Talk to me about bass guitars.

[Claytonf]

I am planning on saving up for my first bass guitar (have always wanted to learn the bass).
as they are one of my favourite bands,am going to try and emulate (fat chance my bass hero geddy lee,and hopefully save up for one of these bad boys

as i have never played a bass guitar before (i attempt to play guitar),what might you recommend in regards to starting to practise/how to get a good bass sound (am planning on using my mustang 1 amp at low volume.was told that i could do that on musicradar forum). thanks in advance

 

[delaware dave]

 

[happyrat1]

View attachment 2925

Bass players are people too

Gary

 

[delaware dave]

When my car is not running correctly I don't take it to a motorcycle shop for evaluation....

 

[happyrat1]

But there are a few multi-instrumentalists here on the forum who may be able to help him out.

 

[Biggles]

Whilst the Squier in your post will be just fine for a £250 guitar IMO spend a bit more and buy a Fender.

Both the Fender Jazz and Fender Precision are at the low end of the range for the Made In Mexico or MiM as you will see these and other Fender’s are referred to.

I have played quite a few different ones over the years from Hofner, through Ibanez, Yamaha and Fender.

Of these it is the Fender Jazz that is my favourite, it feels great on the neck, the range of tones is very versatile and best of all it is well balanced with no tendency for the head to drop.

The choice of make and model is dependent upon the genreof music that younwant to play ie heavy rock and metal and Ibanez is hard to beat, general pop and Fender Precision.

Now Amps, your Mustang will sound weak and feeble, a proper Bass Amp will make all the difference I had a Fender Rumble 100 for years, great tone, good speaker size and not to bad for transporting.

My Fender Jazz on left.

 

[Derekmson]

I've had these Fender American Ultra Jazz Bass V a couple of weeks now and have had it on a couple of gigs and rehearsals.
It is beautifully made gorgeous rich colors. Well made resonates with great tone. Neck and cutaway make it easy to play and reach notes in the higher part of the neck.

 

[markmann]

I am planning on saving up for my first bass guitar (have always wanted to learn the bass).
as they are one of my favourite bands,am going to try and emulate (fat chance my bass hero geddy lee,and hopefully save up for one of these bad boys

as i have never played a bass guitar before (i attempt to play guitar),what might you recommend in regards to starting to practise/how to get a good bass sound (am planning on using my mustang 1 amp at low volume.was told that i could do that on musicradar forum). thanks in advance

I play bass but my primary is guitar. Bass, keys and drums are secondary but I do love them all. The best advice I can give is to go and play a few basses to determine which scale is best for you. In my case I started with a 34" scale Precision bass and found that my hands were not big enough to handle the stretches in the low registers so I eventually traded it for a 30" short scale bass and have been happy ever since. Regarding the Mustang... yes, you can play bass through most guitar amps but you won't get the low thumpy tones that you will get from a dedicated bass amp and you can damage the speaker if you play too loud.

 

[andyonthepiano]

There's a couple of really good bass forums where you could loose large portions of your life in discussions about what bass to buy.

Basschat.co.uk is mostly UK based but does have a lot of posters from elsewhere too.
Talkbass.com has probably been around longer and is US based. Again posters from around the world.

Both are very active and generally friendly and helpful. Just don't ask about using a pick vs fingers....

My opinion, for what it's worth, is you'll never go wrong with a 4 string Fender bass or one of the many derivatives such as the Marcus Miller brand.

From an amp point of view, I'd recommend none ! Get a Zoom B1 Four pedal and a pair of decent headphones until you're good enough to be heard.

 

[Biggles]

Whilst the Op has not been here for a month, the last few posts have triggered my old grey matter.

Derekmsn included a link of the top Ten Bass Guitars.

Number One is a Schecter which I had forgotten about, I did have one and loved it, great tone, great neck and well balanced.

Whilst I loved my Fender Jazz Bass it has one major drawback and that is its weight, with my shot at back it became uncomfortable to play.

Do bear in mind the weight of any Bass being considered.

At the price point a Schecter Omen 4 would be very hard to surpass and it will undercut a Fender in terms of price.

 

[62stratcat]

The Fender Squier Vintage Vibe Series of P and Jazz Basses are fantastic for the money.