Hello, introduction here, first time poster, first time bassist

[BEADG63]

Welcome to TB Matt! Amherst, NY here! You picked the right place to come hang out; all kinds of great bass talk on here. Enjoy!

 

[BadSanta1281]

Spend more time getting to know the bass you already own and less time researching what new bass/pickups/strings/pedals/amp you think you need.

More practice, less TalkBass.

If only I could follow my own advice.

 

[Aaron D]

Good suggestions. Thanks. The first 2 songs are nothing I would normally listen to, but I recognize them. They do sound like they have an easy bass line though (now that I am actually listening for that) I know the better than Ezra song too, very well. I'm not a huge fan of them but I can dig the general sound, and know the song rhythm very well....I could probably learn to play that really easy. I find I am listening to music a lot differently than I used to as a non player already. I don't know if I like that....hah, my brother is a guitar snob, and cant listen to anything that doesn't take amazing skills to play.

That phrase," not what i normally listen too" give it a few months of practice and your "what you listen to" will be anything you can groove to with a bass in it! I started bass as pure metalhead,now I listen to EVERYTHING!

 

[Philip McAdam]

Hey fellas, my name is Matt Willard, I am 40 years old, and I live in Buffalo NY. I just bought my first bass guitar. My brother is a guitar prodigy and has been playing guitar since he was 6 years old. He’s the only true professional musician I know. He plays in multiple bands, and teaches lessons, and a couple of his songs have had some mild commercial success. He does not have another job. My dad also plays guitar, and has for 50 years, but he’s nowhere near as good as my brother. My mom died recently, and it got me thinking, I’m not close enough with my family, so I thought learning the bass could be a cool fun experience to share with them.

I do not, and have not ever played an instrument. I played alto sax in 5th and 6th grade, but I wasn’t much good, and it never stuck. I didn’t know what bass to buy, and I didnt want to spend a lot, because this hobby may not stick, and if it ended up in the closet after 2 weeks
I didnt want to have a huge investment in it. So, I asked my good buddy Tom who has been a bass player for 40 years what to buy. I wanted new, not used. We looked on ebay and amazon, mostly at Squire basses, but they were still kind of pricey. We found a knockoff brand that looked pretty similar. Its called Sawtooth. There’s a sticker on the back that says made in China, engineered in the USA…lol. Anyways, this is it.

View attachment 4193968
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I wanted to post the amazon link, but wasnt sure if it was against the rules. Anyways, I got it for $142 shipped to my door. It had like 200 reviews with 4.4 out of 5 stars. I showed it to my dad, and my bass player buddy, and both proclaimed it to be a pretty decent playable bass for a beginner for the price. 2 of the frets sit a LITTLE high, but not bad. I plan on filing them down. My dad also convinced me to get a clip on tuner for it, so I did. It works, but not great. He also gave me a real little 10 watt guitar amp he garbage picked that works fine. It has a tiny speaker in it though that over drives easily at more than half volume…but it makes noise and works good enough for me to practice with. I am going over there tomorrow to pick up a couple bigger amps that are busted. I am good at fixing electronics.


I had a couple introductory lessons from my buddy, and he introduced me to the G-major scale, which I’ve been practicing forward and backwards. I feel like I have lead fingers. I also have trouble remembering and understanding the notes, so I downloaded these fret labels.

View attachment 4193969
299×672 40 KB
Hopefully it makes it easier.


I learned how to play the most basic beginner song I could find by looking at tabs and watching videos, albeit slow and clunky like. 7 Nation Army by The White Stripes…lol Can anyone recommend some other really easy songs with a cool bass line for a total noob with lead fingers?
I’m leaning toward learning Pink Floyds Money, or Queens Another One Bites the Dust, next.

Any advice, or good learning tools I need to be aware of? As a member of many forums online, I hope this thread is in the correct category, though I suspect that its not. I looked for an introduction thread and either missed it because I'm a bonehead, or there isn't one.

Hi, welcome, as a new bass player, I have just joined the forum myself. It is in my experience, very inclusive and informative. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I do.

 

[BassNugget]

Welcome in brother. Sit down, have a cuppa and enjoy Talk Bass. You will learn way more than you could ever imagine on here and get interested don things you never knew existed. Enjoy!

 

[red_rhino]

Welcome to Talkbass, where the exquisite beauty of the basses is exceeded only by the people who play them. (Or perhaps it's the other way around; I keep forgetting.)

I’m leaning toward learning Pink Floyds Money, or Queens Another One Bites the Dust, next.

