Six String Bass Guitars

How to Tap on the Bass Guitar

admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 03:25:10 +0000

Tapping on the Bass Guitar is a different technique from the guitar playing style most people associate but it will help you get quite a bit more sound out of your instrument and for some an easier style for playing the guitar.

Tapping has been used with stringed instruments for many decades and in the case of the violin, centuries. Other instances of tapping techniques have been recorded with the banjo and other acoustic instruments but it was not until the fifties that it became more popular with the guitar when jazz musicians used this technique. Later on rock guitarists like Steve Hackett from Genesis used it. Eddie Van Halen was also one of the musicians that made guitar tapping much more popular and was even at times thought to have invented this technique. From there many other famous guitarrists have tapped away.

Instead of playing just one note at a time, you can play as many notes at a time as you have strings. For more people this is four but some are playing six string basses which will allow for more complex sounds.

Tapping is simply pushing a string down so that it hits the fret and makes a sound. With enough strength in the fingers, any bass string can be pressed down on any fret to make the sound without have to pluck the string. Instead of plucking or stroking the string it is not unlike hitting the notes on a keyboard.

You can tap with one hand to get an extra note in while playing helping you gain speed since your other hand does not have to pluck. You can also use two handed tapping to be playing notes simultaneously with both the left and right hands.

Much of the time you can continue to play the bass lines with the left hand lower on the fretboard while playing more of a melody line high up on the fretboard with the right hand. Really the possibilities are endless if you use your imagination. Combining tapping with hammer ons and pull offs will make the sounds even more complex.

To do this technique you will need to follow a few tips.

You will have to build strength in your fingers. It will be easier to start with a lighter gauge string.
Your fingers will have to build calluses. At first the tips will hurt pressing down large strings so hard.
You may have to lower the height of your strings if they are too high.

Practice often and you will find the playing the bass is a great musical outlet.

The Bass Guitar and Why it Rocks!

admin — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:32:10 +0000

This post will introduce you to the bass guitar, touch on its history, its evolution and mention some of the amazing bass players that have graced the instrument. Read on to learn more about the electric bass guitar.

Welcome to the world of the low frequencies; if you're reading this then you've taken an interest in the electric bass and have decided to pursue it further. Maybe this post will reaffirm your decision to play the bass, or perhaps it will be the final argument for you to start playing it now.

It's a pretty cool instrument. It may not be as flashy as a drum kit, or command as much attention as a pimped out electric guitar, but it has a subdued, laid-back vibe all its own. A standard bass guitar has four strings and is tuned E-A-D-G; an octave below the lowest strings on a guitar to provide a sonic foundation for the melody to build upon.

While you may give up the fame and glory of the spotlight when you choose to become a bass player, you gain full control of the key of the music, and full dominion over the bass frequencies.

Bass Guitar Frequencies Move People

This is almost a mystical power that most people won't even realize that you have. Many won't even realize that it is the bass player and the way he chooses to play certain notes, leave others out, and the space and rhythms in between these that are hypnotizing them into dancing. It is a great responsibility that you take on - called the groove - without it; any music you play will be lame.

So besides this, why take on the bass guitar? What is it about the electric bass that is cool, or should be attractive to someone just starting out that just wants to play SOMETHING?

Well, getting up and running with a bass is much easier than most other instruments. You don't have to have four-way independence as with drums, you don't have to memorize all the chord fingering patterns like you would with a guitar, and you don't have to spend years to get a sound that doesn't sound like a cat being tortured as you would with a violin. By comparison, you can pick up just about any bass guitar and start playing bass lines almost immediately - the good news is that the easier it is to play an instrument along to music you like when you're starting out, the more likely you'll stay with the instrument for good.

Another great reason why the electric bass is cool is that EVERYONE needs a bass player. You make the other band members sound good, and there are many styles of music out there that use the acoustic bass or electric versions. That means that if you're a good bass player, you're willing to work hard, learn and you have a great attitude -you're going to have many more job opportunities than many other musicians would have.

Being a bassist is as much a state of mind as it is a position in the band. You need to put the song and the other musicians before yourself. You are the glue between the rhythm and the melody - you straddle the line between the drummer and the guitarist, giving the music that third dimension that makes music so exciting. If you're willing to put your ego on the back burner, you can become a truly great bassist that is in demand.

