Who are your top 3 faviourite bassists, the ones who influence your sound the most or who you just like their work? My top 3 are:

1. Cliff Burton (Metallica) - I still question why he tried to make bass sound like a guitar instead of just playing guitar lol. He was such a musical genius on the bass and in general. The 3 albums we got to hear him on were incredible. 'For Whom The Bell Tolls', 'Orion', etc, all have incredible basslines. It is a shame he was taken from this world as he was starting to really show his genius to the world. I like how Cliff worked around James, Lars and Kirk most of the time, not just mimic James's rhythm guitar.

2. Roger Waters (Pink Floyd) - Yes he may be a little bit of a prick nowadays, but you can't deny this guy was also a musical genius on and off the bass. His work on 'Money' specifically. the 7/4 timing blending with regular timing in other parts is just really impressive. On paper, that bassline shouldn't have worked, but it did. His bassline compliments Gilmour's guitar work, especially in the solo. The basswork in 'Money' is just reall addicting. Much like Cliff, he also played around the other guys in the band, not just mimicing the others

3. Jeff Ament (Pearl Jam) - Also a musical genius. His intro on 'Jeremy' is something that always gives me chills, every time. He is one of the best grunge bassists.

Im trying to start a new band, but i am in an area where finding people who play instruments are kind of scarce. In order to save the trouble of finding either a singer or bass player, I decided to play bass and sing at the same time, however Ive been having trouble separating the rhythm from the vocals, and playing one note for the right amount of time before switching without messing up the “rhythm” of my singing. Most online advice is simply to make the bass part muscle memory, but even with the ones i play the most i cant seem to de-sync my bass and my singing. Is there any exercise or way of practicing that can fix this?

As expected, master class basslines, and he was singing too? This was inspiring, although, how does he attack the strings? I don't know how to do it yet since it sounds like a pop rather than a clack.

Basically the question in the title. Mostly I hear that one should put flats on a fretless, mainly because it's supposed to cause less wear on the fretboard. But every now and then I hear that rounds work too. I get the whole 'there are no rules' argument but what's the general concensus in the community?

How do I know when I'm ready to play in a band? When I learn all 10 scales the intervals every chord in existence? Or is it just if I can catch on?

So my main bass is a Hils HNB5 and I like how it plays a lot, multiscale feels right for me, but the modern design is something that is turning me off of it a lot of times, it just feels like very good tool for playing music but it lacks the “it” factor for me. I’ve also got a vintage japanese made Ibanez RB-830 and a loaned japanese made Fender P-Bass, and I gotta say, the P-Bass tone just blows me away. Would love a quality 5 string P, but all the reviews I see of 5 strings rarely play the low B, and most of them just mention that “it sounds good”, which doesn’t mean much to me. Have you got any recommendations for around 1000 Euros? I’m also open to Warwicks because I love the growly tone. Thanks in advance!

I look at my fretting hand a lot while I’m playing. I’d like to reduce how much I do this, so I can pay better attention to the chart and the other band members. Should my goal be to never look at my hands? Only rarely? What’s the right amount?

And how do I improve this? Any practice tips for reducing my reliance on my eyes for playing?

Berry’s work, specifically on live recordings with the original Allman Bros. is some of my favorite and most inspiring work out of any player’s catalogue. Love his stuff on Dreams (Live at Ludlow Garage ‘70), Mountain Jam (Fillmore East ‘71), and of course Whipping Post. I think this guy needs more attention for his fusion of Blues, soul, and gospel. It’s unfortunate we only have a few years of his playing to listen to. (Plus the tractor bass is one of the coolest instruments out there).

In recent times I've actually been getting into strings that have a more mellow sound, which has led me to experimenting with types. I used flats for a while, seeing that they're intended to be mellow. But idk... Every time I grab a bass with dead rounds, I'm significantly more impressed by the tone than flats.

The thing about flats is they don't have the best dynamic range, right? When I hear dead rounds, I hear that dull, buttery tone, but to me it sounds more articulate. Even with something like slap... A set of dead rounds will handle it better than flats imo. I heard someone with a Stingray online who got the most smooth tone out of it, and he said the strings were just dead rounds. Joe Dart (back when he still used a J) was known to just age a set of rounds instead of using flats and it brought a different style of dullness.

