New member with questions

stuco · #1 05-04-2007, 07:19 PM

First post, I've got my first bass coming to me in the mail. It's a cheap sx jaguar short scale bass thing. I've been playing guitar for about 4 years and have recently gotten interested in bass. It's been my experience with guitar that the amp makes for the better part of good tone so I'm looking for a good amp to go with my cheap bass. If anyone can recommend a nice bass amp that is loud enough to play with a band for less than $500 and that being the very limit of my spending but If I can go cheaper that would be good. Also, whats the best way to get started with technique? Is there a particularly good book or DVD that you have experience with? thanks

AxtoOx · #2 05-04-2007, 08:02 PM

I play both, I take it you already know scales. I still strongly suggest lessons. I started out on DVD's and yeah I could play, but my technique was crappy. I needed someone who knew what they were doing to see me, hear me, and make corrections. Fortunately, I did it soon enough the bad habits didn't stick.
There are similarities, but they are 2 different animals.

With a guitar, the amp makes up more of your tone than in Bass. After you have been here a while you will discover many different basses. High end basses are more popular than high end guitars IMO.
A Marshall will make a cheap guitar sound good, a cheap sounding bass will sound cheap through a $3000 amp.
SX has a big following here, so that's a good brand for a budget. Technique will make you sound better than any "good" amp will.
You'll get many opinions on amps. There are a lot of popular Bass amps. You may have 10 options for every Marshall or Mesa.
That being said, I'd look for a used Eden Nemesis NC210.

You can see what I have for Bass in my profile. For guitar (I won't list each one) I use PRS, Gibson, Fender through a Marshall Dual Super Lead 100 and 2 1960 cabs.

stuco · #3 05-04-2007, 08:40 PM

Thanks Axtoox, I think you make some important points. I may seek out lessons soon enough but when I do I want to have a little of the basics down so I'm not wasting my time/money for weeks or months learning what I should know coming in. I learned guitar through hanging out with good guitarists and not actually with lessons but has basically been the same thing. I only know one person who is proficient on bass so I'm might end up having to get lessons. Anyway, thanks and anymore advice would be appreciated.

AxtoOx · #4 05-04-2007, 08:58 PM

Scales, 12 bar Blues, you can already play some songs I'll bet where the Bass and guitar riff are the same. Some that just play root notes. That will give you a head start. There are several DVDs that will help.
I learned Rock guitar pretty much the same way you did. My mother got me lessons when I was young, but we had the "Generation Gap" back then and she wouldn't let him teach me Rock. I had to learn Folk on a wide necked nylon strung classical guitar. Almost made me want to quit. Then at school, in 7th grade, we needed guitar players to do a folk song in a play. There were 4 of us. We learned the song real fast and started teaching each other what we knew. Started playing some Rock and I was in a band 2 yrs later.
There is some technique in Bass playing that it really take someone who plays to get you straightend out on. If you don't have a good bass player around willing to help, I'd get lessons as soon as possible. After you get the technique down, it's up to you how far you want to take the lessons. I did stop till my teacher was giving me a chord prgression and telling me to come up w/ 3 different bass lines for the progression. Basically songwriting. It didn't take long since I had a long history of music, and was willing to learn.

spert · #5 05-05-2007, 10:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stuco

Thanks Axtoox, I think you make some important points. I may seek out lessons soon enough but when I do I want to have a little of the basics down so I'm not wasting my time/money for weeks or months learning what I should know coming in. I learned guitar through hanging out with good guitarists and not actually with lessons but has basically been the same thing. I only know one person who is proficient on bass so I'm might end up having to get lessons. Anyway, thanks and anymore advice would be appreciated.

Get to know the intrument like and extension of your body.
By sound and feel, know every note(s) you are playing.