Is it at all feasible to learn to play bass guitar at age 25 with no previous musical training?
If so, what type of bass should I obtain? (I’m going to try to rent first)
What should I look for in terms of lessons? Is it possible to teach myself basics before embarassing myself in front of a teacher?
Thanks very much for any help.
Go for it!! You can learn at any age!!
You can rent, but with prices out there so low, you can buy a decent used bass for a couple hundred bucks and just take it from there.
Start out very simple - there are countless websites online that have basslines for pretty much every song out there.
I would recommend starting with solid basics - simple rock songs with signature basslines. Just focus on syncing up with the drummer’s playing when you play along.
Have a great time. THAT’s what music is all about.
It’s also important to remember that the bass is part of the rhythem section, not necessarily the melody. Focus on the drum beats, feel the groove they define then stay within that groove. The notes will come later (and they’re mostly for the narcissistic front guys anyway), just feel the groove and go with it. One note, when driving the groove, can go a long long way. Michael Anthony (Van Halen) has made an entire carreer out of one note.
Yeah, the reason why I want to play bass rather than guitar is because its part of the rhythm section. I can feel a groove, musically speaking, pretty well. And I always notice a great bass line in my favourite songs.
Any suggestions for a good starter bass?
One thing I’d recommend is that you learn some basic music theory first. You can take a class or get it online or something, I reckon. If you have that under your belt, learning an instrument is a lot easier.
Secondly, I have to mildly disagree with the bass not being part of the melody. Listen to your favorite music, paying special attention to the bass, and you might be surprised how intregral to the melody the bass usually is (OK, AC/DC and country excepted). In fact, I would venture to say that in a significant number of bands, the bass player is the best musician of the lot. But don’t let that deter you in the least.
The plus side of playing bass (or drums) is that you’ll never be without a gig. Singers and guitar players are a dime a dozen, and a lot of them suck. 
Basic music theory… Ok I will try to find that online. Any suggestions of course welcomed!
The kind of music I would ideally like to play is fairly ‘old-fashioned’ rock/punk but interesting type stuff (favourite band/musician is Elvis Costello and particularly the Attractions period), I don’t know if that makes a difference.
I started with a Cort headless (a Steinberg knockoff). Then went to Steinberg, but not headless. Fender jazz is a nice stick to learn on due to the neck being slightly narrower then the Fender precision (or is that the other way around, it’s one of those two).
Don’t get me wrong about the importance of technique and melody. One of the things that has always attracted me to the bass, and to certain bass players in general, is the ability to establish and maintain a tight, driving groove while still adding depth, color and flavor to the tune in general.
Nathan East is very good at this, he drives for Clapton, enough said.
Bootsy Collins kept a tight groove that sometimes seemed almost syncopated with his part in the melody.
Jaco Pastorus was way too melodical for my tastes. He might as well have hired another bass player and played lead.
You want drive with flavor? Bernard Edwards’ line from “Le Freak” is tighter than my pr… well suffice it to say it was pretty tight.
Billy Sheehan would be right up there in the best all around catagory, rock, r&b, funk, melodic lead etc.
These masters can be intimidating to a new student but I assure you they all started out playing sixteenth notes of whatever root chord there was at the time, changing where needed, and developing their technique as they went along.
Unless they were playing country, then it’s strictly quarter note thirds all day every day. Try popping something even remotely funky in a redneck bar during a Conway Twitty song and the beer bottles can easily fly (personal experience from 1987).
…and Bruce Thomas is a perfect example of the bass being integral to the melody. Heck, in a lot of EC songs, it is the melody.
And while Bruce Thomas is a great bass player who’s sound is something to aspire to, don’t get frustrated if you aren’t playing that type of stuff right out of the gate; it’s pretty exceptional.
Be prepared for several weeks of very sore fingertips!
But go for it and have fun - the bass is cool. 
To help build confidence and get the feel for the bass, I would suggest trying to play along with rock music that has a “minimalist flavor” to it. As an example, I learned to play bass by trying to figure out the bass lines on Black Sabbath’s first three albums. I would play two or three note snippets over and over until I figure out the entire song.
Take Me to the River, Talking Heads version. Tina Weymouth’s bass part is minimalist perfection.
it ain’t the notes - it’s spaces in between…
I don’t know who this guy is and this is not minimalist, but he’s not bad and the videos show the fingerings clearly. I might try to pick some of these out myself. Superfly looks pretty easy.
Yea, Munkybarz is pretty good. Here he is doing Iron Man and War Pigs:
Right the first way.
Speaking of Fender Precisions, a bassist friend of mine in college had a Fender Precision Fretless. Still trying to figure that one out.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far! Talking Heads is another band I really like.
An Arky, I know Bruce Thomas is exceptional, and I know I ain’t never gonna sound like him, but man, he is amazing to listen to.
Is there any way to guard against getting totally ripped off at the store (getting the hard sell on something way more expensive than I need)? Aside from just refusing to buy expensive things… I hate sounding like a n00b.
No worries. Your best bet is to bring a friend/someone who knows their stuff…
For old-fashioned rock and punk, the Fender Precision and Jazz would be the most common. The P-Bass would probably be more common in punk. The Jazz Bass is used in some rock, and pretty much every style of music. The Jazz is the one that has the narrower neck. There are a million companies that make Fender-style basses, but I’m not hip to which ones are the best values nowadays.
My info is about 10 years out of date, but a starter bass like the Fender Squier of Standard series would cost $200-300, while $500-$1000 would get someone an instrument they could keep and perform with. I think the Fender American Standard basses were $500 or 600.
Also you have to figure out what amp you want. Bass takes more power and bigger speakers than guitar. If you want to practice with a rock band, you should get at least a decent combo amp (amp and speaker in one box) with a 12" speaker. A good quality 12" combo should work well if you aren’t working with people who want to ruin their hearing, and you would be able to carry it around easily. (A few of the smaller 15s can work as well.) For performances or really loud jamming, you usually need a 15" or two tens, or more.
Strings for the bass are more expensive than guitar strings. New strings sound lively, bright and metallic, and then they get deader and duller as they age. It’s something to keep in mind when you’re trying out basses, because a bass with old strings will sound different than one with new ones.
Most people pluck with fingers, but some people in punk or metal play with a pick because the sound cuts through better. You would need bass picks because guitar ones are too floppy.
A cheap 4 string acoustic saves money on amps
I honestly find that I play more once I got an acoustic. No preparation is required to pick it up and play.
Oh, and I second sandra_nz. Developing callouses is a pretty painful affair.
And go ahead and call me an elitist, but a pick should only be extremely rarely used with a bass. Your fingers should do the walking.
Been playing a long time - probably about 15 years - and while there’s tons of good advice here, do what you want. You don’t have to spend a lot of time preparing to play. I picked up my first bass and was playing along with a band a week later. If you’ve ever strummed a guitar or plonked around on a piano you’ll get the gist of it fairly quickly.
As a beginner I would recommend light strings, because the one thing that you will have an issue with is getting callouses. The uncalloused fingers will end your jam sessions pretty abruptly.
The first songs I played along to were Police and Joy Division songs. Then I learned 12-bar blues, which makes it possible to jam along to about a million songs. Jump in head first, I say! As you gain confidence you’ll want to seek out more interesting techniques.
One of my favorite bassists is Paul Simonon, who essentially picked up a bass for the first time ever when he joined The Clash. I agree that with bass playing less is often more.
Oh - first and only bass is a Fender Precision Bass. I think it’s American made.