How to Play the Bass Guitar Starting Today

Learning to play a new instrument, especially the bass guitar, can be a very rewarding, life long hobby. It can even become a lucrative and exciting career.

Many of us have dreams of standing on stage, looking out into a crowd of adoring faces as we play our bass guitar. That is great. This is one of the many reasons that many people pick up the bass to begin with. The truth of the matter is that you do not have to wait years to become a master of the 4 string to enjoy your new found talent.

If you want to learn to play bass, it can be done in as little as a few minutes every day (though many would prefer to play for hours). The bass guitar is perfect for anything from keeping a simple rhythm to creating spectacular and haunting solos. While the complexity of the musical feats that can be performed is simply amazing, you don't have to be Cliff Burton, Paul McCartney, or John Paul Jones to begin playing the bass guitar at performance level. It is in fact, one of the simplest instruments to begin playing. Not only that, there are varied musical styles to choose from as an entry point. Rock and roll, funk, country, classical, and jazz are just some of the many musical categories that incorporate the bass guitar into their sound. So no matter what your musical taste (or the favorite of those you play for), your favorite genre is sure use the 4 string.

Millions of people every year decide that they are going to learn to play a new musical instrument. Be one of the thousands that follow through on their dream and set aside a few minutes (or a few hours) of the day and begin enjoying one of the most rewarding past-times ever invented by man, learn how to play the bass guitar today and you won't look back.

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So You Want to Learn Bass Guitar?

So you want to learn bass guitar? Many people do, but find it difficult to get a book on bass guitar, especially one with an accompanying CD. A lot depends on the style you want to play, and whether you want to be a new Duane Eddy or just to play in a cover band. However, if you really want to play, the principles that apply to any other style of guitar also apply to you.

If you intend to learn with a book, try to get one with an accompanying CD so that you can get some audio as well as written visual help. It's one thing being shown what to do and following written instructions, but quite another actually doing it, and making it sound right. Especially if you don't know what it should sound like because you can read a book, but can't hear it.

Learning bass involves different skills to those needed to play rhythm or lead guitar, since you will generally be setting the beat along with the drummer. You might have to play solo, but not at the high rate of solo lead, and will have less need of the specialist techniques that enable a player to play lightning fast riffs. However, you will need a knowledge of your frets, and many bass guitar players prefer to play without a fret because they find it easier and less constrictive.

You will have to learn the same basics, such as the various parts of your guitar, and how they contribute to the music. You will also have to learn how to tune your guitar to different keys, and how to play the various scales. Scales are very important to you because they are the basis behind the vast majority of your work. You will have less need of chords, and more of scales. You will have to know every note that your instrument is capable of playing, and how to get the best pure sound out of each and every one of them.

Spider walking is one of the techniques that you will be able to use, and there are others. But how are you to learn all of these things? Where does a bass guitarist go for lessons, other than to another bass guitarist? Many just teach themselves through continual practice by ear, and by listening to tracks of other bass guitarists. However, they are unlikely ever to be better than those they listen to without expert tuition that opens up the instrument and its possibilities to them. There are ways to learn without finding the right books. In fact you have two major options, apart from books and CDs.

1. Videos.
Video bass guitar lessons are very useful in that you not only see what you should be doing, but also what it should sound like. Advanced techniques can be designed to provide subtle nuances in tonal quality, and various sound effects, but unless you can hear what you are trying to achieve you would have no way knowing if you had succeeded or not. Video can achieve what a guitar tuition book cannot, and even more than an a book with accompanying CD.

2. Membership Sites
The problem with a straight video is that once you have covered the content, there is no more. A guitar membership site, however, offers you ever-changing content, and the option of a number of different teachers according to the style you want to play: blues, pop, heavy metal, rock country and so on, and also the type of guitar you want to specialize in: bass, electric or classical being the most common.

Once you have completed a sequence of lessons in one style, you could then progress to another, and end up a very versatile guitarist. You can also focus on playing techniques as opposed to learning chords and scales, and play to many of the tracks that such sites offer. You can also lapse your membership once you have reached your desired level so you pay only what is needed for you to become an accomplished guitarist.00004000

Whichever way you choose: the one-off payment for a bass guitar tuition video or the monthly membership offering continual bass guitar teaching in all aspects of playing bass, you will find it easier than simply learning from a book. While the latter was the way that most of the more established guitarists learned when they didn't just teach themselves, there is no longer any need to go the old fashioned way.

If you want to learn bass guitar take the individual DVD or online video route. This is the 21st century, and video rules, OK?

If you are serious about learning bass guitar, click on iJamplay where you will find a membership site offering everything mentioned in this article, and allow you to learn bass in a very short time.

Read Want to Learn bassGuitar and other articles on my blog.

