Here are some tips for beginner bass guitar. If you are just learning to play bass guitar or thinking about learning, here are a few important tips to help you head in the right direction. I have over 30+ years of playing bass and these are all tips I learned or wished I had learned when I first started playing music.
You will need some beginner bass equipment. There are many basses, bass amplifiers, cables, and tuners out there on the market. As a beginner, you do not need the best equipment. You just need good solid gear to make learning pleasurable.
Look for a cheap electric bass guitar. Do not get a 5 string. You must get a 4 string bass. You can get a 5 string later once you have some time under your belt. A 4 string is plenty to learn bass correctly. My fellow bassists and I recommend the following 4 string basses: The Yamaha RBX170, Ibanez GSR 200 and the Squier by Fender Vintage Modified basses. See the corresponding page in the menu above to read more about those basses. We will tell you why we favor them for beginners. Do not spend a lot of money on a new bass. You will not appreciate a professional level bass at this point. A good cheap one is perfect until you have spent at least a year on learning the instrument.
There are many cheap bass amps. Get a good one. See the similar page above and read about the Acoustic B10 and Acoustic B200. In addition, learn about the Fender Rumble bass amps and what exactly as a beginner you need to look for in a bass amp. The biggest tip here is you must get a bass amp with a Line In for a CD or Mp3 player. Moreover, the amp must have a headphone jack for practicing quietly. These are critical. Do not get a beginning bass amp without those features.
For learning songs, we like this piece of computer software. The Amazing Slow Downer. This tool helps you slow down mp3s and CD tracks without changing the pitch. You can learn basslines of songs at a slower tempo if they are hard for you. Then speed them up when your fingers can play them faster. We wish this tool was around when we first started. It is truly amazing.
Get a good bass or guitar cable and a tuner that works for bass. We are not a fan of Monster cables except as speaker cables. They are overpriced and have given us trouble in the past. Some equipment manufacturers do not recommend them either. Monster cables will not work for some basses and amps properly because their measurements are said to be slightly off. We prefer Planet Wave cables or even some cheaper brands.
Get a tuner like a Korg GA-30 that works well for bass for under $20. Some guitar tuners do not tune bass as well. Korg is a good brand and their tuners work well. We prefer a needle tuner but for a beginner an LCD tuner should be fine. This is necessary item because you need to make sure your ears get familiar to hearing your bass sound in tune. Without a tuner, you will be guessing.
We feel you do not need to take bass guitar lessons from a teacher right at the beginning. You can learn finger and hand technique from online websites like YouTube, Play Bass Now and Active Bass. If you do decide to take lessons, make sure the teacher teaches you music theory. Knowing what notes and scales can be played during what chords is excellent knowledge to have. I did not learn much of this at first as I trained myself by ear. However, if I had it all to do again, I would learn the music theory. Understanding how to use the Circle of 5ths and scales within the structure of music does come up all the time. Knowing why notes work the way they do is a huge help and gives you a proper foundation.
Learn scales and practice bass exercises every day. Go to Active Bass to find much valuable information. This site is a wealth of beginning bass guitar lessons. Study the different charts and scale patterns. As you learn songs, you will start to see how the scale patterns look on your bass neck and see how they fit within popular music. This is an enlightening experience for the beginning bass player. You will start to see how your job is to hold the root note of each chord together. You are the anchor of the music and its main rhythmic force. Never forgot that this is a bass player’s main job. You are not a lead instrument in rock or popular music until called upon to solo. Many players do not take this to heart and their careers suffer later when other musicians do not call them to play. Learn and understand your job and later you can expand on that with your own music.
The last tip is you must put in a lot of time to get good at playing bass. As with anything, spending the hours to practice is how you will learn the most. For example, when I first started I locked myself in my room for hours every day only surfacing for food and to go to work. I was 18 years old and after three months of solid practicing, I got into my first band. Shortly after that, I was getting gigs that were previously offered to much more seasoned bassists. Therefore, practicing will be your key to success so do it every day and challenge yourself to get better. It works!