How To Buy A Bass Guitar BEST
We specialize in teaching beginners to play bass guitar and getting them playing with others almost immediately. Our staff of professional musicians will not only teach you how to play but also help you with picking out that first instrument that will start you on your musical journey.
how to buy a bass guitar
However, there are also semi-hollow options that offer up a sound more in-line with an acoustic bass. A semi-hollow bass still works with an amp, but gives you flexibility with your tone to shift between the full-on amplified style of a solid body, with the resonance of an acoustic bass.
Neck: The neck of your bass guitar is another consideration to keep in mind. Necks come in a variety of styles. Depending on your preference and playing style, certain neck shapes may make it easier to navigate the fretboard.
Before Leo Fender created the Fender Precision Bass in 1951, bassists played large, cumbersome stand-up instruments. The electric bass as we know it came to life thanks to Leo Fender, packing the powerful sound of a standup bass into a compact package that could be electrified in the same way as a guitar.
Multiple sizes: Electric basses are available in both a standard (long) scale and a short scale size, giving players of all ages and sizes more flexibility to find an instrument that works with their unique physiology.
Different styles, different sounds: From solid body electric basses to semi-hollow body basses that give you the best of both acoustic and electric worlds, electric basses offer players a variety of tones.
An acoustic bass might not be the right fit for beginners, given that it has a thicker neck than an electric bass. For beginners or players with smaller hands, the structure of an acoustic bass may be more difficult to master than learning on an electric bass. Similarly, if you want to play louder, more rhythm-driven like funk and rock, the mellow sound of an acoustic bass may not be suited to your style of music.
Both the upright bass and the fretless electric bass guitar are undoubtedly impressive instruments. However, they are better suited for more seasoned musicians that have already developed their ear, as well as a feel for where to fret a particular note.
While the standard electric bass guitar has four strings, there are also five-string and five-string models. Five-string bass guitars are most often favored by heavy metal, hard rock, fusion and jazz bassists. Six-string bass guitars are also a favorite among jazz-style players, giving them more room to improvise.
In understanding what to look for when buying a bass, ease of playing is often at the top of the list. For beginners, learning to play on a standard four-string bass allows them to learn the basics first. Similarly, most tablature written for bass uses four lines to correspond to the four strings of most bass guitars. If your goal is to start learning songs you love, this may be all the more incentive to start your musical journey with a four-string bass.
Another reason why a four-string bass may be better for beginners is due to the thickness of the neck of a five- or six-stringed bass. Bass strings are thicker than guitar strings. As a result, the neck is thicker and wider than a standard electric guitar to prevent the strings from touching or reverberating too closely to one another. A five-string bass or six-string bass needs to have an even wider neck to accommodate the thickness of those strings. As a result, they may not be the best style of bass for a beginner or younger player with smaller hands to start with.
When buying your first bass guitar, consider opting for a standard four-string bass. Then, once you master four strings, you can challenge yourself by branching out into five- and six-string bass territory.
When it comes to playing bass, tone is everything. Part of the allure of playing bass is hearing a thick, booming sound produced, giving songs that awesome low-end rumble that lays down the rhythm of a song, giving it some soul. While pickups and string thickness play a role in producing the right tone, the type of wood that your bass guitar is made from is a critical factor in giving you a specific sound.
There is no one singular feature that will make or break your decision to choose your first bass guitar. A lot of different factors will go into your decision. Here are a few pointers to keep in mind when buying a bass guitar for beginners to make things easier and more fun:
Style: Having an instrument you love to look at increases the odds of you wanting to practice and play more. Choose a bass guitar with a shape and color that appeals to you or feels like more of an extension of your personality.
Amps- Few things are more satisfying than hearing the rumble of a bass guitar when played through an amp. Plugging in and practicing is a great way to hear all of the tonal capabilities of your bass guitar and help you hone your technique.
Tuner - While many musicians learn to tune by ear, having a reliable tuner can make it easier to be sure your bass guitar stays in tune. As you improve your skill, you can also use a tuner to help experiment with alternate tunings on your bass guitar.
