Bass guitar contemplations

[Zandit75]

Hi Zandit, the word count was up there alright!!!

I should add that as you probably play by ear suggest that you begin playing Bass along with songs you know so that it will be easier for you to pick up the lines being played. Far easier than trying to follow charts or tabs, and there are lots of tabs that are close but also contain wrong notes/left hand positions and end up way too confusing. If all you are concentrating on is following someone else it will be surprising how quick you can pick things up, at least to begin with. As you feel more at home you can then venture out onto some of the YT videos but remember to also play along until you get the hang of what is being taught. I tend to pause the video a bit when practising tricky bits until ready to move on to the next part of a song or lesson.

Also forgot to suggest a short scale Bass as an option such as the PBG SGB-34 for $219 is pretty good value. Upside with a short scale is exactly that....it is 4" shorter and not as big a stretch on the left hand, hence why a lot of kids & females play short scaled Basses. In fact my 1st Bass was a SG Copy, only because it was all I could afford and the genuine 1970's Fender Jazz Bass I drooled over was just too expensive for a mere school student at the time.

Thanks Waz, those are actually good tips, and I was going to ask about short scale basses. An interesting concept!
Having a shorter reach than the average guy, this would be very workable(I'm only 5'6")

[Zandit75]

Life is too short to only play 1 style of musical instrument. I bought a LTD B-10 bass from JB for under $200 after I had my first cheap store bought Strat and it is a learning curve but you already have the skill base so I would say your 80-90% there. The last 10% should be easy with all the books and videos that are out there plus help from the people around you. The first time I nailed the bass riff out of Fleetwood Macs The Chain was as good as it gets and seeing as the 4 strings are the same as the low 4 strings of a guitar playing the intro of Creams Sunshine of your love is great. You can put a set of light strings in and lower the action so the experience isn't as painful as my first time being the noob I was. Take the plunge and you will never look back.

Thanks Dikky. Technically, I guess, I already have three instruments in my repertoire, The Guitar, Vocals and the Bass Trombone(I'm already fluent in Bass clef reading, but translating it the Bass guitar would be an interesting challenge).
I surprise myself enough when I get something right on one of those instruments, so if I get something right on the Bass Guitar, I'm going to be beaming!!!

[king casey]

My daughter plays the trombone in the school junior jazz band.
She got the option last year to add another instrument and chose the bass guitar (thanks to her uncle Marty).
After trying out a few she wanted the Fender Mustang but it was out of the budget range.
Got a Squier Bronco bass from Pat's Music instead.

They held a bass/percussion evening at her school and there were a couple of Squier P basses, one Squier Jaguar and one lucky kid had a Fender.

Hearing them all through a decent sized amp the Squier Bronco sounded just as good to my ears.


cheers, Mark.

[wazkelly]

Must be something about playing a trombone that leads to becoming a Bass player. Same thing happened with my eldest son in his school band too.

Hey Zandit, I am only 4 cm taller than you and have adapted my playing style on a long scale bass to compensate for 1st to 3rd fret stuff where 5th to 7th fret positions seems to be the best place to hang out. Gotta say that short scale is around 5" longer than your LP compared to 9" longer to a Jazzy or something similar. Suggest checking out both at a local music store to see and feel the difference before diving in at the deep end.

Cheers, Waz

[dave.king1]

I jam with the 34" scale and record with the 30" because I make less mistakes, prefer the sound of 34" with the heavy strings through the amp but into the mixer there's little difference.

Obviously you are going to be a 6 stringer first and foremost so I would lean towards the shorter scale with heavy round wound strings. ( don't like flats on a bass to my ears the are not as harmonically rich )

[king casey]

Must be something about playing a trombone that leads to becoming a Bass player. Same thing happened with my eldest son in his school band too.

Probably due to already learning to read in Bass clef, and not keen on learning treble.
I've had many attempts at piano and baulked at mastering the Bass end myself.

Can't see myself performing on the bass outside the confines of the house so 34" will be a dream unless...

Still $75 for a bass guitar is hard to knock back.

cheers, Mark.

[dave.king1]

Probably due to already learning to read in Bass clef, and not keen on learning treble.
cheers, Mark.

One of my bands did a lot of backing floor shows which of course required sight reading.

At the time I was studying violin and the first song we backed I read in the treble clef, let's just say it didn't sound too good and the singer who was a real up herself diva went mental

[wazkelly]

I would lean towards the shorter scale with heavy round wound strings. ( don't like flats on a bass to my ears the are not as harmonically rich )

Not a fan of flats either but did put a set on the fretless conversion and they feel great, just don't sound as bright. On my previous fretless used same Rotosounds that I had on the Ric 4001 with no issues and it sounded much better.