - 2014, Chocolate Satin | Sweetwater.com

Houston Guitar Centers are usually understaffed for the number of customers but ill see if I can flag someone down... I have learned that Youtube also has a wealth of instruction... But your right, I need to find a teacher.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Oak, I too don't have the long fingers. I've always wanted to learn the Bass too.

I've been tempted many times to pick up a decent but cheap bass guitar from a pawn shop, but I have no idea what to look for.

All my income goes to my stay at home wife and 2 kids about to start college, so I can't just run out and buy a 500.00 guitar/amp combo.

Hey guitar gurus... Any ideas about what to look for or what to avoid at pawn shops?

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Budget set up will run you around $175-250 new. Find the nearest Guitar Center, they have starter packs that will have the Bass, small amp, bag etc all in 1 box.

They also "usually" have an assortment of used instruments.

Their website is loaded with used cheap Basses.
Electric Bass Guitars | Guitar Center

I could have saved tax and $30 if i had bought my Bass on Amazon but there are just somethings i do not buy off of the internet and fragile instruments are one of them. Guitar Center also has a 30 day return policy so I could return it on my way to work one day if I decided that instrument wasn't working out for me.

This Dean is $230
Dean Edge 09 Bass and Amp Pack | GuitarCenter

Take an hour on Saturday and go feel up all the ladies :)

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

+1, agreed.
It depends on how YOU learn. There are TONS and TONS of useful tools, techniques you can acquire with books & discs but some folks absorb it all through a structured study program (private tutors/classes). If any of you guys plan to 'stick with it for years to come', I would strongly recommend learning Music Theory. I'm no bassist but I do know that bass players play single notes and this instrument does require modes/scales (leads to Music Theory). For me, being able to read music was key.

FYI... I started playing the Flugelhorn/snare drums in middle school & pretty much continued all the way through high school & some college(some of those cats are on another level). I'm an occasional 'fill in' at my church when the real guy can make it in (lol).

Outside of the drums, I think the BASS is the backbone of music.

Again, I'm no professional musician but that would be my take away for anyone interested in learning the bass from ground zero.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Avoid any basses that don't work....seriously. Plug it in and make sure the tuners work as well as tone/volume knobs etc. I would buy the cheapest one you can find if your just starting out. Once you realize your gonna stick with it, then buy a better one. My first guitar was free and it was a piece of crap- but it worked.Also, you can find good deals on eBay and I believe Best Buy has some good beginner bass/amp combos for a good price.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

I would have NO problem purchasing a bass, snare drum, flugelhorn etc from a Pawn Shop. If its a reputable one that you are familiar with and trust, by all means GO FOR IT. You can always have the serial number checked out before you buy. I would go to a P/S before I purchased off Ebay, Craigslist. At least you can hold, touch and try it out on site before laying down your hard earned cash on potential junk.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

These are my babies!

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Couple things:

I started playing piano when I was 8. Learned to read music. Learned nothing about theory in 4 years of lessons.

I started playing trumpet in the 5th grade, and play trumpet, drums, baritone, and a few other instruments, all the way through 12th grade. Concert band. Symphonic Band. Marching Band. You name it. Toured Europe summer of 1985 with a Drum and Bugle Corp.

And rarely if ever did any of my "teachers" teach me any theory. None that amounted to anything anyway.

Then I sat down with my grandmother who taught herself to play guitar, piano, and organ. In 5 minutes she opened up the guitar and music in general...with a bit of theory that nobody the decade prior bothered to teach me.

I'm still learning theory and I'm 45 years old. LEARN MUSIC THEORY, however you can. Books. Lessons. Youtube. It's out there. LEARN IT.

As for having small hands, I remember when I was still relatively new to guitar, working in radio, and Marty Stuart came by our station. He has relatives in the town I grew up in, so he was there as a "normal person" and came by on his own time. I always took my guitar and played along and so he comes in the studio and starts chatting me up about my guitar, how long I've been playing, blah blah. I tell him I'm just getting started and that I'm having some trouble with some of the chords because I say, "my hands are just too small."

He laughed and held his hand up. His hands...decidedly smaller than mine, and this man is one of the best pickers in Nashville. He picked up my guitar and showed me how he held it and smiled up at me and said, "the trick is to get your wrist under the neck. You don't have to have perfect form, just get that wrist UNDER the neck, like this..."

Man I was on cloud 9 people.

I'll never be as good as him. Hell, I'll never be good enough to do much more than entertain myself and some friends, but that's all I ever wanted to do anyway. That little conversation did inspire me though, and I took his advice.

Oh, and another thing. I try to play every day. I don't, but I try. And whenever I pick up my guitar I do a few little exercises with scales and help me limber up and help with my dexterity.

Just DO it Oak. Don't give up. You may never be Paul McCartney, but most girls will never know the difference.

