As much as help as you can give please!

[zanenoise]

Hey, everybody! I'm a person, specifically a bassist right now. With a couple years ahead of me before I have to go to college, I recently (beginning of this year) declared to myself that electric bass was going to be my performance focus, after years of learning multi-instrumentalism (piano, drums, guitar, upright, banjo, ukelele, dulcimer, etc.).

With that, I want to be as serious with a four-string electric as I can be. I would like to work toward being the most well-rounded all around four-string electric bassist I can be. I really appreciate anyone who is taking the time to read this, and would even more greatly appreciate those who offered any sort of tips they feel could help (be it in practicing, improvisation, technique, genre-specific stuff, gear recommendations, players I should listen to, must-learn basslines, etc.). Really anything at all.

Thank you very much!

[MalcolmAmos]

Dust off your sight reading and play jazz standards from standard notation bass clef .

Amazon.com: The Real Book -Bass Clef; Sixth Edition (9780634060762): Hal Leonard Corp.: Books

[Russell L]

If you are going to major in music, make sure the college you attend has electric bass. Also, you will possibly have to audition. If you cannot read electric bass very well, go in on another instrument you can read well on. You can change instruments later. That's what I did. I got in on clarinet, but changed to string bass after the first year. Also, some schools are more classical oriented while others have a good mixture, including jazz.

A good practice book for classical is the Simandl book (just ask any music store that handles band instruments, etc.). Although it is classical it is for four-string bass. The excercises are cleverly composed to help with learning fingering techniques.