Learn Bass Guitar - Fast!

Check out these Bass Guitar resources. Every Bass player needs a Chord book and Poster!



   

Bass Guitar Chords
 Written by Ron Middlebrook. Bass guitar chord chart for bass guitar. 3 pages. Published by Hal Leonard.

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Walking Bass Solos [for Guitar]
 By John E. Lawrence. For Guitar (Flatpicking & Fingerpicking). Solos. Jazz. Book/CD Set. 40 pages. Published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc.
Level: Intermediate.

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Learn to Play 5-String Bass
 By Mike Hiland. For electric bass. Methods. All Styles. Book/CD Set. 64 pages. Published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc.
Level: Beginning.





   

Famous Jazz Bass Chord Progressions QWIKGUIDE
 By Chris Matheos. For electric bass. Theory & harmony. Qwik Guide Series. All Styles. Book/CD Set. 64 pages. Published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc.
Level: Beginning.




   

Chords for Bass
 The Complete Guide to Understanding and Applying Chord Structures on the Bass Guitar. By Dominik Hauser. Musicians Institute Press (Instruction taken from the curriculum of MI). Softcover with CD. With notes and tablature. 80 pages. Published by Musicians Institute Press.





   

Bass Guitar Chord Chart
 By William Bay. For electric bass. Chord book. All styles. Chart. 4 pages. Published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc.
Level: Beginning.




   

Five-String Bass Chord Chart
 By Mike Hiland. For Electric Bass. Chord book. All Styles. Chart. 4 pages. Published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc.
Level: Beginning.





   

Play Electric Bass from Chord Symbols
 By Roger Filiberto. For electric bass. Methods. All Styles. Book. 40 pages. Published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc.
Level: Beginning-Intermediate.





   

Bass Chord Encyclopedia
 Edited by Tracy Walton. Reference book for bass guitar. Over 30 chords in every key. 95 pages. Published by Alfred Publishing.





   

Bass Chords Pocketbook
 By William Bay. For electric bass. Chord book. Pocketbook. All Styles. Pocketbook. 32 pages. Published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc.
Level: Beginning.

Tuning Your Bass

When you first start playing bass, one of the hardest aspects is actually tuning it. I find tuning to be one of the most important things because your playing sounds so much better when your bass is in tune. Also, when other people listen to you play, it conveys a sense that you actually know what you're doing.

New Strings

New strings have a tendency to stretch and to go out of tune more frequently. Depending upon how much you play, this stretching process can be a couple of minutes or a couple of days. One thing that you can do to speed up this process is to stretch them yourself after you put them on. Go through each string, grab it with your hand around the 12th fret and tug very firmly, pulling in the direction of the bridge. The pitch of the note should drop a few frets. Tune it back up to its correct pitch and repeat this process until tugging on it doesn't produce a drop in pitch. This process does two things:

1. It stretches the string.
2. It tightens the tuning peg's grip on the string so that it doesn't slip in the peg.



Different Types of Tuning

The notes used for tuning in this lesson were E,A,D,G. This is known as standard tuning, but you should be aware that there are many other types of tuning. Some alternative bands use different tunings for more interesting riffs and harmony. Don't be afraid to tune your bass in weird ways. This is a great way to expand both your playing and your composing.

There are three basic methods to tuning your bass, the first two of which will be covered in this lesson:

1. Tune your bass relative to itself by comparing fretted notes to open strings
2. Tune your bass using a tuner
3. Tune your bass relative to itself by comparing harmonics on different strings.

In addition, it's important to understand the difference between a bass being in tune with itself (relative tuning), and being in absolute tune. There are also certain nuances of which to be aware when you are in the process of tuning your bass.