Learning Bass Guitar

You want to learn bass guitar? There are many people who do, they just find it difficult to start out. Many people find it hard to select a book they think will help them learn. Many people think they need a book and an accompanying CD. While this does help, it's not a necessity. Many times it depends on the sty of music you want to play.

If you've decided to learn bass guitar through a book, you should get a book that comes with a CD. This lets you listen to how the song was intended to be played so you have something to compare it to. Audio will help. make sure you follow the written instructions.

Learning to play bass guitar involves different skill levels. basssets the general beat and feel of the song. It's more of a rhythm instrument, like the drums are. Sometimes on bass you'll play solo, but it won't be the same type of lead guitar solo you'd expect. It's more suttle.

You should learn the basics first. Learn the names of the parts of the guitar, names of the strings, and how to tune the guitar. After that learn scales. Many bassists learn to play by ear and never actually learn to read music, though a basic ability to read music is recommended by most bass guitar websites. IT's best to be prepared for any situation you need to play guitar, be that playing basic guitar tab, learning to read normal sheet music, or playing by earn.

The author is the owner of a site where you can buy guitars online

Blazing Bass Fretting Hand in 3 Easy Steps

Do you ever find yourself stuck in one spot on the bass neck when jamming with friends or bandmates? Ever wonder how to break out and be able to play notes all over the bass? Here I explain three steps you can take toward fretboard freedom. Follow these steps and you will be instantly on your way to playing some blazing bass!

1.Thumb placement is important

Thumb placement is no small detail, but something of critical importance if you want to be a good bass player. In order to make playing the bass much easier on yourself it's important to keep the thumb of your fretting hand in the right spot. Keeping your hand setup properly makes it much easier to play your bass lines, scales and chords, and also begin to develop fast single note runs.

When you go to play your bass, don't grip the neck like you would a chin up bar or a baseball bat. Your palm (ideally) should not touching the back of the neck.

The proper position for the thumb of the fretting hand in the middle of the back of the neck opposite the index or middle fingers. It's best not to have your thumb peeking over or wrapped around.

There are times when it's more comfortable to wrap your thumb around the bass neck if you're pedaling one note for a while. That's perfectly acceptable. But if you are trying to play something with more than one note involved, you'll probably find it much easier to play with your thumb properly positioned.

You just plain can't spread your hand out very far with your thumb wrapped around the neck of the bass. With your thumb in the right spot you can cover much more fretboard real estate!

2. Finger position

It's impo00000959rtant to keep the fingers of your left hand positioned correctly. Make sure your hand and fingers are perpendicular to the bass neck and press the strings down with the same part of your fingertips that you type on a computer keyboard with.

On bass guitar any four frets in a row are called a 'position'. From the first fret to the fourth fret is a position. From the fifth fret to the eighth fret is a position.Try to get used to the feel of having one finger per fret for four frets to cover a 'position'. Start someplace easy like the fifth or seventh fret.Practice playing all four of those notes in a row all the way up the strings (in one position) and back down. Play slowly at first to develop a nice strong and even tone.

At times you won't really need to cover all four notes. In this case you can cover only three frets instead of four - like from the fifth to the seventh frets. This would be more like a traditional upright bass technique where they don't call four notes in a row a 'position'. It creates sort of a box shape which contains useful and important notes. It's an easy way to handle minor keys and pentatonic based songs.

3. Practice one and two octave scales to start.

One of the real tricks to learning the bass fretboard is in memorization of scale patterns. It's really not that hard, but it does take practice to gain muscle memory (but you get it pretty quickly).

Start with one octave Major and minor scales, ascending and descending (in one position). It's best to practice these with a metronome click, but that's up to you. You want to be getting a nice even tone.

Next you would move on to the same scales in two octaves. This is obviously more challenging, and it will really help you to see the fretboard in a bigger perspective.

If you practice these three steps, you should begin to develop some good fretboard agility within a few weeks. Also, when playing with band, you will begin to see the other notes of the chord the guitar player (for instance) is playing more clearly. Then it's matter of connecting the dots.

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Be One With Your Bass Guitar Chords

So you think you have it in you to join the ranks of Flea, Darcy, and George Harrison and play bass? Well, you have a long way to go, so you better start now.

Learning the basics

If you want to go into bass guitar playing, decide which bass you will play. You have a choice - the 4-stringed bass guitar, or five, six, seven, and even more strings. Beginners usually go for the 4-stringed bass guitar. The next step would be choosing the right bass guitar and learning the bass guitar chords.

A bass player who knows his bass guitar chords has an edge. His understanding of chord music theory will enable him to make his bass line definitive and very interesting. He knows the note to play and when to play it. Knowing bass guitar chords entails the mastery of all basic chords with emphasis on the 6th and 7th chords for bass guitar. A bass guitar chords lesson includes the entire basic chords, important 6th and 7th chords, the 12 keys, chord map, charts, and neck patterns. The bass guitar chords are composed of three or more notes played together, and each type of chord has a formula.

