Hey folks,

Just registered here for a quick question, but after browsing around a bit, this forum looks so good i'll stick around for a while ;)

I've been playing synths/organs/piano for the past nine years, mainly by ear. I recently got bitten by the 'bass bug', and am currently looking around for a nice beginner bass.

Looking forward to my stay here :)

~Loki

go fiver! you'll never look back at a four again...

nice to meet you. are you going upright or eletric? That question is a discussion in itself.

drumsnbass - that extra fifth (or sixth :S) string has me scared - I think that four is plenty to be getting my head around to start with, especially for a guitar-newbie!

jetson889 - I'm looking at starting the plain ol' electric bass.

dude, don't start him on a 5!

i got this washburn starter pack from my local guitar shop and the guitar is still strong 4 years later after many a show and beating. great sound and durability for a beginner. it also came with a kustom 10 watt amp, but i was through with that after a couple of years. try to acquire a cheap ibanez 30 watt if you decide to play bass with a band.

I'm actually trying to decide between a Yamaha RBX374 or a '75, and I don't have plans for an amp as of yet - I have a home recording setup, so hopefully my monitors should be able to cope well enough for practicing, if I run it through a track in my DAW with a realtime compressor.

drumsnbass - that extra fifth (or sixth :S) string has me scared - I think that four is plenty to be getting my head around to start with, especially for a guitar-newbie!

jetson889 - I'm looking at starting the plain ol' electric bass.


NO NO NO! Go 5 string electric. Seriously. I pretty much started there and would hate to be on a four now. Why?

Primarily because your chords "stack up" real nice on a 5. far less shifting going on when you add that low B string. may make no sense to you now, but once you start and see how much easier it is, you'll know I am right. In the mean time, if the 5th string "scares" you, just use it as a thumb rest.

The other eason is that if you start on a 5, and especially if you have small hands, you can immediately move out of the first hand position to the 2nd hand position (or in plain english, move down the neck towards the pickups). the spacing of the frets is narrower, so you won;t have to reach as much, or even jump around if you don't have the reach in your fingers.

You'll PM me with a big thanks for this one day if you do it! :D

Well, the '75 -is- only ~£25 more expensive...

Alright, i'll go for it. :D

Now all I need is to find some instructional material that'll help me to take advantage of this extra string - I'm already up on my theory, just (unsurprisingly, since i've never played one) my bass technique is....a little sloppy :)


~Loki