Good goals, but I don't recommend starting there. Most of Money is in an odd time (7), and Another One Bites the Dust requires a syncopated feel that you probably don't have yet. You could end up getting rather frustrated by these. At the beginning, one should always always always set themselves up for success. Pick songs you know so that you don't have to learn the song while you're learning to play it, but simple enough so that you have some success to build on before taking on more challenging ones.

Now, this is only a recommendation, but you might want to consider a set of flatwound or tapewound bass strings

Respectfully, I disagree. A lot of people here like flatwounds (and you'll hear from them; careful, they'll try to upsell you on a tort pickguard ), but a lot of others prefer rounds. Bass strings aren't cheap, and if it turns our you don't like flats, you've wasted some money. Should you try flats or tapes eventually? Absolutely. But for now, embrace the rounds, get yourself some blisters and callouses and wear them like a badge of honor.

All basses can, or at least should be able to play the blues.
There are Bazillions of songs based on 1, 4, 5 changes,
plus simple changes will help you concentrate on timing
and hitting notes dead center.

This is great advice. When you start playing out with other people, understanding a 1,4,5 blues pattern gives everyone a starting point to jam. It's also the basis for just about every pop/rock song in existence (even Money).

Learn to love carrots. (This will make more sense later.)

 

[Bikeguy57]

Welcome. I also suggest a good setup and fret leveling. This is especially important on an inexpensive bass. Also, the strings are junk. Good strings are essential to your playing and enjoyment. Ask your bass buddy, but I recommend flat wounds to start out. The cheapest good bass amp is the Fender Rumble. I think they start around 100.00. Craigslist and FB marketplace could work for a good amp. Don't be afraid to spend a little money, you'll be amazed how important this stuff is. Good Luck!

 

[Sid Fang]

Welcome! A lot of good and friendly advice has been given, but for whatever it's worth, here are a few observations about bass playing and about TalkBass.

• Playing any instrument well is a matter of acquiring "muscle memory" so that your hands just do the right thing without your thinking about it. This starts with notes, scales, arpeggios and ultimately gets to full songs. That means practice is incredibly important. You just have to put in your time in contact with the instrument, maybe not hours every day, but for stretches of at least 20m at least once per day. It also means that you do need to pay close attention to the habits you develop, because you won't be thinking about them much, later. Some players turn "bad" habits into signature elements of style, but I wouldn't recommend starting out that way. Look at lots of videos and whatever other resources you can find on the right way(s) to position the instrument and your fingers, the right motions for fretting/plucking/picking.
  
• Sort-of a corollary to the previous point, for some people (like myself) bass is tough on the fingertips. Never mind learning the instrument or new material, if I don't play regularly, my fingertips get soft and I start to blister if I play more than a few minutes. You may need to be patient with this - stop when you feel you're starting to blister and let them re-absorb and become callus rather than peel away. There's a whole folklore on finger toughening that you can find if you search TB.
• In most music, bass is part of the rhythm section. Being in the groove and in the right place relative to the beat (often right on it, but, hey, there are jazz genes in blues and rock) is more important than good tone, flamboyance, or even (at times) playing the right note. It is not a meaningless exercise to take a song or passage where all the bass is doing is playing the same note once or twice per bar and practice really getting your body into the groove and your movements sync'ed to it so that those notes, however few, are *exactly* where they ought to be. Tap your feet. Sway or even dance if you play standing. It's a kinesthetic thing.
  
• TalkBass is a great community. It's really the only "social media" I participate in, because it really is a community of people with common interests and not a marketing platform for products and politics. I'd say we're all brothers in arms, except that there are really solid sisters here, too. That being said, even with the best of intentions on all sides, you can't take everything here at face value. Opinions get confused with fact. Hypotheses get confused with science. Choices that I consider to be trivial and a matter of personal taste take on near-religious importance to others. And above all, beware the pandemic of GAS (gear acquisition syndrome). There is almost no question you can ask, almost no problem you can share, for which some TBer won't propose a solution that involves buying something cool. You can spend your way into debt, but you cannot spend your way into competence.

 

[ac100X]

In my day this was the first song you learned but you didn't do the bass riffs, just three notes.

 

[Eon Sky]

Welcome to TalkBass! We're happy to have you here.

Your family story really hit home for me. There was a period through most of my twenties when I did not have a good relationship with my dad. Playing music together and having that bond at our combined cores saved our relationship.

Another band that I wanted to recommend would be AC/DC. Cliff's parts are exactly what the song needs, and you'll begin building up some finger dexterity with 16th notes, while also staying true to the root notes for a lot of the time. One of the nice parts about that is that if 16ths are too fast this early, you can focus on half notes, quarter notes, and gradually build up speed while still contributing to the song.

