Learn To Play Bass Guitar

If you are beginner bass guitar player you might have a need to know a bit about the instrument. This isn’t a lot of mumbo jumbo technical stuff, and you can probably learn to play bass guitar just as well without knowing anything about it all. In any case, a bit of know-how never hurts.

So, let’s dive into deep water and start with the body, that fat chunk of wood at your waste (disclaimer – not your belly!).

At the tail end of the body is the bridge, the piece of metal the strings are attached to. The bridge is important if you need to adjust the intonation (if your bass sound out-of-tune).

At the opposite end is the neck, the long rod protruding from the body (oh dear…).

Between these two points, and under the strings, are the pick-ups. You might have one or two, or in super rare case three or more (who need that anyway?).

The pick-ups literally pick up the string vibrations and send these through to the electronics in the bass and out to the amplifier.

The electronics are at the very least the volume control, tone control and a jack plug (that’s all I have on my two bass guitars). Some bass guitars have active electronics and are powered by a battery. Others are passive (as mine are). When you learn to play bass guitar it doesn’t matter if your bass is passive or active. Most bass guitars are passive.

You might also have a pick-guard (a plastic scratch plate to prevent damage to the paint) on your bass.

Up the neck you find a whole bunch of frets. These mark each new note on the scale, and are placed on what’s appropriately named the fretboard.

On the 3^rd, 5^th, 7^th, 9^th, 12^th, 15^th, 17^th, 19^th frets there are dots to indicate where the chord notes are on certain chords and scales (that’s a theory part you don’t have to worry about now, if ever…)

On the 12^th there are two dots to indicate the octave (same note as the open unfretted string) of the scale.

You can look upon these dots as location markers for where to placing your hand and fingers.

The strings run over the nut (the white bone or plastic thing with grooves for the strings to rest on) at end of the fretboard.

All the way at the top of the neck, the headstock, are the tuning pegs, where the strings are attached and tuned.

Of course you also need a cool strap to hang your bass from your neck.

That’s about it. Not a whole bunch to say really, but nice to know when you learn to play bass guitar.

Here’s a list of articles you might enjoy:

AOL Playboy and Tommy Christopher Drama – Did I hit all the key buzzwords in the title? I think so… Anyway, I’ve been enjoying a self-imposed blog break to move on to other more important things in life, like sell the house, learn to play Bass guitar among other things. …

Lesson One: Notes on the Bass Guitar | Learn to Play Bass Guitar – Posted: August 9, 2009 – 1:22 am | Filled under: Beginner Bass Guitar | Tags: Learn to play bass guitar. Hey guys, Welcome to your first bass lesson on LearntoPlayBassGuitar.org! Today, you will be shown the different notes on your bass …

Learn to Read Bass Tabs | Learn to Play Bass Guitar – Learn to Play Bass Guitar. Free lessons to get you started on the road to the bass. Recent Posts. Learn to Play Bass Guitar! … Theme by Dugu Miko. Copyright © 2008 Learn to Play Bass Guitar. All rights reserved.

Anatomy of the Bass Guitar | Learn to Play Bass Guitar – Posted: August 7, 2009 – 9:52 pm | Filled under: Uncategorized | Tags: Learn to play bass guitar. In order to begin to learn to play the bass guitar, you must first familiarize yourself with the parts of the bass. …