What are some resources for a guy who just picked up Bass Guitar?

[Mister Cheese]

I got a bass guitar last night. It is a five-string, and the notes are BEADG.
That is all I know about bass at the moment lol. What would be some good places for a beginner to learn more and pick up on easy basslines and such?

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[TheABELBOTO]

Iirc the bass guitar is a rly hard to start with.

then again the only bass I really played was the double

[SlayerZ99]

why is the bass hard to start with?
just a question from someone who doesnt know

i feel like guitar would be harder

[TheABELBOTO]

Iirc the bass guitar is a rly hard to start with.

nvm this, I'm dumb Q-Q

[Window-Licker]

Make sure you have music that you really love.
Online videos are for the most part the best way to learn.

What type of music do you like? Tool and Rage Against the Machine are good for bass, but I'm not sure what really goes on at the beginner end of the bass spectrum, so my suggestions may be advanced for you.

Look at these:
Take the Power Back - RATM
The Pot - Tool
Youtube videos about how to play songs you like on the bass
Youtube videos on technique and practice
and Ultimate Guitar has resources for the bass, too.

[Brickman]

Just learn how to read tablature and go to ultimate-guitar.com and search for bass tabs of songs you like. Readings tabs is mega easy and is how I started learning guitar.

[weaver123]

I play five- string bass as well as seven-string guitar. (I've been playing my friend's seven string while I save up for my own.)

As an aural musician with only basic knowledge of music theory, my advice for learning bass is to pay attention to the rhythm guitarist and play the roots of what he/she's playing. You can spice it up by adding your own licks and such, just make sure you're on-time and it sounds musical. A lot of times bands will begin writing a song with a foundation of bass/drums, and the guitarist(s) will build upon your bass riffs.

btw, tabs are the devil and will stagnate your musical growth and creativity.

[ShadowsfeaR]

btw, tabs are the devil and will stagnate your musical growth and creativity.

Not at all, what the forget is this. If you're just beginning, tabs are single-handedly the best way to learn songs. Even now, for me after playing for 5 years, tabs are still useful. You can't just begin learning songs by ear. That comes with experience. I am, only now, able to decently/proficiently learn songs by ear.

OP, get Tux Guitar. Its a GuitarPro tab file opener. You will absolutely love me for linking this to you because the only thing better than guitar tabs are Guitar Pro tabs. It like a midi-style version of the song, it tabbed out and you can play to it and everything its great.

[weaver123]

Not at all, what the forget is this. If you're just beginning, tabs are single-handedly the best way to learn songs. Even now, for me after playing for 5 years, tabs are still useful. You can't just begin learning songs by ear. That comes with experience. I am, only now, able to decently/proficiently learn songs by ear.

OP, get Tux Guitar. Its a GuitarPro tab file opener. You will absolutely love me for linking this to you because the only thing better than guitar tabs are Guitar Pro tabs. It like a midi-style version of the song, it tabbed out and you can play to it and everything its great.

I wasn't talking about learning songs at all, I was talking about learning the instrument. If you want to cover things tabs are useful; but they're inaccurate and can be used as crutches for your guitar playing because it's EASY. f you want to learn music, improvisation, and songwriting skills you are better off starting by learning the fretboard, developing technique and writing your own music.

[ShadowsfeaR]

but they're inaccurate and can be used as crutches for your guitar playing because it's EASY.

Its all dependent on the tabulature, most ones I use are note for note accurate. No one I've ever met has used them for crutches, however, I don't know where you get that from.

f you want to learn music, improvisation, and songwriting skills you are better off starting by learning the fretboard, developing technique and writing your own music.

Well yeah, you can't learn to improvise by playing something pre-existent. That's just a given lol.


Here's my learning experience: In the beginning, I got a cheap 6 string that I didn't touch for a while, then I got more interested in music. Thus it led me to want to play my favorite songs. I used tabs to learn them. Guitar playing never became more than just a fun side-hobby-thing. Just playing my favorite music. I did this for a couple years. Then I hit the "In Flames" era of my musical endeavors where that's all I listened to and played. Then djent came into my life, and I branched off of that. I showed interest in wanting a 7 string guitar because Periphery and a few other bands I listened to at the time played 7's and I wanted to play their songs. My dad mentioned this to one of his best friends who then offered to just send me a 7 he doesn't use anymore, for free. So then I got it. And I started playing more and more technical and difficult songs. It wasn't until about a year ago where I started exploring my own creativity and want to create my own music. And only in the past 6 months that I've delved into production/mixing/mastering and such. And even the decision to go into luthery (guitar design and craft) as my career. But in terms of the most progression in skill, I'd attribute it to playing progressive metal and more technical styles, because it forces me to learn fast lol.

[Brickman]

I use tabs to learn techniques and style from my favorite artists. You'll be best off if you pay attention to how your favorite artists play and use what you found on your own playing style.

[Mister Cheese]

How do you read tabs? I can't even make a lick of sense out of them

[ChexGuy331]

How do you read tabs? I can't even make a lick of sense out of them

Each line is a string and the number on the string refers to the fret.

[ShadowsfeaR]

How do you read tabs? I can't even make a lick of sense out of them

For your bass, they correspond as such. If its a 4 string song, ignore the bottom most line. The numbers mean the fret that note is played on.

G|---------
D|---------
A|---------
E|---------
B|---------

[weaver123]

Its all dependent on the tabulature, most ones I use are note for note accurate. No one I've ever met has used them for crutches, however, I don't know where you get that from.

Well yeah, you can't learn to improvise by playing something pre-existent. That's just a given lol.

I know a lot of people that robotically learn tabs and play covers skilfully, and then when it comes time to actually jam and be creative they have no idea what to do and they flake out.

How do you read tabs? I can't even make a lick of sense out of them

"TAB has six horizontal lines that represent the six strings on the guitar. The top line is the thinnest string (first) and the lowest line represents the thickest (sixth) string. The numbers that are placed on the lines tell you what fret to play a note." Apply this to your bass.

Also, remember if you're looking for bass tabs you're going to find a lot of four-string tablature, you can use these, but you have to take your low B into consideration or just ignore it entirely. The cool thing about guitar is that there's usually more than one way to play the same note.

But really, if I were beginning bass I would be watching instructional videos, learning scales, and just diddling around with it a lot - months before looking into TAB.