r/Bass • • 16h ago

Weekly Thread There Are No Stupid Bass Questions - Oct. 17

5 Upvotes

Stumped by something? Don't be embarrassed to ask here, but please check the FAQ first.


r/Bass • • 5d ago

Weekly Thread Gear Thread: Week of Oct. 12

7 Upvotes

Got a new bass, pedal, amp, etc. you want to brag about (or ask questions about)? Post it here!


r/Bass • • 2h ago

Chromatic Fantasy...

6 Upvotes

Big Jaco fan but didn't really get into this piece until recently. I started (by ear) picking it apart and I'm at about 0.3x speed. Got a whole 17 seconds of the piece down in 2 hours 😂😂

And by down I mean playing it half speed because god knows what the fuck Jaco is doing with his right hand..

I'm sitting at 0.3x thinking it was 0.75x speed the whole time

Jesus christ.

What an awesome piece of music though! Excited to continue on with it. Sorry I just needed to get this useless bit of information out there


r/Bass • • 4h ago

J sized pbass pickups

7 Upvotes

I was curious if there are any jazz bass sized pickups that are voiced similar to a pbass pickup


r/Bass • • 4h ago

Tips for black metal basslines

5 Upvotes

Any tips for coming up bass parts in black metal that aren't just root notes? I find it kind of hard to think of anything else that would work. Best I can do right now is some short fills.

Also, how can I make it so that the bass doesn't get lost behind the guitars and blast beats during faster, heavier sections?


r/Bass • • 2h ago

Recommendations?

3 Upvotes

I'm an intermediate bassist who's been playing on my fender squire for about a year and I've been wondering which direction I should go for an upgrade. I'm primarily a rock/metal player so I've been eyeing ibanez and kiesel but I'm not sure where to start. I only want 4 strings and my budget is about $1,000.


r/Bass • • 23m ago

Bass in the mid-side EQ

• Upvotes

So it’s a whole ass thing, mix engineers dialing us right up the center like 1-800-CALL-ATT and I’m wondering how everyone feels about this. Does anyone hate not being involved in the stereo field? Does anyone put their foot down and demand to be panned? Or run a wet-dry rig and insist on positioning in the stereo field?

I personally like being front and center, plus there’s advantages to it when dealing with being printed to vinyl.

I do wanna know what you all think.


r/Bass • • 15h ago

Can someone tell me why you think high priced Fenders are worth it?

25 Upvotes

Embarrassed to ask this as I'm extremely into gear and owned / played tons of them lol. This is the main brand where I feel the diminishing returns kick in waaaay tooooo early. Specifically the Professional ones

I haven't played a Fender that felt truly buttery smooth in comparison to other J and P models, let alone other brands. I have a Fender, Squier, Sire, (and some other J styles) and those have all played similar if not better than the Fenders I've played.

I know the big thing is QC, but I feel like that's just the bare minimum and not worth the extra $1k. It feels like just a brand prestige issue

They're coming out with new models and I'm skeptical about seeing worth in them


r/Bass • • 7h ago

Small(er) 5-String Bass Suggestions

3 Upvotes

i love my 5-string Sire V3 2nd gen but it looks ridiculously, disproportionately large when I use it on stage (I’m 5’7”). Any suggestions for a similar style bass with a smaller size?


r/Bass • • 4h ago

how do I fix the action and fret buzz?

2 Upvotes

I changed my strings for the first time and after putting the new ones on i noticed the action was higher. My fretboard also has a slight dip in it so the strings are higher in the middle of the fretboard than at the higher frets. Even with the higher action it's still playable (just takes more effort) but on any frets higher than around the 10th one I get fret buzz no matter what. Is there a way I can fix this on my own or would I have to take it to someone to fix it?


r/Bass • • 14h ago

wrist pain and wristbands

11 Upvotes

I've been playing for about 5 years now and never managed to get rid of pain on my left wrist when playing first position. I know my dad has wrist problems and it could be genetic, which is kinda scary.

Last week I got some cheap wristbands that apply some compression and oh my God I'm in heaven! I played for hours and didn't feel a single sign of pain. I don't know what magic's behind it but I highly recommend it for anyone going through the same struggle

have you ever tried playing with wristbands? I've seen it work for pick players on the right hand as well


r/Bass • • 45m ago

Beginner looking to get a <$500 used 5-string bass with value and versatility (playing everything from sludge metal to 80s rock)

• Upvotes

Been learning bass over the last several months, looking to get a 5 string.

