Learning bass

Hey all,

Been learning bass pretty flat out for aobut a month after moving house and ditching the drums. Im going through a CD as well as learning a few songs. Anyone got any song sugestions with good bass tabs. I am up for learning anything hard or easy. Cheers!

1234 1234 Streetlight/ Catch 22
Its real easy if you just work at it little by little. It's on my top ten bass line list.

Bass sucks.. Do yourself a favor and learn the guitar instead because if you can play guitar then you can play bass.. Also, with the guitar you have the ability to play parts for any musical instrument ... bass, piano, banjo, ukulele, mandolin, etc. can all be done with a guitar.

Cloud City said:

Bass sucks.. Do yourself a favor and learn the guitar instead because if you can play guitar then you can play bass.. Also, with the guitar you have the ability to play parts for any musical instrument ... bass, piano, banjo, ukulele, mandolin, etc. can all be done with a guitar.

Click to expand...

Huh? No offense, but do play any of the instruments you listed? A good bassist can usually pick up lead guitar quickly(...scales). Bass isn't for everyone (IE: people who want to get attention by a campfire ), but I play the guitar, drums, and bass...and bass is my favorite.

Anyway, I nominate Muse - Hysteria. Bass line sounds badass if you can get a similar effect (PODs are great, if you're starting off and don't have one). It took me a while to get it down, but that's my favorite now.

If you haven't already, check out ultimate-guitar.com. They have a ton of tabs. Here's their top 100 list for bass tabs:
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/top/top100_bass.htm

Here are some other popular/fun (easier) songs:
Queen-Another one bites the dust
Queen/Bowie-Under Pressure
Pink Floyd-Money
Nirvana-Come as you are

Here's a video of the Muse bassist (I'm a fan) and drummer jamming...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKAw5SOw9N0&feature=related

Best of luck.

InsaneInTheBrain said:

Huh? No offense, but do play any of the instruments you listed?

Click to expand...

The guitar can play the part of any stringed instrument or horn or piano etc.

Know what you call someone who hangs out with musicians? A drummer.

dani California by the red hot chili peppers. Great fun bassline. Lolwhen I'd been playn bass for like a week I played dani california in front of my buddy who had been playn for a while but was still a total noob. He was like, why u tryn to show me up, which is funny because its a relatively easy song to play.

well it depends on what you want to focus on when it comes to playing. if you want to work on your chops, then try learning the super mario bros. theme. not too difficult but should prove to be a bit of a workout for a beginner. unfortunately the online bass tab is not 100% correct. Another option is classical. it can be a little dull at times but is also great for chops, stamina, speed etc. try learning sonata in G by Giuseppe Torelli. not extreemely fun but good practise. However it really depends on what you want to learn how to do...

for some all around fun jams perhaps learn how to play any of these-

Killing in the name, by rage against the machine
higher ground, (red hot chili peppers version)
the pot, tool

this war is ours-escape the fate
i dont really like them but the song is cool and fun to play on bass

I started on guitar when i was a kid and started playing bass a few years ago. Bass is by far my favorite. I love keeping the low end. Anything by Tool, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rush, Alice in Chains, etc..

learn any song by YES

I play electric guitar but know a little bit of bass. the first song i learned was When You Where Young by The Killers. I don't like that band at all but the song is probably the easiest thing you can learn on bass. A lot of blink 182 songs are easy to learn too.

When You Where Young-
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/k/killers/when_you_were_young_ver4_btab.htm

im a bassist myself, and first off i skimmed the thread and i saw people saying bla bla learn guitar and whatnot.

I can say been playing bass for quite some time now. Once you get the hang of playing bass. You get to grips with arpeggios and scales, guitar will be a walk in the park.

The difference is, bass is more about the groove and feeling it. Sometimes you gotta be minimalist.

One of my favourite bass lines, Ramble on - Led Zeppelin. Absolutely fantastic.

Check out these bassists aswell i can post vids from youtube if u want...Mixture of upright bassists and electric bassists ( sorry )

Michael Manring
Seth Horan
Dave Holland
Victor Wooten
Steve Bailey

Anyway music is wicked!

What genre of music are you listening to the most? Find a mentor from that genre, then move onto to others. Being a drummer, you should pick it up quickly.

There are musicians like Me’Shell Ndegéocello who always have strong bass lines. There is also this site that can help point you in the right direction.
http://www.stylusmagazine.com/feature.php?ID=1843