Dig the bass, man! And I definitely support your color decision.

 

[Matty Koff]

Hey fellas, my name is Matt Willard, I am 40 years old, and I live in Buffalo NY. I just bought my first bass guitar. My brother is a guitar prodigy and has been playing guitar since he was 6 years old. He’s the only true professional musician I know. He plays in multiple bands, and teaches lessons, and a couple of his songs have had some mild commercial success. He does not have another job. My dad also plays guitar, and has for 50 years, but he’s nowhere near as good as my brother. My mom died recently, and it got me thinking, I’m not close enough with my family, so I thought learning the bass could be a cool fun experience to share with them.

I do not, and have not ever played an instrument. I played alto sax in 5th and 6th grade, but I wasn’t much good, and it never stuck. I didn’t know what bass to buy, and I didnt want to spend a lot, because this hobby may not stick, and if it ended up in the closet after 2 weeks
I didnt want to have a huge investment in it. So, I asked my good buddy Tom who has been a bass player for 40 years what to buy. I wanted new, not used. We looked on ebay and amazon, mostly at Squire basses, but they were still kind of pricey. We found a knockoff brand that looked pretty similar. Its called Sawtooth. There’s a sticker on the back that says made in China, engineered in the USA…lol. Anyways, this is it.

View attachment 4193968
310×742 18.4 KB
I wanted to post the amazon link, but wasnt sure if it was against the rules. Anyways, I got it for $142 shipped to my door. It had like 200 reviews with 4.4 out of 5 stars. I showed it to my dad, and my bass player buddy, and both proclaimed it to be a pretty decent playable bass for a beginner for the price. 2 of the frets sit a LITTLE high, but not bad. I plan on filing them down. My dad also convinced me to get a clip on tuner for it, so I did. It works, but not great. He also gave me a real little 10 watt guitar amp he garbage picked that works fine. It has a tiny speaker in it though that over drives easily at more than half volume…but it makes noise and works good enough for me to practice with. I am going over there tomorrow to pick up a couple bigger amps that are busted. I am good at fixing electronics.


I had a couple introductory lessons from my buddy, and he introduced me to the G-major scale, which I’ve been practicing forward and backwards. I feel like I have lead fingers. I also have trouble remembering and understanding the notes, so I downloaded these fret labels.

View attachment 4193969
299×672 40 KB
Hopefully it makes it easier.


I learned how to play the most basic beginner song I could find by looking at tabs and watching videos, albeit slow and clunky like. 7 Nation Army by The White Stripes…lol Can anyone recommend some other really easy songs with a cool bass line for a total noob with lead fingers?
I’m leaning toward learning Pink Floyds Money, or Queens Another One Bites the Dust, next.

Any advice, or good learning tools I need to be aware of? As a member of many forums online, I hope this thread is in the correct category, though I suspect that its not. I looked for an introduction thread and either missed it because I'm a bonehead, or there isn't one.

I was just jamming out Low Rider by War last night. Very easy song...same riff throughout the entire thing. It's a good workout though. By the end of the song I had a little cramp.. had a little cramp in me.

It'll give you some familiarization with pentatonic BOX shapes that can be used in countless ways for creating basslines as well.

Welcome to talkbass, enjoy your journey into bass guitar. Don't get discouraged easily and keep at it.

 

[Durham52]

Welcome and good luck with your new journey into bass playing.

There's already been a huge amount of useful information given here, probably enough to have become a little mind boggling? It's all good stuff that you can come back to later, if some of it seems hard to understand now.
Work on the basics, this might be an area where you brother and father can help, strengthening your bonds along the way. I'm sure they could explain to you about root notes and which notes are suitable to play with any given chord in a song they could play and show you how to play a simple bass part along with. (Ask then to slow the tempo down at first as you're still working on getting those fingers moving.) There's something about playing with other people, even when you're just starting out that can make the whole process more enjoyable and it can provide a level of encouragement, playing along to a recorded track, or practicing alone can't match.

Playing along with a fairly simple song with them will give you something to take away and practice for the next time you get together. If you do a better job of it then, you'll feel positive and hopefully they'll see you're working at it and encourage you even more. Plus you should all have a heap of fun and if music isn't fun, then what's the point?

 

[pbass62]

Hi and welcome fellow keeper of the groove.
As per the previous post the new starter instruments are much nicer than the ones we started on.
For me black nylon strings that would cook your fingers trying to play Gene Simmons w Kiss .
Books I used to study off of was trombone music doubling on both it was a good transition.
Anyway Welcome
Have fun

 

[triode6L6a]

Welcome to Talkbass, Matt, and the wonderful world of the low end. The main thing is to have fun. If it ain't fun, do something else.

