Bass Guitars 101

Planning on playing the bass? Looking to join a band as a bassist, or thinking of picking up your first bass guitar? This guide is just for you!

This bass guitar buying guide assumes that the reader knows nothing about bass guitars, apart from the fact that it is a musical instrument. This guide also assumes that the reader plans on making an educated decision of buying a bass guitar.

I started off with acoustics and electric guitars when I was quite young, and was only introduced to bass after a good 10 years of playing on acoustics and electrics. But now, I’ve been playing bass for a good few years, and I’ve recently started teaching it as well. I’ve used, seen and played on a wide variety of bass guitars during this time, and I’ll try to be as detailed as possible while keeping the language simple.

Bass Guitars

The bass guitar is a brilliant instrument. It is used in literally every style of music, which makes bassists some of the most sought after musicians, and they can find a band to work with very easily.

Bass guitars are fun to play as well, because while they’re not as flashy or noticeable as acoustic or electric guitars, they still provide the music with direction and drive, and anchor the music. And that is one reason why I think bassists and bass guitarists are some of the most underrated musicians in the world.

Furthermore, the bass is really easy and straightforward to learn.

Construction-wise, bass guitars are similar to other electric guitars, however one should know the various parts of bass guitars before making the purchase.

The Anatomy of Bass Guitars

Bass guitars have a body that resembles an electric guitar an every way – it has a similar shape and a similar design. Bass guitars are solid-body guitars, and are electric guitars in the sense that they also require active electronics to produce sound, and cannot produce or make any sound of their own. Which means they need to be hooked up with an amplifier.

The body of a bass guitar houses a bridge which anchors the strong on this end of the guitar. The body also houses the pickups, volume and tone controls, a pickguard, and an output jack. The neck of a bass guitar has frets similar to an electric guitar, and the headstock on the other end anchors the strings and houses the tuning keys. All-in-all, it is a very similar design and construction to your average electric guitar.

Bass guitars necks are manufactured using single pieces of either mahogany of maple because these are strong woods with the ability to handle the tension that is put on the neck by the strings. But even the strongest of woods will bend a little because of the string tension, which is why bass necks come with truss rods that allow you straighten the neck.

The fretboards of bass guitars are usually made of either rosewood or maple – with both being ideal wood types for the purpose since they’re smooth, hard and dense and experience wear slowly. Some bass guitars come with arched fretboards. The necks on most of these guitars is bolted on the body (aka. bolt-on neck) but there are quite a few ‘set-necked’ and ‘through-body-necked’ bass guitars as well – those which have necks that continue as a single piece through the body and hence have no joint between the neck and the body. The latter provide a greater sustain and resonance however the former have the advantage of being easily adjustable.

Purchase Considerations

Almost all bass guitars pretty much work the same way, regardless of their style. A lot of people ask me what one should look at in a  good bass guitar, and I always tell them the same thing – your biggest consideration when purchasing a bass guitar is that it should be well balanced, comfortable to play on, not too heavy on your shoulder, and above all, should sound right for the kind of music you play.

As far as the looks are concerned, bass guitars aren’t really the most radical-looking pieces of instruments out there, and almost all of them look the same. I’ve seen some fantastic-looking bass guitars such as the Fender Geddy Lee Jazz, or the infamous Stringray, the Marcus Miller Jazz, the awesome Gibson Thunderbird and of course Quantum by Modulus. Buy one that looks good to you.

The important thing is to buy one that looks and sounds good for the sort of music that you play. Because the bass guitar that you feel comfortable with (in terms of sound and looks) is the one that you’ll really have fun playing on.

In addition, for your first instrument, you’ll have the choice between 4, 5 and 6-stringed basses. Go for the former, as you can play just about anything on a 4-stringed bass. 5 and 6-stringed basses extend the guitar’s scales on each end, and can be upgraded to later on.

Bass Guitars for Starters

Bass guitar for beginners are widely available now. And these affordable, relatively-cheap alternatives are perfect for people looking for their first, entry-level instrument. Mind you, these bass guitars will neither have the great finish of their more expensive counterparts, not feature the same quality of electronics. However they would still be ideal for beginners who might not want to shell out a lot of money, yet still want a decent-looking and sounding instrument.

My personal recommendations would be looking at Epiphone bass guitars, bass guitars made by Dean (such as the Dean Zone and Dean Edge), Rogue, Yamaha and Ibanez instruments which cost under $500. All these guitars provide an excellent bang-for-the-buck for the newbie, are good to play on and learn on, easy and simple to use, sound great and are all-round good starter guitars.

Hollow-body Bass Guitars

In addition to the more common solid-body, electrically-powered bass guitars, hollow-body bass guitars can also be had. These light-weight bass guitars have a hollow-body, akin to acoustic guitars but feature the same pickups as their solid-body counterparts. Used mostly by folks and jazz guitarists, hollow-body basses produce a more acoustic tone, however limited it might be.

Semi-acoustic bass guitars (also known as acoustic-electric bass) is another type of a hollow-body bass, and it features a piezo pickup which allows for the sound to be amplified.

Tips and Comments

If you’ve got tips of your own, on what to look for in bass guitar or the factors which need to be taken into consideration before making a bass purchase, do leave us a comment in the comments section.