Practising any instrument makes you better at all of them. Really.
If you have notions of guitar and musicians around you, you may start by yourself.
However at least a few lessons with a teacher will allow you to progress much faster and keep motivated.
Try to play with other people as soon as possible. This too will boost your progression.
I don't have any musicians I know of, just some friends who play guitar who learned from videos on YouTube and guitar tabs.
Also, another big step in learning you have already taken, by joining TB.
Very well then.
You get better at understanding, thus playing, music in general by learning different instruments. Yes, bass would help with guitar and vice versa.
Best advice would be to get help from a bassist near you. He could show you the basics, how to properly play with fingers (especially 2 finger dynamics = they both have to sound the same), scales and chromatic.
So by general consensus I should go to a teacher to learn better instead of learning myself?
I'd recommend you don't buy a bundle as you limit your choices and sometimes some of the components are suspect quality wise.
$300 will get you an Epiphone TBird and these are pretty good basses that are a reasonably faithful take on the original. If you really want a TBird, this would be a bass that you could play for years without ever "growing out of it". But try a few other basses before parting with your money. In particular be aware that the balance of a TBird doesn't suit everyone when played standing up, so compare before you buy. Take someone with you who knows about basses if you can.
I really don't have any true musicians I know of, so I'll have to ask the salesperson who would be greatly biased toward the more expensive instruments and generally would not look towards my needs in most cases, preferring to focus instead on my wallet.
A T-bird would be very nice but I doubt I can afford the $1,599 the Gibson website puts it at, let alone the equipment.
You're recommending I try an Epiphone T-bird to get the feel for it and then look at other basses?
I have very few musical instrument dealers in the country and as a result of that I'll have to hunt around a bit.
As far as an amp goes, you'll need to wait a bit and save some more money if you go for the Epiphone. For starters, a decent heapdhone amp such as a Korg Pandora would be great as you could practice privately and also learn about how different effects and so on influence your sound - hours of fun is to be had with one of those, I have one myself (and gig with it, too).
I'm actually okay with a headphone amp because of the size and because I can always use my brother's guitar amp if I needed something louder.
How much would a decent new one cost? The used market here for instruments is practically non-existent, and the quality of anything I'd purchase would be dubious.
If you're stuck at 300 bucks you could pick up a Pandora for about $120 and then look at cheaper basses - the SX range are very highly thought of in that price bracket. Don't forget to leave some money over for a decent cable, strap and maybe a good instruction book (and a reasonable set of phones if you go that route).
Yep, I still have to choose a bass though, anything as close as possible to Shavo's T-bird is the goal. And I'll have a look at the SX range too.
Have fun and welcome to bass playing and TalkBass.com!
Bill
Thanks very much.
Other than a bass, you already have what you need: a desire to play and learn.
I can't speak to your budget; go to Guitar Center and buy a bundle, or look at a quality starter bass like a Squier or SX.
I'll probably be labeled a curmudgeonly old timer (I'm 41), but picking up an instrument these days is so much easier now that you can go to youtube and watch tutorials (vs. 25 years ago of driving a half hour to a music store to buy a sh*tty Mel Bay book that you throw away 3 days later because learning Greensleeves and Little Brown Jug is dumb).
What to do: sit down with your bass and your favorite System of a Down CD and play. Day after day. Then play more. If you're frustrated, find some tutorials online. Have a friend come over that can show you the basics of finger independence. Support a local music teacher/musician and take lessons. Expand your musical boundaries by discovering new music
Your biggest hurdles initially will be -- finger independence, hand/strength endurance, and the mental 'stick-to-it-tiveness' when you realize your terrible and progress is slow.
Hand strength wil be an issue, carpal tunnel is for real, your fingers will blister and burn until you build up callouses. Give yourself adequate breaks and learn proper technique from the get-go to minimize any chance of injury.
Bottom line -- just play. You've got the passion, just go for it. Don't sweat details like odd meters and polyrhythms and everything else that seem so mysterious right now.
Just play and have fun!
I completely understand what you're talking about.
My fingers aren't yet used to the issues you mention, but I'm pretty sure I'll have them and I read somewhere that consistency is the key to getting my fingers tougher.
When it comes to basses, I don't know enough about basses in that price range to really help you. For the music theory, the internet is your friend, and the rest really just comes from practice. Eventually the technique will just fall into place, especially if you keep the bass in tune.
Hope you enjoy playing it, and if you do enjoy it, you'll just get better at it, it seems to be the way music works.
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.
And yes I guess I'll move up to quality equipment once I get better at it, not to say that what I'll buy right now won't be.
Now that you've got some direction and ideas on what to buy for your first bass and amp, I highly recommend you go to bass forums and scroll down to the "instruction" option. Start reading
There is a lot of good info covered in that forum from beginners to professionals. Everything you need to know that you can learn from reading will be covered there. If you can't afford lessons, that's the next best option.
Thanks, I'll have a look at it once I've bought it.
Now you've got the gear, you're learning the knowledge; the last step is to get the "feel" for bass. That takes practice.
Some helpful hints:
Even though bass appears to be an easy instrument to learn from a novice observation, it isn't. It takes a lot of time and effort to advance in skill. Some it comes more naturally then others, but everyone has to invest time and effort. Patience and persistence are essential.
Completely agree. Most people I've heard say that the bass is a very easy instrument to master but I beg to differ.
Practice with a metronome, drum machine, dishwasher, ticking clock, anything that will help you learn to keep time. Hitting root notes on the downbeat is essential to learning how to apply bass in real world applications. The bass is the glue of the band. You get the tone of the song (Key notes) from the guitarist, the rhythm from the drummer and it's your responsibility to take what they're doing and find a way to keep them connected.
Rhythm isn't a problem, it's almost a natural skill to me to be good at keeping rhythm when it comes to playing, so I guess that's a lot covered. I understand how the tone and rhythm flow together and that's mainly the reason I want to play bass.
Lastly, as your skill level increases, it's good to invest in nicer equipment. However, don't believe that just because you have the nicest gear around that youre going to be the best player. I've seen plenty of musicians with top tier gear that flat out suck. On the flip side I've seen musicians with junk blow me away. Skill is in the fingers and the ability to play (or not play) at the right time, rhythm and key. Many times skill as a bass player isn't what you play; it's what you don't play. That means a good player will shrug off the chance to mow the band down with their ability and instead sit in the pocket and hold the groove of the tune. Don't practice to become Joe Satriani on bass. Practice to be in the background of the music and the flashy-show off stuff will come naturally with time. It's more important to learn to play in harmony with a band first, then it is to learn show off skills.
Absolutely.
I realize that some of my terminology may not make since to you right now since you know nothing of musician lingo/slang, music theory, etc. But that knowledge will come as you read through this forum. Once you understand what the terms mean, you will fully understand what I'm trying to tell you and how I'm trying to help you.
Playing music is fun. That's why most of us do it. Make sure you enjoy it or you'll never stick with it. See you around TB!
I understand a little bit of it, but thank you so much for keeping it as simple as possible. (regardless of whether you did
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