Is playing the bass guitar easier than most instruments? Yes it is, but to master any instrument is virtually impossible. Playing the electric bass is initially much easier than guitar; you can outline chords one finger at a time as opposed to learning the fingerings for each chord. You also have fewer strings to change than the guitarist, but keep in mind that bass strings are thicker - so in some ways, playing high tempo music on them is more difficult because you need to play just as fast as the guitarists but with thicker strings. This means that you're moving more mass in the same amount of time or energy.

What you may not know about the bass guitar is:

There is something to be said for a simple bass line that does what it's supposed to do, get some asses out of the chairs at the bar.

Electric basses can be beautiful and expensive, they can break your heart and if you get used to playing them - playing bass guitars can indeed be habit forming!

The Fender bass guitar was responsible for making rock n' roll music come to life in the fifties - the bass could now be heard (as well as felt!) and helped to drive the new-fangled rock n roll bands mercilessly into the spotlight.

The electric bass guitar started out with 4 strings and remained that way for several decades, before evolving to 5, 6, 8 and even 12 stringed versions beginning in the mid-70s. These multi-stringed basses owe a large debt of thanks to Anthony Jackson who helped open the door to more than 4 string basses by commissioning the first six string bass guitar to be built in the 1970s!

Some famous bass guitarists include Paul McCartney, Sting, Geddy Lee, Jaco Pastorius, James Jamerson, Flea, Les Claypool, Victor Wooten, Billy Sheehan, Stanley Clarke and John Entwistle.

You can get started with a bass guitar kit that includes a bass, a bass amp, a guitar strap, an instrument cable and a tuner for around $250 or you can even rent a bass guitar from many major music instrument retailers. Even if you don't know of any teachers in your town, you can surf YouTube and find plenty of lessons for free that can get you started. There's no good reason to sit on the fence anymore, playing the electric bass can be an affordable hobby that can actually make you some extra money if you choose to play out in bands.

Choosing to play the bass has given me plenty of opportunity to learn and grow as a musician and a human being. It's allowed me to experience the thrill of performing in front of large audiences while sharing the stage with some amazing bands and meeting terrific people. Playing bass guitar is a great way to be creative, relieve stress and have fun!

So what are you waiting for? Get out there, find an electric bass and start playing today!

Michael Ippersiel has been playing and performing on the electric bass for more than 18 years. If you'd like to learn more about the bass guitar or about how to buy your first bass guitar you can visit the author at his site: Bass Guitar Rocks.com.

The Bass Guitar Solo

admin — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 02:52:10 +0000

The bass guitar is an integral part of any band these days. It started life in the nineteen thirties as a more user-friendly alternative to the double bass but never found its feet until the nineteen fifties when it took its place as the rhythm section of rock and roll bands. Since its initial use as a bass instrument there have been a number of musicians and composers who have felt moved to compose solos for the bass guitar. Even though the bass guitar is descended from the double bass, a solo instrument used in orchestral music, rock and roll bass guitarists seem to have been inspired by their counterparts in jazz when it comes to soloing.

Probably the most recognizable bass guitar solo was performed by John Entwhistle of The Who in the song My Generation recorded in 1965. This is an outstanding example of a bass solo inspired by double bass solos found in jazz music. It is typical of many bass solos in that it is unaccompanied. It was always the standard mode of presentation of jazz bass solos to do them without other instruments or only drums played with brushes so the solo could be easily heard.

The list of bass solos in modern music in rock, funk, jazz and fusion could go on and on but it is in pop music that bass solos have been successful as musical works in their own right. In the early nineteen sixties the first musician in England to own an electric bass guitar was Jet Harris who was the bass player in an instrumental group called The Shadows. Inspired by the American solo guitarist, Duane Eddy, Jet Harris left the shadows to pursue a solo career. In 1962 he had a hit single with the 1940 song, Besame Mucho played as a solo on a six string bass guitar. Another hit bass guitar solo was by The Shadows themselves with Stingray recorded in 1965.

Meanwhile in America in 1963 a young composer and arranger named Jack Nitzsche made a lush orchestral single called The Lonely Surfer. The orchestra was merely the backdrop for a simple melody played on the bass guitar. The Lonely Surfer never climbed higher than number thirty-nine on the charts, but that is pretty good for a bass guitar solo!

