A greeting and request for help

Hello everyone! Terminal Funk here, big fan of this site and Dmanlamius' teachings ever since I inadvertantly stumbled upon him on Youtube. Finally decided to sign up here, so again, hello to everyone!

Now, on to the main objective of this topic... You see, I've been interested in playing bass guitar for a very long time, but due to a lack of funds and the fact that I was already learning to play keyboard I wasn't able to get started until about a month ago. I bought my first bass guitar, an Ibanez 4-stringer, along with a nice amp. Already knowing musical theory and having dealt with the whole "tabs" way of reading music from playing the acoustic guitar getting started was pretty easy. Coupled with the instructional videos, learning how to play the bass has been a lot easier than I had imagined. Also, in a couple of days I'll be trading in my 4-string bass for a 5-string one.

Anyways, I'm trailing off. The point of all this is that I've decided to take a year off from conventional school and apply for a school that specialises in rock and metal. In order for them to consider my application, I need to send in a demo tape where I show off where exactly I'm at skill-wise. I need to play a couple of riffs, rythmic comps, and possibly a solo. So I figure, yeah, okay, I know a couple of cool riffs. Dunno what rythmic comps are, but that doesn't sound too difficult either. Solos on the other hand... To be honest, I really don't know of any good bass solos. The ones I've heard have either been overly simplistic or overly complicated. So, my question is...

Any suggestions for a nice bass solo that doesn't require insane skills?

Hello, Mr Funk, and welcome to the forums!

Ah, I know many people that have been in your situation. I've always (personally) recommended the middle part to "Orion" by Metallica.

It's a simple Root/fifth/Octave set up, but is very effective as a solo. It's quite simple (but maybe a little too advanced for if you're just starting out!) and can be transposed around the board with similar effects.

I teach the main part here, in my introduction to chords vid. Try it out and see what you feel:

Thanks man, trying it out now. It's hurtin' my fingers, but I figure I'll get the hang of it if I just keep on practicin'!

Wow I hadn't noticed this lesson before. Thank you once again Dman for the great lesson.