Teach Me Bass - For All You Bass Heads Out There

BuddytheReow

BuddytheReow

Moderator
I bought a bass about 6 months ago and now I'm really starting to get into it besides just noodling around on my own. So, I have a couple of questions:

-Need some recommendations on youtube channels or other sites to help me learn
-Maybe some books as well to learn on my own
-Pedals. I know i need to work on basic bass skills before diving into effects, buuuuuuuuuut.......any pedals out there that work great on bass?

Thanks,

BuddytheReow
 
Buddy, I started getting back into bass again after noodling around on guitar only for a long long time. Scott's Bass Lessons youtube channel is a pretty good resource. I'd like to see what other people recommend too. I was a teenage punk rocker so most of my bass playing back then was trying to figure out Rancid and Dead Kennedys songs. I still prefer playing with a pick like Paul McCartney and Matt Freeman.
 
Youtube - Scott's Bass Lessons and his website are both pretty good. Also just about the first one you will ever see if you are looking so I am sure you have found that.
Books - You've assumed my literacy... how dare you?
Pedals - Drive pedals with a clean blend are the way to go. try all of those and see what you like. My biggest suggestion is a drum machine/looper pedal for practicing (I like to lay a guitar part and play bass with it or vice versa. And my personal favorite is the soundblox Bass Envelope Filter. Last I saw these were pretty cheap used.
 
BuddytheReow said:
I bought a bass about 6 months ago and now I'm really starting to get into it besides just noodling around on my own. So, I have a couple of questions:

-Need some recommendations on youtube channels or other sites to help me learn
-Maybe some books as well to learn on my own
-Pedals. I know i need to work on basic bass skills before diving into effects, buuuuuuuuuut.......any pedals out there that work great on bass?
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IMO and IME the sooner you start jamming with other people the better. Finding the supportive role zone is key. Play alongs and solo stuff are fun and you can certainly learn a lot from that, but actually driving a band from the bass seat is just moar.

And I know a guy who posted something in your current contest thread that works very well for bass...just sayin'. ;)

As far as books and vids, what styles are you interested in?
 
Passinwind said:
As far as books and vids, what styles are you interested in?
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Oh, lots of styles, really. On guitar, im more of a heavy rock/metal fan and there are definitely some cool bass lines out there for that. But, for me, bass tends to shine on a lot of funk/motown/R&B. Slap bass also is pretty sweet. So, if I combine my heavy guitar playing with slap bass I'll probably get a lot of Tim Commerford/Rage Against the Machine stuff. Jazz interests me too, but i need to reteach myself music theory. Drum/bass songs are pretty sweet since they are the forefront of any song rather than being in a more supporting role. So, yeah, I'll probably have to find a decently priced drum machine or a cheap drum machine that has a decent amount of presets already on there to start noodling around in a bit more productive way rather than being a riff lord, lol.
 
BuddytheReow said:
Oh, lots of styles, really. On guitar, im more of a heavy rock/metal fan and there are definitely some cool bass lines out there for that. But, for me, bass tends to shine on a lot of funk/motown/R&B. Slap bass also is pretty sweet. So, if I combine my heavy guitar playing with slap bass I'll probably get a lot of Tim Commerford/Rage Against the Machine stuff. Jazz interests me too, but i need to reteach myself music theory. Drum/bass songs are pretty sweet since they are the forefront of any song rather than being in a more supporting role. So, yeah, I'll probably have to find a decently priced drum machine or a cheap drum machine that has a decent amount of presets already on there to start noodling around in a bit more productive way rather than being a riff lord, lol.
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I'm a bit of a jazzbo and mainly play fretless instruments, so I'd recommend Rufus Reid and/or Ed Fuqua's books if you want to work on reading and basic walking lines. My last steady gig was in a long established community big band and it kicked my ass, but in a good way. Just getting some of the Real Books as PDFs and shedding chord changes is also a time honored way to get there.

One of the luthiers I work with a lot has a lot of clients who are slappers, and a few hard rock/metal guys as well. I'll ping a couple of them for ideas on YouTube channels. Off the top of my head, Davie504 is heavy into slap and Charles Berthoud does all sorts of wild virtuoso stuff. And Victor Wooten's book might be worth a look for a pretty different perspective from someone who's often thought of as a slap monster.
 
