Bass questions

wuggles · #1 12-13-2008, 05:00 AM

First off I just wanted to say hello to everyone here in the forums. I've been considering buying a bass guitar for well over a year now, but I have just been putting it off. Over the past month i have been looking around the internet and asking people about wether or not I should get one and I decided I should. But, I don't know which type I should get. This is all pretty new to me and the information I have gathered doesn't seem to be helping me make a disicion on what type to get. I have a fairly limited budget, but I don't want to invest in a piece of junk either. Does anyone have any suggestions?

René_Julien · #2 12-13-2008, 05:25 AM

Hi,
welcome to TalkBass.

This question gets asked a lot: which bass for a beginner.
Check out the Basses forum, there are several threads about this.

Not to put you down immediatly, I'll try to give some advice.

It is hard to choose a bass as a beginner, and it is harder recommending one.
Golden rule is a cheap one off course. You'll only know what you want after playing sometime.
If you learn how to play bass, you'll know what features on a bass you need/like, and what is possibly for the certain sound you are going for. After a little bit of experience you can go to a music store and test several basses out, to see... hear what suits you.

So cheap but still decent, most likely when you become better you're going to get another bass. And maybe for nostalgic reasons you can keep your starter bass around.

A lot of cheap brands get a lot of praises around hear like SX, Squier, Yamaha, Ibanez,... . These companies don't make junk (opinions may differ) and they offer instruments at fair prices.
A lot on this has been discussed here over and over.

Now okay, suggesting is fun.
My personal favourite cheap bass, and to recommend for a beginner is the Squier Classic Vibe '50s Precision Bass.
http://www.squierguitars.com/product...tno=0303080502

I play bass for 9 years, and I recently bought one of these because they are so much fun, so cool, and sound so good. Also incredible quality for that price.
(My main bass is an expensive one.)

I did a search for you on this site (Search function in the menu above.)

These are threads that come up with the keywords: bass, beginner, newbie in the basses section:
http://www.talkbass.com/forum/search...archid=9995663

And this is a thread dedicated to suggesting and recommending basses to beginners:
The definitive TB "cheap bass" opinion poll

Good luck trying to find a first bass.

wuggles · #3 12-13-2008, 05:40 AM

Thanks for the help C'thulhu. I'll keep checking around in the forums a bit more before making my decision. I'm looking a bit more at the squires now. They seem nice.

René_Julien · #4 12-13-2008, 06:01 AM

np

It would help if you gave more information about what you want to achieve. Are you going to play death metal or jazz?

Any famous bassists you like?

Maybe fretless basses, or 5 or 6 string basses interested you already?
Remember, you can start out on anything you like.

Also, remember to fill in your profile.

Droot · #5 12-13-2008, 06:30 AM

Hello,
As has been stated, it is hard to tell someone what to get as their 1st bass. I am not much of a Fender fan so I tend to swing clear of the cheaper Squire label. I have seen too many that had poor setup and questionable necks, although they do hold resale value well.
If I could only give one piece of advice it would be to pay a couple dollars extra and buy your first bass at a instrument shop. This is going to give you the chance to feel the bass and hear it through a good amp that you can compare to the others that you like. Also, you will have some variety to choose from, just don't let anybody know that you are a complete newby. Let the sales person know what price range you are looking for and that you are just price shopping. This is going to get you the chance to look things over and hit a few notes. It is not important that you play a riff to judge the bass. Let the sales person play if he/she likes, then take the bass and feel it on you. Ask for a strap or a stool, you need to be in a playing position. Then just pluck a few single notes on the bass, and really listen to how they sound and ring out. Even a beginner can hear the difference between basses when you do it this way. Also, don't play it through a fancy effects unit or amp, you want a good clean sound without any added distortion or compression.
After you select the best bass you can afford (it ain't necessarily going to be the most expensive), buy a medium priced combo amp to go with it. You are going to upgrade you amp along the line anyway and it is a very expensive item. I suggest a line 6 or one of the Rumble amps, but you will need to decide what is in your budget. Just make sure that you hear your bass through the amp you choose and that you can live for a while with the sound. Hope this is at least a little help.
DRoot

wuggles · #6 12-16-2008, 08:37 AM

Thanks for the help guys. I picked up a bass the other day at the store. they were realy nice with helping me to pick out something that would suite me. They had a pretty old set that they were selling there for realy cheap so I decided to pick it up. I was suprised because it all sounds realy good. I think if I catch on and start to get better I'll get another higher quality bass. Have you ever heard of Grassroots? are they any good?