I bought a cheap 5 string jazz bass just to try out a 5 string, I've had it for 3 years and never changed the strings, and people compliment the tone. When I was recording a song for fun with a group, the guitarist/mixer said he loved the tone and how easy it was to mix, and the drummer complimented it and said it sounded buttery. Even listening to it myself, it sat in the mix incredibly well.

Hi, I recently bought my first ever Bass and I've been slowly getting used to it and learning, however when I played the fifth fret on the A string, and proceeded to take my finger off it, I kept hearing a sound playing, and after checking, my D string was vibrating as if I had lightly played it as well.

At first I thought I had accidentally touched the string as well, but after carefully playing it, and the other frets around it, I noticed that, at least so far, that is the only note where this happens. Without fail, if I play the Fifth fret on A, D will light play as well, unless I am already preemptively muting it.

IDK how rare or common this is, or if there something else I'm doing wrong, but assuming that it is not user error, is it more likely that this issue is with the strings or the bass itself? I don't see anything that seems out of place with the strings, or a spot where I see extra contact that could cause it. Any help with this weird issue is appreciated lol

I’m trying to wrap my head around how bass functions in these super low guitar tunings like in bands like Loathe, and it’s hard to make out distinct instruments with all of that distortion, although the bass is fairly prominent as far as metal goes. Are bassists tuning down to E0, or are they doubling the guitars and essentially playing a standard tuning bass? (Actually tuned UP if it’s drop E).

I just purchased my first instrument, the bass guitar. I was scheduled for lessons but got cancelled on twice now. Going to have to look for a new teacher. In the meantime, I’ve been aimlessly working on reading sheet music and tabs, moving around the fretboard a bit in major scales, working on my counts.

What are some fundamentals for me to work on for a week or two while I coordinate scheduling myself for lessons? I don’t really know where to start and YouTube is such a black hole of “beginner tutorials”.

Looking for recommendations on a bass amp set-up (preferably a head and a cab) for a doom surf rock sound. Drummer is pretty loud so we want the amp to rise to the occasion and then some. Any suggestions?

After 25+ years if service I've lost my only speaker cable, and I need advice on how to make a new one.

My amp is a Stewart World 1.2, which allows to bridge the two channels by wiring the two positive 5-way binding posts into the speaker.

My previous cable had two straight wires on one end, and a jack on the other. The new one will have two banana plugs and a speaker twist plug on the other.

I'm an absolute noob when it comes to cables, so any piece of advice will be much appreciated, and if you have any specific parts you'd like to suggest, or instructions on how to put it together, it'll be most welcome.

Hi everyone,

I recently bought a bass guitar to learn how to play because I had played bass before and really enjoyed it. I share a bedroom with someone, so I thought using an audio interface and headphones would be the best solution.

I bought a Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd Gen. Although it worked, I had repeated problems with the headphone connections, including the adapters, the headphone plugs, and getting everything to work properly. I also had issues with the sound, such as losing the center of the audio depending on how the headphones were connected. I spent a lot of time trying to troubleshoot everything, and the constant problems became really stressful and upsetting. I had already gone through similar issues with a Behringer UMC22, so I eventually decided to return the Scarlett as well.

Now I'm considering buying a bass amplifier with a headphone output instead, hoping for a simpler and more reliable setup.

However, I have one important question: How can I play along with a backing track while hearing both the track and my bass through headphones? For example, could I play a backing track from my phone or computer and hear it mixed with my bass through the amplifier's headphone output?

What inexpensive bass amplifier would you recommend for this purpose? It doesn't need to be particularly powerful since I'll mainly be using headphones. Ideally, I'm looking for something cheaper than an audio interface that can handle this setup without too many complications.

Thanks in advance!

Whenever I play on the 2nd fret and up, it sounds fine but when I play on the 1st fret, the strings vibrate against the frets and it drives me crazy. I've considered increasing the height of the strings but they are already pretty high. Before taking it into a shop, does anyone have any other ideas how to fix this?

