Beginner bass for women

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Welcome @EmK

The most important thing that has been said in many of the above posts, are, the bass that looks and feels best to you is probably the right bass for you.
There is some debate on the topic, but many people find look and feel more important to SOUND. I am one of those people.
I think all beginners are, and most intermediates as well, as beginners and intermediates will not be able to tell much difference in tone woods and even strings or pick ups. As you grow and develope an ear, this is more of a factor, but even then.
With pedals, FX processors and computers with DAW’s (Digital Audio Workshop) like Garage band, you can make any bass sound like you want anyway.

So, if the shorter scale bass feels better to you, you may want to get it.
However
if you find a full size that you fall in love with, you may want to get that, and know you will be OK with your size and stature, and hand size, regardless of it is a big clunky neck, or a thin fast neck.

Get what you like best, so you can be excited to pick the bass up and practice every day.

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22

Are you using it upside down? The pointy side goes down into your shoulder, not up :slight_smile:

Shouldn’t be slippery.

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23

Yes, the cells down.
I also find wide straps dig into my neck just enough to annoy me.
In the process of finding a strap for each bass, 2.5" ish.

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24

How weird. Mine are not slippery at all.

I’m using this one (their Pro Bass) on my BB734A right now and like it so far:

https://comfortstrapp.com/

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25

That seems like a different company.
This is the guy I don’t like…

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26

Oh it is - I have both. I’ve owned three AirCells (loved them all); I went with the Comfort Strapp on the BB734A because it’s not a light bass by any means and I wanted to try the next step up.

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27

That’s odd! I have rather narrow shoulders and my 4.5 inch leather strap doesn’t even touch my neck.

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28

I’m an odd duck @PamPurrs

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29

Thank you everyone!
This has been very helpful. I think I will go to a shop then and try both kinds to see what feels most natural for me.
Again thank you :smiley:

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30

:duck: Lol

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If it floats like a duck, it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it might be a moose.

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A møøse once bit my sister…

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Are you sure it wasn’t a duck?

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Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti…

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35

FWIW, I’m 5’6” and have particularly short arms. I couldn’t manage a 34”, so I play a Hofner short scale. Has the advantage of being lightweight, which I also prefer.

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That is great you found a bass more comfortable for you, so you wouldn’t have to struggle with a standard scale.

And Welcome to the forum, have you started the Beginner 2 Badass course offered here? It is 100 money back if you don’t like it, but everybody does.

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Not yet, but only because I just started a new programming job and need to focus my learning there for a while.

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38

Yeah, just noodle around with some YouTube videos and play for 10 min a day.
If you can commit to 10 min a day, even while you have other things going on, it will be awesome because you will create a habit that you play bass for 10 min a day, every day. You will start to realize you are getting better doing this, but it will help you for when you do take the course, you will stay focused and comitted and be able to get thru it a little easire, after all that daily 10 min practice you had. That sounds like nothing, but its better 10 min a day then an hour on the weekend and don’t touch your bass but once a week.

There is a thread that catagorizes all the Bass Buzz YouTube Videos, which is helpful to pick and choose which you want to use.

I would recommend his 5 levels of finger exercises video.
There is not much to it, he shows you exercises to start with, and if you are brand new. you can do 10 min a day on level 2 exercise for 5-7 days. Do it how he showed you, and use a downloadable metronome for timing, and then when ready go to level 2, and then 3 and 4. Then if you get ready for that (really do 5 min a day and concentrate) you might be ready for level 5. although it is a finger exercise, it is one for anybody, and @JoshFossgreen says in the video that many touring or studio artists can’t do this correctly.
but if you follow him to a T, and do 10 min a day failsafe, then in 6 weeks, you should have technique that will rival many of us here.

Plus, you didn’t do anything but commit to 10 min a day.
If you really don’t know bass and you really are a straight beginner , this will be so perfect for you.

You won’t be worried about all the other things you think you need to know better, a position so many of us get to, when we thnk we didn’t learn enough of this or enough of that, when if fact, there is still time for us to learn it, we just need to perfect what wa already knw as well, and not throw that to the curb cuz it sounds easy, no, no, no, we must embrace the slow, boring ones, for they are the key to success.
So if you just touch your bass 5 min a day, just to do an exercise for 5 minutes, and you listen to josh, move along thru the video, you will have some fast, accurate hands when you are done.

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39

In my case, I’m a returning bass player. Since you’re a punk fan, I used to be in a glam band and we had a gig where a drunk punk came in and requested Holiday in Cambodia. We all knew it, but the lyrics didn’t fit our gig, so we improvised it as an instrumental surf piece.

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40

Awesome. That is good to hear. Everything applies as far as 5 min a day tho, just to get the habbit back of holding it daily, so that on days when you almost don’t get a chance to do your 5 minutes, you will feel like something is missing, and you will do it right before bed.

I came back from the hospital with a bad infection and i couldn’t play for 3 months, and when I started picking it back up, I ran out of steam quick, and / or, really had no desire to play that day cuz I felt like hell…
Forcing me to play for 5 min at min, up to 20-30 min every day without fail, got me right back into it and when I started really feeling better, I was back to doing lessons, practicing and learning songs at the same rate as before the hospital.
I believe in the power of rabbit, adn it takes 90 days to make one (doesn’t have to be daily, if you do 5 days a week for 90 days, that counts too), adn after 3 months, it feels routine and right, and you miss it if you don’t do it.
But
It takes 3 days (not including your 2 off days if you are playing 5 days a week) but 3 of your playing days, miss them and you can actually break the habbit, and go back into a rut.
Thats why, even in my most busy days, or painful days, I pick it up and play thru 2 songs (that I always practice) and call it a day, and keep the habit going.
If that is not you, thats all good, you played in a band, you have your ways, I am just offering suggestion based on my experience

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