I’m playing bass in a band currently, just built up my board (It’s Doomy/post metal stuff).

Tuner, Bass Klon, Black Russian muff, Afterneath clone, DL4 mkii, flanger hoax (clean blend with modulation is a must), volume pedal, Ibanez weeping demon, Meris Enzo and maybe some other stuff 😂. Running into a darkglass micro tubes 900v2 so there’s compression and more dirt on board.
 
If you get in a cover band and need to learn songs quickly/easily, I recommend Constantine Isslamow's youtube channel;
he records himself doing playalongs — no BS pre-amble nor any "2nd string fifth fret with your index finger" — just plays along and you can see what his fingers are doing AND he often includes a link to tab/notation for the song. Downside, he doesn't slap.
For more difficult bits I'll follow his fingering while learning the song on bass guitar, but as soon as I switch to upright I generally prefer to find my own fingering with a lot of open string/first position...

I used to like DK Marlowe, also on youtube, when he didn't speak and just showed you how to play stuff and mimed additional instructions.

Dave Marks (not to be confused with Doug Marks) has some good lessons on youtube. Straight up, no SFX or video magic (IIRC), just some good advice/lessons.



Effects (find the PPCB or other DIY equiv):

#1 — HPF

you'll need some kind of ...

FLANGER. BYZANTIUM or ELECTRIC MISTRESS Clone

Phaser and Fuzz is a classic combo — just ask Larry Graham.


DIRT
What Nostradoomus listed: Bass Klon, Black Russian Muff;
Bazz Fuss
Megalith
Barbershop
TS-50B
Acoustic 360 Fuzz
Elka DizzyTone
DOZENS more dirtboxes to suggest...

COMPRESSOR — Milk Box, Engineer's thumb, DIAMOND! and any 1176 clone — make sure it doesn't kill your lows (cough*dyna-ross*cough).

OCTAVE — Octron / OC-2

CHORUS — see flanger above, but yeah I suppose chorus. Caesar. A Double-tracker even better.

EQ! PULTEC EQUILUX, GRAPHIC (just make sure it's centred on bass' freqs not guitar's). UNICAB

FILTER: DUCK BOX, 440, Waddle Box (FX25)
Highly personal and depends on what you like sound-wise and what works for the way you play technique-wise.

Check out the Dunwich pedals, some of which are on Oshpark now and ELSwhere.
Check out the other threads about bass pedals right here on PPCB's forums.

There you have it, a completely incomplete and disorganised set of pedal recommendations that would change on any given day/time/mood...

And a Low Tide, you need a Low Tide...

PS: BOBBY VEGA for funky pick-playing...
 
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You've got a lot of good recommendations for channels, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Blueberry in the discussion of must-have bass pedals! Quite a few variants out there, but of the original three, the BJFe one (the original original one) is the best. The Bearfoot version is a bit more focused/mid heavy and the Mad Professor one is to be avoided without some modding time. I'm also a big fan of the Phat Phuk B - I have a highly modded version that is super great for gain staging.
 
This teacher wearing a glove allowed me to quickly get started with slapping technics :


9:50 slap exercise 10:45 exercise 2 14:54 exercise 3

Victor Wooten (my favorite bass player !) also made some very useful video lessons :

About effects, here are the best I could find so far :

Bass Amuser, tube overdrive. Obviously one or two steps forward from all the other bass dirt circuits I could try.
www.musikding.de

Bass Amuser, 79,00

The bass Amuser is an overdrive pedal specially for Bass It was develpoped in the Musiker-Board, a very large german music instrument forum Credits go to
www.musikding.de www.musikding.de
or https://www.uk-electronic.de/onlineshop/product_info.php?products_id=3756

