Hi,

I want to start playing bass guitar, but i have no clue where to start. I did a search, but still can't get the info I need.
I am a complete beginner, only ever messed around with my friends help in a store. I only have very basic knowledge of theory.
How did you start learning?
How should I start learning?


Thanks in advance

Find a local teacher and get a lesson. Or if you have a friend that plays, have him show you the basics. There is no substitute for somebody showing you things in person. However, there are probably tons of videos out there on youtube, google video, etc., that can show basic technique.

Also, you could check this video selection out. This guy is kind of a goof and has some weird ideas (especially about stretching out strings, lol), but it is a place to start and is better than nothing.

http://hobbies.expertvillage.com/videos/getting-started-bass.htm

Thanks

Hows this for a plan then?

1) Find a Tutor.
2)Buy a really lowend/rent a bass and amp
3)Take lessons, buy books?

I wouldn't exactly suggest to buy low end gear if you don't have to. Having nicer stuff may encourage you to play more as well. It is just nicer playing with something that sounds nice, looks nice, and plays well. Also, a cheap amp won't help you at all. Get something with modest power that sounds good. However, definetly stay within your means and price range. Don't go into debt over something you haven't fallen in love with yet.

Don't go into debt.

Fixed. :p

I still don't think it matters what you get as your first instrument. You generally don't have any idea of good "feel" or "tone" anyway. I'd get something cheap just so you have a bench mark. Later when you want to upgrade, you'll be able to tell what you like more in a bass and what you like less. Same with the amp.

Fixed. :p

I still don't think it matters what you get as your first instrument. You generally don't have any idea of good "feel" or "tone" anyway. I'd get something cheap just so you have a bench mark. Later when you want to upgrade, you'll be able to tell what you like more in a bass and what you like less. Same with the amp.

I do agree with you completely. Just saying that if you have the dough, maybe get a slightly better amp than something like the fender rumble 10.

Thanks for the help, this forum is good

Looking forward to learn more from these boards.

I'm gonna go find a tutor now..........

Also, you could check this video selection out. This guy is kind of a goof and has some weird ideas (especially about stretching out strings, lol), but it is a place to start and is better than nothing.

http://hobbies.expertvillage.com/videos/getting-started-bass.htm

guys a mentalist...

i was watching him 'stretching' his strings... 1 or 2 minutes per string? pick the bass up by the strings and then shake it around???

as for starting to play, i learned at first by just messing around with the instrument to be honest, taught myself for the most part. check out a few books and instructional videos, i personally dont see much of a need for a teacher. you start playing in their style rather than your own.

.

I'm gonna go find a tutor now..........
When you do find a tutor get him/her to start by showing you the correct technique. If you'r starting from scratch, this will set you on the right path before bad habits develop.

i personally dont see much of a need for a teacher. you start playing in their style rather than your own.

I disagree. When starting off you can learn more in half an hour from one to one teaching than in a day spent on a tutor book IMO ( I'm not saying books are not great as well ). As for playing in their (the teacher's) style, if you keep playing/practicing then over time you'll develop you your own.

I started out learning all I could on my own. Now I'm getting ready to start classes with a real teacher, and I just hope I haven't developed any real bad habits that will be hard to break.

Keep coming back here, the guys here are real helpful, with many years of experience.

I just started learning bass myself. Got one for Christmas. First lesson was on 12/27.

No real advice regarding your bass/amp purchases, since I'm also a newb. My bass was a gift for Christmas (Santa's surveillance operation is clearly over-rated). Amp and related gear was purchased by me with my Christmas cash from various loved ones. I'm happy with my amp and bass. The amp is the Line 6 Studio 110. There's a good review of it here on TB by cmhgreg: search for it for the details. More expensive than a used 10w practice amp, but way more versatile = more fun.

I did the following, with what seems (so far) to be reasonable success. Your mileage may vary.

- Spent time looking around TalkBass. The Technique and General Instruction forums are a goldmine of valuable knowledge from veterans, some with decades of playing experience. For an amatuer like me, for whom this is strictly a hobby, that sort of information is the closest I'll come to listening in to the pros giving each other tips. Linger, read, take notes. It's a phenomenal resources, and it's free.
- Got a teacher. He's a professional bass player, upright and electric. In one hour, I learned left hand technique, some good drills to practice technique and improve hand strength, some practicing pointers, some ideas for positioning the bass in relation to my body, how to avoid RSI while practicing/playing, some rudimentary theory, and some fretboard basics. Not bad for $40, and that was just the first lesson. A very worthwhile investment, even if only for the first few months. Second lesson tonight. I can't wait to impress him with my progress in one short week.
- Got a few good books. In my case, they were:
Bass for Dummies: Don't let the title put you off. My teacher opined that the 'cheat sheet' tear out card from the back of the book was worth the price of the book. It has the patterns of major, minor, diminshed, 7th chords, several scales, all the modes.Yes, you can find these on the internet for free if you look around. The contents of the book is very good enough to justify the purchase, for me at least. Nice instructional CD, too.
Modern Reading Text in 4/4 For All Instruments by Louis Bellson and Gil Breines. Want to play bass? You gotta have rythym. Bellson and Breines will help you out. Oh, and buy a metronome. (Note: there seem to be elaborate schools of thought pro- and con- about metronomes. I'm in the pro camp right now. Do a search here in the forums for threads on this topic). Spent some time just clapping along to the beats in the book before I got my bass, and playing along now that I've got my bass. Great for learning sight reading of music (tempos, anyway: it's all on one note), syncopation, and just getting ideas for future use.

