I’m A Bass Player - Resources for Bass Players

Upgrading Your Bass

Posted by: Admin Post date: December 5th, 2008

Upgrading your bass is a great way to get a huge improvement in sound and/or playability without spending the big bucks for the high-end model. If you’re really handy you can actually build your own bass, but most people will want to start with a decent bass and improve it.

With electric basses, the difference between the low-end models and the expensive ones is often the pickups. With modern equipment, it’s fairly inexpensive to turn out very nice bodies, necks, etc. and as long as they’re put together well, you’ve got the basis for a very nice bass.

Check out the models from the big name companies that are manufactured in Korea or Mexico, for example. You can often purchase a bass for a couple hundred bucks that is solidly built and just needs an upgrade of the electronics to be a really killer axe.

As an example, I have a Squier Affinity P-Bass, which is a copy of the Fender® Precision Bass®. The Squier is a nice bass, well built and solid, but the pickups are understandably low-end. Dropping a set of high-end pickups into it would be a major improvement for a couple hundred dollars and a couple hours time spent.

There are plenty of other tweaks you can do to upgrade the quality of a bass like this, but by far the best bang for the buck will be a set of high quality pickups. After that, you can add things like drop-tuners, better bridge, etc.

If you have basic soldering skills and can work a screwdriver, you can make these mods easily. You’ll find that there’s something very satisfying about playing a bass that you’ve upgraded yourself.

I’m A Bass Player

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Which Bass Should I Buy?

Posted by: Admin Post date: November 19th, 2008

This is probably the most commonly asked question when someone is just starting out with the bass. There is a bewildering number of choices in all price ranges, so the prospective player needs to answer a couple questions to narrow their focus.

First, what style of music do you want to learn to play? If you want to shred like the metal monsters, you obviously don’t want a standup bass! The simplest thing to do is to check out the instruments played by the players you most admire and look at similar models.

Second, how much do you want to spend on a bass? The instruments played by the pros, generally speaking, will be way out of the budget range of most people. The axes you see on stage typically cost thousands of dollars each. The good news is that there are usually very similar models available for a few hundred dollars. The differences are many, but basically, the major reasons why the pro models cost so much more are: better pickups and electronics, more expensive materials for the body and neck and much more attention to detail in the fit and finish of the instrument.

You want to buy as good an instrument as you can afford, for two reasons. One, better quality basses are easier to play meaning you won’t have to work as hard to get the sounds you want out of them. Two, if you decide after a while that you want to trade up to a better bass, or you give up playing for whatever reason, you can sell a better quality used instrument more readily than a cheap one.

Keep in mind that having the exact same model as Joe Rockstar plays will not automatically make you as good a player as he is! Buy one that looks like his if you want, but don’t break the bank until you know you’re going to stick with it for the long haul.

You’ve got a lot to learn before you’ll begin to push the limits of what a good inexpensive bass can do. Save some of your hard-earned cash for how-to-play courses and concert tickets!

I’m A Bass Player

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