Guyatone PS-020 Bass exciter/compressor
www.musikding.de

Meridian kit, 48,00

Exciter / Compressor
www.musikding.de www.musikding.de

Traynor TS-50B preamp
www.musikding.de

TS-50 Bass Preamp kit, 58,00

Bass Preamp and Overdrive
www.musikding.de www.musikding.de

Lovetone Meatball, lots of various possibilities and uses :
www.musikding.de

Spectron Dynamic Filter kit, 64,00

Envelope filter
www.musikding.de www.musikding.de

CE-2 Chorus with CE-2b mod :
www.musikding.de

2nd Chorale kit, 47,00

Chorus with BBD ICs
www.musikding.de www.musikding.de

Acoustic 360 Bass Fuzz is an excellent suggestion. Arkaim Fuzz, Big Muff Ram's Head and OP-Amp versions are also interesting for modern sounds.

And recently I have been impressed with BBE Sonic Stomp, to shape the signal at the end of the chain. Very addictive, I can't see how I could do without it now that i tried it.... Probably could find some similar sounds with Meridian and TS-50, but it's much easier to dial the right settings with this :
www.pedalpcb.com

BBW - PedalPCB.com

Compare to BBE Sonic Stomp
www.pedalpcb.com www.pedalpcb.com

Edit : EHX Octave Multiplexer is also worth mentioning, 3 octave down and an amazing fuzz, bass toggle is very effective and powerful :
www.musikding.de

Downtown Fuzz/Octaver kit, 83,00

Octave Multiplexer
www.musikding.de www.musikding.de

Good thing is that they all work great with guitars two, with different knobs settings, of course.
 
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The biggest game changer for me when starting bass last year was flat wound strings! Sure improving my technique would probably be the correct way to fix my string noise, but swapping for flatwounds got me enough of the way there to where I could play with other folks almost immediately. I’m not out to impress anybody, so I’ll take any help I can get.
 
Any thoughts on TalkingBass.net? I keep seeing these videos on my youtube feed.

I had some leftover credits/cashback that were going to expire on Musiciansfriend. Those credits came from when I bought my bass almost 6 months ago. I think I may be getting any future gear from them rather than, say, sweetwater. I mean, you get 10% "cash" for future purchases which is pretty sweet. They were going to expire last week so I bit the bullet and bought a Hal Leonard Bass Method book and a scale chart. Cost me less than $2, so money well spent! I've been trying to chip away at it in stages since I can't read bass clef (yet). So far so good (only about 25 pages in) and would recommend for any budding musician.

As for pedals, I'm thinking Chuck's bass klon and maybe a compressor. Maybe I should play some more first before diving down THAT rabbit hole. Or get the breadboard out for my contest that I keep forgetting about...

Edit: I'll probably build an envelope filter when I want to get funky.
 
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The good thing about lesson books is that it's a step by step progression (i.e. the end of the book is much more difficult than the beginning). Youtube channels and most free content is a pick and choose which skill you want to work on; which is fine, but I want to walk before I can run with the big dogs and need a guide to get me there. Plus, a book is much cheaper (albeit less efficient) than face to face time with an instructor.
 
Bricksnbeatles said:
Phaser on bass is 🔥

In particular, I recommend the Bad Stone (lectric bloodstone is the only PCB I’m aware of) as the pinnacle of phasing for bass
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"Better" than the Whetstone Phaser (Aion Redshift)? I'm building the Dandy Horse right now but have an eye on the Redshift for a long time...
Pull the trigger or not?
 
fontoponto said:
"Better" than the Whetstone Phaser (Aion Redshift)? I'm building the Dandy Horse right now but have an eye on the Redshift for a long time...
Pull the trigger or not?
Click to expand...
Definitely subjective, but I’m personally not crazy about the Small Stone (which the redshift is based on) on bass. Great on guitar and keys (especially a string machine or Mellotron emulation), but kinda meh on bass. Others certainly disagree with me though.
The bad stone is far better on bass than the small stone or any other phaser I’ve tried.
 
I played bass in a band for a hot minute and it was fun. Coming from classical guitar and jazz it was honestly easy to pick it up (mostly with a pick).

Edit: to rephrase that, it’s not like I was amazing at bass but I could fake it well enough :)

Funny somebody mentioned Scott and Victor Wooten: both bass players with focal dystonia which I also happen to suffer from…
 
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