- Learned some basic music theory. I already had a passing acquantaince with music theory thanks to several years of piano lessons as a kid. I forgot it all for 2 decades. Now, as an adult, coming back to it is eye-opening. The internet is chock full of free information on music theory.
- Started learning to read music. Bass cleff, at least. Again, your web brower + search engine will get you what you need here.
- LISTENED. I listened to as much music as I could. Listen to old familiar stuff, over and over, and start trying to figure out what's happening in the music. Can you tell what the time signature is? If you've got your bass, can you pick out a few notes the bass player is playing? What are they? 1/4 notes? 16ths? How does it make you feel? Can you tell if it's in a minor or major key? If you know the notes your playing, can you tell what the key of the song is? How is the bass relating to the melody instruments? Is it syncopating with the drums/melody/something else? How do the bass and drums work together? ... or, do they fail to do so? Et cetera, ad infinitum, and so on.

- Scheduled my practice time. I make time to practice every day. It's part of my daily routine, and I'm trying to make it habitual. 10 minutes of finger drills in the morning. An hour of practice/jamming at night..

I'd recommend some/all of the above, since so far I'm happy with the results. As far as practice, I've managed to get about 8 hours of practice time this week. I've devoted some time every day to left hand finger permutations (see the "for dummies" book for the details, or PM me if you'd rather). I've spent some time on learning note locations for the first five frets, and some other general fretboard stuff (where the octave marker is, the 4ths/5ths relationships when crossing strings at the same fret, etc). I did some tempo work with the Bellson/Breines book. I practiced some right-hand technique stuff. I devoted some time to some simple chord/arpeggio exercises. I tried combining some of this stuff (tried to do the finger permutations, with the metronome on 40 bpm, while singing the names of each note as I played them ... harder than it sounds). I've been singing along to the bass parts while driving my car and listening to the radio, tapping out the rythym of the bass notes on my steering wheel. I took a stab at figuring out the bass for a few songs I really, really like, and managed to pretty much nail two of them ... but we'll see what my mentor says when I play for him tonight.

I just re-read that, and it sounds awfully dull. It's not. Just getting every note to ring out when you sound it, one finger per fret, can be a challenge at first. For me, at least. When my hands get tired, I turn to a little theory study. Chord theory and tempo stuff, mostly, since I already know the bass clef and music notation from my childhood. If I start getting bored with some exercise, I'll finish it up, and then just plug in my MP3 player and jam along with that as best I can.

Again, I'm a total rookie at bass playing. I'm approaching it very systematically, since that's the kind of guy I am. This may not work for you, or might drive you up a wall. Maybe you'll just want to pick it up and noodle around with it. For me, though, I'm trying to get maximum impact from every minute I spend wtih my bass. I've wanted to do this for ages, but I'm also busy with a lot of non-musical stuff, so the time I spend with it is precious. If I'm going to learn to play this thing, I'm going to learn to do it well, I'd like to learn as fast as I can, and I want to have fun doing it. For me, a key ingredient of having fun doing something is being able to do it well. Therefore, my focus, here at the start, on drill, technique, and musical knowledge.

Hope that helps.

I just started learning bass myself. Got one for Christmas. First lesson was on 12/27.

No real advice regarding your bass/amp purchases, since I'm also a newb. My bass was a gift for Christmas (Santa's surveillance operation is clearly over-rated). Amp and related gear was purchased by me with my Christmas cash from various loved ones. I'm happy with my amp and bass. The amp is the Line 6 Studio 110. There's a good review of it here on TB by cmhgreg: search for it for the details. More expensive than a used 10w practice amp, but way more versatile = more fun.

I did the following, with what seems (so far) to be reasonable success. Your mileage may vary.

