Good beginner songs

Chipsonfire · #1 07-27-2007, 12:06 PM

I just started playing bass (like 2 days ago lol) and I've been practicing the fundamentals like scales and fingering and such. Soon I'd like to start practicing real songs and would like some suggestions from you vets out there. What are some good songs to teach real "groove theory," for lack of a better term. I want to do this right and not just learn stuff that sounds good, but really get into the heart of bass. What helped you all start out? Any other advice you might have for me is also greatly appreciated

Oh, in case you need to know, I play a P/J bass with a small 15W Behringer amp using any technique I can find, save for pick cause I don't own any

eedre · #2 07-27-2007, 12:15 PM

Smoke on the Water

rummy · #3 07-27-2007, 12:26 PM

Santeria by Sublime!

Banana Bread · #4 07-27-2007, 02:29 PM

Cant Stop - Red Hot Chilli Peppers, first song I ever learned, man those were the days.

steve66 · #5 07-27-2007, 02:32 PM

Most of Green Day and AC/DC

BassFTW · #6 07-27-2007, 02:47 PM

Feel good inc.-Gorillaz
Anything by the offspring or any other punk band (it'll help you get down timing and fingering)

As for santeria, that might be hard for someone who's just just beginning, but maybe pawn shop or something like that if your really into sublime.

Chipsonfire · #7 07-27-2007, 03:22 PM

Awesome suggestions, all songs/bands that I like :-) I can't wait to really get into the meat of this. I still need a lot of work on just the basics though lol. I'm probably going to need to buy a book of sheet music as well so I can get my sight reading up to par.

bullshark · #8 07-27-2007, 03:38 PM

Check out the Pixies; all their song have very easy bass line, but that's when timing is most important, and very much fun to play along.

Eublet · #9 07-27-2007, 03:40 PM

Wild Thing
Louie Louie

PatTheAnchor · #10 07-27-2007, 03:44 PM

I thought Good Times by Chic was easy.

Hope you have fun!

Chipsonfire · #11 07-27-2007, 03:54 PM

More great suggestions! Thanks everyone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bullshark

Check out the Pixies; all their song have very easy bass line, but that's when timing is most important, and very much fun to play along.

I've vaguely heard of them, I'll have to look them up. Thanks.

Lowpro · #12 07-27-2007, 04:52 PM

Hmm, try Stinkfist by Tool. You don't have to pick it but it's a great one for lefthand techniques. It has a slide in it, very distinctive hammer ons and pulloffs. and a small fertboard crawl in it. It was the first song I learned, also helps with the pinky usage, which is VERY important (Not sure about most players, but I've come to use my pinky more than my ring finger, just get its strength up and it'll feel good)

http://www.tooltabs.net/tabs/tool/ba.../stinkfist.htm

No effects either.

And you can find the song on youtube to act as a backtrack. try to do that with a bunch of songs, and try to find live vids to see how they're playing it.

Oh, and the easiest way to tune your E string to D is to do this, on your 3rd string (your normal D string) rest your lefthandfinger on the string above the 12th fret itself, but do not push to the fretboad. Just let it rest. Now when you pluck that string with your playing hand a note will ring out, that's a harmonic. It'll ring out for a good 20 seconds, during this time detune your E string down and play it open. Try to match the D harmonic with your detuned E string until the sounds don't make a "wah" sound, they kinda sound parallel, or the same. Your E string should be tuned to your bass near PEFECTLY as a low D string. To tune back up all you need to do is tune your E string back up and play 5th fret E and open A until they sound parallel and your E string will be tuned to E.

Hope that doesn't confuse ya. When in doubt - http://www.tunemybass.com/

Chipsonfire · #13 07-27-2007, 04:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lowpro

Hmm, try Stinkfist by Tool. You don't have to pick it but it's a great one for lefthand techniques. It has a slide in it, very distinctive hammer ons and pulloffs. and a small fertboard crawl in it. It was the first song I learned, also helps with the pinky usage, which is VERY important (Not sure about most players, but I've come to use my pinky more than my ring finger, just get its strength up and it'll feel good)

http://www.tooltabs.net/tabs/tool/ba.../stinkfist.htm

Hmm tabs... I guess I should learn how to read those (though I'd much rather have the sheet music to learn off of cause I need to work on sight reading).

But thanks for the suggestion and the link

Lowpro · #14 07-27-2007, 05:07 PM

Learn both. Sheet music is good for theory, tabs help with hand placement, seeing where ghost notes are played, where palm mutes might be etc. Bass Player Magazine usually will have a song and present both.

I still use mainly tabs and speak in tablature, though I should work a lot more on sight reading.

Fun fact, my name is Chip =X

Chipsonfire · #15 07-27-2007, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lowpro

Learn both. Sheet music is good for theory, tabs help with hand placement, seeing where ghost notes are played, where palm mutes might be etc. Bass Player Magazine usually will have a song and present both.

I still use mainly tabs and speak in tablature, though I should work a lot more on sight reading.

Fun fact, my name is Chip =X

Good call, didn't about it that way. I do need to work on hand placement and, well, everything there is to bass playing.
Another fun fact: my real name isn't Chip or Chips or anything even close to it lol. Most people know me as Chips, though (even my boss and most of my professors

).

Lowpro · #16 07-27-2007, 05:32 PM

O.o lol I'm Christopher Kimble Jr. so Chip's my nickname, but everyone calls me Chip. Not Chips, maybe ChipsnDip...

Chipsonfire · #17 07-27-2007, 07:14 PM

Crazy. My name is Mike Estrada (¿¿CHiPs anyone??) The only people who call me 'Chip' are people who don't know me well or senile professors *cough*

toaster2k3 · #18 07-27-2007, 11:35 PM

"Evil" by Interpol
"Closer to the Heart" by Rush

MirageBass · #19 07-27-2007, 11:48 PM

Rush! Lots of rush. But really, just cover songs by the people you love, even if the basslines aren't that great.

Oh, and for tabs, try TabIt. It's a program that plays tabs for you so you can hear what you're playing, which helps immensely, and it works for a lot of instruments. Similarly, the tabit site has a gazillion fully written SONGS in TabIt so you can get off to a good start in training your ear and hand placement.

Who do you listen to?

owensea777 · #20 07-28-2007, 12:21 AM

Some of these suggestions are tough for beginners.

+1 to Sublime-Pawn Shop. The same cool line over and over. You can memorize it in one minute, and it's great for building finger strength. Download the song and play with the band, it's great.

Queen-Another One Bites the Dust. Even if you only play the catchy part that everyone knows, its still a great bassline, and fun to play

Find these and more www.ultimate-guitar.com
A great site