If you are interested in playing bass guitar, the most common course of action to take is to learn to play a regular guitar first. Strictly speaking this is not necessary but it seems to be where most bass players come from. For someone with a grasp of the basics of guitar playing, it is not difficult to make a smooth transition to bass guitar. There are plenty of bass guitar tabs available on the internet to help you to learn the music. You might need to get a teacher in order to grasp some of the techniques involved in bas playing. For a start you can choose whether to use a plectrum or just your fingers. Slapping and popping techniques can be found on video clips on the internet but one-on-one tuition is probably best. But if you are not able to buy lessons there are some available for free on the net.

Once you have sorted out which techniques you want to use to play bass, it is just a matter of practice and developing some kind of individual style before you begin working out your own solos.

Ricky Sharples has been playing guitar his whole life, and is presently engaged in building a blog called Learn How To Play A Guitar For Free. Ricky's blog features free tools, lessons and resources for guitarists of all ages and stages. Ricky updates the blog regularly so if you are interested in learning to play guitar there will be an enormous variety of tip, tools and tutorials for you.

How to Play a Bass Guitar

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:01:10 +0000

Just knowing how to play an acoustic guitar is the first step if you want to know how to play a bass guitar. The first thing that a person has to do before playing the guitar is to tune the guitar to make sure that the guitar sounds the way it should. Before you play any kind of guitar whether an electric or a bass guitar, the first thing you have to know is the string that are there on the guitar and the keys that are related to those strings.

In a normal guitar there are six strings while in the bass there are only four. Of the six strings there are 4 bass strings and 2 treble strings. A bass guitarist must always know the first four strings and how to play them really well because the first four strings are the main bass strings. The strings are placed in a particular order and this order is the same for all the basses. The strings are in the order EDGB, with the E string being the first one and the B string the last one.

The second part about learning how to play a bass guitar is learning how to master the frets on the guitar. There are around 16 frets on a normal acoustic or electric guitar, but a bass guitar has 22 frets. The frets are nothing but metallic strips that are placed parallel to one another on the neck of the guitar. The next step in learning how to play a bass guitar is mastering of the chords. To play a particular chord you have to hold many strings together and then play those at one go to produce the chord. By just mastering and learning how to play a few chords any person can become a good bass guitarist. The job of the bass guitarist is to just play these few chords and give a particular rhythm to the song.

After knowing how to play the chords the next thing you have to do is to just practice and practice because after all its practice that makes a man perfect. In order to fine tune your skills all you have to do is to connect the bass guitar to the pickup and keep playing the chords till the chords sound the way they should.

Learning bass guitar but get confused? You don't understand how to read music tabs or sheets? If you want to learn how to play the bass guitar form A-Z go to Beginner-Bass-Guitar.com

How To Play Bass Guitar

admin — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 15:47:10 +0000

This little essay on how to play bass guitar is aimed at the guitar player who needs to enter some kind of witness protection program but still maintain a tenuous connection with the world of music. This has proven to be a great way to keep your anonymity while staying in the public eye. The bass guitar player in a rock band maintains the rhythm of the song while the lead guitarist is checking out the chicks in the audience, and the drummer is recalling what decade he is in. To change to this subservient but useful role in a musical group requires a little understanding of the difference between a bass guitar and a real guitar together with some idea of bass guitar playing technique.

Theoretically any guitar player can switch from lead to bass although only one guitarist of note - Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake And Palmer - made a career out of it. It was rumored that he thought it would be a good way to stop attracting women. Actually he constantly switched between lead and bass while maintaining his position as lead singer. Clearly a guy with issues.

Anyway let us get onto the main features of a bass guitar. The standard tuning of a four string bass guitar is E A D G. The tunings are similar on the five string bass except for a low B string, and on a six string except for a high C string. So on a 6 string bass the tuning is B E A D G C. There are also seven string basses with a high F string.

There are several ways you can tune a bass guitar but as they are the same as those used to tune a regular guitar, I will not mention them. As with other guitars you tune the bass guitar by loosening the string and tuning up to the note you are aiming for. Tune each string separately being careful to match the sound of the string to your bass guitar tuner. While we are on the subject of tuning, be sure to do a search for a free online bass guitar tuner.