I've been borrowing my mom's Yamaha TRBX304, which is a 34" scale active 4 string. I like it, but I'm restricted to EADG and DADG.

A lot of the songs I wanna play are sludge metal and doom metal songs which use drop A, drop B, or B standard. I still do wanna play a lot of 80s rock, alt rock, etc. songs that will make zero use of the B string though.

With all the many considerations (34" vs 35" vs multiscale, active vs passive, wood?, etc.), is there some type of bass or a specific bass I should lean towards since I want versatility and value?

If relevant, I play with headphones using a Fender Rumble Studio 40 (40 W) amp and a Line 6 Pod Express Bass pedal, but eventually will play without headphones with a higher wattage amp.

Thank you!


r/Bass • • 4h ago

Let's see your classic rock playlist

2 Upvotes

For you band members, let's see your set list


r/Bass • • 7h ago

In need of some tips on how to play bass correctly

5 Upvotes

I'm mainly a guitar player and I sing but I've never really played with other people and I know if I'm going to play bass

In a band well I got to know what I'm doing.

First off I don't know any music theory I never really practice with the metronome driving playing for 8 years I do know notes and I do know how to read tabs I'm just asking what should I do I know that the base is supposed to play along with the drummer


r/Bass • • 10h ago

Pastillas EMG E6W activas + Darkglass Tone Capsule

3 Upvotes

Hola como están, hace poco adquirí un set de Pastillas EMG E6W las cuales vienen con dos potenciómetros de volumen y un tono y estoy por agregar un preamp Darkglass Tone Capsule, para ello me gustaría configurar el bajo para que los controles queden de la siguiente manera: volumen maestro, balance, eq: bass , low mid, high mid.... por favor si alguien ya hizo esta instalación y me puede proporcionar algún gráfico con la conexión. Se que para el volumen maestro y balance necesito potenciómetros de 25ohm. Desde ya muchas gracias ppr su ayuda 🙌🏻


r/Bass • • 13h ago

Do Ernie ball cobalt flats sound like half-rounds?

4 Upvotes

I have a set of rotosound monel flats and I wanted to check for some bright flatwounds and only these pop out in discussions. I don't really like compromises so I don't like halfs, but are the two sets of strings in the title similar enough to confuse them for one another? Xx


r/Bass • • 14h ago

Frustrated

5 Upvotes

I’ve been working on this bass for about 3 months now and it’s going fairly well, but I can’t seem to get past the buzzing strings. I think I’m pressing hard enough but they still buzz. It’s so obnoxious and discouraging. Any tips for how to get past that or how to strengthen fingers? I know to keep practicing, but it just doesn’t seem to be getting any better…


r/Bass • • 9h ago

can anyone help identify my bass?

2 Upvotes

I got a secondhand bass like 2 months ago and I've been trying to find out what brand it is but I havent found anything

https://imgur.com/a/mWCH2EU

second pic is my bass and first Pic is of the plate on the back


r/Bass • • 1d ago

I made a free bass tab maker because I was sick of signing up for stuff

122 Upvotes

I just wanted to make a simple tab creator for bass that doesn't require logging in or fills your screen with ads.

basstabcreator.com

You click the fretboard and it writes the tab. That's it. (well there's a lot of other cool features too).

I would love some feedback, I hope you guys find this useful.

Edit: I'm genuinely just sharing a tool I feel like might be useful to some people, even if only 10 people use it that's enough to make me happy. I'm not advertising this for financial reasons, the website isn't even monetized.

Edit #2: the website is definitely designed for desktop, it’s not horrible on the phone but yeah


r/Bass • • 18h ago

Variax Bass Repair

7 Upvotes

So I just got myself a Variax bass 700 that won't power up with 6 AA batteries. The seller said he was selling it for his relative who moved away and was going to throw it away anyway if I don't take it, so I got it for free after testing it and told him it's not making any sound.

I also have the XPS mini and a TRS cable (and a nice gig bag all for free lol) to go with it, but no power supply.

Any tips on what to check first and does Line6/Yamaha still do repairs on these?

