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Beginner Bass Recommendations?

#41
static0verdrive said:
This. Get whatever you like, regardless of size. Smaller people can play upright bass, why would they NEED a short-scale electric? One shouldn't stretch to reach notes - it can lead to repetitive stress injury. Simply move the hand until the closest finger to the note you need is where it needs to be. Practice fretting only as hard as you need to avoid buzzing and no more than that! Death grip leads to early exhaustion and RSI too.

If you like a short-scale best, get it!
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@Augsp — Great Advice! I teach upright (double bass) to 9-12 year-olds, boys and girls. The scale length is 36.5-40 inches depending on the instrument, and no frets. Compare that to the 34" standard scale or 32" and 30" short scales with frets!

Honestly, teens and "smaller and less mighty for the time being" boys and girls can definitely play 34" scale electric bass—in fact all my upright students spent time on my 34" scale Fender Jazz, mostly seated, but also with a shoulder strap. However, shorter scale is fine, too.

Technique will do the job, and yes, shift to reach notes, keeping fingers all engaged but not straining. But you know that. :cool:
 
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#44
Augsp said:
-Weight/size. I'm a girl, and from what I hear basses are quite heavy and big. I'm hoping for something compatible with my size, maybe a short-scale, maybe not. I guess I'm on the taller side when it comes to height but I'm incredibly weak, so heavy basses probably won't work for me.
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Hit you tube and see if you can find Zoobombs, they are from Japan. Note the bass player, my band played with Zoobombs on our recent tour, and that girl is tiny. On tour she was playing a 34" long scale Fender P, her English wasn't great, and my Japanese is non-existent, but I gather the only accommodation she made with that bass was to replace the neck with a Jazz neck, for the narrower profile...
 
#45
Augsp said:
Wow, so many replies! Thank you so so much. (I actually want to sleep after my last post, then woke up right now)
I have to say, overall I'm quite suprised by the number of people recommending Squier jaguars. So far, that's the one I really have my eyes on,but I'm not completely sure since it's not quite the easiest to get short scales in my country, from what I've heard. But I'm quite sure that I'll be able to find a used one someplace!
Again, thank you for the extensive replies!
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What country are you in? There's probably a TB'er in the same country that could tell you the good places to look at/order from.


Also, I think it's cool that pretty much whenever someone new to bass posts in here to ask for help, tons of people speak up with great advice. WHERE WERE YOU GUYS 30 YEARS AGO WHEN I WAS A CLUELESS NEWB!?!?!?
 
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#46
wintremute said:
What country are you in? There's probably a TB'er in the same country that could tell you the good places to look at/order from.


Also, I think it's cool that pretty much whenever someone new to bass posts in here to ask for help, tons of people speak up with great advice. WHERE WERE YOU GUYS 30 YEARS AGO WHEN I WAS A CLUELESS NEWB!?!?!?
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I'm in South Korea, but my Korean isn't as good as my English(I attend an international school) so I just decided to ask here. :)
 
#47
It sounds like you are on the right track with a Jaguar, but as others have said , being small doesn't rule out a 34" scale bass. Check out Tal Wilkenfeld or Esperanza Spalding on Youtube, two of the best bass players around, and both pretty petite women who favor full size instruments.


 
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#48
Well Jag are great, but I would also recommend you to check out the Gretsch g2220 junior jet bass II, the tone is amazing for a $300 Bass,check out Royal Blood
juniorjet2.jpg


 
#51
Augsp said:
My interest in getting to play the bass is quite new. I've played a couple instruments before (Violin, Piano, you get the idea) but this is the first instrument that I've actually wanted to learn how to play. I probably won't be playing in a band or anything(not for now, unless you count clubs at school or whatever) and it's going to be purely out of fun.
I'm guessing that this question comes up a lot, but I thought it'd be better to just ask a new one since there's some specifications that I need to meet.
Here they are:
-Price. obviously. I'm not even sure if I'll stick with the bass(although it's reasonably likely) and I don't think my parents will let me buy anything past $300 or so (I'm 14 years old, going into HS in september)
-Weight/size. I'm a girl, and from what I hear basses are quite heavy and big. I'm hoping for something compatible with my size, maybe a short-scale, maybe not. I guess I'm on the taller side when it comes to height but I'm incredibly weak, so heavy basses probably won't work for me.
-Style.As I said before, I'll probably be learning the bass for fun. Since I listen to a lot of bands, I think I lean a little more towards rock than jazz. But it's really just a difference of sound isn't it?
I honestly don't care too much about the design, but I'm hoping for red or black in terms of color.
Anyway, if you don't really have a bass that fits this description, you could also help me out with general things to follow when learning how to play the bass, or give me some credible arguments I can use to further convince my parents....;)
Thank you for the replies (in advance) and I hope you have a wonderful day! :3
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One thing to consider. If you're not planning to play shows any time soon I wouldn't be so concerned with how big or heavy the bass is. Even the heaviest basses aren't that bad to play sitting down at home.