On the electric bass guitar, the music is made by plucking with the index and middle fingers or with a pick. Early Fender basses had a "thumbrest" attached to the pickguard, below the strings. This was to rest the fingers while the thumb plucked the strings. The common perception is that the pick is used by rock bass players but players of all styles have their own individual techniques, sometimes using thumb, fingers or pick according to the sound they want. The guitar can sound different if all upstrokes, all downstrokes or alternating strokes of the pick are employed.

Some bass players such as Les Claypool and John Entwistle played using their fingernails similar to a classical acoustic guitarist. There is controversy among musical historians over whether bass guitarists who pluck with their fingers are innovators who have explored new horizons or they simply were not told about plectrums.

Playing the bass guitar needs a certain amount of speed and dexterity, and bass guitar music will demand that you develop your own style. For inspiration listen to the most popular and influential bass players of past generations such as Paul McCartney, Pino Palladino - the replacement bass player for John Entwistle in The Who, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jaco Pastorius - called by many musicians the most innovative bass player ever, Mark King - a very fast English bass player, and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin.

Ricky Sharples has been playing guitar his whole life, and is presently engaged in building a blog called Learn How To Play A Guitar For Free Ricky's blog features free tools, lessons and resources for guitarists of all ages and stages. Ricky updates the blog regularly so if you are interested in learning to play guitar there will be an enormous variety of tip, tools and tutorials for you.

How to Learn Bass Guitar the Easy Way

admin — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 02:00:10 +0000

Bass guitar is absolutely one of the favourite instruments to learn. This may be because the bass guitar helps lay down the beat, in much the same ways as drums but more melodically. It looks just like an electric guitar but the main differences are that it has a longer neck and only 4 strings. The strings are tuned to notes G, D, A and E. It has a solid body and frets in the same way as a six stringed guitar.

A bass guitar greatly enhances the beat of a song and the harmony. Most bassists will pick their baseline according to their style. The harmony of the bass will increase and enhance the progression of chords. Harmony greatly enhances a song and indeed defines a songs emotions. From the beat perspective, a bass' beat gives a song or tune this basic element too. Again, it underlies the basic nature of the song being played and forms a fundamental role in the definition of the song, giving it heart and tempo.

In pop music a bass guitar can be seem as a very simple part of band, unless the bassist has other ideas. Just watch Mark King from Level 42. He helped make the bass guitar one of the coolest instruments to play in a group and if you have the will and the intensity a bass can be so much more. However, in reggae, hip hop and funk the bass plays a much more prominent role. Once you learn guitar bass basics you will be able to copy your heroes style and add your own traits and skills.

There are quite a few styles that you can learn when playing bass. A bass solo can sometimes overpower other melodies. In heavy metal a bassist will usually tap the strings, but in rock a solo will be performed during a break in the song. In pop and funk solos would typically be performed by slapping the strings rather than tapping. In metal and rock also the bass guitarist usually plays along with the lead guitar and vocalist giving a fuller, richer sound.

In many ways the bass is an easier instrument to learn and play than the six stringed guitar, but this instrument still needs dedication and practice. So if you want to be the next Mark King or Phil Lynott get cracking!! Remember practice, determination, fun is the key to learning bass guitar so start today, there's no time to lose.

For More Information On Acoustic Guitar and How To Play Like A Pro [http://blues-guitar-scales.com/articles/how-to-learn-bass-guitar-the-easy-way/] PLUS There Is Lots More To Help You Learn Guitar Fast [http://blues-guitar-scales.com/articles/learn-guitar-solo-the-basics]

Learn Bass Guitar and Have the Girls Swooning Over You

admin — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 23:48:10 +0000

It Is Easy To Learn If You Know These Tips

Did you ever imagine why people are so gaga about bass guitarists and drummers? Both together contribute to the background of a rock number with bass tones that would otherwise sound somber in their absence. A bass guitar always produces what is known as plucked beats that are necessary for any rock number.

Now, irrespective of whether you knew about this or not, the fact remains that many including yourself want to learn this instrument for one reason or the other. If you are not the kind of person who has the time or the patience to learn to play the instrument, it will be a good idea to get maximum knowledge about playing a bass guitar, in the easiest way possible.