:banana:

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

The best time to practice is during a Saints game between plays and during commercials. That's a solid 3 hrs. of practice time. Not a good idea though if you're short tempered and the Saints are having a bad game:)

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

+1 and agreed. Everyone develops differently but in my experience, it was helpful... especially if your background is percussion.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

BS! :) If you know me then you understand that I will know I am not Paul McCartney. lol

These are the two books that the playa at Guitar Center recommended.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/28/pe8apeju.jpg

I picked this one up as well, I flipped through it and saw some things that I liked.
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/28/gema8ana.jpg

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Being as how most of you know me fairly well, I wouldn't post this on Facebook but some of you can appreciate my chuckle.

So I'm sitting here with a new Bass and trying to think of a safe place to keep it. I have two little girls, 5/9 daughters running around my house and they have a way of getting into things.


Then it clicked! It's also humidity controlled ;)


http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/05/28/uqaqyvaj.jpg

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

I have several guitars. Some are treasured. My Grandpa's 1959 Gibson, for example. I have a Washburn, like George Harrison played later on, that belonged to my Dad (big Beatles Fan), and I have my own "lesser" Gibson. I also have a Yamaha and a Takamine that my soon-to-be-ex bought me a long time ago.

My kids know they can hack around on the yamaha and on the takamine, and they know not to fool around with the Washburn and the Gibsons or there will be trouble.

Your solution, while effective, is a bit extreme sir! LOL

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

On a bit of a depressing note, I had a nephew who took up the bass at 15. Within a year he was playing all of the Red Hot Chili Peppers stuff note for note, then mastered Primus and several other 90's era grunge bands.

I played some stuff for him he'd never heard and within minutes was playing it note for note.

He joined a band and they absolutely rocked. The kid was as close to a prodigy as I had ever personally witnessed. He was offered scholarships to quite a few major universities, finished in the top 1% in the nation on his test scores, then began exhibiting some odd behavior. We all thought it was teen angst and didn't think much of it until he told his counselor that the reason he was doing some of these strange things was because these constant voices in his head were telling him to. Say what?

Needless to say this got everyone's attention pretty damn fast and he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. It apparently ran in his family and they thought that his pot usage had triggered it.

The last time I saw him he was in a zombie state and appeared completely emotionless, likely due to his meds. He doesn't play anymore and its literally a crying shame.

Sorry for the downer but it crushed me to see a family member and those that loved him destroyed by this disease. He had such a bright future and it just ripped me apart and I just wanted to get it off my chest.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

It probably is the meds Danno. I worked with a guy who needed his Meds to keep from being depressed, but the fact that he knew he needed the meds depressed him. It was so sad. One of the nicest guys I ever met.

Killed himself last year before he turned 40.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

I would agree if I had bought a gun safe for my Bass, I see it as "optimizing resources" more than extreme. ;)

That an impressive lineup you have there.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Thanks for sharing Danno. That's especially hard when it's a child or young adult to show such promise and then with one sunset it fades away.

In some cases the illness is the difference between bright and brilliant. The source of the gift is also the source of the curse. History is filled with the tragedy of artists, poets, and musicians who's genius was short lived for one reason or another.

There is always the hope that pharmaceutical advancements can come up with a chemical composition to control what needs to be controlled while not stifling the creativity.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Sorry to hear about that Danno.Makes you wonder what coulda been.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Tonight for inspiration I will watch the movie Crossroads. The classical guitar in there just speaks to me.

Steve Vai, not Britney Spears

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

You might do better with Sting and 10 summoners tails on youtube...for real.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Not my style of music, it is also full of vocals, background vocals, tambourine, organ (his choice not mine)... Crossroads has purity of guitar.


Crossroads has been a favorite movie of mine even since I saw Jack Butler cut heads for the first time in 1986... Jamie Gertz was pretty hot to me back then as well.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Wont be long and ill be able to reach back and wind my watch with the same hand it is on... :)

I havent pulled the trigger on RockSmith yet, I am still reading my book on theory and running through arpeggios. I fear that as soon as I turn on RockSmith ill end up learning to play songs but never understanding how to make music.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

GC has a 30 day return policy... This has me stuck between two trains of logic. Not that I have fiddlef4ked with it long enough I have a lot better idea of what I am looking for.

So.... Do I:

Stick with the learner and wait till later to upgrade once I can play. End up with 2

or

Go for el gusto now while I have a 30 day window and get what I want, leveraging the cost against any moments I may feel less motivated. End up with 1.

I can see both having their advantages.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

I learned the old fashion way. I was taught by a Bass teacher, Scott Spray. I haven't played in about 20 years.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Hats off to you my friend for the recommendation. If your son doesn't know amout Customsforge.com it's free user created DLC. About 6,500 songs for Rocksmith last time I looked. PM me if he needs help getting the content to work.

I've tried to hack away at guitar many times in my life and always put it down. Kid you not, I'm on my basses at least 20 hours a week.

