Musical Instruments Bass

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.

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

The Upright Bass has grown a lot in popularity in recent years and has seen resurgence with the increased interest in certain genres, such as Bluegrass and Rockabilly, although the popularity of this instrument isn’t exclusive to any musical format. From rock to musica, this instrument's influence has lasted centuries, but its resurgence isn’t just due to the sound difference, which is obvious, but as a status or image symbol.

An upright bass is considered classy and retro, at least in rockabilly, and the bass is all about the image. In Bluegrass, it’s more about the sound. Regardless of the reason, if person is thinking about learning to play the Upright Bass, they should know the differences between the Acoustic Upright Bass and the Electric Upright Bass aren’t subtle.

People who pick up the Electric Upright Bass, also know as EUB, do so for many reasons, such as its modern style and ease of use. Most people who play the bass guitar have done so on a standard electric guitar, and the EUB is a natural transitional instrument for those looking to pick up their game. The instrument is more difficult to use but not compared to the skill level that it takes to use the Acoustic Upright Bass, or AUB. The EUB is also more affordable. It’s composite and light weight frame make it easier to manufacture and cost effective for musicians who don’t want to drop thousands on a hand-crafted AUB.

There’s also a substantial weight and sound difference between the two instruments. The AUB is not very sturdy and has to be handled with extra care. This is one of the AUB’s few faults. The sound from an AUB is much greater than the comparative blunt musical sound that one receives from its electric counterpart. It requires greater skill, stronger hand muscles, and is more sensitivity to bumps and hits against the strings, which allows for a greater range in sound and quality.

Many people swear by EUBs, but it’s usually for different reasons than quality. For some types of music you don’t need to hear every nuance of a work, but it depends on who you ask. Some music enthusiasts feel the EUB should only be used for back-up purposes and that the instrument, as a whole, detracts from the mystery and character of the AUB. Others feel that the AUB isn’t needed and is often cumbersome and antiquated. To each his own, but one thing you can say for the AUB is the skills required to play the instrument make it easy to transition into other instruments, but this does not apply to EUBs.

Photo Credits: PeterTea

Originally posted 2011-04-08 10:22:22. Republished by Blog Post Promoter