The Bass thread

[Antonio]

honestly, when you start practicing bass, expect to stretch out your fingers a bit, but no, having small hands isn't that big of a setback.

[Neapolitan]

Originally Posted by Lateralus

So by now most of you are probably aware that I want to learn bass pretty badly... I still haven't made my purchase yet because I'm having second thoughts.

Is it possible to learn the bass if you have really small hands and fingers? Because my hands are quite tiny. I can play piano and guitar amply but everything about the bass is just fatter. They are strong and flexible, just small.


Thoughts, opinions? Apologies for the copious amount of questions.

(Unless a person is 6'5" everyone is kinda small to play bass)
As far as having small hands it shouldn't matter too much when playing bass. because you can just switch positions (move around on the fretboard) to play one note to the next,
So if you want to play bass but are apprehensive because of small hands look for shorter scale bass. I have a Fender Musicmaster Bass (Vista Series). It's 30" short scale bass, a regular Fender bass is 34" long. Having a shorter scale bass make it so much more comfortable to play then a regular bass.

[Astronomer]

Awesome, thanks for the advice everyone. If I do eventually buy one I might look at getting a shorter scale one. Are they still as common as regular length basses though? 'Cause I'm thinking I might check out a second hand place and my options may be limited.

[mr dave]

consider flea and the way he plays (and played) his bass.

he's about 5'6". as in, about 2 inches taller than the average north american woman, or... a short guy. with appropriately sized hands for his height (as in not freakishly huge)

have you tried any actual basses yet? borrowed one from a bandmate for the weekend just to fool around a bit?

[Astronomer]

^ Oh all the time. Whenever mates come over to jam I always hop on someone's bass and fiddle around... it's one of the reasons why I've decided to take it up because I just love its groove and how it feels to play it... more chunky (I can't really explain lol) than piano and guitar, other instruments I've learned.

But despite fiddling around on mate's basses lots I'm still worried that having small 'delicate' (I guess?) hands will be my downfall when I try learning the instrument in more detail and progressing further. A lot of people say bass is physically harder to play than guitar/ piano and I guess this is what I'm a bit worried about.

Anyway, I have a friend who is selling a bass and amp. I'm not sure what make it is yet but as far as I've heard she is selling it pretty damn cheaply so I might go for it!

[FaSho]

Well I've been playing the bass for awhile, and decided I want to try stand-up. Any major differances?

[Antonio]

uhhhh......like bigger strings and high as **** action, not to mention no frets if you were originally on a fretted bass.

[gunnels]

I mess with the standups at school alot. MUCH larger fingerboards, no frets, thicker strings etc.
Still fun to mess around with though.

[Farfisa]

Does anyone here have a hollowbody bass? Like a Gibson or an Epiphone?

[mr dave]

@fasho - aside from the size issues as mentioned before, the other major difference you'll notice on an upright from an electric bass is the type of string used. you'll be going from steel to gut / nylon. they'll burn new callouses onto your fingertips.

@lateralus - the idea that playing bass is 'physically harder' than piano or guitar is bollocks. i found the bigger strings made it easier to sound the notes as you have a greater surface area to press down onto the fretboard (as opposed to having a thin wire cutting into your fingertip). the biggest challenge is developing a fingerstyle method if you've been playing with a pic for years.

one other thing to try if you're still concerned about the size is playing octaves. for the vast majority of bass lines octaves will be the biggest stretch you're left hand will face.

try this funky line next time you're noodling on a bass

G--------------------------------------------
D-----3---4---5---6------7---6---5---4------
A--------------------------------------------
E-X-1---2---3---4----X-5---4---3---2--------

keep the low notes fretted with your index finger and the high ones with your little finger. the trick to start is to use your ring finger to reinforce the fretting of the high notes behind your little finger, so you basically end up using two fingers to hold down the higher string but only the tip of your little finger has to reach the high note.



can't comment on hollowbody basses aside from the fact that they look sweet as hell.