Guitar Picks - Even if you decide to play bass with your fingers instead of with a pick, having a few good picks in your arsenal can help you hear the differences between the two styles.
Make an educated decision about purchasing a bass guitar. In this bass guitar buying guide, we will first make sure you want a bass. If so, then we'll look at what type of bass you might want. Lastly, we'll cover the features of a bass part-by-part, what makes them important (or not) and other bass guitar options.
The abundance of epic bass guitars does make it somewhat harder, though. So just how do you choose the right one for you? Well, luckily, we've done the hard work for you. We've searched high and low for the best bass guitars out there; some will be more affordable, and some will be pricey, but we've made sure to include basses for all budgets and playing styles. We've included basses from the likes of Fender, Music Man, Yamaha, and others, each offering excellent playability and great value within their price range.
There are so many beginner bass guitars to choose from, but luckily for you, we can point you in the right direction. In this blog post we introduce some things you should look out for when browsing through the countless bass guitars music stores and online marketplaces have to offer. We also give a few examples of what we think are among the best beginner bass guitars out there.
Pickups consist of a magnet with a copper wire coiled around it. When the vibrations of a bass string disturb the magnetic field of the magnet, small voltage fluctuations in the copper coil are produced. These fluctuations are then transmitted to the bass amp, amplified and translated into sound (source).
To get you started on your hunt for the best beginner bass guitars, our team at Yousician has collected a few good recommendations to consider. These beginner basses have been tested by the expert bass players in our team. The beginner bass guitars in this list are also great for playing bass in a number of music genres, making them great entry level instruments for all aspiring bass players.
For a great bass tuner, check out GuitarTuna, our fantastic and accurate tuning app in your pocket. You can download GuitarTuna for free either on your iOS or Android device. It also comes with tuners for other stringed instruments as well as many alternate tunings. Read more about the GuitarTuna bass tuner here.
You've saved up your hard-earned cash and you're ready to take the plunge. However, there are many factors to consider when buying your bass guitar and you don't want to be lumbered with an unplayable dud. Read on to learn the most important considerations.
Go onto any forum and it won't take you long to get mired in arguments about what number of strings is 'correct' or 'better'. It's probably a good idea to start on a 4 string but 5 strings are common too (6 strings slightly less so). You'll be able to play most styles with a 4 and many people swear that the punch, tone, and sustain you get from a standard 4 string bass is superior to its multi-stringed siblings.
The tone you get certainly does come from your hands but the instrument plays a huge part too. Basses are made from tonewoods like alder, ash, and mahogany. They sound inherently different. The classic Fenders of the 50s onwards were made from ash and alder whilst Gibson favoured mahogany. These different choices will play a factor in the sound of the bass.
Necks can be made from different woods too; maple and rosewood being two of the common ones. I prefer the look of a dark rosewood neck and yet two of my favourite basses have unbound maple necks. Maple tends to have a brighter sound suited very well to rock styles. I use my maple necked 1978 Fender Precision on everything though and it sits in the mix well.
PRO TIP: If you're looking to play in lots of bands or even to go into the industry professionally, get a bass that is appropriate for many styles. That rules out the BC Rich above as great as it may be. Modern basses are still very much designed around the time-tested designs of early Fenders. You can't go wrong with that look as everyone is used to it.
Basses are either passive or active (some active circuits have the option to bypass to passive). Active basses require a battery to power a preamp which enables you to control EQ: usually treble, mid and bass. Passive basses typically have a tone control which continuously rolls high frequencies in or out.
Many players like the ability to control EQ onboard as well as the more modern tone an active bass offers. Yet others swear by the tone of a passive bass and dislike the brittle high end present on some active basses.
You will need to work out what your requirements and tastes are. Are you playing a funk song followed by a reggae number? Maybe the ability to add some bass EQ for the reggae number would be beneficial. If you're playing old school RnB, Motown and soul then a passive bass might be the one for you. 041b061a72