As I work from home every day now, and crawl more and more inside my own head, I find myself looking to buy something to cheer myself up.
I’ve been teaching myself bass, mostly using Rocksmith 2014, plus looking up some other bass tabs, and a few jamming sessions with friends. I’ve even taken a couple of lessons recently.
Currently, I have a Peavey Foundation bass from the '80s. I bought it used on eBay five or six years ago. It’s fine, but if the two volume knobs aren’t set to the same value, I get noise in the output. Maybe it’s time for a new one!
Once thing I dislike about the Peavey is that’s it’s really heavy, so if I’m playing for a while, my shoulder hurts, my back hurts, etc.
Should I get a new one? How can I decide? I don’t really understand the difference between cheaper ones (say $250 or $300) and more expensive ones – is it the sound? Build quality? Will a cheaper one go out of tune all the time?
Are different basses drastically different weights? I do know that violin-style basses are lighter, I guess – what are the disadvantages to that style of bass?
What else should I look for? Are different basses easier on the fingers, for a very part-time weakling like myself?
I have a few basses, but the one I use the most is the Soundgear by Ibanez SR505 (5-string). It’s smaller than my Tobias Grendel and Squier by Fender Precision Bass and I like the narrow neck. As I recall, I paid about $550 for it. It has Bartolinis, but they are fairly low-end.
I am NOT a good bass player. I play for myself and just fiddle around most of the time. For some reason, I have a lot of equipment, probably because my brothers both play bass for local bands and keep sending me stuff. Plus, I’ll ask for a 10" combo amp for Christmas and two or three relatives will all buy me one. (I have two up in the attic right now.)
Check out the forums at TalkBass. I play upright, but the bass guitar side is VERY active, and tons of people would be happy to give you all manner of opinions.
Hard to go wrong w/ a quality Fender P. If you decide you dislike it, it will retain resale value. One thought is - do you want to go w/ what MANY people play, or do you want something more unusual?
It can be difficult to assess an instrument when you are not yet very good at it. Do you at least know what SORT of music you want to play? Jazz? Hard rock? …
What sort of equipment do you expect to use, in what settings? Small practice amp to noodle around at home, or do you want to play bars? Or stadiums?
Do you expect this to be your “ultimate” instrument, or just the next step in a long process?
You want an instrument that you consider attractive and comfortable. The more you WANT to play it, the more you WILL, and the better you will become.
Good luck in the hunt. One thing is to play as many basses as you can. Just about any guitar big box will have an entire wall of basses you can bang around on as long as you want.
I’m pretty new to the bass (1 1/2 yrs). I have two Ibanez Talman basses that I like, especially the short scale (30") TMB-30. It weighs a little short of 8 lbs. If you’re a guitarist you might prefer the short scale. Oh, and they’re cheap, like $180, so if you don’t fall in love with it, you’re not out much bread.
Dinsdale, good advice about that TalkBass forum. I forget there are other forums than this place (and DPReview, I guess, for camera stuff). I’ll check it out.
Regarding what I want to go with, I don’t care either way, in terms of what other people are playing. I guess I’d be concerned that a Fender Precision would be like a Bose speaker – more expensive than it should be because of the name.
I generally play rock and funk. I’m going to use my Ampeg practice amp. I have no plans of ever playing in front of a crowd, just by myself or with a couple of friends jamming. I’m not really planning on buying other ones, as of now.
I’d love to go and play basses, but all the big box stores are closed.
jaycat, thanks! I’m not a guitarist at all, just a little keyboards, drums, and bass.
Sorry for the repeated replies, but I just remembered one thing that is important – a solid pickup to rest my thumb. I remember seeing some basses that had thinner pickups or something like that which made it difficult for me to play.
I don’t/can’t use a pick, so this makes a big difference.
Or one of those plastic rails which historically seemed to be mounted below the strings as a “tug-bar” to pull against with the fingers while playing with the thumb…an answer - I always thought - to a question nobody asked. But I happened across one - after a couple of years of wondering what they were for - that was in a sensible place for my thumb.
I learnt on an Aria Pro II IGB with P and J pickups: I found the P nice and comfortable for resting my thumb. Affordable, pretty versatile and solidly giggable.
My sister had a cheap practice bass from Yamaha that was terrible. I guess it was defective or something, because the signal was always super low and the sound was pretty lame.
The answer to this question is always Yes. GAS (gear acquisition syndrome) dictates it. Go nuts.
A Hofner “Beatle bass” is indeed light, partly because of the hollow body, but also because it’s a shorter scale length (30 vs 34" I believe). Shorter scale basses are lighter and also have a different tone, which you may love or hate depending. I dug up this article on short scale basses.
I’m probably biased, since I work for Fender, but I do love their basses so much. And I wouldn’t discount a Squire. I currently own both a Duff McKagan Deluxe P Bass and a Squire Affinity P Bass, and despite the Duff bass being quite a bit more expensive and clearly of much higher quality, I find myself playing them both pretty much equally. The Squire bass still feels and sounds good and is a lot of fun to play.
We should all be embarrassed it took so many posts to get to the undeniably correct answer! (Says the guy awaiting completion/delivery of a second upright. ;))
To the OP, re: lessons. Check out Zoltan’s Bass Lounge. He made his online lessons free for the time being. The upright stuff is worthwhile; I didn’t check out the slab side.
And you really don’t want to buy anything w/o trying it first. Different basses have different dimensions which appeal to different people. For example, I was a HUGE Geddy Lee fan back in the day, but I HATED the way Rickenbackers feel.
Thanks for that suggestion regarding the lessons. I’ll check it out.
Unfortunately, it’s basically impossible to try out any equipment now, so I have conflicting impulses – Gear Acquisition Syndrome and COVID-19 Distancing.
I have to admit, I don’t know what a helicon or a doghouse bass is.
Re: your signature – I tried a couple of EC&A songs today. Tough stuff. Much respect for Bruce Thomas.
You could just install a thumb rest wherever is comfortable for you. You can install it either above or below the strings for a comfortable “home” position for your hand.
They aren’t gonna stay closed forever. You got several hundo in your pocket that just HAS to be spent this month or the next?
I’m having an upright built. I think I contracted for it in November. It was supposed to be ready early June. Now - who knows? You think THAT hasn’t required patience? :smack:
Re: Fender, everybody doesn’t play them for no reason. To me, it kinda boiled down to, do you want to play an excellent bass that everyone plays, or do you NOT want to play what everybody plays. No right answer other than what YOU prefer.
Sweetwater has an excellent return policy, 30 days no questions asked. You do need to pay the shipping on return. I’ve bought a bunch of stuff through them, and yes returned some and it was hassle free.
