My brother is learning bass... - General

Alright, my brother hasn't got a bass yet but I said that if he picks it up quick enough he could play bass in my band as we are in need of a bassist. We have 4 guitars (2 electric, 2 acoustic) but do not have a bass yet. Would he end up a better bassist if he practiced on guitar for a while and then bought a bass, or would he be better if he just bought a bass and used that straight away? thanks.

Option #2 of course.

What age is he? I don't think either way he'll end up a [i]better[/i] bassist in the end, but it certainly won't have a negative effect if he plays guitar for a bit first. [editline]01:03PM[/editline] But ideally buy the bass asap.

Get him to have lessons, it's speed up his learning alot, you only need an hour a month.

Why do you have 4 guitarists unless you're playing post-rock or something ?

[url]http://www.rondomusic.com/ursa2jrrn3ts.html[/url] Get him one of these. They are cheap and I have heard nothing but good things about them.

[QUOTE=Strawberry Man;24483815][url]http://www.rondomusic.com/ursa2jrrn3ts.html[/url] Get him one of these. They are cheap and I have heard nothing but good things about them.[/QUOTE] Damn, that is cheap. I agree with this for bass choice.

Cheap and good don't go together with instruments, trust me... It is better getting something better used than a shitty new one. Best cheap bass I ever played was this one: Epiphone Eb0 [url]http://www.guitarcenter.com/Epiphone-EB-0-Electric-Bass-100375831-i1150056.gc[/url] [img]http://www.cranesmusicstore.com/images/118745.jpg[/img]

Although I completely agree with what you say, I always recommend a used instrument over a new cheap piece of crap. The SX basses are highly rated as budget instruments go, they've been noted on many a bass forum for their decent build quality and good fretwork, so much so people owning much better instruments get them as backups.

4 guitarists? isn't 3 the unspoken limit

Go bass first, when you have been a guitarist for a while and have to pick up a bass, it's hard to break out of the guitar-playing habits as they don't help on a bass. If you're talking about just lending him a guitar for a bit to get the idea, that would work out fine. Give him more than a month or something and he'll start getting too used to it.

I started with a guitar and used is as a bass while I studied music theory because I didn't want to buy an expensive bass and later regret it. I turned out fine. It might be a good idea to let him feel what it's like to play an instrument before he buys one.

I actually started with bass, but then went to guitar. Holding a chord was easy. Honestly though it depends on the music side of things. In blues and jazz for instance the bass is really coloured so you gotta focus on it etc etc, but with Metal it just doubles the guitar and you're doin practically nothing, in lots of metal bands that lack the bassist, its no challenge to the guitarists to record the bass for that album. Take Scream Bloody gore for example.

Bass first, coming from a bassist. Tell him to never use a pick, and to learn chord structures. His life will be miraculously better off down the road. If you can effectively play jazz/blues bass, you can play most anything else with ease.

He'll have to practice a lot. It's very hard.

For $200 theres a bass package on guitar center that has a really nice Dean Edge 09 !

[QUOTE=MaiValentainu;24515966]I actually started with bass, but then went to guitar. Holding a chord was easy. Honestly though it depends on the music side of things. In blues and jazz for instance the bass is really coloured so you gotta focus on it etc etc, but with Metal it just doubles the guitar and you're doin practically nothing, in lots of metal bands that lack the bassist, its no challenge to the guitarists to record the bass for that album. Take Scream Bloody gore for example.[/QUOTE] On the other hand you have Steve Harris in Iron Maiden, alot of the older metal bands had good/brilliant bassists

[QUOTE=Strawberry Man;24483815][url]http://www.rondomusic.com/ursa2jrrn3ts.html[/url] Get him one of these. They are cheap and I have heard nothing but good things about them.[/QUOTE] Christ, I'm tempted to pick one of those up for myself.

[QUOTE=Ibby;24592209]Christ, I'm tempted to pick one of those up for myself.[/QUOTE] The same brand also has a 6 string Jazz Bass for only 50 dollars more, though I have not heard good things from them. But you could always mod it to a good bass and it will still be cheaper than a good stock 6 string bass.

4 guitars and no banjo? Get a banjo player, then worry about the bassist.

[QUOTE=Simpleboo;24585089]For $200 theres a bass package on guitar center that has a really nice Dean Edge 09 ![/QUOTE] Stay away from deans man, bad news.

[QUOTE=Siminov;24501595]Cheap and good don't go together with instruments, trust me... It is better getting something better used than a shitty new one. Best cheap bass I ever played was this one: Epiphone Eb0 [url]http://www.guitarcenter.com/Epiphone-EB-0-Electric-Bass-100375831-i1150056.gc[/url] [img_thumb]http://www.cranesmusicstore.com/images/118745.jpg[/img_thum][/QUOTE] This is what I got, but I got it used for $100. What you need to do is take him to guitar center and try out every single bass in your price range, then pick the best.

[QUOTE=Franke_R!?;24592300]The same brand also has a 6 string Jazz Bass for only 50 dollars more, though I have not heard good things from them. But you could always mod it to a good bass and it will still be cheaper than a good stock 6 string bass.[/QUOTE] Good things from them: [url]http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=685718[/url]

Forget your brother, get this kid to play bass. [IMG]http://southparkstudios-intl.mtvnimages.com/shared/sps/img/content/characters/63a.jpg?width=320[/IMG]