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Just starting out..

drizzt
Posts: 2
So one of my best mates is a brilliant guitarist and I'm keen to learn bass so I can jam with him.. just looking for some pointers on where to start.. things like which songs would you recommend I start learning first etc.. I have some background in music as I learned to play piano when I was younger… cheers in advance
ac dc bass lines are easy and super cool
drizzt
Posts: 2
awesome cheers
Marko1960
Posts: 3143
The absolute best thing you can do is find a drummer and the three of you just jam together, you will learn faster this way than by learning other people's lines and you will develop your own style. To start off, have the guitarist jam some chords and get him to call out the chords he's playing and you just play along on the root notes, keep at it and it will grow. There was once a guitarist called Hillel Slovak who asked his school friend, Michael Balzary, if he would play Bass in his band. Michael took the job even though he'd never even held a bass, Michael is better known as Flea these days. Bosh
start out with something simple like the beatles
Play some Metallica. That stuff is typically really easy and then after that you'll be able to have a good foundation for more challenging stuff
MannyIII
Posts: 109
I think everyones advice is good , but id go with marcos advice . U learn so much playing with other peeps. Good luck and have fun
LoudLon [moderator]
Posts: 1938
Metallica, easy? Not quite. Not for someone just now starting out, anyway.

Drizzt, start with the basics. Stuff every bass player should know, like keeping beat and playing in key. Find yourself an online metronome, practice different speeds, build up your dexterity. Start with easy songs; bands like AC/DC, The Cranberries and Everclear tend to have very simple and easy-to-follow/easy-to-play bass lines. Learn to read tab, learn some basic scales. Nobody's Billy Sheehan or Flea or Les Claypool right out of the gate. Put in the time, master the basics and build from there.
Quote:
I think everyones advice is good , but id go with marcos advice . U learn so much playing with other peeps. Good luck and have fun

If you can't find players. There are many drum tracks of all different styles on utube. Just ten minutes of drums to jam with. And use a metronome with scales etc. I didn't have a metronome for the first year. I can tell you it's a bitch to get out of the habit of speeding up and slowing down.
Leiria
Posts: 330
When I first started I did play some Metallica. Kill em All to be more specific. For someone who was starting it wasn't very hard but it was also not really easy. It was an appropriate level of challenge
Like Leiria, Kill Em All was a good foundation. I had some troubles but nothing compared to Megadeth or Slayer. I still struggle with the majority of Megadeth songs somehow

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