Guitar playing

[Mootland Farmer]

Ok, I want to learn how to play the Guitar, more specifically the Bass Guitar. I have had a look at some past threads about it and I have a few questions.

Would be a good idea to play the acoustic guitar first? What do I need to just start playing? A guitar and an amp? which brings me onto my next question, should I get lessons, or self-teach myself?

If you can answer those questions, and perhaps give me some other information, that would be cool. Thanks.

[D1st0rt]

I took guitar for 2 years in high school, having 2 hours every other day and regular deadlines for playing pieces really helped me practice regularly unlike now where I haven't touched it in months

[DoTheFandango]

Well Bass and Guitar are two different beasts. If you want to do bass, stick with an electric bass first.

[Kawrae]

You don't need any lessons, just download guitarpro 5, get the tabs of your favourite song and play it until your fingers starts to bleed.

[geekbot]

Go straight to bass. Knowing guitar can help in an indirect sort of way but it's not worth it to learn if bass is your goal.

I learned to play bass guitar for my church. It's relatively easy- I can play decently and I can teach anyone with basic musical knowledge everything I know in 5-10 minutes.

I know a bunch of other instruments so it was probably easier for me to pick up without any instruction but I think anyone could learn with a book for guidance.

My tip would be to:
1) learn what a scale is (if you don't know already)
2) learn how to play a scale on the bass without open strings (this will let you play in any key, just change your starting position)
3) learn basic chord theory (most rock songs use I-IV-V chords)

That will allow you to understand what you're doing. If you're not built to think in terms of scales/chords, skipping those and just learning tab notation should get you pretty far too.

The only thing that sucks about bass is I never play unless it's with other people- so I basically never practice. Bass is not really a solo/melody instrument. But if you can play along with a CD or something that would work too.

Have fun!

[Hero*]

this belongs to the music section. but it depends on how good you wanna get. get lessons if you don'tknow anything and untill you know enough quit and self teach

[Material Girl]

Just use a keyboard or piano and teach yourself all the 12 scales in every major key. Then, when you have finished this mighty task, go to a teacher and get them to teach you the other scales.

[Mootland Farmer]

I have another question. Can I get a decent 'set' to start off without forking out hundreds and hundreds of dollars for one. I had a look at some Bass Guitars in $NZDs and most are $800 or so. Am I looking in the wrong place? and can I get a decent one for cheaper?

[Galleleo]

I am totally anti music instruments as far as playing is concerned (not that I don't want too, I just suck at it). But I had to play the bass guitar in high school (granted, simple stuff, no riffs), but I had that down pretty fast. I would like to learn to play the piano some day tho.

[Rab]

i have the odd bits of lyrics that i'd like to put together into a song.

i've previously tried to learn clarinet and guitar, but gave up coz i was noob.

i've seen a started guitar set for £99 (geet, amp, phones) and i'm tempted. can anyone give me some tips on how to start making a song, and what kind of geet i should be buying?

[Rab]

i have the odd bits of lyrics that i'd like to put together into a song.

i've previously tried to learn clarinet and guitar, but gave up coz i was noob.

i've seen a started guitar set for £99 (geet, amp, phones) and i'm tempted. can anyone give me some tips on how to start making a song, and what kind of geet i should be buying?

[Mootland Farmer]

Make your own thread.

[Sleuth]

Well i play the guitar (3/4 years now) and so my bass advice would be somewhat weak.

People always talk about how acoustic is harder but the way to go for beginners, which i find is bullshit. When my friends and i hit grade 8 we started getting into classic shit and all wanted a guitar, half of us started on acoustic, have on electric, and to date, only the electrics are still playing. For a beginning the acoustic is MUCH more boring the the electric, because a good acoustic song can be much harder to play and make it sound good then say, a cool guitar riff exploding on high distortion.

Bascially, starting on an electric will make you wanna play more, because it sounds cooler and gives u more drive.

For bass you dont have much choice, acoustic bass's are more of a specialty, that good bass players play after getting good at the electric.

As for what you need, do NOT get an electric guitar WITHOUT the amp, that is almost useless to a new player, who usually wants to let it rip. Playing an unplugged electric is like fucking a girl without a stiffy.

You can get a very basic setup (cheap guitar/amp, usually come in a store starter set) for like $399 (Canadian), but i'd opt for a bit higher quality. It may be more and you may be a beginner, but having a better playing guitar will help your progress, and, again, make you wanna keep it up.

[Oen Izan]

Lo Moot

I have another question. Can I get a decent 'set' to start off without forking out hundreds and hundreds of dollars for one. I had a look at some Bass Guitars in $NZDs and most are $800 or so. Am I looking in the wrong place? and can I get a decent one for cheaper?

Moot, try scannin' ebay, I found a Fender Bass for 300 dollars , was mexican but still a fender and to me sounds just as good. (not a trained ear) then I found a fender bass solo amp for like 100-150 range at a local music store. It's at the parents house now being stored so I can't recall the name of the amp * just that its fender*

go cheap is the way, incase you decide bass isn't all you thought it was. You won't have lost alot of money and you will still be able to learn on it and transfer that to a higher end bass once you become profecient(sp?) on.

[D1st0rt]

nice md flag oen