 

[Engle]

Welcome! That bass is far better than what most of us middle aged bass players started with. So you got that part covered.

If the strings are ok, you could get into it for a few months before buying new strings. They make a big difference to the tone.

One of the things about bass is that in general, simple lines played with good feel are usually preferable to intricate, fast lines. And there is a lot of repetition

 

[Paul Corrosion]

Welcome to TB. You've already been given more brilliant advice than I can offer but you may find this helpful, as finding the groove is an essential skill for a bassist.

This tune is my "groove anchor". It's so simple but it pins the groove down and just holds it there solidly till the end. Well worth a learn, even if it isn't your type of music.

 

[jd56hawk]

Welcome to Talkbass, where the exquisite beauty of the basses is exceeded only by the people who play them. (Or perhaps it's the other way around; I keep forgetting.)
Most flatwounds are expensive.



Good goals, but I don't recommend starting there. Most of Money is in an odd time (7), and Another One Bites the Dust requires a syncopated feel that you probably don't have yet. You could end up getting rather frustrated by these. At the beginning, one should always always always set themselves up for success. Pick songs you know so that you don't have to learn the song while you're learning to play it, but simple enough so that you have some success to build on before taking on more challenging ones.


Respectfully, I disagree. A lot of people here like flatwounds (and you'll hear from them; careful, they'll try to upsell you on a tort pickguard ), but a lot of others prefer rounds. Bass strings aren't cheap, and if it turns our you don't like flats, you've wasted some money. Should you try flats or tapes eventually? Absolutely. But for now, embrace the rounds, get yourself some blisters and callouses and wear them like a badge of honor.


This is great advice. When you start playing out with other people, understanding a 1,4,5 blues pattern gives everyone a starting point to jam. It's also the basis for just about every pop/rock song in existence (even Money).

Learn to love carrots. (This will make more sense later.)

Yes, most.

 

[Williethump]

Cool color! These days basses and amps are so good. 3-year elderly student here, I've been using the Progressive Bass text for a year now, good included online vids. Blues based, it had me learning the blues secret formulas and algorithms. It seems most popular music is based on the blues. At its most basic even an arthritic fat fingered trog like me can play the blues-thus lots of other genres as well.
So start in C after your G (no sharps or flats) and learn the 12-bar blues using the I-IV-V intervals. Play that and it always sounds like music if you stay tonic. It's therapy for me.
Get a Roland Bass cube portable amp, like $300. 12x3 different drum tracks for you to practice with; it models many classical amps of the past; weird special effects too like chorus, flanger, wah, reverb, delay; dual power-go busking! Cut the cord and play by the campfire.
Listen to all types of music and listen for the lower end especially, not easy for us olds with aged and damaged hearing. Practice lots, there is no magic to it. Learn the scales and the finger box patterns and Bob's your uncle . I'm an unashamed TAB addict. Can't read music.
I type the song name into search engine for TAB. Try Feel Good-Gorillaz, The Chain-Fleetwood Mac, like you say- 7 Nation Army, Ode to Joy, Under Pressure, Longview-Green Day, Morning Has Broken (3/4 or waltz time), Aura Lee (Love Me Tender)-all pretty easy.
Luke, at Become A Bassist dot com is the online bass guru I like, usually over my head but something to strive for. Good free pdf downloads even without a paid subscription. And TB here is a great resource.
I just played bass with my daughter on guitar so I know how much fun that can be. It's cool that you are using your mother's loss to come together with family.
Once you learn to play a bit and you feel the power of the beat and the chord changes you probably won't want to ever stop playing bass. Welcome and good luck.

 

[cratz2]

Welcome to it. Hope you stick with it and enjoy the ride.

I think that bass will be just fine to start out with. Love the color!

As far as a bit bigger amp, I'd usually suggest skip buying something that is available as part of a 'starter pack' kit such as the Fender Rumble 15. The Rumble 25 or 40 or the Acoustic B25C OR B50C or the Ampeg BA-108 are great options. MUCH better than the Rumble 15.

 

[millbaars]

I just started bass too! I've played drums for a long time though... My advice would be to get in-person lessons ASAP. Even if you can only swing 2 or 3 lessons, do it. I learned this the hard way with drums, being self taught for many years and then having to go back and unlearn bad technique in order to be able to progress. Get off on the right foot! It's so, so important. A side benefit is that (if you have a decent teacher) lessons are a really great motivator.