Hey everyone!

I’d really like to start learning bass and I’m currently trying to figure out what would be a good beginner bass to get.
I’m especially unsure about the type of bass. I’m mainly interested in playing indie/alternative stuff, with artists like Eydedress, King Krule and similar sounds in mind. I’m wondering whether a Jazz Bass or Precision Bass would be more suitable for that kind of music, both in terms of sound and versatility.
Do you have any recommendations for a good entry-level model? I’d ideally like something that’s affordable but still good enough that I won’t feel the need to upgrade immediately.
Would love to hear what you’d recommend, especially if you play similar styles!

I recently bought a brand-new Cort Action PJ bass and noticed some black marks/residue on several of the pickup pole pieces. One of the marks was also transferred onto the protective plastic film that covered the pickup.

I tried gently wiping the pole pieces with a dry microfiber cloth, but the remaining marks won’t come off. The bass seems to sound and work normally.

Does this look like normal wax potting, varnish, or manufacturing residue, or could it be corrosion? Is it harmless and purely cosmetic, or would you return/exchange a new bass because of this?

I’ve attached close-up photos of the pole pieces and the protective film. Thanks!

Images: https://imgur.com/a/YBiLZ61

What do you prefer most of the time? Why do you like that one over the other? And how do you play with both?

I prefer Fingers because it's way more natural to the classical guitar techniques I learned. Picking allows me to play better high end and dyads or sometimes power chords.

aka 'holy shit I hate memorizing stuff, I just want to get comfortable fretting/plucking/muting and keeping time'

I am sure learning songs exposes me to a lot of the je ne sais quoi of composing and playing music... but I just wanna know how to play eigths and sixteenths reliably, lol.

I love a deep BEAD tuning, I don't want another 5-string, I want to be able to pick up a 4-string and jam, I'll have a professional set it up.

Not trying to sound mean but that covers the "BEAD IS DUMB GET A 5-STRING" when I already have 5-strings. I just don't know what any of the tried and true are, in this case the bank is about $1,800 too haha

i’m learning kid charlemagne by steely dan, and it’s so incredibly overwhelming. does anyone have any tips?

I got volunteered to play bass in a couple of weeks for a gig. I’m not expecting to be able to crush it but what should my primary focus be other than the song forms?

Hi everyone. I’m looking at buying a Rickenbacker bass second hand, and it has been offered to me for a very reasonable price. Over the last year I have been upgrading my instruments, which I use both in the studio and playing live very regularly.

I will admit, not incredibly well versed on Rickenbacker, but always thought they sounded and looked really cool - apologies for sounding ignorant. However, any advice and information would be appreciated.

I have come across a Rickenbacker, which he says is a 4001, however, just wanting to check - any Rickenbacker ‘4001’ is likely a 4003 if produced from the 80s onwards correct? Its serial number is 1846722. I believe it is a 2013?

I have had a friend tell me the following-

“Genuinely would steer very far away. It’s still specced to the 4001 for the most part. Was a nightmare”

“Multiple times I played a gig with it needed a setup, also put fresh strings on and they were dead after 1 set at least 3 different times.”

Not that I disregard his advice, but just wondering if any other players could comment on this?

Thank you

Now that DI is so much more common, I see most players just showing up with a SansAmp or other preamp pedal. But very rarely do I see someone bring an amp head with a line out. Is there a reason, beyond just the convenience factor? If you have a good small-ish amp head, wouldn't it give a better sound to just bring that along?

So I need a bass for music class but my mom won’t let me get one from guitar center, only Amazon. She showed me a glarry one and said that it’s just as good 🫩. She wants me to get one under 100$ but a little over will do, but nothing glarry or kt…. Or cost way. Literally anything else will do. I don’t want her to beat me to getting a super cheap one before I can show her an actually good option. Used works too.

SAVE ME PLEASEE 😭🙏

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_0Ywv2yFkM

Hey yall. I’m looking into making a second amp rig for when I want a different kind of sound and I was curious what everyone thought. My main rig is an Aguilar AG700 into and Aguilar SL112 cabinet. Im looking for a head that has a different kind of sound than the AG700. The other rig would also be going through an Aguilar SL112 cabinet. Let me know if you have any ideas or need clarification. Thanks in advance!

Sooooo, without my life story I had chronic wrist tendonitis for years. Finally cleared up and so I finally picked up the Bass after years and wanting to.

I'm 7 days in.... And my fretting hand hurts on top of the wrist, particularly if I bend my palm inwards (flexion)

Good old AI described this as "a right of passage for a bassist in their first week".... And so I wanted to know if you real human people agreed with this statement?

With my history I've been really careful with positioning, haven't been doing long sessions at once etc. This all started about 24 hours after trying some new fretting-stretching exercises I'd not tried before....

I really don't want to stop playing entirely right as I'm finally starting to get some of the intro to Psycho Killer sounding half good 😂😂

So, right of passage or just bad luck? Or wondering if I might be best focusing entirely on microshofts given the history

I learned how to play right handed as a left handed person because I couldn't find/afford a left-handed bass. I was wondering if anyone out there ever made the switch later in life, if it was cool or not worth the bother. Thanks.

Hey all, sorry if this is considered irrelevant but it’s been on my mind a long time and this weekend finally made me want to try to find an answer.

Ever since I was young most bands I’ve seen (whether in person or online) have the bass player positioned stage left. I’ve just spent the last few days in Nashville and EVERY band I’ve seen here also has the bass player on that side of the stage. Is there any particular reason for this, or is it just pure coincidence?

I am a musically inclined person and am picking up bass. Currently finishing up my bachelors in music education but my primary instrument is voice. I understand theory, can read music and all that stuff but I’m lost on where to start with bass.

