No, it’s not a ‘what bass to buy’ guide.
That’s not something I can weigh in on.
This is a “how does a beginner bass going shopping for their first ever bass do it right?” kind of guide.
It’s tons of words.
Forum buddies - I’d love to hear your take on this article.
What did I get right?
What did I miss?
What needs to be in there??
You’re the best possible crew to check out this article, and I’d love to hear how it tracks with your bass-buying experience.
(Already know I missed the most important steps:
Great article. I second @howard - feels good is right among the top with looks in the list for me anyway. Actually I wouldn’t rank them in a list. They’re all equally important.
I’d probably add (If it isn’t already in there and I missed it) the importance of emphasizing that the first bass won’t be their ‘forever bass’. So don’t spend a ridiculous amount of money on something, when your tastes may change if you stick with it.
Buy a reasonably priced $200 to $800 dollar bass and play it for a year and then revisit the ‘forever bass’ question.
They can always trade / sell that bass for the next one
Yeah - that’s a great point.
It’s definitely implied, but it would be great to make it explicit, and that term would be nice to have in there to make it super clear.
Hahaha! Not even I would recommend that for a beginner!
BUT, @Gio says: “If you are considering buying anything that comes up on the search “cheap beginner bass” that isn’t on this list, DON’T DO IT! There are some serious pieces of crap out there that defy my premise that “any bass is better than no bass.”” - and I don’t agree, at least in case of Harley Benton.
Here in Europe it is a well known brand, and known for it’s excellence. Quality is top nodge, at least as good as Fender or Sire in many cases. Yamaha I don’t know, as I haven’t had one in my hands yet…
A Harley Benton MV-4MSB is just as good as a Sire U5, for example.
I find the ergomics even better (but that’s deeply personal), while the pickups are slightly better on the U5.
But you can get two HB’s for the price of one Sire.
Or you get a HB and an amp for that price.
I really liked the article, lots of frank and valuable advice on first bass buying
My only critque is with #8 left-handed bass : I am always a little confused when I see this advice…to me a lefty learning righty seems to trade their preferred body orientation in learning/playing the bass to gain a smoother bass buying experience…seems like a bad trade to me
As a lefty, my bass buying experience is certainly different i.e. many many basses I see are ‘imaginary’ basses that only exist in righty land, but on the brightside this serves to limit choice and suppress gas nicely (still managed to get 7 basses in a few years somehow anyway)
