Bass guitar learning resources

Artereis

I'm new to bass, but not to playing instruments in general. I found Scott's Bass Lessons last night, but I thought I'd see if people liked that before starting a trial. Has anyone had a good experience with that program? Are there any other popular lesson plans or resources that are recommended? I don't really have a particular style that I want to focus on just yet, though I do like slap.

Madpoet

This isn't a place to start, but since you mentioned slap, this was highly recommended to me when I started playing bass: Slap-It. Only, my copy came with a vinyl record inside because I am ancient. Once you have a good grasp with finger picking and scales this will be a good resource.

Artereis

Thanks. I have had this bass...man, maybe 8 years now, but I've never really been willing to just sit and be terrible at it. I'm hoping to actually put some focus into it now.

legallytired

MusicCollegeTV has great lessons on music theory for bass that were pretty easy to follow.
MarloweDK has lessons and great funky riffs to learn including slap.
CoverSolutions has playalongs including tabs

Technicality

Scott Devine has really clean technique and is good at explaining things in a straightforward way. I've not tried his Scott's bass lessons but based on his free youtube material I'd say you can't really go wrong there.

The talkbass forums are a fantastic resource for bass playing knowledge. In particular there is a huge thread on slap bass stickied because it comes up a lot:
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/the-slap-bass-welcome-center.298410/

You can probably find every question you may have answered there somewhere as it's a very active community, with lots of pros, instructors, luthiers and companies popping up to answer questions. If not, its a great place to ask.

Quid

A good resource for learning specific songs is Rocksmith. For me having a game that tracks my progress with bars and numbers was a big motivator. Admittedly I can only play a few songs fairly well it still beats the situation I was in before like you.

JohanFlick

I really like Hal Leonard Bass Method book. A great book to learn basics of bass, starting from zero.

BTW. I learned about the book on talkbass.com As @Technicality said, it's a great place to learn about bass. Be warned though. Reading about all the great basses they have will really test your will and tempt you to buy more and more gear.

Artereis

I actually do have that book. It's the only thing I have at the moment. I was thinking I might want some videos to follow, though, to help prevent bad habits. Thanks for the suggestions. I think I'll start diving into things this week.

jungleroomx

Get some tabs from Ultimate Guitar, sit down, learn some songs.

Learn your basic major and minor scales, since those are used in most music. As you push forward you should know some more exotic scales and modes.

Honestly the best way to get good is just learning tunes and getting some theory under the hood. A couple of notes:

If you're playing fingerstyle, learn to rest your thumb on the strings instead of the pickup. It took me years to break that bad habit. If you're playing pick style then make sure the pick is hitting flat against the string, otherwise you'll get scrape noise.

Exercise your fingers, all four of them. Learning to move your fretting hand as little as possible will save you a lot of pain later. There are numerous devices and exercises out there for this.

I've been playing since about 1990, so hopefully my experience can help. Feel free to hit me up any time if you have questions.

Artereis

Thanks. I saw that Rocksmith was half off so I went ahead and ordered that for the hell of it. I'm probably going to mostly do finger style, but I went ahead and got some picks just to have some experience that way as well.

Darkewolfe

Rocksmith is a great way to have fun, but a terrible way to learn. You'll reinforce bad habits so fast. Get your basics down, and when you play rocksmith for fun, focus REALLY HARD on keeping your style correct. Don't let the challenge talk you into lazy technique.

Rocksmith is great, but it's so dangerous for developing bad habits.

Edit: Also, the rocksmith thread is a decent place to ask for basic guitar help in general.

Artereis

Yeah, I intend to be careful with it. I thought it would be a good way to get easy exposure to different styles of play. Also, it'll keep the bass in my hands more, as convincing myself to sit down and play is the thing I'm having the most difficulty with right now.

jungleroomx

Artereis wrote: »

Yeah, I intend to be careful with it. I thought it would be a good way to get easy exposure to different styles of play. Also, it'll keep the bass in my hands more, as convincing myself to sit down and play is the thing I'm having the most difficulty with right now.

Sometimes it is.

There are stretches I go a year without picking it up, because it hasn't been directly connected to me eating in well over a decade.

What style of music are you looking to play?

Artereis

I'm pretty eclectic, but I can't stop watching this guy play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvkmXTZsFY4

jungleroomx

Just know the world of bass is huge. I don't know if you've looked into extended range basses people play solely with tapping but they're probably the closest substitute to a piano that exists.

That fellas pretty good at the slap/pop style.