Hey, I have a friend who is learning to play bass guitar, with no previous guitar experience. I play and know a decent amount about regular guitars, and have found a lot of helpful tutorials and stuff online, but finding things like good tutorials online for bass guitar is a little trickier. I know they are similar, but does anyone know a good website for bass specific beginner lessons and such?

ta.

Squarepusher.

Oh neat! I'm planning on trying to learn bass soon too!

So yeah. I'd appreciate the help as well.

haha oh man, I am so learning bass right now as well. We should all learn bass together and then we can have a bass showdown and it will be awesome.

also: I haven't found much for learning on the internet, but you can buy books in many book stores. I haven't bought a book yet but I've been meaning to! I just play along with tabs right now and thats pretty fun but I would like some instruction.

I somehow didn't think of getting a good ol' fashioned BOOK. Either that, or find someone with some experience to give her a few pointers, I guess.

I will probably be borrowing her bass from time to time, as I find it's an interesting and fun change from my acoustic. Then we can TOTALLY have a bass-off!

...But I'm still open to any website suggestions.

EDIT: actually, had another look...this site looks like it has potential. Best one I've found, anyways:

http://www.cyberfretbass.com/

I would strongly recommend using a book. They're more likely to be effective, and it's just easier to use them too. Plus books are nice to have and cool.

oh I play guitar and bass, think of your 6,5,4,and 3rd string tuned down an octave and voila lol.I looked for some sites and stuff for you, result was none that arnt already listed.

Why don't you just learn necromancy and revive Jaco Pastorious? At any rate, I heard he made a video that was actually pretty good.

Don't think of it as the same as guitar at all in my opinion, the vibe you want as a bass player is way different. A lot of bassists make the mistake of merely thumping root notes along in time with the other instruments, while others just copy the guitarists exactly. To me the focus should be on pulling the other instruments together. You'll notice in a lot of songs the bass is pretty quiet in the mix, but you still sense it's presence, as the music would be rather dry without it. This leads to the idea that you want to focus on bass more as a rhythmic instrument, creating distinct bass lines that have their own individual properties while still working within the framework created by all the other instruments. A great bassline can really make a song so you've got a more important job as a bassist than just thumping along. You can take some of the same fundamentals of guitar playing and use them on bass guitar, as with bass you do want to make sure to be melodic and can sometimes take the lead, but make absolute sure you never look at it exactly the same way.

I suggest listening to some jazz stuff, the playing style of all the instruments envolved can provide a lot of inspiration and open up different ways of perceiving the duties of the instruments, and bass is certainly no exception.

That's the best advice I can give you. :(

i'm learning to play bass right now !

Don't think of it as the same as guitar at all in my opinion, the vibe you want as a bass player is way different. A lot of bassists make the mistake of merely thumping root notes along in time with the other instruments, while others just copy the guitarists exactly. To me the focus should be on pulling the other instruments together. You'll notice in a lot of songs the bass is pretty quiet in the mix, but you still sense it's presence, as the music would be rather dry without it. This leads to the idea that you want to focus on bass more as a rhythmic instrument, creating distinct bass lines that have their own individual properties while still working within the framework created by all the other instruments. A great bassline can really make a song so you've got a more important job as a bassist than just thumping along. You can take some of the same fundamentals of guitar playing and use them on bass guitar, as with bass you do want to make sure to be melodic and can sometimes take the lead, but make absolute sure you never look at it exactly the same way.

I suggest listening to some jazz stuff, the playing style of all the instruments envolved can provide a lot of inspiration and open up different ways of perceiving the duties of the instruments, and bass is certainly no exception.

That's the best advice I can give you. :(


Interesting. I think that's a pretty good way of looking at it. You make some good points, Ktulu!

I'm glad you think so, I was worried haha

Listen to Ktulu, he has it sorted. I've played Bass for 6 years now, not as much as I should have at times but at no point is it the same guitar. Get a book that has cd music to accompany you or a music teacher, to start out with anyway. Hopefully that natural music ability inside us all will prevail!

Feel the beat, let your fingers do the walking, and pratice practice practice...