Learn to play the bass guitar.

[prodigal]

It has been, to this point, extremely easy to play, with good mid and high range notes. The top is birdseye spruce, and the back is Carpathican walnut, so definitely more of an F tuba guitar.

I'll work on it. (I'd love a Smallman or Redgate guitar....)

[tadawson]

I also tend to believe the same things about electric bass guitars that I do about mouthpieces... How much mass, how much weight, the type of material (whether a particular type of wood, or plastic, or even sometimes metal) I don't believe makes much difference at all (though the overwhelming majority of players do, just as with the overwhelming majority of beliefs about mouthpieces in these regards). As long as the instrument is stable with her good neck and set up well...and the electronics don't suck... It's going to play well.

I'm not a particular fan of the so-called acoustic electric basses with contact pickups. Those pickups sound weird, there's a potential for feedback, and so on and so forth. ...and let's be realistic about this: They really aren't acoustic; they are electric. Being an old fart, I'm also not much for the active electronics which so many electric guitars and basses feature today, because I really don't care for having to rely on batteries... and nor do I enjoy buying batteries (particularly not at today's post-hyperinflation covid era prices... and everyone here knows that I'm the same way about - analogous - valve oil for brass instruments, and by now everyone here knows what I'm buy instead of so called valve oil.)

@the elephant
Yes. I like the sound of the big Peavey (15 in speaker and at least 150W) that I bought from my son and fixed up, but it's ridiculously heavy. I used it last weekend on a ballroom dancing gig in a gigantic church gym, but I just don't know how often I'm going to be using it. The 12-inch Polytone (60 watts I'm thinking) from the early 80s (with an only 13 inch cabinet) is much more manageable both in size and weight, and that was probably just about the heaviest thing that is that small never made, because the secret to it offering forth a beautiful round sound is the gigantic magnet on the back of its 12-inch speaker. That's the one that I dragged all over the UK and the Netherlands back in 1984. A friend of mine built me a 17x17 aluminum box for it - as well as an aluminum case that fit around my bass case - whereby I was able to toss both of those underneath all of the airplanes...but also - back then - I believe that people who loaded planes did so with a bit more care and pride... Something else is that - prior to 9-11 - a person could tip a porter, and he would take a passenger's stuff directly to the airplane.
My F tuba (the only tuba I owned at that time) went on that same tour, (believe it or not) in one of those crappy old wooden cases with a little bit of extra foam rubber inside...no damage.

About the only thing to add to this is that while a cheap bass witha good neck can feel and play well, they are often noisy and poor sounding. Pickups *do* make a difference, so if you find an inexpensive bass that plays great, it's not a bad idea to budget/plan for a pickup upgrade. (This is mostly for passive stuff - active basses take it to another level.).

Also, I have never been in bigger music store (chains, mainly) where any of the lower end stuff had any kind of setup - heck, I've found some that never even got tuned, just unboxed (Fender, for instance, ships with strings detensioned) so sometimes a perfect neck may look/feel horrible in the store. Knowing how to do a basic setup is a skill worth developing . . .

Having said that, Music Man is one of the few brands that I have experienced that are pretty much perfect out of the box (and US made as well), but (esp. lately) but will certainly pay for it. (High end Fenders may be good as well - the American PJ that I have was acquired used . . . )

Interesting side note, the new CEO of Fender, Ed "Bud" Cole has a lot of property near me in Northern MI and spends a lot of time there, and is a very friendly personable guy, and is a good musician, not just a bean counter!

Oh, and I can vouch for the weight of bloke's Peavy. I tried to pick the thing up when we dropped off the 186, and I surrendered. I thought that some of my older stuff was heavy, but damn! I think this thing got the "solder/lead ballast" treatment as well!

[bloke]

I didn't really mean for the thread to get into much technical detail (though most all of these threads run off on tangents, whereby this thread - by now - should probably be discussing various strains of tomatos), and most everything knows local people who can serve as their advisors - re: equipment acquisition (in all price ranges).

[prodigal]

I'm playing 186s right now, CC and BBb alternating, so I guess I'll move the thread back home to tubas.

[Rick Denney]

Every few years, I pull out my bass to dink around on it, with the intention of learning to play it with minimal competence. I know how it works, and my hands are very large, but for some reason the left-hand positions just hurt after a while. After a couple of weeks, I put it away again.

But when I retire (whenever that is), I may give it a more serious go.

Bass is an early 90's Precision Plus, amp is a Peavey TKO75.

Rick "left hand not well connected to brain" Denney

[bloke]

I get it.
The shifts - in bass playing - work in very similar ways as shifts in piano playing.
It's easy to understand:
The finger that plays the next pitch needs to be placed whereby the hand is in position for other fingers to play the next several pitches.

Everything works more smoothly if an electric bass is played with a strap, and the neck is at a 45 degree angle to the floor.
This way, only the left forearm moves and very little of the rest of the left arm (other than upper left arm minor rotation) is required to move.

...but holding a bass in that more advantageous manner doesn't look as "cool" as neck-down and/or resting it on the right leg.

[Charlie C Chowder]

First I agree with Bloke.

Second, I have the hottest upright bass in town. Somebody leaned it against a wall with a Heater in it. It caught fire. There is charcoal around the four inch long hole burn into the back. I got it CHEAP! I got it stabilized and put new strings on it and it plays great. I don't like my contact pickups on it as they pick up all of the finger noise. But the lapel mike that I use for my Classical Guitars sounds good.