I'm not a bassist myself I'm a guitarist, but my younger sister has shown interest in learning to play, and so I'm looking into getting her one for christmas hopefully so we can play together. Which would be the better option for her to learn on? Also, do you have any reccomendations on where to get a cheap 2nd hand Bass? I am UK Based! It would help a tone

Hi everyone, long time lurker here. Sorry for the lenghty post but I'm trying to decide what to do with some of my basses and some outside perspective could help.
I currently have 3 basses: a Lakland 55-02, which is my newest entry, an Ibanez EHB1005f (fretless, basically brand new), and an Ibanez BTB845. Yes, I have a type... the Lakland and the BTB overlap a lot, since they both are 35" 5 string with 19mm string spacing.
The BTB has been my workhorse for years, it has some signs of wear, I had to replace its electronic (with a Delano Sonar 3, I changed the mid selector to an active-passive switch) and I sanded the edge where the arm rests because it was too sharp. It also might need some fret leveling around the 14th fret. Aside from the last point all changes made it IMO actually better to play.
Presuming that the reselling value of such a bass is low or very low (but if someone wants to confirm or contradict that, feel free) , I was thinking that it could be worth it to get a luthier to defret it and sell the EHB since I don't need 2 fretless basses.
Problem is, when I was young I had a bad experience with defretting a bass with abalone inlays since they very slightly protruded and made the strings buzz, and I fear it might happen again.

So my question is: does this plan make sense, and is my fear about the inlays justified?

Thanks a lot to anyone that read all this.

Both of these are available in my area on Marketplace for pretty much the same price ($525 in what looks like more or less mint condition). I’m going to go play both to see which one I vibe with, but I’m brand new to bass (10yrs of guitar).

Which would you choose and why? Are either of these instruments vastly superior to the other?

Edited: Spelling

I'm asking for a friend, I don't really know this brand and it will be their first bass, they probably won't get to have a second bass later on tho, since economy.

Hi I currently have a kmise ubass, with polyurethane strings on it, and I'd like to make a string change to these metal ones but the producr says: "additional setup require for models with polyurethane strings" as my kmise came from the factory w polyurethane strings, would I need additional setup? And what would be this "additional setup"???

https://a.co/d/01ugC4aE

Hello again! The advice about taking my bass in to get it set up worked perfectly and now I’m playing without that annoying buzz! Thanks for the advice!!

Now I have another question…

When I’m plucking, my index finger makes this bright almost brassy sound, while my middle finger makes the more mellow sound that I’m looking for. I know I’m doing it right and I’ve tried a few different things to make it better and nothing is working consistently.. has anyone else had this problem? I just don’t understand it

EDIT: a little embarrassed now, it was just my fingernails were too long

I've been looking for bass accessories but one thing that I can't find is new pick up covers for the existing pick ups on the bass. I did find some after market ones but for my bass that has a twin jazz pick up, it's very hard to find one. I don't want to replace the pickup itself just the cover as it has noticeable wear from the strings.

Does anyone else have this issue or do you not mind the wear and tear?

Hi! I am a woodwind player and singer-songwriter, and I want to lay down some simple bass in my self-recorded songs. As such, I'm looking to purchase the cheapest, but still solid-enough bass (like the Yamaha saxophone of basses), that will last forever, be a solid workhorse bass for my very simple stuff.

Not trying to become a virtuoso or have the best tone ever. Just need some of those low notes in my songs :)

THANK YOU in advance. I wish I knew someone here in Chicago who had one because I feel like there are thousands of these things unused in peoples' basements they'd happily just give away.

Hey everyone!

I'm considering buying a vintage bass and I'm hesitating between a Washburn Status S1000 and a Status Energy equipped with Hyperactive pickups.

I personally prefer the look of the Washburn S1000, but the Status Energy also seems like a great instrument.

I'm mainly interested in the overall build quality, sound, playability, electronics and long-term reliability.

• Which one would you consider the better bass overall?
• How do they compare in terms of tone, sustain and versatility?

I'd love to hear from people who have actually owned or played either of these basses!

Thanks!