The Guitar

Teaching Myself Bass Guitar?

hey everyone.

I disagree with the person above me. I never had a teacher and I’ve been told I’m an amazing bassist.

When you go to buy a bass, make sure you try out any one that catches your eye. I recommend a 5 string as you won’t have to mess with tuning unless your band plays in A. Active pickups are a plus. Also don’t bother with a 100 dollar Fender Squire. The ones I have played are terrible quality and won’t last more than a year. Amp wise I usually stick with Behringer. Great quality for a decent price. Crates are ok but the few that I have used tend to blow out fairly quickly. Strings are personal preference and you shouldn’t have to worry about them until at least a couple months down the road.

Now, on to learning. First tip: DO NOT use a pick. In the beginning it’s easier, but in the long run it’s extremely limiting speed wise as well as for technicality. Plus it’s hard to slap and pop with a pick in your hand.

The first thing I did when I started playing was sat down with my bass and just played the open string to get my fingers used to playing. Start out slow, alternating your middle and ring fingers keeping a simple 4/4 beat. After you get that, try adding your ring finger (it’s not necessary but it helps with speed and you’ll be grateful for it when you start playing faster songs). Next work on your fret hand. I started by playing the first fret with my pointer finger, second with my middle, and so on up the strings and up the fretboard. (1,2,3,4 keeping the 4/4 beat with your picking hand). This is just to strengthen your hand. Make sure to work on your pinky, it’s a useful finger. These are just the basics.

Next, learn your scales, and do it soon. I just started and I’m kicking myself that I didn’t do it sooner. This page seems to cover most of them. http://www.angelfire.com/id/bass/

This site also has a bunch of tips. I’ve found myself on it quite a few times.http://www.activebass.com/

Also make sure you learn where each note is on the fretboard, or at least know how to find each one. Standard tuning for a 4 string is E,A,D,G (The E being the string on the top if you’re playing, B if you’re playing a 5 string) Finding notes is easy, just know the alphabet. Say you’re playing a B. The open string is B, 1st fret is C, 2nd C#, 3rd D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A# and the back to B (12). This is great if you have a 5 string and don’t feel like tuning when your band goes from E to drop D tuning.

The thing that helped me the most is a computer program called Guitar Pro. It allows you to download the tabs for thousands of songs and puts them on the fretboard (aka no need to learn to read music, although it’s probably helpful in the long run). When I first started playing I was able to keep up with my band after about a week just from sitting down and learning a few of my favorite songs. I would recommend trying to find it online first, but if not it’s definitely worth the money to buy. After you get this, learn an Iron Maiden song. It’s helps immensely with triplets and finger picking speed.
www.911tabs.com (this has all the tabs you could ever want for Guitar Pro)

And this is about all the advice I can give you. When you first start you need to dedicate yourself. I played for hours on end in the first couple weeks and it really helped me in the long run. Also don’t worry about writing songs or basslines right away. I’ve been playing for a few years now and it just recently clicked with me. Just have fun with the instrument. That’s the best way to learn.

Berklee College of Music Guitar Audition GUIDE – THEAUDITIONGUIDE.com

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