How to play bass guitar: Beginner’s guide

There’s one instrument in every band that doesn’t get the attention and praise it deserves: the bass guitar. Often, you only notice the bass guitar when it doesn’t sound right. A skilled bass player contributes to the band but remains in the background, with the vocals and guitar taking the spotlight. However, an expert bassist can steal the show with a solid bass line or a well-timed solo.

If you’re one of the brave aspiring musicians who has decided to learn to play the bass guitar, we can help you get started on your bass journey. Here are some helpful tips and steps that’ll come in handy when learning to play the bass.

Steps to playing bass guitar

Don’t try to learn everything at once; breaking things down into steps makes everything easier. Always learn the foundations before moving on to more advanced techniques and concepts. After all, there’s no need to start learning how to tune your bass before knowing the names of the strings or practicing bass lines before you know how to hold the instrument.

First, let’s get familiar with your instrument: the electric bass.

1. Learn the different parts of a bass guitar

As any skilled musician will tell you, once you’re experienced enough at playing an instrument, it almost becomes an extension of your body. The bass guitar is no exception.

When you’re starting out and learning how to play bass guitar (or any instrument for that matter), playing might feel a bit awkward. That’s why it’s important to familiarize yourself with the different parts of the bass guitar and what functions they serve. This will serve as a solid foundation before you start playing

Knowing the parts of the instrument will come in handy, especially when buying your very first beginner bass guitar. It’s important that you understand the following parts:

• Body: This is the largest part of the bass guitar. The body of the bass is the part you hold against your own body. In an acoustic bass, the body is hollow, whereas an electric bass guitar has a solid body.
• Neck: The bass guitar’s neck is the long part that protrudes from the body. Right-handed players hold the neck with their left hand, also known as their fretting hand. Left-handed bassists can play the same way, flip the regular bass the other way, or use a left-handed bass.
• Headstock and tuning pegs: At the end of the neck, you’ll find the headstock and the tuning pegs. As the name implies, tuning pegs are used to tune the bass (more on that later).
• Fretboard and frets: The fretboard runs across the neck and has small frets that help you navigate the bass guitar when playing. You can press the strings against the fretboard and pluck the strings with your other hand to play individual notes. There are also fretless bass guitars, although those aren’t recommended for beginners who are learning to play.

2. Buy a bass guitar for beginners

Are you committed to learning how to play the bass guitar? Good! In that case, you’re going to need an instrument of your own. Buying the right beginner bass guitar can be a daunting task, so here are some things to look for.

Things to consider include the type of bass guitar you want, number of strings, scale length, material, and price, just to name a few. You can find surprisingly cheap bass guitars, both used and new. However, we advise investing in a high-quality instrument that feels good to play and will stand the test of time.

Bass guitars usually have four strings, but more advanced bass players can learn to play a five-string bass, as shown in the picture.

Did you know that there are both acoustic and electric bass guitars? Remember that playing an electric bass requires an amplifier.

If you want to read more about buying a good beginner bass, check out our bass guitar buying guide. You’ll find great recommendations on what kind of gear and bass accessories to buy.

3. Learn how to hold the instrument

You might be eager to start playing by now, but there’s one simple thing to do before going any further: learn how to hold a bass guitar. It might sound simple, but learn how to do it right from the beginning, and you’ll thank yourself later. Unlearning bad posture later on is much harder than learning the right way in the first place.

Furthermore, it’s always worth stressing the importance of good posture when playing an instrument. Here’s how to hold a bass guitar when sitting down:

1. First, it’s good to have a bass strap, even if you’re sitting down. This way, your hands don’t have to hold so much of the instrument’s weight.
2. Position the instrument on your lap. The body of the bass should rest on top of your leg. You can place the instrument either on your left or right leg, depending on your body type and what feels most comfortable to you.
3. Make sure the bass’s neck is pointing upward at a slight angle. If you hold the neck horizontally, you might need to stretch to reach the strings closer to the headstock.
4. Just like when sitting at your computer or standing, good posture protects your back. You’ll also look cooler if you’re not slumped over!
5. If you normally play sitting down, remember to also practice while standing up.

4. Learn how to tune a bass guitar

Playing a string instrument isn’t fun if the tuning is off. Whenever you pick up your bass guitar to start playing, remember to ensure it is in tune. Most songs use the standard E-A-D-G tuning (going from the lowest to the highest string). You don’t need to worry about alternate tunings as a beginner.

Skilled bass players can tune their instrument by ear. However, a reliable bass guitar tuner is a great tool for everyone, regardless of bass-playing skills. Unfortunately, they also tend to be quite expensive, at least if you want an accurate bass tuner.