I think I peed a little for these
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/07/31/2ydyjege.jpg
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/07/31/udeheqe3.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/07/31/ezusynyn.jpg

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

What was that.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Computer Program/ Marketed as a game called Rocksmith. Not to be confused with RockBand for gaming consoles where you plug a plastic guitar and hit one of 4 buttons. With Rocksmith my bass is plugged into my PC with a supplied cable and my PC is either connected to my headphones when I need to be quiet or my amp when I want to play out loud. The Slides image is from the Lessons/Learning area and the others are from the Learn a Song area.

What you get are essentially Tab-like music that roll towards you instead of reading them off of a paper. From a learning perspective it is far superior to Tabs because you must be in tune and have proper intonation or it lets you know that you are doing it incorrectly. It lets you know when you are early, late or perfect. It models all of the tones as well so no need to run out and buy pedals if you just want to jam and sound like any band.

Here is a video of the Bass.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

My Thunderbird and MM Stingray Stealth HH Ebony fretboard.

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...707003329f.jpg

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

I taught myself guitar by ear, as did two of my brothers. I liken it to learning how to read. Just as you sound out a letter, you do the same with notes. I would fool around with the strings until I hit the note the matched whatever I was trying to play. After a while your brain starts to memorize the basic structure of whatever you're playing, and the more you practice you develop muscle memory and that's when your speed picks up and you can start creating your own sound. That's how it was for me anyway.

And once you have that feel for it, it's easier to comprehend theory, even though I'm not personally a theory guy. I prefer to use my own techniques, but every person is going to have their own comfort zone.

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

It is different for everyone and I am not debating that your method was right for you, I am just putting out information that I wish I had at my disposal when I first tried to learn guitar over a decade ago... For people that are thinking about taking it up but not sure where to start.

I love the comments on the Bass Players facebook page. They get a lot of "I want to start but where" questions and some of the answers make me LOL.
My favorite ~ "Just get a band together and start playing."
Sure thing! Ill just tell everyone at the next office meeting, or Home Owners Meeting to go out and drop a few hundred on various instruments, cut out a block of 2 hours a night and bring all that to my house so we can start a garage band. I am 43 and hanging out at the local High School trying to recruit a band is going to get me unwanted police attention. :cool:

I am not sure what music you learned to play with but for a beginning Bass player to pick up a Bass that is in standard tune and learn to play his favorite music (todays rock), it can get very frustrating, very quickly, when trying to match the notes. Tool, Disturbed, Linkin Park, Greenday, even some ACDC and Led Zepplin.. They all use alternate tuning. Best of luck learning to play Pink Floyd - Run Like Hell by ear in standard tuning. I am a big Tesla fan but a lot of their music is in either alternate tuning or custom tuning and there is no way I would have ever learned to play their music by ear from the jump.

Now I am not saying anything negative about the way that you learned, just that it doesn't work the same way for everyone.

You are an auditory learner it would seem, but for kinesthetic or visual learners, they wouldn't have your degree of success.

RockSmith is not a different way to learn, it is an amalgamation of teaching methods all rolled into one. It combines all three learning styles with a teacher to tell you when you are doing it wrong or doing it right.


Take this Bass Tab for example:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UGSyKnGJaJ...0/bass-tab.png
You would remember the way it sounds and apply that when playing it.
I would remember the way it looks when playing it.
A third person might remember the physical structure and how it feels when they play it.

No , LOl I do not work for Rocksmith but I am an advocate because of the way it teaches and that it doesn't leave anything out. Well, except for fixing bad physical habbits and even that it helps as the tutorial section has video of a guy playing what it is teaching you. You watch him play the slide technique, you hear him play it, and you can read the sub-captions if you like... Then you go into a 'you try it' exercise where it gradually brings you up to 100% of what he did.

Imagine that when you sat down to play your first song you could hear it, see it on your fret board, and feel it as you played. Found a sticky part, use the 'riff repeat' and I will loop that riff until you tell it to stop, which for me is a heck of a lot better than having to hit stop, rewind, then play on a tape recorder or fiddle with a record player depending on how old you are.


All of that said knowing how to play a guitar and physically being able to do it are two different issues. RockSmith like a Teacher starts you off in a way that you build the calluses, dexterity, speed, and strength to actually execute the song you want to play. That comes from repetitious playing and not hunting for notes. Even if I could program your brain to play Eruption, with out the physical ability your hands would knot with in the first 30 seconds.

RockSmith is like having a coach run you through agility drills in the off season. When I started my sessions lasted until my finger tips hurt too bad to play, then as clauses built my sessions lasted until my hands cramped up. Now... I play until I either run out of wine or have trouble staying on my stool.:p

Re: Bass Guitar Players
 

Glad to see this thread. I own a bass, don't feel I can fully say I "play" bass guitar yet. So far, all I've done is learn from some youtube videos. They weren't bad, actually learned to play a couple of songs.

I was looking into Rocksmith though, could use my PS3 and get some more use out of the mancave.