Help Me To Learn Bass!

robhough · 1 Apr 2006 at 20:38

Hello,

I have currently a Elec guitar and know how to simply play it. About a week ago my mates wanted to start up a band we have 2 guitarist and a drummer. The need a bassist and i decided i'd like to have ago but i didn't realize how much they were so my mum wont let me buy one cuz she said you have a guitar learn that one but i said all my m8s are way way better than me and someones gotta be a bassist.

What so i do cuz i f dont learn the bass i fell liek iv'e let my m8s down

Gilly · 1 Apr 2006 at 20:46

If no-one actually has a bass why don't you all chip in?

robhough · 1 Apr 2006 at 20:47

Gilly said:
If no-one actually has a bass why don't you all chip in?

Cuz my mates wudn't there only 13

Money aint a problem its just how to get my mum to convince me to get one and try and learn both ina short amount of time everyday

Sic · 1 Apr 2006 at 20:51

if you learn a musical instrument just to be in a band, you wont enjoy it and chances are, you'll subsequently suck at it. talking about having to be the bassist is entirely the wrong attitude to take in this situation. to be honest, i agree with your mum.

penski · 1 Apr 2006 at 20:52

Why do you have to have a bass?

Play around with tunings and gauges of strings...

Check out a band called Burn Guitars too - awesome.

Three bassists and a drummer.

*n

Zefan · 1 Apr 2006 at 20:53

Penski's right. White Stripes = no bass. Just shift the pitch down. Also, bass is damn easy so just get a few tabs and play.

Fakel1ty · 1 Apr 2006 at 20:56

if you really, really need a bass get one of your mates to do it. You said yourself they are much better than you on guitar and they will pick it up extremely easily - giving you more time to improve.

Plus it makes it their problem and not yours

penski · 1 Apr 2006 at 20:56

'Bass is damn easy' as much as 'Guitar is damn easy'.

Sounding like you're not a half-trained gibbon is the hard bit.

*n

Zefan · 1 Apr 2006 at 20:58

What I mean is if you can play guitar with Chords etc then bass is as simple as a simple simpleton (simply put).

Sic · 1 Apr 2006 at 20:59

penski said:
'Bass is damn easy' as much as 'Guitar is damn easy'.

exactly. the basics of both are quite easy...but as you get into the more complex stuff, you need to be incredibly dextrous to handle a bass

robhough · 1 Apr 2006 at 20:59

What i was thinking about too would it sound ok if turn up the bass and the tone & teble down on my amp to give like a bass effect

Fakel1ty · 1 Apr 2006 at 21:02

robhough said:
What i was thinking about too would it sound ok if turn up the bass and the tone & teble down on my amp to give like a bass effect

yeah to a certain extent. depends on what you plan to play

penski · 1 Apr 2006 at 21:03

robhough said:
What i was thinking about too would it sound ok if turn up the bass and the tone & teble down on my amp to give like a bass effect

Not really...
Get some FAT strings on there and tune down to A, boyo.

No drop-tuning either.

*n

Sic · 1 Apr 2006 at 21:04

robhough said:
What i was thinking about too would it sound ok if turn up the bass and the tone & teble down on my amp to give like a bass effect

putting some heavier guage strings on there and messing about with your amp settings will help. seeing as money's not a problem, get a digitech whammy pedal as that gives you the option to double your current note an octave lower. just keep it on all the time...gives a great effect imho. i used to use it all the time

robhough · 1 Apr 2006 at 21:04

Well the truth is (this might sound stupid) i really dont wanna play the bass and if i dont then i feel like i have let my m8s down i want to play the guitar but again i fell like the just but mad at me if i say i dont wanna play bass

penski · 1 Apr 2006 at 21:05

Zefan said:
What I mean is if you can play guitar with Chords etc then bass is as simple as a simple simpleton (simply put).

I can't hold a chord on a guitar but I can play bass to a reasonable level.

This is because I learned to play bass...I didn't learn to play guitar then pick up a bass and I honestly think that is the wrong way to approach the instrument...It leads to people plugging away at the root note in time with the kick drum

*n

penski · 1 Apr 2006 at 21:06

robhough said:
Well the truth is (this might sound stupid) i really dont wanna play the bass and if i dont then i feel like i have let my m8s down i want to play the guitar but again i fell like the just but mad at me if i say i dont wanna play bass

Grow a spine then. Tell them that you don't feel comfortable playing bass but ask them about playing around with tunings and gauges.

What kind of stuff do you play?

*n

robhough · 1 Apr 2006 at 21:07

We trying to play stuff like Guns & Roses, Foo Fighters & Fall Out Boy

Fakel1ty · 1 Apr 2006 at 21:08

robhough said:
Well the truth is (this might sound stupid) i really dont wanna play the bass and if i dont then i feel like i have let my m8s down i want to play the guitar but again i fell like the just but mad at me if i say i dont wanna play bass

in my honest opinion then don't. simple. you won't enjoy it. no point in wasting your time and money. if they're true mates, they'll understand

penski · 1 Apr 2006 at 21:11

robhough said:
We trying to play stuff like Guns & Roses, Foo Fighters & Fall Out Boy

Stick with the guitar, practice a lot, play about with tunings and gauges, and write your own stuff

*n