My recommendation for a decent bass in the $300 range is a used made in Mexico (also called mim) fender jazz or precision. They are good basses for the money and another benefit of them in particular is resale value. If you get one used when you go to sell it wether you're upgrading or whatever you'll be able to get the investment back. With most basses that are cheaper the resale values are terrible.
 
#53
If you do it right, you can get a great bass for less than 300 that will last you til you're a pro. Find something used, and find something old. For example, you can find a used Epiphone made a few years ago, but it won't be that great. But if you find a used Epiphone from the 80s or 90s, it will be twice as good at half the price.

A few weeks ago I was playing around with some basses at GC, and my very favorite one (out of the ones priced 600 and lower) was a 90s Epiphone sockhead/accu bass for 120 bucks. If I wasn't tight on money or satisfied with what I already have, I would have gotten it and customized it. You should find something like this, or look around on Craigslist. Plus, if you go cheap and old, you don't have to worry about beating it up.

Also, it would help if you have a bassist friend. You play violin? If you're in a school orchestra then I'm sure at least one of the upright bassists also plays electric. Take a bass friend to a store and point out the basses you like that are in your price range. Play it yourself to make sure it's comfortable, and then have them play it so they can provide their input and tell you if it's good or not. Remember, amps are half the cost, so perhaps stick with a headphone amp until you get good enough to play with a band, and then get an amp.

Good luck!
 
#54
Augsp said:
I'm in South Korea, but my Korean isn't as good as my English(I attend an international school) so I just decided to ask here. :)
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First I'd like to add on that yes, it's very possible for smaller ladies to play full scale basses. I've a friend under 160cm or less who uses a standard sized bass, and one of the the hardest rockers I know is even shorter than that but she uses a 5 string squier jazz without any problems. What might be more of a concern is your finger dexterity, but if you've smaller or shorter fingers, you can always adjust for it, don't worry. (btw just in case, I'd like to comment that the "jazz" bass isn't necessarily for jazz and it's a great rock bass)

Anyway, I was in Seoul a while back visiting a friend and she brought me to this building stuffed full with music shops. It was probably Nakwon I think, so I'd suggest starting there? I recall they had a huge range of instruments from top end stuff to really cheap stuff, so you could take your time and spend an entire day (or longer) just slowly browsing through everything and getting a feel for all the instruments.

You might want to note that there's a pretty good chance that many of those instruments are not set up well. That means the intonation might be off - so when you fret the strings, it's slightly out of tune relative to the open string, and might also mean the action is too high or low. So you might feel that it's really difficult to fret and it's too tiring. I don't know what shops in Seoul are like, but you can try asking the shopkeeper whether the action can be adjusted to something more playable. That often makes a really huge difference to whether you like an instrument or not.

And like many others have said, try playing it standing up with a strap. That's probably how you're going to be playing it anyway, so it's important for it to feel right.

All that aside, you might want to check out the second hand market too. I don't know what the second hand market is like in South Korea, I could ask some Korean friends about it, but I often tell beginners what I did when I was a beginner: instead of buying a new bass first hand, I bought and sold basses second hand so I could get a feel for different basses and figure out what I liked in a bass. That way you don't end up losing so much money if you sell a bass you don't like that much, and if you end up liking it, you're getting a keeper for a lower cost. Of course, if you find great deals first hand that you really like, you should just go ahead with it anyway and don't worry about this kind of cost issue. This is more for if you want to try out different stuff first.

p.s. - I come from a similar background too, piano, violin, all that classical stuff that my parents made me learn. I bet you're going to find this a really refreshing change, when you actually look forward to practicing and playing for fun. I don't think you can really make good music from the heart when you're not really into it. All that said, the classical knowledge and training is really valuable and I'm glad I had it.
 
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#55
Ron Johnson said:
If you do it right, you can get a great bass for less than 300 that will last you til you're a pro. Find something used, and find something old. For example, you can find a used Epiphone made a few years ago, but it won't be that great. But if you find a used Epiphone from the 80s or 90s, it will be twice as good at half the price.

A few weeks ago I was playing around with some basses at GC, and my very favorite one (out of the ones priced 600 and lower) was a 90s Epiphone sockhead/accu bass for 120 bucks. If I wasn't tight on money or satisfied with what I already have, I would have gotten it and customized it. You should find something like this, or look around on Craigslist. Plus, if you go cheap and old, you don't have to worry about beating it up.

Also, it would help if you have a bassist friend. You play violin? If you're in a school orchestra then I'm sure at least one of the upright bassists also plays electric. Take a bass friend to a store and point out the basses you like that are in your price range. Play it yourself to make sure it's comfortable, and then have them play it so they can provide their input and tell you if it's good or not. Remember, amps are half the cost, so perhaps stick with a headphone amp until you get good enough to play with a band, and then get an amp.

