So I am new to the bass scene, I have a 4 string and I was just wondering what would be good lines or tabs to start out with, I am learning to read tabs, I don't fully understand yet I think though, but always willing to learn. Only problem is right now all I have is the bass, no tuner, no amp, nothing. So if anyone could tell me ways to teach yourself to tune it manually that'd be sweet. So really any tips or anything would help a lot, thanks.

You really should get an amp and tuner before you start anything.

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Alright, I kind of figured that. Theres nothing I can practice on until then? That's all I'm looking for really.

Just play around with it. Thats what I did.

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Cool, that's all I'vebeen doing anyway, thanks.

learn some basic scales and some basic lines (Iron man, smoke on the water,
paranoid), then practice and repeat. Thats what I did and right now im known as the best player in my area.

heres some scales
Ionian(do, re, all that jazz)
---------------------
------------2-4-5----
-----2-3-5-----------
-3-5-----------------
Aeolian( spelled wrong i think)
---------------------
-------------3-5-----
-------3-5-6---------
-3-5-6---------------
Mixolydian
---------------------
-----------2-3-5----
-----2-3-5-----------
-3-5-----------------

its true...he really is the best player around...but just because he plays with such a distinguished guitar player (me).

Just go in a quiet room and practice hurting your fingers and getting the basic movements down. Then do some scales for finger flexibility and practice with fingers or a pick (preferably both, but its your call).
If you hear fret buzz, you're pushing the string down wrong.

You should spend some time figuring where you're most comfortable picking/plucking the string at on the bass, whether it be near the neck, over the bass of the frett board or closer to the bridge.

This is true. But if you plan on playing very fast stuff, you should try to get comfortable near the bridge of the bass. The tension on the strings is greater there, so it will eliminate a lot of the string buzz and "clacking" on your pickups, and let you play much quicker, cleaner.

Cheers



(P.S. learn to use all 4 fingers right away, and you'll quickly be faster than most other players!!!)

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definitely start out using as many fingers as you can, you will sound like crap for a while but eventually you will be super kickass, i use 3 and my thumb at the moment, working on pinky..but yea practice as much as you can and build up some callouses on your fingers, if it doesnt hurt, it isnt worth playing

Watch Victor Wooten and just try to do what he does. . . except change the style because his style of music isn't exactly jam worthy. . . but he is a kick ass bassist.

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Hey Bassist of light, just curious but why didn't you do each of them in the key of G maj/ionian(as in the same common major scale)? For any musician it helps to show them that each of the modes(those aren't really scales though each of them fall in a different scale. . . those are modes) fall together within each scale. . . (C major is good to use because it has no accidentals. . . but considering G major only has one erm okay. . . I guess it doesn't really matter.) But like show them that in a certain key how the modes fall together and fit in. . . like in G major/Ionian your Mixolydian naturally occurs at the fifth of G(D) and your Aeolian(natural minor) occurs at the sixth of G(E).. . . Not criticizing just adding on so don't get defensive on me.

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this site has a list of the scales...learn them...

http://www.angelfire.com/id/bass/

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This site has more scales - http://www.activebass.com

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thats a pretty awesome site, never seen that one before.

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