Bass guitar...help!

[63dot]

I have been a guitar player for over 30 years and while I can play rock and roll, jazz has eluded me so I may sell off my hollowbody jazz guitar.

I was thinking of getting a bass with that money and recording with garageband and my mac.

I already have an electric guitar and a keyboard that I could use as a drum machine.

What suggestions do you have for bass guitars?

Thanks in advance.

 

[leishan]

What price range are you looking for?

 

[eyemacg5]

Currently I play a Yamaha Bass which is nice, I don't know the specific model number but it cost me ~£150 ($300). Been playing for about a year and getting a bit more serious about it looking to join a band soon and i'll probably get a Gibson SG Bass for ~£849 ($1700).

I would say go into a local music shop and play a few and buy the one that feels best to you.

I've played my friends Fender P Bass and really do not like it, it seems too heavy compared with my Yamaha and a Gibson SG Bass.

Edit:
Recording, I would recommend rather than getting the Garageband Guitar cable by griffin that you get a nice amp and Mic it up with a condenser mic and go through an external fire wire sound card.

 

[63dot]

What price range are you looking for?

i just want something simple as i can only get $225 for my second electric guitar

i was looking at a squier p-bass or a fender bronco bass for under $200 dollars

 

[63dot]

Edit:
Recording, I would recommend rather than getting the Garageband Guitar cable by griffin that you get a nice amp and Mic it up with a condenser mic and go through an external fire wire sound card.

got the garageband cable but also have amp

maybe a condenser mic should be on the list

 

[mac 2005]

Been playing for about a year and getting a bit more serious about it looking to join a band soon and i'll probably get a Gibson SG Bass for ~£849 ($1700).

Have you considered a Rickenbacker? I believe it should be in your price range, given the instrument you noted.

 

[OscarTheGrouch]

If you need a tuner or speakers let me know, I have some i'm looking to unload.

 

[ZiggyPastorius]

If you're looking to play Jazz, Squier and Fender Jazz basses are wonderful basses, especially for the price. You can get a pretty nice bass for your price range, I'd think. If you want to engage in some project stuff...get the bass, then get some fret pullers, and pull the frets from the bass and fill the grooves with wood putty .

Personally, my main bass is a Squier Fender Jazz Bass that I pulled the frets out of myself and fixed it up...The fretless bass is my main instrument, and I love it. It takes a bit of work, but I think it's worth it. Anyways, just a thought.

 

[glocke12]

I play alembics mainly, but also have a nice 72 jazz bass and a 64 jazz bass.

Sorry, but for $200.00 your not going to get anything very good, and you'll probably end up a little frustrated because of that, but I understand you probably want to stay within that price.

Id say your best bet is a used japanese made fender jazz bass or P bass. Some of these are quite good, and with proper setup, can be excellent.

 

[63dot]

I play alembics mainly, but also have a nice 72 jazz bass and a 64 jazz bass.

Sorry, but for $200.00 your not going to get anything very good, and you'll probably end up a little frustrated because of that, but I understand you probably want to stay within that price.

Id say your best bet is a used japanese made fender jazz bass or P bass. Some of these are quite good, and with proper setup, can be excellent.

i have the highest regard for alembic, wal, smith, steingerg and others but i am only looking for a beginner's bass but one that would be decent enough

i was thinking a used mexican fender p or j-bass since on the guitar side, of which i am much more familiar with, mexican fenders do just fine if you are good player...but i am not a good bass player so basically low action is important to me

i have seen some incredible bassists who jack the action way up there, and also play stand up bass, too which by definition has high action compared to the electric guitars i have used all my life

 

[glocke12]

sorry, meant to say mexican fenders, not japanese.

Also, some of the older Ibanez basses are very good and can be found in the price range your looking for.

Bass is a very fun instrument, and is not all that hard to play well if you practice. Do your finger exercises, practice chord tones, and use a metronome and you'll find yourself playing well in no time.

 

[CanadaRAM]

?? A Ricky is way, way over budget.

I like the Ibanez Soundgear basses. I have an entry-level Ibanez at the moment, have an acoustic-electric Dean on the way. Some of the Yamahas are nice, too. If I had a higher budget, I'd look at the G&L basses.

 

[63dot]

sorry, meant to say mexican fenders, not japanese.

Also, some of the older Ibanez basses are very good and can be found in the price range your looking for.

Bass is a very fun instrument, and is not all that hard to play well if you practice. Do your finger exercises, practice chord tones, and use a metronome and you'll find yourself playing well in no time.

cool, and a used mexican fender bass fits my price range

i tell you there are a ton of guitarists who buy those thinking they will back themselves up while recording and find bass too hard, or too different and end up selling them by the busloads

the mistake i made 20 years ago was to buy an esp p-bass and thought because it was good and because it only had four strings on it, i could get good on it fast...big mistake

i found the approach to a song is way different and it takes physical stamina, too

and being a singer in most bands i was in, i find that bass and singing together is a very hard thing to do

this time i am going to take it very slowly and be more patient and respect the instrument much more than treat it as a 4 string guitar

 

[thesdx]

I have a Peavy Milestone that I got new for around $199. It plays and sounds great. I can't remember the exact model.

