Question for the Bass Players

"Did you hear about the groupie who was so stupid she banged the bass player?"

"Pete Quaife & I flipped a coin to see who would play the bass. Pete lost." - Kinks lead guitarist Dave Davies

Go for it. Playing bass is so easy that a 9 year old can show you how.

EllenPlaysBass

youtube is your friend

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If you also play guitar, how similar was it to learning guitar? What were the differences?

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From a theory and fretboard standpoint, it's pretty much all the same as guitar (if you're playing on a 4 string bass).

The differences lie mainly in the physical/aural aspects like string switching on thicker strings, a heaver instrument overall, getting the right tone that fits the song/music but doesn't get buried under the mix, etc.

There are tons of resources on YouTube/Instagram/TikTok.

Here's a few I follow:

For Lessons:
Andrew Freed
Daric Bennett
BassBuzz
Dan Hawkins

For Covers:
CoverSolutions
Fusilli Jerry
Greg Fairweather
DarthMart
just some basslines

It easy to be "ok" but it takes a special person like Phil Lesh to take it to another level....aka the "Phil Zone"

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Were there some road blocks you encountered that made it somewhat a frustrating learning experience?

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I won’t speak to easy / easier, as learning a few power chords takes about as much time as learning a basic bass line, which is where a lot of people start.

Two challenges and one piece of general advice:

1) learning songs is often challenging because the bass is buried in the mix and difficult to hear; get good headphones or speakers when learning or you’ll go nuts.

2) related to #1 being heard in a band setting live. Bass players disappear tonally for a variety of reasons…guitar players are too fricking loud (usually the case), kick drum is mic’d and cranked, bass players “scoop the mids” because it sounded good in their bedroom, drop tunings and floppy strings, under powered rig, not enough attack. If you’re playing with others, figure out how to live sonically where the kick drum and guitar aren’t already taking up space…think low mids to high mids.

3) general advice -skip Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and whatever your guitarists friends tell you to learn. Learn songs you love and know by heart because it’s so much easier to find the groove and figure out what the bassist was going for and why they made the choices they made. Don’t like Rush, Tool, or RHCP? Then fricking skip it! Play your Motley Crue songs and frick up a bunch, you’ll have a much more fun time learning.