Difference Between A Bass And Regular Guitar

Before you can go ahead and learn this form of guitar, you need to understand what makes this instrument so special. However, if you are a first timer, then you may mistake a normal guitar to be a bass guitar. While a regular guitar may be made into a variant of the bass guitar, the opposite does not apply.

You see, regular guitars have six strings ranging from the deepest to the thinnest note. If you remove the two strings corresponding to the thinnest note, then you have yourself a rough cut of a 'four string' bass guitar. Actually, most bass guitars contain only four strings that are thicker in diameter as compared to their usual counterpart. This makes the bass guitar a beat based instrument meaning that it is the single notes that count rather than complex chords as in the customary one. With this information sorted out, you can move ahead to learn the bass guitar.

The Best Strategy To Learn Bass Guitar Nice And Easy

There are a lot of ways to go about this learning process. Nonetheless, the best and least time consuming method is to search for an instructor in your neighborhood or locality. Make sure that you can at least give the entire learning gig two hours of your time every day. Anything less, the strategy falls flat on its face, and you go back to be a wannabe guitar player.

Once that is fixed, it is time to look at the Internet for some more guitar learning inspiration. There are several portals that help you practice more by giving you little tit bits to try to help you to learn this guitar. Be careful to choose the right portal as this can severely affect your guitar learning experience. So now, you have the teacher from whom you can learn in person and the portal that will give you interactive learning experience. Both put together, should boost your learning rate if you stick to the basics.

Some Starter Tips To Keep In Mind

There are many who say that one cannot learn bass guitar if he or she does not know the way around a normal guitar. This only applies to people who have started out with learning to play a regular guitar. However, if you are a fresher to this whole guitar playing experience, then it really will not matter as long as you take your lessons seriously.

Learning the basics of this guitar is easy, maintaining it, however, is a different story all together. So, practice hard to get the finger placements on the fret board for each note, into your head, and you will be on track to become a bass guitarist.

Sean H Walsh always felt that the guitar was an interesting musical instrument for its versatility as well as the importance girls gave a guitarist. He used his guitar for the forgoing dual benefits and then realized how much he loved the music from the instrument. He also learned about the different kinds of guitar and where one could obtain free lessons or paid ones for learning this skill. His website is an eye opener to many of the young novices who wish to string a few notes of their own and seduce the girls by the dozens... learn bass guitar
Visit Sean's website for more free tips and advice...
electric guitar made easy

Exercise For Short Scale Bass Guitar

admin — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 03:37:10 +0000

Let us look at the how to create exercise for short scale bass guitar. When you start creating the exercise you must keep a note as a reference point and this will help you go back and play different patterns. How does the bass guitar scales affect the music we play and what are the options for an individual with longer arms and shorter arms. Bass guitar scales that are extra long are usually up to 36" and these have a higher string tension due to which a more defined tone is available on the lowest string. There have been a number of changes to the brief scale bass guitar and you also have the 28" neck which is ideal for individuals who have shorter arms or for children. It is not just people with short arms who prefer the short scale bass guitar but other players who find it very comfortable to use as it is quite light compared to the others. You can also play the guitar much faster in the short scale.

The fret placements that are on the guitar are determined depending on the length of the neck. If it is a long scale neck then the fret placement which are a ratio that is calculated based on the scale length the distance between the frets are longer and if it is a brief scale then the distance between frets is shorter. Due to the short distance that the frets are placed in the short scale it makes it much easier to play faster and you can mesmerize your audience by playing very fast.

The tonal quality is another difference that exists between a long scale neck and small scale neck. As the tension of the string at a certain pitch determines the tonal value the longer the neck the better will be the sound. This is particularly true if you are using a five string guitar and due to the longer scale neck you will get an amazing sound from the lowest string.

Bass guitar scales also determine to a large extent the number of strings that should be there on the guitar. A four string guitar will perform very well with a short scale neck where as a five string or a six string guitar is ideal for the long scale neck. The neck is also larger on the six string guitar and if you are blessed with smaller hands you should opt for the short scale neck guitar with four strings.

You can choose the guitar type you want based on your individual needs and requirements and there are musicians who have large hands but prefer playing the short scale neck guitar and vice versa where individuals with shorter hands play the long neck scale guitars. Your knowledge about short scale bass guitar will help you make the right choice. You must use the patterns to find out what chords are there and with practice you will be able to find out how to create any cord using the exercise for short scale bass guitar.

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