 

[63dot]

I have a Peavy Milestone that I got new for around $199. It plays and sounds great. I can't remember the exact model.

i have seen a lot of great peavey bass guitars in the local store where i am but they were beyond my basic price range

they were the models with active pickups and were very responsive

 

[ZiggyPastorius]

sorry, meant to say mexican fenders, not japanese.

Also, some of the older Ibanez basses are very good and can be found in the price range your looking for.

Bass is a very fun instrument, and is not all that hard to play well if you practice. Do your finger exercises, practice chord tones, and use a metronome and you'll find yourself playing well in no time.

Skip if you don't want to hear a rant:

Bass is indeed a very fun instrument, and to play the basics of any instrument is easy if you practice. However, while it may just be my undying love for my principal instrument (The fretless electric bass) talking, I would rank the electric bass as one of the hardest instruments to master. First of all, as a bassist, you are in charge of the rhythm (second to the drums), the harmony (usually first, especially in Jazz music, alongside rhythm) and sometimes even the melody. Any instrument is hard to become very good at, but I think the bass is one of the hardest instruments, once you get into the upper echelons of playing, to break up into the higher levels of. For one, when you're a bassist or a guitar player, you tend to develop certain stylistic licks and such that are used a lot while playing, and can be hard to break from, whereas with an instrument like the Trombone, it's easier to just move your hands a little more randomly, and have it not come out too bad (don't get me wrong, though, the Trombone is a very hard instrument to solo on). Also, with the bass, you have the challenge of (most of the time) not having harmony to back you up. As a bass player, you tend to play chord changes and backgrounds throughout entire solo sections, to lay the groundwork for the song's solo for other instruments. When you solo, you have the added challenge of no groundwork (except drums) to solo off of, and have to do it all mentally. Lastly, the bass doesn't tend to be considered a soloing instrument, and doesn't always fit into a soloing situation that well, and many things can tend to sound boring/the same if not played very well, whereas on other instruments, it's easier to fake more of a solo if you get lost. You can argue a lot of this for other instruments as well, such as "With trumpet, it's harder because you don't have to learn lip levels on the bass," compared to, like, "On bass, it's harder because you don't have to get the same finger dexterity and precision, and left-right hand cooperation on trumpet." There's a lot of subjectivity, but I think the electric bass is one of the greatest instruments there are, and to say it's easier than other instruments just because the instrument is so dumbed down with crappy, mediocre players who are the "Fine, I'll play bass"ists of their band, is kind of insulting Anyways, sorry for the rant. /hijack over

 

[63dot]

Skip if you don't want to hear a rant:

Bass is indeed a very fun instrument, and to play the basics of any instrument is easy if you practice. However, while it may just be my undying love for my principal instrument (The fretless electric bass) talking, I would rank the electric bass as one of the hardest instruments to master. First of all, as a bassist, you are in charge of the rhythm (second to the drums), the harmony (usually first, especially in Jazz music, alongside rhythm) and sometimes even the melody. Any instrument is hard to become very good at, but I think the bass is one of the hardest instruments, once you get into the upper echelons of playing, to break up into the higher levels of. For one, when you're a bassist or a guitar player, you tend to develop certain stylistic licks and such that are used a lot while playing, and can be hard to break from, whereas with an instrument like the Trombone, it's easier to just move your hands a little more randomly, and have it not come out too bad (don't get me wrong, though, the Trombone is a very hard instrument to solo on). Also, with the bass, you have the challenge of (most of the time) not having harmony to back you up. As a bass player, you tend to play chord changes and backgrounds throughout entire solo sections, to lay the groundwork for the song's solo for other instruments. When you solo, you have the added challenge of no groundwork (except drums) to solo off of, and have to do it all mentally. Lastly, the bass doesn't tend to be considered a soloing instrument, and doesn't always fit into a soloing situation that well, and many things can tend to sound boring/the same if not played very well, whereas on other instruments, it's easier to fake more of a solo if you get lost. You can argue a lot of this for other instruments as well, such as "With trumpet, it's harder because you don't have to learn lip levels on the bass," compared to, like, "On bass, it's harder because you don't have to get the same finger dexterity and precision, and left-right hand cooperation on trumpet." There's a lot of subjectivity, but I think the electric bass is one of the greatest instruments there are, and to say it's easier than other instruments just because the instrument is so dumbed down with crappy, mediocre players who are the "Fine, I'll play bass"ists of their band, is kind of insulting Anyways, sorry for the rant. /hijack over

great rant

when i was in high school our band teacher died of a heart attack and he was a woodwind person

he was replaced by a bass player, an electric bassist, and he was a stellar player and knew how to play every instrument in the orchestra and band and was a very good arranger, too

he told me bass was among the easiest to learn, for rock and roll, but among the hardest to master, for jazz and classical

....

when i was in college the music teacher was also a bassist and he taught stage band and songwriting...while i loved his stage band, and he played with famous california jazz musicians in the area, i had an argument with his songwriting class as he taught arrangement in classical and baroque and tried to translate that to pop

i got so mad that i wrote a song in 30 minutes and got a hit on the radio and that was my 15 minutes of fame ... but in the end, i still thank that teacher for getting me motivated and pissed off

god bless bass players