For someone starting out with a first instrument, a bass guitar is an excellent choice. The bass guitar is probably the easiest stringed instrument to learn to play, far easier than either an acoustic or electric guitar, a banjo, a mandolin, or a violin, for instance. And a stringed instrument is often easier to learn to play than a keyed instrument like a piano, or a woodwind or brass instrument. Woodwinds and brass require you to not only know how to finger the instrument to produce the correct notes, you also have to have the correct embouchure—this is how you blow the instrument properly and involves the position of your mouth, the slackness or firmness of your lips and the air flow. The piano requires you to play notes with both hands, and doesn't sound great a note at at time.

A bass guitar, by comparison, involves the simple plucking of a few strings. A beginning bass guitar player can learn 4 or 5 notes and play the bass line to an entire song. But just because a bass guitar is great for a musical beginner, it still requires lot of practice and learning to master the instrument. You'll still need to spend lots of time with the instrument to really be any good at it, and to move beyond that 5-note bass line.

If you have an excellent ear and a musical affinity already, you may be able to pick up a bass guitar and start learning. Most, however, will need some instruction. You can find courses online to teach you the beginning steps in learning the bass guitar, and valuable information from how to choose your first guitar or play a fretless bass. There are courses DVDs, books like Mel Bay teaching books which are excellent if you want to teach yourself, or you can take lessons from a friend who knows how to play.

Private bass guitar lessons from an instructor are also an option, and a good way to get a solid foundation underneath you. If you're unsure of what you're doing when you teach yourself and you get into bad habits in the beginning, becoming a great bass guitar player will be more difficult. But if you start out with an instructor who can make sure you learn the basics correctly, later you can move on to teaching yourself without worrying that you're doing things wrong.

Practice your bass guitar every day, if you can, but at least spend an hour or two with it every other day or so. You won't improve if you don't practice, and you'll forget the new things you've learned if you wait too long between practice sessions. Consider purchasing a bass guitar tuner and a metronome. The tuner will make sure your strings are tuned properly, so you won't spend time hearing the wrong notes as you play. And the metronome will help you practice correctly, by forcing you to keep perfect time as you play your bass guitar.

Photo Credits: 1

Originally posted 2008-12-08 17:51:28. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Related Posts

• Review of Bass Guitars In regards to instruments, the bass guitar is the new kid on the block as it hasn't even celebrated its 100 year mark yet. An interesting fact is that although it is called a bass guitar it is not even derived from the guitar. Acoustic guitars brought forth the electric......
• The Double Bass - Then and Now In the modern orchestra, there are a number of stringed instruments that cover a variety of sounds. Highs and lows, the entire spectrum of sound audible to the human can be accessed with stringed instruments. At the lowest end of the spectrum, the double bass, or upright bass, can access......
• The Decline and Potential Rise of the Bass Saxophone Bass instruments are typically the largest of instruments, and the bass saxophone is not exception. This sometimes forgotten instrument can be awkward to move about, and it suffers from little love in the music department in terms of songs and pieces written for the instrument. It is frequently replaced by......
• Bass Instruments: The History of the Bass Guitar Instruments teach the people who use them a great deal. For playing an instrument, you can have your first example of love without need of love in return from a person loving their instrument, you can learn notes and patience and many other valuable lessons, some of which have to......
• Playing Bass Guitar in a Band People choose one instrument over another, like a bass guitar over a regular guitar, for a variety of different reasons. What makes someone choose a tuba over a flute or drums over a glockenspiel is mostly just the person's preference.  People choose what they like to listen to, what they......

Related Websites

• A Little Background on Harps The harp is a simple stringed instrument that is comprised of a plane of strings that is positioned perpendicular in relation to the instrument's sound board. All harps have similar elements, like the neck, the strings and the resonator. Some harps, frame harps as they are referred to, also have......
• Beginner Cello Tips If you are just learning how to play the cello, or if you are trying to improve upon the experience that you already do have, there are numerous beginner cello tips that may have a big impact. The first thing to consider is the fact that improper practice can lead......
• Finding Acoustic Guitar Music Those who play the acoustic guitar are always on the lookout for great acoustic guitar music. There are a number of great collections out there and virtually every hard rock artist has come up with an acoustic version of their music that can be learned and played. To find the......
• 5 Tips for Acoustic Guitar Playing Here are a couple of acoustic guitar tips for free that every beginner should learn sooner than later. Some of it is harder to learn than it is for others; forewarned is forearmed. Guitar Tip #1 - You are incredibly unlikely to hear anyone ever say to themselves "It is......
• How Acoustic Bass Guitars Work The acoustic bass guitar can be viewed as a deeper brother of the standard western style guitar. The acoustic bass guitar is definitely related to the guitarrons that Mexican mariachi bands use, but they are also different in their own right. They are different in a number of ways that......

Online Stores

• Ovation Right-Handed Acoustic Guitar Musical Instruments
• Alvarez Right-Handed Acoustic Guitar Musical Instruments
• Johnson Right-Handed Acoustic Guitar Musical Instruments
• Left-Handed Acoustic Guitar Musical Instruments
• Hudson Right-Handed Acoustic Guitar Musical Instruments

If you liked this article, vote for it on del.icio.us and stumbleupon.

Categories:

Bass Guitar, Musical Instruments Bass, Playing Tips

Tags:

air flow, bad habits, bass guitar lessons, bass guitar player, bass line, beginning bass guitar, brass instrument, electric guitar, embouchure, firmness, first guitar, fretless bass, keyed instrument, mandolin, mel bay, solid foundation, stringed instrument, teaching books, woodwind, woodwinds and brass