Good luck!
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, I don't have any bassist friends. At least, I don't think I do. I'm not in our school orchestra either, so that's going to be pretty hard though. I do have friends who play acoustic guitars and one friend who plays electric (not bass) guitar.
I think the headphone amp thing is a really good idea, though. I'll try my best to find some.
 
#56
Nic. said:
First I'd like to add on that yes, it's very possible for smaller ladies to play full scale basses. I've a friend under 160cm or less who uses a standard sized bass, and one of the the hardest rockers I know is even shorter than that but she uses a 5 string squier jazz without any problems. What might be more of a concern is your finger dexterity, but if you've smaller or shorter fingers, you can always adjust for it, don't worry. (btw just in case, I'd like to comment that the "jazz" bass isn't necessarily for jazz and it's a great rock bass)

Anyway, I was in Seoul a while back visiting a friend and she brought me to this building stuffed full with music shops. It was probably Nakwon I think, so I'd suggest starting there? I recall they had a huge range of instruments from top end stuff to really cheap stuff, so you could take your time and spend an entire day (or longer) just slowly browsing through everything and getting a feel for all the instruments.

You might want to note that there's a pretty good chance that many of those instruments are not set up well. That means the intonation might be off - so when you fret the strings, it's slightly out of tune relative to the open string, and might also mean the action is too high or low. So you might feel that it's really difficult to fret and it's too tiring. I don't know what shops in Seoul are like, but you can try asking the shopkeeper whether the action can be adjusted to something more playable. That often makes a really huge difference to whether you like an instrument or not.

And like many others have said, try playing it standing up with a strap. That's probably how you're going to be playing it anyway, so it's important for it to feel right.

All that aside, you might want to check out the second hand market too. I don't know what the second hand market is like in South Korea, I could ask some Korean friends about it, but I often tell beginners what I did when I was a beginner: instead of buying a new bass first hand, I bought and sold basses second hand so I could get a feel for different basses and figure out what I liked in a bass. That way you don't end up losing so much money if you sell a bass you don't like that much, and if you end up liking it, you're getting a keeper for a lower cost. Of course, if you find great deals first hand that you really like, you should just go ahead with it anyway and don't worry about this kind of cost issue. This is more for if you want to try out different stuff first.

p.s. - I come from a similar background too, piano, violin, all that classical stuff that my parents made me learn. I bet you're going to find this a really refreshing change, when you actually look forward to practicing and playing for fun. I don't think you can really make good music from the heart when you're not really into it. All that said, the classical knowledge and training is really valuable and I'm glad I had it.
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Nakwon? Thank you so much, I'll be sure to visit that place, if I end up buying a new one. I'm quite sure that I'd be starting up with a secondhand one, though, since my parents are very dubious about my chances of continuing to play the bass for a long time. I'm hoping to prove them wrong though.
I'm not quite sure about the secondhand market either. I've seen people trying to sell secondhand basses online once in a while, but none of it was in an organised manner. But I'm hoping to buy something offline.
I'm really, really excited about getting to learn, though. Music to me has always been something to express who I am, and classical music isn't quite the thing for me. Playing the violin and the piano actually lessened my interest in music considerably, and at one point I just broke. I quit playing, and the two are just sitting in our living room now, gathering dust. I do feel a little bad about it, since I played for a considerable amount of time, but it never really gave me the thrill that usually associate with music.
My parents think I'm just going through a phase. And to an extent, that might be true. But I want this to be more than a phase, more than a fleeting thought.
Anyway, I'm rambling.
Thank you so so much!
 
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#57
Here's some input from an entirely different direction; I'm a guy, 5'-10" (152cm), 200 lbs (91kg). For close to 50 years playing guitar, friends often told me I should take up the bass, but I didn't want to be encumbered by a large electric bass, forget a standup bass. Then a couple of years ago I switched to ukulele and shortly after discovered the many u-basses out there, right up my ally. I've since converted a small electric guitar to a bass and had a custom small Telecaster style bass built. I only use 21, 22 and 23" (53, 55, 58 cm) scale basses and I'm happy as can be.
 
#58
Augsp said:
Unfortunately, I don't have any bassist friends. At least, I don't think I do. I'm not in our school orchestra either, so that's going to be pretty hard though. I do have friends who play acoustic guitars and one friend who plays electric (not bass) guitar.
I think the headphone amp thing is a really good idea, though. I'll try my best to find some.
Click to expand...
Then scoop up whichever friend is best at guitar and have them look at basses with you. They should be able to at least tell you if the action is good on a bass. As for things such as string spacing, you'll have to play it for a while and see what feels best.
 
#60
Passive bass
Squier Classic Vibe 50P, 60P, 60Jazz, 70P, Matt Freeman P, James Johson Jazz.(highly recommand)
Squier Vintage Modified series.

Active Pre bass
Yamaha TRBX 3XX series(highly recommand)
Ibanez SR 3XX series (beware with neck problem)
 

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