- Spent time looking around TalkBass. The Technique and General Instruction forums are a goldmine of valuable knowledge from veterans, some with decades of playing experience. For an amatuer like me, for whom this is strictly a hobby, that sort of information is the closest I'll come to listening in to the pros giving each other tips. Linger, read, take notes. It's a phenomenal resources, and it's free.
- Got a teacher. He's a professional bass player, upright and electric. In one hour, I learned left hand technique, some good drills to practice technique and improve hand strength, some practicing pointers, some ideas for positioning the bass in relation to my body, how to avoid RSI while practicing/playing, some rudimentary theory, and some fretboard basics. Not bad for $40, and that was just the first lesson. A very worthwhile investment, even if only for the first few months. Second lesson tonight. I can't wait to impress him with my progress in one short week.
- Got a few good books. In my case, they were:
Bass for Dummies: Don't let the title put you off. My teacher opined that the 'cheat sheet' tear out card from the back of the book was worth the price of the book. It has the patterns of major, minor, diminshed, 7th chords, several scales, all the modes.Yes, you can find these on the internet for free if you look around. The contents of the book is very good enough to justify the purchase, for me at least. Nice instructional CD, too.
Modern Reading Text in 4/4 For All Instruments by Louis Bellson and Gil Breines. Want to play bass? You gotta have rythym. Bellson and Breines will help you out. Oh, and buy a metronome. (Note: there seem to be elaborate schools of thought pro- and con- about metronomes. I'm in the pro camp right now. Do a search here in the forums for threads on this topic). Spent some time just clapping along to the beats in the book before I got my bass, and playing along now that I've got my bass. Great for learning sight reading of music (tempos, anyway: it's all on one note), syncopation, and just getting ideas for future use.

- Learned some basic music theory. I already had a passing acquantaince with music theory thanks to several years of piano lessons as a kid. I forgot it all for 2 decades. Now, as an adult, coming back to it is eye-opening. The internet is chock full of free information on music theory.
- Started learning to read music. Bass cleff, at least. Again, your web brower + search engine will get you what you need here.
- LISTENED. I listened to as much music as I could. Listen to old familiar stuff, over and over, and start trying to figure out what's happening in the music. Can you tell what the time signature is? If you've got your bass, can you pick out a few notes the bass player is playing? What are they? 1/4 notes? 16ths? How does it make you feel? Can you tell if it's in a minor or major key? If you know the notes your playing, can you tell what the key of the song is? How is the bass relating to the melody instruments? Is it syncopating with the drums/melody/something else? How do the bass and drums work together? ... or, do they fail to do so? Et cetera, ad infinitum, and so on.

- Scheduled my practice time. I make time to practice every day. It's part of my daily routine, and I'm trying to make it habitual. 10 minutes of finger drills in the morning. An hour of practice/jamming at night..

I'd recommend some/all of the above, since so far I'm happy with the results. As far as practice, I've managed to get about 8 hours of practice time this week. I've devoted some time every day to left hand finger permutations (see the "for dummies" book for the details, or PM me if you'd rather). I've spent some time on learning note locations for the first five frets, and some other general fretboard stuff (where the octave marker is, the 4ths/5ths relationships when crossing strings at the same fret, etc). I did some tempo work with the Bellson/Breines book. I practiced some right-hand technique stuff. I devoted some time to some simple chord/arpeggio exercises. I tried combining some of this stuff (tried to do the finger permutations, with the metronome on 40 bpm, while singing the names of each note as I played them ... harder than it sounds). I've been singing along to the bass parts while driving my car and listening to the radio, tapping out the rythym of the bass notes on my steering wheel. I took a stab at figuring out the bass for a few songs I really, really like, and managed to pretty much nail two of them ... but we'll see what my mentor says when I play for him tonight.

I just re-read that, and it sounds awfully dull. It's not. Just getting every note to ring out when you sound it, one finger per fret, can be a challenge at first. For me, at least. When my hands get tired, I turn to a little theory study. Chord theory and tempo stuff, mostly, since I already know the bass clef and music notation from my childhood. If I start getting bored with some exercise, I'll finish it up, and then just plug in my MP3 player and jam along with that as best I can.

Again, I'm a total rookie at bass playing. I'm approaching it very systematically, since that's the kind of guy I am. This may not work for you, or might drive you up a wall. Maybe you'll just want to pick it up and noodle around with it. For me, though, I'm trying to get maximum impact from every minute I spend wtih my bass. I've wanted to do this for ages, but I'm also busy with a lot of non-musical stuff, so the time I spend with it is precious. If I'm going to learn to play this thing, I'm going to learn to do it well, I'd like to learn as fast as I can, and I want to have fun doing it. For me, a key ingredient of having fun doing something is being able to do it well. Therefore, my focus, here at the start, on drill, technique, and musical knowledge.

Hope that helps.

+1 to everything, but especially the listening part.

Listening to music that you like and playing along is very important. Don't worry about getting everything right, or exactly how it is on the record. When starting out, you should learn the basic chord progressions and follow along as best as possible. If you hear a signature lick, try to work it out. Combining this with technical exercises will marry proper technique with a feel for music.

Have fun:bassist:

As has already been stated, nothing will get you farther faster at your point than a good teacher.

Additionally, a good teacher is one that can actually teach you the ins and outs of the instrument mechanics. My first hour as a bass player consisted of: Here's the truss rod, this is what it does, here's the wrench, it works like this. Here's the bridge wrench, it works like this. This is high action, this is low action, these are the advantages and disadvantages of both...

You would be amazed at how clueless even advanced players can be about that. It's like trying to learn golf with a bent driver

I think it was the single most valuable hour in my 38 year playing history