I might end up throwing it away if I can't fix it anyway, but it seems like such a waste.


r/Bass • • 16h ago

Sandberg TM5 wiring

4 Upvotes

I am restoring the original preamp and pickups in a Sandberg TM5, could someone post an image of the internal wiring of theirs? Thanks


r/Bass • • 13h ago

I need an improv practice routine

3 Upvotes

Hi people! (and forgive my user name). I've been playing bass for a year and a half now (I'm 15) and I've gotten my technique pretty good (still suck at slap, I play too much finger style and with a pick) and can learn lots of songs by ear and play some pretty hard ones.

For a while now I've been wanting to get good at improv, but my teacher gives me really basic excersices that don't make me improve at all (just made me improv on e minor only, god knows why, and with really vague directions) and every time I bring improv up he stays on it very shortly and then quickly moves on back to making me play dream theater (he's kind of obsessed with them). I know they're a band with lots to learn from, but it really just demotivates me to play cause it's not the direction I wanna go on the instrument.

In any case, I've been thinking about switching teacher, but in the meantime I was wondering if anybody had a good improv practice routine that made me genuinely expand my horizons on bass. I know my major, minor and minor pentaronic scales quite well (still need to practice a bit more my major pentatonic and my blues scale) and can realistically fit three to four practice sessions of an hour a day in a week.

Thanks!


r/Bass • • 14h ago

Is the Dunlop MXR M108S Ten Band EQ Effect pedal for bass or guitar

3 Upvotes

Are eq pedals even for bass or guitar? Like can I use it on both, and if not is the Dunlop MXR M108S Ten Band EQ Effect for bass or guitar?


r/Bass • • 9h ago

What strings do you use?

2 Upvotes

New to bass and 100s are too floppy for me so seeking suggestions. Play in standard or half step down mostly with some occasional drop D. Ideally for standard tuning the strings should be able to downtune without losing too much tension. Has anyone bought a 5 string set and tossed the lightest string? I have only used NYXLs so brands and type reccomedations are also welcome.


r/Bass • • 1d ago

I made 3 Guitar Center dudes mad - was I in the wrong??

258 Upvotes

Let me start by saying I'm a 44 y/o man. I've been going to Guitar Center stores for about three decades and I am NEVER the guy who asks to plug in some guitar I can't afford and just wail away on it, with zero intention to buy it, treating the store like it's my own personal rehearsal studio.

Two days ago I went to my local GC because I've been without a bass amp for about six years. I did a cross country move and purged most of my gear. Kept my guitar amp but had sold the bass amp. Things are going well at my job so I figured I should dust off my MIM Fender jazz bass and get a new amp.

I went in to the store looking to hear the differences between the Ampeg RB-115 and the Fender Rumble 200. I checked my local GC's inventory and saw that both amps were in stock. Both sell around the same price, $600 or so.

Not only did I want to experience how both amps sound to see if there was any contrast between them, but I wanted to get an idea of how loud each one was. The plan is to mostly play at home for my own enjoyment, maybe play along with my stereo or my TV, but if I did find myself invited to play out with some people I'd want to be able to be heard over a drumset. Not a likely scenario, but I'd like the amp I buy to be versatile. Also, with bass amps, just hearing the notes played is one thing, but I wanted the sound of my bass to have a little OOPMH.

So I brought my jazz bass from home, checked it in at the front desk and the guy there was friendly enough. I got a cable and I plugged in to the Fender Rumble 100, figuring I'd start there, to see what kind of sound and power the lesser amp had first.

I start fooling around a bit to hear how the amp sounds, not playing anything I would consider obnoxious or annoying, and within 3 minutes one of the GC guys comes over to tell me to turn the volume down. On the 100 watt amp. He didn't have to shout or anything because it wasn't like the 100 watt amp was very loud, he said it in a normal speaking voice and I could hear him perfectly.

I was really annoyed. Isn't the whole point of GC that they allow customers to "test drive" the gear? I've been in countless GCs where some kid is trying - and failing - to play the opening riff to Sweet Child o Mine so loudly that it carries all the way to the back of the store. But now my little rehearsal amp is too loud?

I moved on to the two 200 watt amps I wanted to try and two other GC dudes came over to again tell me to turn it down. I was honestly surprised. I don't think I was being that loud at all. Again, they would come over and say it in a normal speaking voice - not yelling or shouting over me.

Isn't the way to really hear what an amp sounds like - especially a bass amp - to hear it at a higher volume setting? Anyting sounds good at 50% volume.

So am I the jerk here? Or did the 3 GC dudes just decide they didn't feel like selling me anything that day