Third, I have four, five and six string electric basses. I love the six string but nobody wants me playing that high on the bass. The four string is adequate but it force you to play some notes that you use a lot on the bottom E string in first position. The 5th B string allows you to play the E,F and G in a better sounding fifth position, plus add the lower B though F. And they like that. Do need to drop to D.

Last, You can get a cello instead of a upright. Tune it to fourths or leave it in fifths as I do. It can do the job of a bass as well. I played mine with native american flute player for a long time. With the guitarist added I did a lot of pisocato.

A clown with to many toys,

CCC

[bloke]

There's a good quality German made magnetic pickup with a volume control that can be mounted on on upright bass on the sides of the bottom end of the fingerboard with four very small screws that hold it securely.

I used to own a "stick" bass.
I mounted that pickup on it, and just about quit using the contact pickup. No weird percussive noises and no feedback.

[Charlie C Chowder]

Thanks Joe.

ccc

[bloke]

Thanks Joe.

ccc

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Blemished/ ... 5000004.gc

[bloke]

I probably already stated this, but...

The fact that (as long as one MOSTLY avoids open strings) the one-note-at-a-time bass capos (verb form of capo) itself, it THEN becomes easier to think of (assuming no-thinking-involved familiarity with all sorts of scales and arpeggios) "capoing" on the TUBA...

Let's say someone wants to play the Billy Strayhorn tune, "Blood Count", you typically play it in D minor (per the original) you're ONLY playing the tuba in your little combo, but the bandleader starts it off in G-minor (for the band's singer)...Well...if you know that chord RELATIONSHIPS (and not just "the notes", or "the changes" in one key) you can play it in ANY key (tuba or bass or whatever instruments you've mastered).

OK. I get it, bloke, but what's a stray horn (as opposed to one that's been located), and why a blood count?

[Three Valves]

Not mildly disappointed that a three day mini camp at Blokeplace was not offered.

Meals extra.

[bloke]

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[prodigal]

Ok, trying to learn about bass guitars...

What is the main differences in playability between P basses and J basses?

[iiipopes]

I could go on and on and on about the technical aspects of bass guitar, having played it since 1976, starting with band camp jazz band section, reading charts from day one, and continuing to gig even now and for the foreseeable future, having owned many instruments and amplifiers over the decades.

I learned really quickly in junior high that, and forgive me if I insult anyone by saying this, but it is true: lead singers are a dime-a-dozen. Lead guitar players are a dime-a-dozen. But if you learn bass and play it well, you will always have a gig when you want one.

[bloke]

I have a lot of respect for lead guitar players who can play jazz and rock solos over chord changes, and not just shred.

[iiipopes]

I have a lot of respect for lead guitar players who can play jazz and rock solos over chord changes, and not just shred.

Thanks. Earlier this semester in the regional university community concert band I played the jazz guitar written solo on the tone poem "Sixty-Six" by Robert Sheldon. It is/was more difficult than playing an extemporized solo over hash mark chord changes because I had to match the timing, articulation, intonation, and overlapping of phrasing with the rest of the full complement concert band, consisting of many band directors, graduate music majors of various disciplines, players with decades of all sorts of experience, and all directed by the chair of the band department. The only reason I got the part was for the only exception I know about: because the director wanted the piece to be played by a member of the community band instead of going across the hall to see if there was an undergraduate jazz guitar major available.

That said, generally, guitarists are still a dime-a-dozen, and any number of that dozen who were/are students at the university could have done the job and covered the part.

[iiipopes]

I've played bass since 1988.

Here's what I've found
1. All cheap basses can be made to sound like an expensive bass by swapping out the pickups for active shielded pickups like EMG
2. A Fanned fret bass is a PITA, but worth the hassle on a 5 string
3. The sustain on a neck through bass is superior to a bolt on neck
4. Adding a string is possible on a peavey t-40, but the string spacing is really tight. Worth it
5. Basses are cheap and fun to modify. I don't own one that I haven't modded in some way

[bloke]

The only five string I've ever encountered that I could stand to play was a 1970s precision that I converted to a 5-string with a kit that I bought which didn't involve drilling any new holes in the instrument.
The Precision neck is wide enough to accommodate five strings with Jazz bass string spacing.
I could never quite get the bow out of the neck of that bass without it slightly twisting clockwise. Even though it was very minor, my Jazz bass neck is so perfect that I kept noticing it and it was annoying.

I removed the kit, and used it (put back original) as trading fodder for a Selmer Mark VI tenor saxophone that Tom Hatcher had (famous guitar dealer who traded vintage guitars out of the large basement of his house in Brownsville Tennessee).

I sold the tenor for $2,500 bucks way back (when money was worth a little more than it is now).

I have to believe (no responses required) that they're are a ton of good 5-string bass guitars, but every single one that I've encountered in pawn shops is totally dysfunctional, regardless of how cheap or expensive... and often the bridge seems to be in the right place including back and forth and up and down.
That precision that I converted was really a pretty darn good instrument, so I expected (before browsing them) that most that I would encounter would tend to at least be playable.

I haven't been playing bass continuously since 1988, but I played it continuously up until about 1988 (probably from about 1973... and my guitar teacher was sort of pissed off that I was playing both that and the tuba, which took away practice time from the guitar, and probably slopped up my guitar technique) and now I find myself playing it again since 2025.

Five strings sort of intrigue me, because it would save jumping back down to first position on the fourth string to play some of these funk patterns covering these old songs that I'm playing with this little combo.

[LeMark]

I own 3 5 strings, and hate playing anything else. The advantage of the fanned fret basses is the B string is close to the same tension as the other strings, so it doesn't feel sloppy.
By the way, both of those basses pictured were painted by yours truly. They were the blandest natural basses you've ever seen before