This thing we do started back in 1951, when Leo Fender stuck a 34” scale neck on an extended Stratocaster shaped body, and the 1951 Precision was born. Since then history takes over and electric basses have provided the rhythm for just about all the music you hum and tap your fingers to!
So now you’ve decided you want to buy a bass what do you look for?, well I have to say this always comes down to money…… How much have you available to spend? And don’t forget to allow for a lead, (to connect the bass to your amp) oh, and an amp of course! Another ESSENTIAL piece of kit but an inexpensive one is a tuner. You could of course choose to bypass this route and get an acoustic bass……?
So you need to do a bit of research.
Start looking on eBay (or the for sale section of Basschat ) for these items NOW…..
Now remove these items from your amount, and you have what you can spend on the bass. This is unless of course you already have some of those bits of kit, or you can beg or borrow them from someone. This doesn’t mean that you can’t just spend all your allowance on a bass, however you won’t enjoy playing an out of tune electric bass unplugged! NO, really, you wont!
So lets get onto the juicy bits……. Modern basses come pretty much in 3 types,
My guess is that you will want a solid body electric, as these are by far the most popular and those to which easiest access is available. To be honest, the other two types are quite specialised to play (uprights are fretless to start with) and maybe something, once you have started you will want to try…..?
So Electric basses are available in all sorts of makes, models string numbers (both right and left handed!) and COST….
If you have never played stringed instruments before, you will want to start with 4 strings. These are from the top down, tuned to, E A D G and the E is the fattest (largest gauge), G the smallest, so if a description says .45-.100 the smallest is 45 thousandths of an inch the largest 100. Strings are a completely different subject, and you’ll get into them more with time.
Graduation onto fretless, 5 and more string ERBs (extended range basses), is just that IMO, a graduation. Get comfortable playing 4 strings and getting your sense of rhythm before you try the twiddly iddly bits available with all them other notes! ☺
So we have decided to get a 4 string electric, and you know how much you can spend, so where do you get one? Well this day and age you can get them from on-line shops, from ebay and from good old fashioned high street shops. If you have made your mind up that you want to do this, and the money is burning a hole in your pocket. Get a budget bass from an on line retailer and learn by experience (most of us have done similar, its called jumpin’ in the deep end!!! ).
However, take a little time and think it through and you will get a bass you connect with and struggle to put down, and to start with that’s exactly what you want. Playing and learning to play, again is another subject and there are plenty of us on here willing to give you advice (oh, and some very good tutors too!) …. However, suffice to say little and very often is the best way to learn!
See http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=1293 for you tube lessons
So you are sat here reading this, having put a bid on a tuner and practice amp on ebay, and now you’re shouting…..
“What bass do I get, you muppet?”
Price ranges can be kinda put into 3 categories Budget (up to £400) Mid range (£400- £800) and top end instruments (£800+) ……. So you ask, does that mean that budget are crap? Well absolutely not!!! Spending more money will get you better quality electrics, wood, and more importantly more time by someone putting the bass together. With modern machining and CAD, only really basses for less than £100 new, are dodgy and unreliable, and even then you COULD get an absolute peach!
In this budget class (£100 -400) there are some great basses, made by Squire, Vintage, Yamaha, Ibanez, Peavey, Cort and many more…… You will get a capable instrument that if not set up properly when new, is at least capable of being set up well and making a credible sound.
My advice, and this will be echoed by most on here, is get yourself along to a shop, look at them and ask to try a few. Now if you can’t yet play this is potentially embarrassing, as you will look a dork when you pick it up and go twang! Especially if there’s one of those smug shop types hanging around, so its great if you can take someone along that can play, THAT YOU TRUST….. This is Important too, as you want to buy your bass, not one they like….! You may have to ask the person in the shop to play it for you, as you cant yet play, and now you are at the mercy of their advice. They may be good, they be absolute pants and/or uninterested!
SO, go into the shop, look at what they have, if you can, touch and handle them. Talk it through with the mate you take, or the shop person, and then turn around and walk out.
Do not be pressured into buying one there and then! That is for two good reasons….. 1. It may not be what you actually want and, 2. You will probably be able to get it cheaper elsewhere if you can remember what model it is!
However there is a 3rd reason, and that is that once you have seen a few basses and you now have a good idea what you want, you can also consider a 2ndhand bass from the next price range up……
This is where you are likely to be buying a ‘keeper’ from…. A bass that feels wonderful when you pick it up, makes EXACTLY the sound you want, and a bass that you are happy to be seen with. Is this possible for your first bass? Well, yes it is, if you can be patient!
There are some great buys 2ndhand on ebay (always be wary, of course) and in the ads. on here. If you are committed enough to get a bass from the mid range you are more likely to keep playing, and secondly, it will probably be worth around the same as you pay for it when you come to part with it, If indeed you do!
Now I’m not going to advocate a particular make, model, or type as your first bass as this can depend on so many different factors…… budget, type of music you want to play, sound you want to be able to make, and of course fashion…..!
If you are a died in the wool old fart who plays blues (like me!) if doesn’t really matter what it looks like (of course I’m lying), as long as it makes that tone that you want…..! However if you are playing Death Metal, it is of course, VERY important that the bass looks right for that genre…… As it would be potentially mildly amusing, if you turned up to practice with your mates with an ESP for Country and Western covers!
Its much easier for us on here to offer you advice, on a particular bass if you narrow it down to 2or 3 models and a particular sound that you want achieve…..e.g.
“I’ve seen a new Yamaha RBX370 and a 2ndhand Fender Highway1 Precision bass in my local shop for the same money, I want to play Brit pop with my mates and I can’t decide which would be best……”
Now go out and do some looking, both online at all the catalogues and makers webbies, (for sale section here of course) and in your local shops. Although you will find instantly that there are very few specialist bass shops, and general guitar or music shops will have very few basses in stock. That’s because on average there is 10 guitars sold for every 1 bass. So despite what your mates say, you are special for wanting to be a bass player and we welcome you amongst us!
