Electric Basses

E-Bass – Buying tips

The band needs the bassist to support the timing work of the drummer and to keep the groove tight. Even good guitar players are sometimes caught out without the continuous groove of the bassist. So the most important thing to learn at first is keeping up the tempo and supporting the band with consistency and not learning to play mad riffs with 240 bpm. Well, this may sound a little boring, but it’s not. As a novice it’s very motivating to be able to play along to tracks even if you can only play two or three sounds.

There are two different sizes of electric bass guitars, the length of the vibrating string is called scale. The “shortscale” has a shorter neck and is very suitable for children and younger players, the frets are closer together avoiding strenuous spreading of the fingers. The sound is softer and smoother. In the past it was said that the “shortscale” didn’t have enough power, but thanks to modern pick-up technology this is a myth of the past.

The “longscaler” has a much longer neck and therefore sounds harder, furthermore the balance of the longscaler is normally better and they are almost never top-heavy. If you are ready to torture your right hand and fingers you should chose the longscale. Apart from that you should follow the same rules as with guitar buying. The first instrument you buy should feel good when you pick it up and it shouldn’t seem too heavy. The string action should not be too high and the bass should be easy to play in the high fret board. Even if you can’t even play a single note, just pick up the desired guitar and strike some strings, your first impression counts.

Beginner’s instruments incl. combo start at around € 150. If you chose to buy the components individually things will be a little more expensive. So what else do you need ? A good metronome, every bass player should practice with a metronome right from the very first day, this is the only way to avoid timing problems and bad habits that will be very hard to get rid of again later.

Another professional tip: Apart from taking lessons you should chose some play-alongs to practice to. This will compensate for a real band at first, but you won’t become a good bass player without a band. The metronome is cruel but will always stay a weak substitute to a real drummer.