I DON'T KNOW HOW TO ASK THIS QUESTION

[THEBASSCARVER]

I have a older friend who use to play bass. I listen to a tape of him and he was pretty good. He quit playing after having his left hand broken for years.He sold his bass and amp, his bass was a Fender P. John told me he would like to start playing again. He won't go to any place to try out a bass. He is afraid to be made fun of, so me and a couple of guys have decided to get him one. My question is would a Jazz type neck are a thicker P type neck be better for him. I know its up to him but he won't go with us, and its sort of going to be a surprise. We got him a nice old TNT bass amp. Again Thanks.

well its realy up to him i cut my left han in haff and am tring to get back playing good i still play in a band and my hand burns out quick and its hard its like i my **** wont do what iwont it to but it ez er to play on a wide neck for me 5 string but win i play on a 4 it seems to make me faster but just takes a lot of time and wont . so if he wonts it bad enuf he will try as hard as he can .....

 

[GHOST AT]

Untrue people at GC will laugh at anybody good or not to make themselves feel better. I heard a guy playing the Munsters theme song on aEpi get laughed at by a guy who 5 minutes later bragged about playing the crappiest version of Smoke on the water I ever heard. They braggart guy 50 the Munster kid early 20's YOU do the math.

But, I digress.

Anyways to the OP I might think of getting your friend a nice strap also not the $5 nylon kind the $20 and up kind. If he has a hand injury a quality strap can insure he doesn't have to exert as much pressure to keep the neck level while fretting and it'll feel good too.

Never understood why anyone would pick on someone less skilled. IMO Bassists should encourage each other regardless of skill level. Luckily i have never run into this with bass players.Guitarist another story. When i was fourteen and been playing for six months i sucked!!! But the guitar players brother was in a huge local band at the time The bass player walked in one day(i felt the size of a pea) He told the guitar player "Jason's very enthusiastic about the bass, if he keeps at it he could be a great bass player" That meant so much to me!!!! I don't want to think what would happen if he said something derogatory. I have never forgotten this.

 

[Rip Topaz]

^this. We should ALL, without fail, encourage all other musicians. If we don't, eventually, they'll all give up and then what are we left with?

No music. And that's a world I don't wanna live in.

 

[Wannaflea]

Never understood why anyone would pick on someone less skilled. IMO Bassists should encourage each other regardless of skill level. Luckily i have never run into this with bass players.Guitarist another story. When i was fourteen and been playing for six months i sucked!!! But the guitar players brother was in a huge local band at the time The bass player walked in one day(i felt the size of a pea) He told the guitar player "Jason's very enthusiastic about the bass, if he keeps at it he could be a great bass player" That meant so much to me!!!! I don't want to think what would happen if he said something derogatory. I have never forgotten this.

I've been on both sides of the coin.

About 3 months after I'd been playing, I went into a music shop to try out a couple of basses. There was a little room with a door and a couple amps so in I went with a Musicman Stingray (I'd been dying to play one! ) And went at it a bit, got up to leave the room and the store manager gave me a round of applause! He told me to keep at it and that I had a lot of potential! Left that shop over the moon.

This last week I have been teaching bass as a tutor on a Rock School course, run by the local states, where about 25 young kids come on the course, learn an instrument (keys, guitar, BASS, vox or drums), form 5 bands of 5 kids, and put on a performance at the end of the week for all the parents. In the bass class there was a massive range, from one kid who'd been playing 6 years, to a girl who'd only been playing since september. Now, this girl went from never having slapped before, to NAILING the Higher Ground (the rhcp one) riff in FORTY-FIVE MINUTES?! I took her to one side and told her that she had potential, to keep practicing and to keep at it! She looked really happy and I felt good about what I'd done.

I really don't understand the 'nana you're bad at bass' way of thinking. Insecurity I guess, because knowing that you've made somebody's day through a simple few words gives you a far better feeling than the petty self-esteem boost people get from insulting somebody, and probably ruining their day too!