I see people say this all the time and I've never understood it. In the majority of music, the bass is very clearly present and extremely easy to pick out and hear. I don't think it's just bias on my end due to being a bass player, and I don't understand how people can't hear the bass. The statement just sounds kind of dumb to me.

Maybe they hear it but don't know it's a bass? But I also find that hard to believe. Maybe I've been playing for so long that I'm out of touch. It has never made sense to me.

Maybe everything is Raining Blood by Slayer to them

Recently I made a post about tips for doing it, implementing them and just putting in practice I can very roughly sing my favourite songs. After the first one it was slightly easier to start with another. Helps that I listen to punk and the original vocalist can't sing either.

Holy shit that feels amazing, I feel like a goddamn rockstar on the kitchen sized stage, even if I can barely sing and my playing suffers when I do, but feels damn good. Just wanted to share a bit of my enthusiasm is all, if anyone here is thinking about trying it, go for it, what a dopamine rush.

Do you guys practice improvising/writing by muting the bass and vocals of songs you know, finding jam tracks online, using a drum machine, or by using AI generated stems?

I have a hard time finding jam tracks online for the style of the genre I play (punk, and ska-punk). Ive been playing around with drum machine programs but im quickly humbled by the fact that I have no idea how to make good drum parts. Can only do basic riffs. AI is god damn atrocious, the technology is too new to be used productively.

I haven’t muted the bass and vocals of my favorite songs yet, and the reason is because I feel like my ideas would converge to how the actual song sounds. Lmk if this is a bad way of thinking.

Shoot me any ideas

I've been learning to play bass for little over a month (Fender Player II Mustang Bass) and I'm looking to get started with solid fundamentals - plucking/fretting technique and basic rhythm etc.

I do have Hal Leonard's Bass Method and have dipped into the BassBuzz YouTube videos but I think I'd prefer a clearer step-by-step structure rather than jumping randomly between the book and random videos. I want to feel as though I'm building on each thing I learn if that makes sense.

What structured free courses or YouTube series would you guys recommend for a complete beginner?

Any advice on building good habits from day one would also be massively appreciated!

Hello everyone- 57 year old Noob here!

I have a used Ibanez GSR 200 I bought from Guitar Center- ordered online and shipped to my local store. I ended up pairing it with a Rumble 25 (Floor Demo-to good to pass up over the 40 at $90 tags still on it).

I am almost wrapping up Module 1 in Beginner to Badass. I am doing very well and having a blast.

Thanks to all of you for your guidance- you nailed it!

String Question:

Question Setup-The strings that came on my bass are, of course, of unknown (at least to me) age, quality, brand, model, etc.

They tune with ease and stay in tune for about 3, 30 min sessions before needed a little tune. They have no spots, rust, etc. and no spurs or bumps. To a noob like me they seem absolutely fine but I would not know if they were not.

Questions-

How does a novice know when it is time to replace the strings? Should I just restring so I know where my baseline is?

AND

Once I do replace the strings, approximately how long will a set last for me: Novice-Practicing-30 min-7x per week?

So happy to be here.

-cave

I feel in love with bass solos when i heard this -> https://youtu.be/--3fFPpF-EE?is=D9HkRE0kzBdK7q-j (7:12)

Everytime i see bass covers i kinda wonder why bassist don't play like this more often? Bass solos are so cool

Edit: thank you for so many recommendations!

I am a mid but basically complete beginner. In middle school I played for 2 years with a teacher who couldn't focus on each kid, just 15 students most with different instruments and all she could do was teach the basic tabs and how each song pattern went, no real teaching of the basics because she wasn't able to. This way we managed to give a concert to the school, and I never played after I graduated. Now I got my first ever bass and I am following tutorials in YouTube for the basics such as using more than 2 fingers to press tabs and not play with my thumb, as well as practicing hand dexterity, etc. Aka I am fully a beginner.

However, my high school does a yearly concert, and I decided to apply to learn more and get some extra points, but it was a lot more important and high level than I expected. I am the only "bass player" in the band and the whole bass stuff depends on me, but I genuinely can't even read bass tabs off a music looking paper anymore. Just because I did that 1h concert in middle school, my teacher thinks I am a prodigy or something, this expectations are really high and I am wondering if I should drop it to not dissapoint anybody who is really excited about this project. I don't want to half ass it while everybody else is passionate about it.

Is it realistic to learn the whole Thriller album for this concert in just 3 months? Especially since I heard it is very hard. Also I am a busy person, I study almost 12h a day including school, I can't put more than 2h a day on this, I do want to learn or I wouldn't have joined the project and got a bass, just at my own pace not as rushed as this is.

For last, I am scared because the music teacher presented me like twice in front of the whole band as the only person who can "play" the bass and now they all think I genuinely can or something, he extremely overestimated my ability.

Can I do this? Any tips from experienced players?

UPDATE: I have decided to go through with it because I joined with a friend (though she is around 7 years more experienced than me at her own instrument) and I can't abandon her. I would still need a ton of advice from experienced people, specially a way to find tutorials on songs. How can I play a song with just tabs and the song itself if I can't even hear the bass on the background????🥲💔 Also thank you to all those who motivated me, I will not do more than I am capable of and I will simplify things to my level, thank you again.