He also has to master the 12 different notes A, B flat, C, D flat up to A flat. Not all songs, however, use these notes because the00000D70 notes of a song are dictated by the songs key. Mastery of the musical patterns equips the bass guitarist with the skill to learn songs off record. He will then be able to pinpoint accurately what scales were used and the chord patterns and changes that went with it.

An initiation to bass guitar chords diagrams and notations

There are hundreds of bass guitar chords. There are even more ways to play them. You can play the happy notes or the major chords, or sound the minor notes for the sad tones. You can jazz up the tones by moving up a half step (augment) or go down a half step (diminish). Playing the bass guitar chords offer endless possibilities of combinations of note chords.

Any beginner will benefit from learning to read bass guitar chords tablature or tab. This is a method of music notation. The illustrations show where to put your fingers, the frets and the strings. They also show horizontal lines, and each string is noted according to its placement. You will also see notations like O and X or a number. An O denotes that you play the string on the chord without depressing it. An X means you dont play the string at all. A number on a string denotes that the string should be played in the fret specified.

A beginner should be able to memorize the chords and practice playing until he is comfortable with his guitar. Eventually his hand movement will take on the dexterity that marks a great bassist. He will also learn the slaps, riffs, and slides, as well as the use of the pick.

Buying and playing your bass guitar

An electric or acoustic bass guitar should be comfortable to play. You must able to manage its weight, and the neck of the bass guitar should be navigable by your hands. Get the guitar from reputable dealers who can give you a warranty. If you are opting for a used bass guitar, you can be sure it is reliable if it was played for years. However, bear in mind that used guitars do not come with a warranty and these may have unsuitable modifications.

Playing the bass guitar is a physical thing. It is therefore practical to do warm-up exercises before striking the first bass guitar chords. Find a comfortable position that will not strain your hands. Relax, and your bass guitar00004000 music will be just as smooth as it is fluid. In time, youll be giving Flea a run for his money.

You can definitely master your bass guitar chords, so visit aboutplayingguitar.com for the latest and find free guitar chords You just have to go to this site now for bass guitar tabs of your favorite bands.

The Birth of the Electric Bass Guitar

The Birth of the Electric Bass Guitar
By Victor Epand

The electric bass guitar is fairly easily identifiable because the overall shape is quite different to the standard electric guitar. An electric bass guitar usually has a body which is much larger in size than a standard electric guitar, and the neck is often much longer, with the scale length used for the frets much larger too. The overall size of an electric bass guitar is the most obvious distinguishing feature that makes it easy to spot, but of course its extra size can cause trouble for beginners. If you are looking at buying an electric guitar, and are considering the bass version, then it will be important to try out one such example first. The physical size may, in some cases, prohibit effective use, and a standard sized guitar may prove to be a more suitable alternative.

An electric bass guitar usually has four strings which are tuned to the same pitch as the double bass, or in some cases the strings are simply tuned to be one octave lower than the lowest four strings of a standard guitar.

For the last fifty years, the electric bass guitar has been the instrument of choice for producing the bass notes in most popular music, causing a dramatic decline in the popularity of the double bass for such music. The electric bass guitar has proven to be a very popular instrument, not only for use within popular music, but as an instrument in itself, often used for solo performances. In particular, jazz, funk and rock styles often feature an electric bass guitar solo, or prominent performance within a piece.

It was actually back in the 1930s that the electric bass guitar was born, with Paul Tutmarc's invention - originally referred to as a fiddle. It comprised of four bass strings, had a body and a fret board - and was played horizontally. Named an electronic bass fiddle it proved to be very popular, and because its manner of playing was more similar to that of a guitar, it meant that it was easier to pick up by guitarists than a fiddle would have been for them.

Although Tutmarc's fiddle marked the dawn of the electric bass guitar, it took about twenty years for the idea to take hold, and be developed by Leo Fender before it became a popular instrument. Fender created the Precision Bass, and took the rough form of a Telecaster with a single coil pickup. With four steel strings the instrument became popular with many well known bands and groups of the fifties, and it was at this point that the bass guitar became popular worldwide.

Following closely behind Fender was Gibson, whose bass guitars were generally smaller then fender's, and incorporated a humbucker pickup rather than the single coils. Gibson's most famous creation was the Thunderbird with a 34 inch scale, and duel humbucking pickups located halfway between the neck of the guitar and the bridge - a more usual position.

Today, electric bass guitars can be bought in a range of styles and shapes, although still generally larger than the standard electric guitars. For complete flexibility, however, you could always consider a duel neck guitar - with one being a bass, and the other a standard six string guitar!

Victor Epand is an expert consultant for guitars, drums, keyboards, sheet music, guitar tab, and home theater audio. You can find the best marketplace at these sites for electric bass guitar, bass guitar, sheet music, guitar.

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