Bass Newbie

[TheWyn]

Howdy

I'd been toying with the idea of picking up a bass and giving it a shot for several years. About 3 weeks ago I finally took the plunge. I picked up a Ibanez ATK750KA off of facebook marketplace for a few bucks and started learning. It's been pretty fun so far. I have about 20ish years as a Trombone/Bass Trombonist in Jazz/Symphony settings so I at least knew how to read music and a good bit of theory. Plucking and fretting is a real challenge though but I just keep reminding myself it's not hard it's just new.

Enjoyed the site for several years, from the time I started considering picking up a bass, once I took the plunge I registered and figured I'd try to get involved.

Thanks for reading.

 

[Deenah]

welcome to the forum.. A few things you can do to make it more enjoyable.. smaller gauge strings, lower the action,adjust your neck. There is plenty of help here if you want to learn how,it's really pretty easy to change the action, don't be scared to do so. Another thing is to relax.. work on changing notes and strings in a fluid motion. If you watch the pros you will see that we are really more fluid then fast. Be patient, Getting your fingers accustom to the large strings can be a challenge,don't overwork it.
Very good you read music but I will warn you now that the majority of tab for bass is wrong so really work on your ear to pic the notes out. enjoy your day

 

[Malcolm35]

A lot of the hobby bands play from fake chord sheet music. In 20 plus years a director never handed me standard notation sheet music on what we would be using, always fake chord.

My point, learn how to play from fake chord -- so everyone is playing from the same sheet of music. Fake chord gives the lyrics and chord used -- and then you fake your part. Knowing standard notation and being able to use your ears will always help, but when everyone is using FC - do likewise.

And tab is not the way to go. Why? No one is going to tab out your sheet music for you. So you find something on the Internet. If you are lucky it may fit. Good luck with that.