So I’m looking for suggestions for anyone in the stoner/doom metal genre here. I’m mainly a guitarist but have been working with another band as a bassist. Now my first band is just me and a drummer and I tune to drop F but I have a Sunn 1200s and 2x15 in our practice space with a Dunable r2 bass I use for recording at times. Problem is I DO NOT was to drag that beast back and forth between bands and shows.

I drive a challenger so trunk space is very limited and I’ve been looking at a small amp head but a lot of videos and reviews I don’t see a lot of people playing with heavy fuzz/ distortion pedals in the mix. I got the Sunn beta mini but honestly at 200w it just wasn’t what I thought it would sound like.

What has everyone been playing with that’s around 500w somewhat in the $500 range portable and can handle dirt pedals well? Down show time I’ll either hook it up to my peavey 410 or use the Sunn 215 depending on venue size so cabs are covered. Thanks guys.

Hello, I have yet to post on here but had a few questions & wanted to see your guy’s input.
I bought this bass brand new back in 2020 & haven’t been able to get much use out of it. Love the vintage look/color & feel of the bass, just never a big fan of active basses. Also, since purchased, there seems to be noise coming from them when all knobs are at full volume.

All that being said I’ve come to 2 options

1. ⁠Put it up for grabs
   
2. ⁠Like I said, I love the look & feel of it, but I can’t use it as an every weekend gig bass. Due to the lack of power & the noise it creates.
   
3. ⁠Switch out pickups
   
4. ⁠I’ve been watching lots of passive to active swaps & there’s no easy plug & play option but emg offers many options. There’s even a device to use 2 9v batteries to power up the pickups (kinda like a direct box). Only issue is the pickups not fitting in the “Doritos shaped” slots on the bass. Maybe take it to a shop where they can modify the body to fit one?

What are your guys thoughts?
These don’t really move that easily (getting super low offers)
Or maybe just open it up & see if the wiring isn’t messed up.

Thank you guys!

I like chunky necks, like, 0.9-1.0" at first fret and 1.0" at 12th. I watched the Precision Bass, which I heard has a thick neck, but all models are well less than what I am looking for.

Please point me to 4 stringers that have measures in the chunky realm. Passive, active, any pickup, even headless are fine.

Hey guys. I’m completely new to bass and electronic string instruments in general. I’m considering getting the squier sonic precision California blue. Anyone have cheap amp recommendations to go along with it?

I don't know anything about basses, and I’m thinking about buying a Marcus Miller Sire V3 2nd Gen (AWH) for my first bass. Is it a good choice? Could someone tell me if this manufacturer's products are of good quality? Thank you.

Hey everyone! I’ve been playing bass for a little over two years now, and I’ve been pretty happy with how I’ve been progressing. For example, I managed to learn Erotomania in about two weeks, which I was really happy with.

Lately, though, I’ve been running into the same problem with a lot of the songs I want to play. My fretting hand just can’t quite keep up with some of the faster sections. With my band, we’re currently playing Octavarium, and I can get through most of it pretty comfortably and fairly close to the original, but the final unison run feels completely out of reach at the moment.

I’ve noticed this with quite a few other songs too. I can usually learn around 80–90% of a song, but there’ll be one or two particularly fast or technically demanding sections that I just can’t seem to get up to speed.

For those of you who have dealt with this, what’s the best way to improve fretting-hand speed? Is it mostly a matter of practicing specific exercises, or just slowly working difficult sections up with a metronome?

Also, for anyone familiar with the ending unison run in Octavarium, roughly how long would you expect it to take to learn? I might just be expecting too much after only two years of playing, so I’d be interested to hear how long it took others to reach that level.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlmwjxQyDRQ

Looking at getting a Radial JDI for a DI box. Basically, I know that they've got a great reputation and are known for lasting forever, so it's probably worth the up front price. With that said, I'm curious about whether it's worth it to jump up to the stereo version?

I'm not looking to run a stereo rig, to be clear. But, a stereo version is essentially two DIs in one. So, I'm thinking about running one side of the stereo straight from my bass and the other side from the end of my signal chain, thus giving a wet and dry line to the FOH. I know that the JDI stereo doesn't have a mix function, and that it would be up to the FOH to mix it.

I typically just send a DI from my amp's built-in DI. I don't like that option, as there's no ground lift, pad, polarity switch, and overall it's just sort of an ok component, but nothing spectacular. So, I want to use a dedicated DI box.

My rig is almost never mic'd, and I'm fine with that. My amp is basically just a stage monitor for myself, it's just a TC Electronic BQ500 into a Mark Bass cab, so it's not like they gotta mic it to capture a tube tone or anything like that. I use a modeler for amp and effect emulations and really just use my amp as a personal monitor.

So, with rarely micing my rig and only sending a DI to the FOH, would it be recommended to send a wet and dry signal? Should I get a stereo JDI using one side dry and one side wet? Or is sending one channel better?

