Bass playing first thing to learn?

Question

What should I first learn on the bass guitar? I have a 4 string bass and I like bands like Journey, Gamma Ray, Helloween, Manowar, Extreme, Iron Maiden, Level 42 and Van Halen. There are others but I cant think of them right now, the bass for these bands require skill and I would like to be able to play all of these bands songs at some time but I need to start somewhere and I need to get the basics down first. Remember I dont know any music theory so I wont know what you are talking about if you tell me to learn something in such and such a key and things like that.

Answer 1

Hey wuts up,
Learn how to read tabs and bar chords(very simple, if you not sure yet, go on google and have a search for How to read bass guitar tabs), Be able to play them well, then go print out some music tabs / bar chords from your favourite bads - which you have listed and start practiceing and playing them.

P.S
Ask someones else who plays guitar what 'slapping' is and how to do it, its a common technique used in bass guitar.

Good Luck with bass guitar

Answer 2

I run a sound company with my fiance' and my father was a bass player. (real old school with Del Shannon who wrote the song Runaway)

From what I understand, the first thing to learn is how to toughen your fingertips for those thick strings. Of course practice alone will eventually, but in the meantime one tip I repeatedly hear from guitar and bass players is to use a liquid skin bandage or even just plain ol' superglue to help ease the pain when you practice while you're waiting for your fingers to heal.

To get the basics down you can start using Internet forums that are geared towards musicians and ask them where to start. This way you'll get more relevant answers. It's like using Yahoo! Answers, but amped up because on most musician forums there is an actual bass players section. It's also a great way to meet other people to jam with, which is paramount to applying what you've learned. Don't hesitate to get some advice from the drummers too. Many of them probably won't help with chord information, but they are key to the bass player's success with rhythm as part of the "rhythm section".

Then try a couple of Internet/DVD courses. They can be a little daunting to find because there are literally hundreds of them ranging anywhere from $30 to several hundred. Fortunately, almost all of them offer a free sample or a good money back guarantee so you can see if it's something that will work for you before you invest in it.

If you haven't smashed your bass by this point you should seriously consider getting a local teacher who can critique you and help you avoid, or overcome any bad habits you might develop that would make it harder to accomplish the more difficult riffs.

Hope this helps point you in the right direction at least. If you have any questions I didn't address you can contact me at www.livemusichome.com. There's also some 3rd party musician forums listed there, and a section with some of the more popular online tutorials.

Answer 3

I am learning bass also, start with G,D,A,E and alternate the notes. A great site is activebass.com, they have lessons on every type of music there is and easy to follow. Completely free. They explain the notes quite easily as in "G" 1st string 3rd Fret. Good luck it seems difficult now but, dedicate 30 min a day on the guitar and practice notes over and over till you can do it without looking, then go to another note. I find it is better to devote 30 min rather than hours so the frustration levels don't get too high and you end up smashing the damn thing! Best of luck to ya!