Use the tuning pegs to tune the bass guitar. Turn the pegs until each string is in tune.

Luckily, there are bass tuner apps you can download for free without having to settle for low quality. Check out GuitarTuna, an online tuner app that you can download free of charge on your Android and iOS devices.

A bass tuner app uses your device’s microphone to listen as you pluck each string and adjust its tune by turning the tuning peg. The app shows you whether the string is tuned too high (sharp) or too low (flat). Keep plucking the open string and turning the tuning peg until the app tells you the tuning is correct.

5. Choose between playing with a pick or your fingers

Should you use a pick or your fingers to play the bass? The decision is up to you, but the two different playing styles are useful in different circumstances. Playing with a pick allows you to play faster, alternating between upstrokes and downstrokes (also known as tremolo picking). Playing with a pick also produces a sharper and punchier sound, which makes it a good choice if you want to play rock, punk, and metal genres. However, playing with a pick may not fit all musical styles and genres, especially ones that require more versatility.

Playing with your fingers is the most common way to go, and it works with many musical styles and genres. Playing with the fingers on your right hand is sometimes called fingerstyle. You pluck the strings with the index and middle fingers on your right hand, though some players use additional fingers as well. With fingerstyle, the sound is rounder, and you’ll have an easier time switching between strings.

More advanced bass guitar players can also incorporate other techniques, such as slapping the strings with their thumb or plucking multiple strings at once. Playing chords on the bass guitar is easy once you can use all fingers on your plucking hand to play and have control over the strings.

Plucking the strings with your fingers is a common way to play the bass guitar. You can also use a pick to play.

To get familiar with the instrument and the strings, you can start playing by using just your fingers. As you get better and gain more confidence, you can learn to play with a pick as well. Knowing how to use both playing techniques is a good decision. That way, you can change between playing methods whenever you need to.

6. Understand bass tablature

Knowing how to read sheet music is a useful skill to have, but it can take a lot of time and effort to master. A simpler and more accessible format of musical notation for the bass guitar is tabs or tablature. Tabs are an incredibly useful tool for learning new songs or practicing technique and music theory, such as bass scales. To play chords on a bass guitar, you can use either tabs or so-called chord charts.

The four (or in some cases more) bass guitar strings are represented by horizontal lines and the notes by numbers. The numbers in a bass tab show which frets you should be playing. Zeros (0) represent open strings.

In bass tablature, the lowest horizontal line represents the low E string, while the highest line represents the thinnest string (the G string). When playing with Yousician, you can change the notation style to fit your preferences.

7. Play your first bass line

A bass line is a bit like a riff played throughout the song, accompanying the drums, guitars, vocals, and any other instruments. As opposed to a guitar riff, bass lines refer to the lower register of the song played by the bass guitar. Bass lines are some of the most important building blocks of a song in a number of musical genres.

A so-called walking bass line “walks” between different chords and connects the roots of these chords. A walking bass line is a way for the bass player to move from one chord to another.

Consider exploring scales to build a solid foundation for bass lines. Bass scales are essential for bass players and provide a framework for creating melodies and harmonies. Practice bass scales to develop a deeper understanding of the notes in a key. A scale is named after its root note and typically consists of notes that span an octave, or eight notes.

A catchy bass line is one of the fundamental building blocks of any song.

Common scales, like the major, minor, pentatonic, and blues scales are often used in bass lines across various genres. Learning and practicing bass scales may be challenging, but it pays off by giving you greater control over the fretboard, making it easier to improvise and create your own bass lines.

8. Practice playing the bass

Once you know how to play and are able to learn an entire song on the bass guitar, it’s just hard work and practice from there.

Create a routine that fits your schedule and playing style. If you have very little time to play on some days, don’t worry. Even a short practice session of 10 minutes gets you closer to reaching your bass-playing goals.

And don’t forget to have fun! After all, playing a musical instrument should be something you enjoy. This will make learning more effective and enjoyable.

Learn bass guitar with Yousician

Yousician is a fun and motivating way to learn how to play bass, acoustic, and electric guitar, ukulele, piano, and singing. Yousician’s interactive bass lessons teach you the basics of playing bass and more. The extensive song library in Yousician includes a variety of styles and musical genres to choose from.

Learn bass guitar by downloading Yousician for your Android and iOS device or use your computer to play. With Yousician, you can learn to play bass guitar and improve your skills whenever and wherever you want.

Download Yousician today for a free 7-day trial and begin your bass journey!