Guitarists guide for playing bass

Bass & guitar. What’s the real difference? The strings are basically the same – how hard can it be? Unfortunately it’s not quite that simple.

Many guitar players fall into the trap of “playing bass like a guitarist”. Learning how to think and play like a bassist is key to avoiding this pitfall.

The good news is: plenty of your guitar skills will translate over to the bass, so you don’t have to learn everything from scratch.

We’ve put together 15 tips to help get your fingers walking down the long road of bass!

#1 – Playing a short-scale bass is not cheating

Paul McCartney played a short-scale bass. Case closed.

If you have a music store nearby, check out some basses. If you’ve never played one, a regular-sized bass feels like it’s built for people with giant hands because the frets seem miles apart.

Consider this:

• Large frets are easier to navigate when you learn actual bass-playing techniques.
• It takes a bit of time for your hands to get used to the size of the instrument.

Why struggle when you can have fun from day one? Short scale basses save wrists, shoulders, backs, and egos.

Try one out and if you like it, go for it! Nobody’s going to point and laugh, especially if you sound awesome.

#2 – You can use a pick to play bass

In the beginning, don’t hesitate to stick to what’s familiar. Eventually, you’ll want to learn how to play fingerstyle bass so you can access different sounds.

If you want to play rock, punk, metal, grunge, etc – a picked bass might be exactly the sound you’re looking for.

• Playing with a pick gives you a bright tone.
• If you use alternate picking, playing fast lines might be easier than playing fingerstyle.
• Rock legend and Motorhead frontman Lemmy only ever used a pick to play bass.

#3 – You can use your thumb to pluck

If you know how to play fingerstyle guitar, you’ve used your thumb to play the lowest three strings of the guitar already.

You can easily apply this technique to the bass.

• Use rest strokes where your thumb moves through a string and then rests on the next one.
• Using the thumb in this way is commonly heard in motown, neo soul, and jazz.
• Combining palm muting and thumb picking on the lower strings will give you a warm, full tone.

#4 – Embrace the 1-2-4 fingering

If finger-per-fret playing feels like too much of a stretch, you can use the 1-2-4 fingering.

• Many bass players use this fingering when possible.
• It’s much easier on the fretting hand.
• Simply pair your pinky and ring finger to hold down the string.

#5 – Mimic the drummer

When you come up with a bassline to an already existing beat, listen to the kick drum, the snare, and the hi-hat/cymbals. There’s a lot more to a solid rhythm section than just this, but following the drummer is a great way to instantly sound tight.

• The easiest route is to play a note on every kick drum hit.
• If you want to get busier, choose some snare hits to play along to as well.
• The hi-hat and cymbals usually play subdivisions – let them be your metronome.

#6 – Get fluent in rhythm basics

Having some way of notating rhythm or visually displaying rhythms, can be very helpful when you’re exploring your options.

Understanding note lengths, rests, the shuffle feel, triplets and dotted rhythms will help you find the right groove for a song.

#7 – Listen on low-end friendly speakers

Listening to songs and transcribing basslines or playing along with recordings is a great way to become a better player.

• Phone and laptop speakers do not have a lot of low end.
• It can be really hard to hear basslines.
• Even budget earbuds will give you a big leg up when it comes to hearing those lower frequencies.

If you’re new to transcribing, check out our article about ear training.