How to Choose Your First Bass | #MyFirstInstrument | Thomann

Julia shows you some of the things you should pay attention to when choosing your first bass! How do the different pickups sound like, should you get a 5-string as a first bass and why it could make sense to get a short scale. Hopefully this will help you a bit to choose your very first bass!

Interesting bits and pieces:
0:00 Intro
0:39 The Pickups
1:03 Playing Singlecoil Pickup
1:44 Playing Split Coil Pickup
1:59 Playing Humbucker
2:07 4 or 5 String Bass?
2:47 Playing 5 String Bass
2:57 Scale Lenght? Short Scale?
3:34 Playing Medium Scale Bass
3:42 Fretless Bass
4:11 Playing Fretless Bass
4:25 Roundwound and Flatwound Strings?
4:42 Playing Roundwound vs Flatwound Strings
5:03 Please comment if you have any questions!
5:24 Thanks for watching!

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[drummermomcjs]

That fretless bass sounds amazing! I love the warm sound and slides into and out of notes.

[dingobabies]

This actually did help. I'm currently about to buy my first ever bass, and this helped bring clarity to all those options. Thanks again Julia!

[timesupmetoo]

About 10 months ago i saw a really cool Fender Mustang PJ bass in the torino red color in a store, and just felt in love with that look. I had never played bass before, i had no idea short scale basses existed, but buying it was definitely the best decision i took this year. Now i learn everything i can about techniques, sounds, how to play my favorite bass lines, i feel like i'm discovering a whole new world everyday and it feels so freaking cool !

[SlowToe]

That fretless sounds so good. Well played Julia

[gcvrsa]

When it comes to choosing a new instrument, there are no end of opinions about "what's best" or "what you should play". Ignore all of those. Focus solely on how the instrument feels in your hands and how it sounds to your ears. My first bass was Fender's top of the line instrument of its day, the 1992 Fender US Plus Series Jazz Bass Plus V Ash, equivalent to what today would be the Fender Ultra series, or the American Professional II series.

I went to the music store having no preconceptions of "what bass should sound like", and I found the Jazz Plus V very comfortable and I loved how it sounded. It remained my main bass for almost two decades. Now my main bass is a Music Man StingRay fretless with piezo pickups, but eventually, I'm going to need a new fretted bass, and that Jazz Plus is still the model for me of what a bass needs to be in order to make me happy.

[paulklement]

Fell in love with a fretless bass from the beginning

[liohrt]

Great video that also in my opinion starts with the most important thing to choose on a bass: the pickups! When it's time to choose an instrument, forget the look or the shape, the pickup configuration is the real thing to look at. Thus, if you can't afford un fender for exemple, try a less expensive bass with the same pickup configuration and you won't be disappointed.
And very good point Julia: If you feel like playing a 5 string bass, don't let anyone convice you to play a 4 string one first and then when you get better to get a 5 string, or stupid videos telling you you don't need more than 4 strings...

Great video as always Julia, and BTW great fretless sound on this one!

[rwa]

That really points out the intricacies of bass sound, and that fretless bass is sweet, that can reach deep down into your mood, like a chelo is exactly right.

[Wee-Rex]

I have always wanted to learn the bass in honour of a good friend of mine who sadly passed away a few years ago. He was a brilliant bass player but he tried to teach me one time and I was hopeless 😂 now at age 56yo with early arthritis in my hands, sadly, I think I am too late!

[jeshely]

Best overview! Clear, simple and to the point.

[rsmith]

Thanks, Julia! You actually covered a few more topics than other videos I have watched on choosing you first bass. Which made your video much helpful. In addition you kept playing the same or similar riffs, making all the pick-up and string differences easier to hear and identify. You would think playing the same riff to make tone differences easier to identify would be an obvious thing to do, yet it has not been my observation in past videos I have watched, which is actually frustrating.

[danadane]

Honestly I've learned quite a bit just watching Julia's right hand finger style picking . In my humble opinion her strongest attribute as a bassist is phrasing .

[MotoGreciaMarios]

Good advice from Julia.
From my experience there are four rules:


1. It's got to stir your soul and make you want to play it.
2. It's got to be able to offer good articulation (note separation). You need this so that you can practice your timing even in busy or otherwise noisy mixes. This means avoid active-only basses because many preamps out there are low quality and kill dynamics. Found this out the hard (and expensive) way.
3. It's got to be able to offer low or mid-level action because initially you won't have the finger strength to play long if action is too high. If the above two are met and there is no alternative, fret-levelling is in order.
4. No 5-string basses. The bass guitar is not only about playing but also muting strings and 5-string ones make this extra-complicated. Get your first 5-string bass if you really need it, later, after you have gotten some skill in controlling the noise.

[janisvaro]

Thank you Julia!!!! You are the whole reason I'm learning the bass. My whole life has been trying, but not being able to get around all the misogyny in instrument shops, gear shops, music stores, etc. You are truly a breath of fresh air. This world needs way more people like you!!

[HB-yqgy]

Thank you Julie a 59 years old never played anything in my life.
I’m leaning towards the base because I listen to all the old school funk!

[austinburns]

I wish I saw this before I bought my first bass last month. Coming from playing guitars, I knew about pickups but had no concept for what they do to the bass sound. Also, no idea so many basses use active pickups. Honestly, my ears were not ready for bass and they all sounded about the same - but a few weeks later the differences were strongly apparent.

[kevinmoor]

I bought a second hand Epi Les Paul Special Bass years ago. Still love it.

[fernandoherranz]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge Julia and presenting these basses. Even though I know about most of these points that you made, it really made me realize why I play the bass that I do. I am a short scale bass player because I did, as you said, start off on guitar first many years ago. My hands aren't large, and I don't have long fingers that might make playing a long scale bass easier. But actually, I am a "lazy" bass player in that I want to have the lightest bass with the shortest distance between frets (or fret lines on my fretless) as possible to make the sound that I want to make. And BTW that Squire Jaguar short scale has an awesome sound! Very snappy, but I never liked how it sat in my lap when I owned one. Oh well- I'll stick with my custom short scale fretless Bronco bass. Great video and thanks again!

[rome]

When I chose my first bass, I picked a Made in Mexico Fender Jazz Bass. The reasons I did were pretty simple. 1) I thought the name sounded cool. 2) The music store had one in a nice burgundy color. 3) The neck was really comfortable for a beginner.

I've since switched to a Precision and a StingRay because I prefer the sound, but the Jazz Bass still has my favorite neck shape.

[PharaohciousX]

never heard of a fretless bass! thanks! i love its sound and cello is my favorite classical instrument so this helped me narrow things down