Bass Guitar 101

Bass Guitar 101

The bass guitar is often called the "glue that holds the band together" as although most of the time it isn't as direct and noticeable as guitar, it still has a massive role in shaping the music you listen to. It is a very versatile instrument that can accompany many different playing styles and cover a wide variety of genres including: pop, rock, Motown, bluegrass, jazz, metal, country, funk and many more. 

The bass guitar may seem similar to the electric guitar but it has many key differences, the most obvious one being that it has only 4 much thicker strings. This is because the role of the bass guitar is to provide a low sounding bottom end to the music so it feels more full and alive and it needs those thick strings to produce that low sound. Most of the time you wont be playing chords on the bass unlike the guitar and instead will be playing singular notes, you can do this either by using your fingers or a pick. The bass guitar also has a longer neck and longer spaced out frets so you will need much more hand dexterity compared to the guitar.

Although the bass guitar may seem unnoticeable and only function to support other instruments of a band, that is not true. Many genres have bass as the forefront instrument such as jazz and progressive music but also many other genres have moments where the bass is a rocking instrument that blows people away. Bassist such as Geddy Lee of Rush, Cliff Burton of Metillica, Flea of Red Hot Chilli Peppers and many more have pushed the boundaries of the instrument and inspired millions of aspiring bassists around the world. So if you want to pick up the bass but are a bit reluctant as you might think it is a bit boring, don't be scared as bass can definitely be as cool and fun to play as other instruments. 

Different Types of Bass Guitars

  • Precision Bass (Great overall bass, appropriate for every genre, recommended for beginners)
  • Jazz Bass (Great for hard rock, metal and jazz, slimmer neck makes it more appropriate for younger students)
  • Stingray ( Great for funk and disco due to bright punchy sound)

General Musicianship Knowledge

 It is important to know the names of different parts of your bass, the main parts that you need to know are:

  • Volume Knobs: Adjusts how loud your bass is
  • Tone Knobs: Adjusts how your bass sounds
  • Input: Where you insert your cable to connected it to the amp
  • Pickups: Magnets that senses the vibration of bass strings and converts them into electrical signals that get turned into sound through the ampg
  • Bridge: Anchors the strings to the body of the bass and is used to adjust string action
  • Pick Guard: Prevents the finish of the bass from getting scratched
  • Body: Main section of bass that you play on
  • Strap Button: Where to attach the strap onto your bass 
  • Fret Board: Piece of wood that covers the surface of the neck, often covered with fret marks
  • Neck: Connects the headstock of the bass to the body
  • Frets: Small metal bars on the fretboard that separates notes 
  • Nut: Holds the strings at the correct spacing on the fretboard 
  • Tuning Pegs: What you turn in order to tune your bass
  • Machine heads: Holds string tension
  • Headstock: Top part of the bass that holds the tuning pegs and machine heads

When first starting out it is important to know how to adjust your volume on your bass and the amp, you should put the volume knob and tone knob on the bass at max but adjust the volume using the knob on the amp. Everything else shouldn't be worried about too much for now so just make sure everything is set to the middle.

It is also important to know the names of the strings on your instrument. You can use this acronym to remember the names (lowest to highest):

  1. E  (DDY)
  2. A  (TE)
  3. D  (YNAMITE
  4. G  (OODBYE)

How Often Should I Practice?

Depending on how much free time or what kind of person you are, the right amount of practice time will vary a lot. An important thing is consistency as it has massive benefits to improving your playing so aim to practice every day even if that just means 5 minutes. 

The type of practice you do can be simple stuff such as learning new songs, playing scales or exercises to improve hand dexterity and developing new techniques. But having fun will be the thing that benefits you the most in the long run as you will think of practice as an entertaining activity, so no matter what you practice, make sure you are enjoying it. 

It is recommended to play in a band as early as possible in your musical journey as you will learn essential and valuable skills from playing with other musicians. It will also develop a love for music and create valuable memories as you will be socialising, having fun and creating music with other people.

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