do I need/ should i have lessons

[skinzz]

I bought a hofner violin bass (replica) a couple of weeks ago. I have some little experience of guitars i had 1 when i was a kid but never learned to play properly. I can read tabs, can hammer and slide and once i read a tab im usually playing it quite well within a few hours, my main problem is and i quote "open strings ringing and feeding back" i.e im playing something simple like "beat it" and the open strings vibrating or vibration from a string i have just played turns an otherwise great sounding riff into a pile of muddled up crap, u can hear the riff well and it sounds good, but the vibrating strings ruin it, what can i do ? shall i go lessons and learn to mute the strings, is it my guitar cos of the hollow body, is it setup properly, help me im confused!!!!!! p.s i used a pick a 2.0mm 1 the bloke in guitar shop gave me, i heard felt 1's are better for bass

[Dogbertday]

Yes get lessons... an isntructor can correct that problem as well as any other technique problems that can eventually cause problems

[DudeistMonk]

Agreed, get an instructor. There are many techniques you can use to mute strings, and instructor can show you them a lot better than I can type descriptions...and will make you playing and understanding of music much better if you stick with it...you might want to also search u-tube for a quick fix.

[Beast]

Yes. You need lessons. Everyone needs lessons.

[SpectorBass308]

Yeah get lessons, just make sure your making progress and not wasting your time and money not learning anything. Also, make sure you don't waste all your time on sight reading. Lessons usually start out good but after a few lessons they seem to turn into "lets work on sight reading" FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS MUAHAHAH!!!!

[lexxmexx]

www.studybass.com

You can find some good instructions on muting techniques.