Bass Guitars in general

In real parliamentary fashion I must first "declare an interest" as I have been playing that wonderful instrument called the electric bass guitar since November 2004. The bass player is often overlooked in a band - quite often that's the way we like it, our job is to stand in the shadows and hold the whole damn thing together - but whilst guitarists and drummers usually get the attention, a good bassist is worth his or her weight in gold. In fact a good rythym section (bass and drums) can turn a mediocre band into a more than listenable one. In the modern age producers often make up for a band's shortcomings by bringing out the bottom end (this is a ...  Read the complete review

My review of Bass Guitars in General ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Introduction ~~~~~~~~ One of the most contemporary popular elements in any musical mix/ensembles nowadays is the bass guitar (or bass synth -lol!) - Bass has become a key constituent of most music styles; from Rock, Blues, Funk, Indie etc. Most modern throw-away pop and dance music enthusiasts are obsessed with the low frequencies (as any annoying spotty little individual driving his car down your road with a relentless bump, bump, bump emanating from his car stereo will testify -lol!). But putting the aggravating Mr Spotty aside for a while and returning to the ...  Read the complete review

Many people have may different perceptions on Bass Guitars. This opinion is here to voice my experience of bass playing, criticise some of the myths people have about bass and get some of my own advice out to all of you. Ok, where to start, the bass is an important part of music, without a bassline songs can sound empty or lacking. The bass is an instrument to help the band keep the rhythm, and forms the rhythm section of a band when combined with a drummer. When I first stared learning bass, there were many reasons as to why I chose the bass over the guitar. Firstly it was the tone of the bass guitar that originally drew me in, I loved the deeper tone ...  Read the complete review

As a newcomer to the bass guitar, I was pretty clueless as to what kind of bass to buy. So, I settled for a mega-deal on a Washburn XB100 in a deep, dark metallic purple. First impression - looks good, feels comfy, not at all heavy! Nice thick rosewood on the fingerboard, claims to have a mahogany body. I am SO tempted to pull off the fretwire and go fretless, using the marks where the wire was as a guideline - but that's because I'm impatient for skillful fingering to stop the blasted bass-buzz! But I haven't....yet. I like this guitar, it's simple but does the job and feels good for my rather small hands. ...  Read the complete review

One question that hasn't thus far been addressed (as far as I could see) is why on Earth anybody would really want to play the bass guitar anyway! Surely the bass player is just the guy who's too lazy to learn a proper guitar right? Wrong. The bass player in a band acts as the bridge between the drums and the lead guitar. He can provide emphasis to certain parts of a melody and de-emphasise others. And he can crank out some cool-as bass lines. Basically, the bass IS probably easier to learn, but not to master. I actually began to play the bass a few years ago because I thought that there were less of us around - making getting into a band easier. ...  Read the complete review