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What should my first bass be?

There are lots of choices! The good news is that these days there are great choices at every price point. A general idea of what you want to spend would be helpful. You can't go wrong with a Fender Precision or Fender Jazz bass both are used in all genres of rock and metal.
Do you have any bassists whose sound and style you admire? That is alway a good place to start. Good luck with your search!
 
Hi guys! Please help me find my first guitar bass! I was motivated to invest in one from my past history of orchestra and recent obsession with rock, metal, alt, jazz... (all genres where a bass is KEY).
I see you just joined TB yesterday. Welcome to Talk Bass!
Give us some ideas of what genres you like and what basses you might be interested in and who your bass playing heroes are. Solid Body, Hollow Body, Semi-hollow Body, Chambered, 4 string, 5 string, 6 string, double course and triple course, Acoustic Bass Guitars, Fretless, Fanned Frets, short scale, medium scale, long scale.... There's a bunch to consider. :)
 
paid $250 for this used but minty Epi Thunderbird IV, hard to beat such boom for the bux
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I knew the Fender jazz or precision would be the answer haha! I researched a lot and was able to test out a S.U.B stingray which I grew fond of, but, It seems a fender precision or jazz bass is a very safe way to go!

That is a good choice, also.

The reason almost all of us say Precision of Jazz is because they have standard tones and are used for decades with success.

It doesn't need to be a Fender. Almost all brands have J or P basses.


Check out JuliaPlaysGroove on a SUB, if you don't already know her. She's an awesome player.

 
Solid body, 4 string, medium or long scale, 2 pick ups, i liked a maple neck... some brands I have been looking at are ibanez btb, ibanez sr, yamaha rbx, fender precision or jazz, epiphone ebo... there are so many to choose from!

It's not that important, you know? Nowadays even low budget basses are good quality.


When I started playing bass, I just went to all the stores in my city and picked a bass that looked similar to what Tim Commerford was playing at the time with RATM.

At the time I knew nothing about basses and the internet ran at 54kb so I chose what I felt attracted to and seemed good quality.
 
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I knew the Fender jazz or precision would be the answer haha! I researched a lot and was able to test out a S.U.B stingray which I grew fond of, but, It seems a fender precision or jazz bass is a very safe way to go!
The SUB Stingray is a great bass for the money!
 
Hi guys! Please help me find my first guitar bass! I was motivated to invest in one from my past history of orchestra and recent obsession with rock, metal, alt, jazz... (all genres where a bass is KEY).
I'd go with a fender (or squire over $300) PJ (split pickup in the middle, single coil bar near the bridge). That'd be a great start. The $200 affinity series Squires really aren't bad either, there's just much better for a couple hundred more (much less than you'd spend to get it to that level).
 

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