How to learn bass: choosing a bass

The first thing you will need on your how to learn bass adventure is a guitar to practice with.

Try as many basses as possible before your shopping trip. This will narrow the field considerably and save you some time. If you know any bassists you may be able to have a go on their instrument and this will be really good experience.

Do some research on the web. When you know the type of bass you are interested in do a search on the web and see if you can find someone who has reviewed it. This will be from a real user and will be a much more valuable source of information than marketing copy.

The budget will indicate if you are after a new or second hand instrument and a well known brand or obscure one. A bass from a well known company (Fender, Gibson etc.) is almost always a safe bet but you will be paying for the name. Most people like a shiny, new bass but you can get some great second hand deals and save yourself heaps. I strongly advise you to leave enough in the budget for a hard case. This will pay for itself many times over when you are playing away from home.

I strongly suggest that for your first bass you try it out yourself. This way you will know how it feels to play and whether you will be comfortable all those practice hours with it around your neck. As you are a complete beginner try to get someone with guitar buying experience to tag along and help you.

Pay close attention to the neck - cheaper guitars can sometimes have a warped neck. This is a costly flaw as the cost to fix it may be more than the instrument will cost. If you straight down the neck from the bridge the frets should all appear parallel to each other. If this is not sp the neck may be warped. Please don't mistake neck warp with the gentle bowing of the neck towards the middle. This is neck relief and allows the strings to sound without causing buzzing on the frets. All guitars and basses must have some neck relief in order to work properly. While you are checking the neck look carefully for repairs or cracks which may indicate problems. If the bass is second hand check the frets for excessive wear as re-fretting can be very costly.

Try playing notes in all positions on the neck. Can you get a clean sound without buzzing? Fret buzz could be due to neck problems or the bass could have a bad set up. The distance between the frets and the strings is called "action" and is measured half way down the length of the string at the 12th fret. Action is the main factor in how easy the bass is to play  - if the action is set too low you will get fret buzz - to high and it's hard to play notes. Ask the seller set the guitar for the lowest action before playing it.

You should usually go for a standard 4 or 5 string bass to start with as anything else may cause delays in your how to learn bass quest. Your second bass can be a more unusual type and you will have the skills to handle it then.

Good luck with your selection!