Maybe this is a strange question but...

[bluesguy63]

I noodle around on the acoustic guitar some and rather enjoy it. I'm finding myself intrigued by the bass guitar. I've never had one in my hands (yet). I guess here's my question...If I learn the basics of bass guitar...then what? I'm not sure that I would play with other people. What would/could I do with the basic bass skills. Play along with jam tracks? etc.. It seems that it would be a lot of fun....any thoughts/comments would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

[ErebusBass]

well one thing I love to do (other than just noodling around and jamming with friends) is learn lots of the music I listen to and play along with the original tracks. I don't exactly understand your question... Why would you only want to learn the basics? Would you buy a bass and then learn how to sound a couple notes then stop learning? You couldn't do much with that.

[scottbass]

Yeah, you can play along with jam tracks, full CD's whatever. You can also get a low-end digital multitrack recorder and record your own stuff. Lay down a drum track with a drum machine, a MIDI keyboard synthesizer or a piece of computer software, then go back and play along with it to add the bass line. Then go back and play along with it again to add the guitar track. Then go back and sing the lyrics. use some computer software to EQ and mix the tracks and polish it up. You now have an indy recording! Post it on your MySpace page, sell it therough iTunes, whatever you want to do with it. Grab your bass and amp and go jam with another guitarist. Find a real drummer (as opposed to a drum machine) and then you have a band! Learn some songs, write some songs, buy some more gear and go play some gigs!

The possibilities are endless when you play bass!

[MarkTAW]

If you expect to play by yourself, stick to acoustic guitar. You can learn songs to sing too and chixx dig guys that can sing and play guitar.

Unless you're this guy singing bass players are rare & it's not as easy to support the whole song well the whole way through on bass.

I'm a bass player and while 90% of the time I play bass while at home, I really value the 10% of the time I play acoustic guitar and sing.

[Thunderthumbs73]

Originally Posted by bluesguy63

I noodle around on the acoustic guitar some and rather enjoy it. I'm finding myself intrigued by the bass guitar. I've never had one in my hands (yet). I guess here's my question...If I learn the basics of bass guitar...then what? I'm not sure that I would play with other people. What would/could I do with the basic bass skills. Play along with jam tracks? etc.. It seems that it would be a lot of fun....any thoughts/comments would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

Then what? If you're halfway decent, you can play in a lot of bands, and be as musically active as you want to be. Bass players are always in demand! You could play to CDs, jam tracks, or whatever.

Acoustic guitar skills are great to have (aka don't stop doing that) but if you can add some bass skills in there, then you'll be building some very diverse musical skills which will be valued, above and beyond just being "fun to noodle around on."

Good luck with it.

[basshanger.com]

with guitar you can play all over the place in a song. but with bass, it's not about what you play, it's about when you play in a song. make sense? to me it does. anyone else? bass DOES make or break a band. later dan

[cowsgomoo]

Originally Posted by bluesguy63

I noodle around on the acoustic guitar some and rather enjoy it. I'm finding myself intrigued by the bass guitar. I've never had one in my hands (yet). I guess here's my question...If I learn the basics of bass guitar...then what? I'm not sure that I would play with other people. What would/could I do with the basic bass skills. Play along with jam tracks? etc.. It seems that it would be a lot of fun....any thoughts/comments would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

I wouldn't recommend it... the core of bass playing is to propel an ensemble... and if you're playing along to pre-recorded tracks, you're kinda giving but you're not receiving... you're not interacting, not holding a musical conversation with other people, which to my mind is the only reason to play music, and it's the most rewarding part of playing bass...

you have all that low end power and such influence over every aspect of a band that you owe it to yourself to go and do it with other human beings

if you just want to stay at home and jam along to backing tracks, then that's your choice but I think there are better instruments to do that with... electric guitar for example

seriously, it's a waste of bass playing unless what you play affects what's going on around you

you're proposing playing bass like a person would knock tennis balls back over the net from a tennis ball serving machine thing... the real fun starts when you play with a real human being and get a rally going...

[Thunderthumbs73]

As far as LEARNING bass, it is perfectly fine to "jam" to backing tracks. MANY a bass player has learned how to play, and how to play better doing that. It's a great way to get your "musical legs" and bearings. Of course, that is not the full picture, as at some point, you'll want and need to play with others. There is learning in that too. I don't deny that. However, there is NO waste of bass playing, particularly at the beginning of your journey.

Even on a more advanced level, when one of my bands says let's learn tunes x, y, and z, we don't sit there and try to push through. We take it home, prepare by doing the "heavy lifting" there, and tighten up what we've learned at home on our own in a group practice-most time and effort-effective that way, and probably least frustrating as well.

For my own improvement, I'm STILL learning things off the record as closely as possible as it is not wasted time or effort, and adds to my musicality and well-roundedness as a player, even if I never actually perform those particular songs.

Always learn.

My two cents on the matter...

Best to you.