Guitar lessons San Jose expert has written down his comprehensive guide to picking up the bass guitar, so read it through and you’ll have a firm foundation in bass playing. Here’s how to do it:
Firstly, let’s address the elephant in the room. If you’re totally new to bass guitar, it would be best to have someone who’s been playing for a while as your partner for the time being, so they can take on the role of helping you through the early stages of your playing.
Other than that, you’ll also need an instrument of some sort, ideally, an electric bass, although the only ‘certified’ basses are those from Fender, Music Man, or PRS, all of which come with in-built bass amps. We would recommend looking into going down this route as it enables you to practice without worrying about sounding poor.
What should I practice?
Just a quick list of things you should be practicing while learning bass guitar, so as to minimize the time it takes you to get a good feel for the instrument:
- Practice with headphones
- Practice in front of a mirror
- Practice with an amp
- Practice in a group setting
- Practice on an instrument you are comfortable with
- Practice on an instrument you are not familiar with
- Practice your own skills, not the skills of another player
- Practice on a song you know
- Practice in a chord progression and a groove
- Practice barre chords
- Practice tapping
- Practice on your own
- Practice scales
- Practice finger-positioning
- Practice rhythm
- Practice scales
- Practice key signatures
- Practice chord substitutions
- Practice song arrangement
- Practice bass patterns
- Practice up-down melody lines
- Practice chord progression patterns
- Practice chords in different keys
- Practice a variety of other scales and modes
- Practice playing in a high register
- Practice a variety of chord progressions
- Practice melody lines
- Play some chords at the top of your range
- Practice basic rhythm
- Practice trills
- Practice arpeggios
- Practice reverse chords
What should I focus on?
When it comes to what to practice when learning bass, you should learn how to play a basic progression, one that consists of only one, two, and three-chord changes. This is the best place to start because when you’ve got a good understanding of how it’s done, you’re a step closer to getting better at it.
Take your time with this. You can practice it until you get bored, but the best results will come from focusing on it for a while, and then experimenting to see how many variations you can come up with on each chord.
Finally, just think of this as learning to play the bass guitar – don’t try and reach a point in your playing where you can play at a decent speed, because you’ll never be able to play faster than a fast version of it. Remember to play it loud!
What can I do if I can’t play?
If you can’t play, don’t panic! There are several ways to get better when you can’t play.
Turn the chord chart down, as if you were playing with your eyes closed.
Make sure you’re sitting in a comfortable position – it might sound strange, but it’s the only way to get yourself in the right frame of mind.
- Slide up the neck to the fourth frets and down again to the third fret.
- Slide up and down the neck twice.
- Slide up the neck three times.
There are lots of other things you can do too, such as using the tones on your guitar to tune up your playing, learning how to ‘tune in’ to your particular guitar, as well as different sounds for picking up and changing strings.
Might I ask? Are there any other advantages to learning bass?
It would be impossible to list everything, but the advantages of learning bass include:
- The ability to play lead guitar or bass guitar while singing or talking
- A higher grade of pitch and timing helps to improve your vocal cords
- Stronger fingers on the left hand
- Better hand-eye coordination.
- The ability to play a variety of different sounds, whether that be sound effects, ambient sounds, live vocals, or melodies.
We can’t overstate the importance of a solid bass foundation. Before you can take the next step, you have to start the journey by mastering the basic fundamentals.
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