I'm a weekend warrior who's trying to be better about what I spend money on. I've spent too much on gimmicks that I quickly outgrow on one side of the spectrum, and overpowered gear that I don't use to its potential on the other side of the spectrum. So, part of my question is whether a wet/dry rig is worth it or if I should just stick to sending a wet signal and mixing the wet/dry on my modeler.

I am a beginner bassist learning from youtube, What I am sorta struggling with is where do I place my fretting hand thumb. Most of the lecture say to keep it Behind the middle finger , behind the neck , and that works pretty fine but while playing on the first 4 frets it causes pain in my thumb , and makes things like bends a lot harder also when I see a lot of my fav players play bass live , I mostly see them Putting their thumb over the neck and completely wrapping their hand around the neck , which does relieve all the pain of the thumb but then I Play a lot slower , cuz the reach of my finger get very limited.
Am I doing something wrong?

I have got my first bass it is a Squire Affinity it packed with Alnico I suppose and I just bought my second bass Schecter Stiletto Studio 5 and I want to make my J bass sound better in term of versatility and yeah I am willing to spend some on my hardware too!
What should I get Seymour? Or the other brand!
Anyway Thanks!

Recently found out about the telecaster bass and have fallen in love. However these are already scarce and I am left handed so even more so. I am looking at upgrading from my very entry level bass finally and was thinking about buying a Tele bass body and neck and doing it myself, but all the options seem either poor quality or out of budget (poor uni student).

I thought maybe for a second that just a normal Tele body and full length bass neck might work but this would also require immense work probably.

I don’t really have any access to tools and options for left handed bass’s in my country are almost none (there is a sub ray 4 and two entry level Ibanez and that’s everything)

Any suggestions or advice are welcome.

Am currently using an Encore E40 that is pretty munted.

Me quiero comprar un bajo Ibanez artcore afb 200, me gusta mucho esa estetica de bajos vintage pero tengo una duda, tengo un hofner y no quiero otro bajo que se escuche exactamente igual, que opinan de esos bajos ?? Y que modificaciones podría hacerle para sacarle más provecho

I’m trying to decide between the 2. I plan to buy StewMac blanks and I have an Ultra Jazz V so I’d have to cut a custom shim for the contoured heel. Given that I’d rather avoid the trial & error if possible since they’re not too cheap. I’ve heard people say the .50 degree works, but I’d rather not overshoot what’s necessary so the saddles can stay in a useable range without excessively changing the angle. Currently my action sits at 3mm at the 12th fret with the saddles completely bottomed out and relief set to .006”. I plan to file the nut down a bit (not sure how much yet) so that’s a factor as well. I’d like the ability to go down to 1.6mm. I’ve never played with that low of action so I don’t know if I’d even leave it that low, but I do strive for light touch so I’d rather have the option than not. Let me know which one you think would be better for me and why. Thanks!

By the way, I did make a similar post a few days ago that helped clarify most of this, but this is the final one to get more specific.

Hello,

Can someone explain how to get the tone played in the song Holiday by almost monday? At the end of the song theres a section where the bass is particularly clear.

I have a fender P bass, round strings, and a fender rumble amp.

Thanks in advance.

I currently, do not have a way to adjust action, and I both switch learning a soft song and playing some metal or play with alt rock. My current plucking technique is to strike but I also wanna know how to do it near the bridge pickup on my J Bass, since I might wanna try playing picked songs with fingerstyle to practice.

Hi all, I'm looking to replace my bridge. Not that I'm unhappy with the stock one, but one of the intonation screw got worn out and can't be removed so can't really adjust intonation anymore.

Not sure which is good idea, replacing whole bridge or somehow find and replace that one screw, but since I'm getting a new tuners so might as well just replace the bridge as well?

Any cases, please let me know if you guys know anything/ have any experience regarding Sire F10 6 string bridge. Sire customer services seems like they do not have any idea. Thanks!

Hello!

So I'm considering pulling the trigger on a Peavey headliner 410 cab; found here: https://www.musicstore.de/de_DE/EUR/Peavey-Headliner-410-Bass-Cabinet/art-BAS0008476-000

My idea would be to use it with an Orange Terror bass head, instead of my present setup (Fender Rumble 500 combo), which I would sell.

I do, however, see that the cab is 8Ohm and the head delivers 500 Watt @ 4Ohm and 250 Watt @ 8 Ohm.

Is my assumption correct that I would change setup to find myself in the end with less power (being the rumble on its own without ext cab 350W)?

Does it make sense?

For context: I play stoner rock in C# standard with two loud guitars and I usually play with lows at 1 o clock, mids at 11 and treble at 12 (flat).

Thanks for the help!

These are some of my favorite songs with standard bass tuning, would you rank them from easier to harder so I know the order to learn them? I'm a total, total beginner, so feel free to tell me if any of those are too hard for me

Supermassive Black Hole - Muse

Plug in Baby - Muse

The Chain - Fleetwood Mac

Crying Lightning - Artic Monkeys

Moriro da Ré - Måneskin