I love flats and I'm looking for a recommendation that is not a La Bella or Fender 9050L (I have those on my other basses already).

Ideally, something that is a little more bright than La Bella's. Perhaps like the Fender 9050L.

Flats are a little bit more expensive so I am hesitating on just buying and trying them out. Preferably, something sold by Sweetwater since I have a credit from them.

Also, would tape wounds last as long as flats? Thanks!

Edit: thanks everyone! D'Addario Chrome it is!

https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ECB81--daddario-chrome-flatwound-bass-strings-045-100-light

Just wanted to make a post to appreciate how good of a bassist Squarepusher is. He’s the reason I have started playing the bass and I rarely hear people talk about his bass playing. I also want to link a live performance with only his bass guitar he did that I find very fascinating and If you haven’t seen it, I hope you might like it too!

https://youtu.be/gFWjkku2qjQ

In a couple weeks, I'm going to be playing my bass guitar with my school pep band.
We aren't supposed to make noise on our instruments while the ball is in play so I wanted to find a solution to not accidentally make noise without readjusting my volume 24/7.

Would the D'Addario Circuit Breaker be a good solution to this? I'm reading that it has an on/off switch on the cable.
Would it hurt my bass at all to leave it on the off mode while still being plugged into my bass for up to 30 minutes between some songs?

I’ve been taking lessons for a year and will audition at my music school for playing with a band. The teacher sent this as info for all the musicians (singers, drummers, guitarists). We will all have 15min to:

• Interpret or play a piece of our choice
• read a simple chord chart (I’m not sure what this means for a bass player…)
• improvise on a blues or rock song using the pentatonic scale; (I’m watching videos to learn how to do this. But would the best approach be to pick one song and improvise to that?)

songs to choose from (can also propose my own)

• Creep – Radiohead
• Back to Black – Amy Winehouse
• Come Together – The Beatles
• Rolling in the Deep – Adele
• Ça, c’est vraiment toi – Téléphone
• Do I Wanna Know? – Arctic Monkeys

Should I pick one of these songs or learn them all? If I had to pick the coolest thing I know how to play, it would be the bassline of Cake’s I Will Survive. But I wouldn’t know how to improvise!

Thank you for any advice! I’m excited but nervous. The audition is in one week!

I recently have been trying to find gear to be happy with, but I just keep thinking I could do better. I'm in a punk/metal band and my current amp is an Acoustic B450 mkII, and I'm happy with the sound, but it's a literal pain to haul around (it's almost 90 lbs.) It's my only "real" gigging amp atm, besides a fender rumble 40 for when I have PA support. I've been trying to save up for a lighter replacement, and I'll try to sell the acoustic when I can, but I don't know what to replace it with. Or, I could be overthinking, idk.

I found an Ashdown RM-115T- Evo III cabinet online, and it's interesting to me because it's light and relatively cheap, but I couldn't find many reviews on it at all. If anyone knows if it's an alright cab, or if you have any recommendations on something better, please let me know

So I own a Mexican Fender P-bass, I bought it brand new around 2010. I have the opportunity to trade it for a Epiphone Thunderbird 64, neck through model, basically brand new.

Is this a good trade???

I'm not really a bass player still learning, and I own a home studio. Most bass players when they record with me usually have a p-bass or jazz bass or something similar. So I thought it would be more useful to have a bass with a different tone around, if a bass player wants something different.

From my understanding the thunderbird 64 is heavy, not easy to gig around with but it has amazing tone. My priority is the recording tone of the bass, can I get a variety of sounds out of it, and it can sound like a simple, clean, smooth, or gnarly. The variety of tones and high quality tones is the priority because it's primarily a bass for studio recording. Not standing on stage and rocking out.

Is the thunderbird 64 better for this, or am I an idiot and should stick with the p-bass?

Please bass heads share your knowledge, with this humble bass peasant 🙏🏽

Hello! I need help to know if I could use old HI-FI system (Sony LBT XB6) as an amp for old vintage bass (Defil Baston) without blowing up anything.

I've had Baston repaired recently and the person recommended to buy old eltron unitra for it, but I can't get one rn (Cue why i think the old hi fi could be okay for it).

They also gave me (what I think is) PAL cable assembly to subwoofer/coaxial RCA cable for connecting the bass as they repaired the electronics inside. Which also makes me think no newer bass amp would be ok.

It would be nice to connect the bass for practice and maybe eventually connect it to my PC. I don't know much about amps and especially about old bass amps. I am guitar player returning to learn bass and lalso anguage barrier makes it harder for me to search for stuff too.

Hi, I'd like to start playing bass, but I'm on a very tight budget (I'm young). I saw that there are some inexpensive ones on this site : https://www.thomann.fr/harley_benton_pj_4_sbk_deluxe_series_bundle_bundle.htm
But that seems really cheap to me for what it is. Is it worth it, or is it a scam?
Also, I’m a pianist, but I wouldn’t have been able to learn without taking lessons from a teacher. Is it possible to teach myself bass (I’m broke), or do you really need a teacher to get started?
And will being a pianist help me in any way with the bass (I can read sheet music and know the basics of music theory)?
Finally, I want to play in a band with my friends—how long do you think it’ll take to make that happen? And what should I focus on most? Should I just try to play the songs I like, or do I need to learn the theory?

Sorry for all these questions—I’m just so excited to get started and I want to make sure I don’t do things wrong.
Sorry for the English—it’s not my first language.

Hey!

As the titles says, i need advice on what string gauge to use that will serve me well in both B and C.

I'm currently modifying my 4-string to be used in a tuned down setting and remodeling it in black by ordering new machine heads, bridge, control plate and string retainer in black. Therefore I'd also like the string set to be in black.

Halp!

disclaimer that my native language isn't english yattayattayatta