First Bass

So I picked up a bass guitar over the weekend as I've been trying to find a new hobby. I can't put the thing down. I haven't played an instrument in about seven or eight years (previously Saxophone) and I literally can't stop playing this. The only reason I'm posting this is because I'm at work and my boss told me to at least look like I'm working for a while. I don't have any personal pictures of mine, but here it is on musiciansfriend.com:

http://bass-guitars.musiciansfriend.com/product/Dean-Zone-XM-Bass-Guitar?sku=515787

It's absolutely gorgeous. I was shopping around at guitar center and tried out a few before I saw and could not put down this one. What's everyone think?

I don't know what it's called, but the only downside is when I pluck sometimes the strings buzz on the neck of the bass. That wouldn't be an issue though if I had a louder amp. I was short on cash so my cousin gave me one of his old guitar amps to use for now and I can't really blast it past 5 or 6 without getting some awful feedback on the blessed thing (I figured I can deal with it until I get the cash for a good bass amp).

In any case, just wanted to introduce myself and let everyone know that I now exist here and plan to be here for quite a while as D'mans vids are pretty great to learn on (funny too).

Thats a nice bass. Looks abit like a guitar, but thats okay

As for the fret buzz. Thats pretty normal when you start playing. it minimises further the better you get. Then only to a point where itll keep buzzing a little bit. Thats what makes people buy the more higher end basses [Im looking at your Musicman Dman *glares*]

I was in the same situation as you when I first got my bass. I had A LOT of fret buzzes all over the neck. Trust me, Drakon is right, the buzzing will minimize over time.

I'm hoping so. I don't always like plugging into the amp to practice because I hate carrying the thing all over the place with me so I just practice unplugged. Downside is that a lot of the time I hear the buzzing over the string's natural noises.

If it is that severe, it may be that the bass needs setting up, as whilst basses are set up before they leave the factory normally, changed in humidity, temperature & as the bass settles down to the string tension can cause the neck to adjust & give bad fret buzz. Check if your local guitar centre can take a look for you, or anyone you know who knows what they're doing with guitar/bass set up.

Ah, fret buzz! That old ghost!

Check it out: http://mrlamius.blogspot.com/2009/01/do-you-have-fret-buzz.html

Well personally I play unplugged a lot too. I get loads of fret buzz when unplugged. Just tons. But I don't get any to come through the amp. It's very crisp through the amp. Since anyone you play for will only here the amp, I figure it's not that big of a deal. Do you hear the buzzing through the amp?

I hear weird feedback when my fingers touch the strings when I'm plugged in. I'm not worried about that though as I think it has something to do with the amp itself. As I said, I was short on cash and my cousin gave me his old guitar amp for now. I'm hoping to get an actual bass amp in a couple weeks.

Had my strings shock me before. True story.

Speaking of shocks... Guitars seem to build up loads of static or whatever when they have loads of effects on... My guitarist tried it with my effects board (someone buy it... please) and it hurt to play it

Er, is it a guitar or bass amp? 9 times out of 10 you'll blow a guitar amp by playing a bass on it.. You'll have alot of troubles with sound until you get a real amp .. So I wouldn't worry about the feedback.

Protoplm wrote:Er, is it a guitar or bass amp? 9 times out of 10 you'll blow a guitar amp by playing a bass on it.. You'll have alot of troubles with sound until you get a real amp .. So I wouldn't worry about the feedback.

He won't blow the amp (unless he's got everything cranked up full lol... but even then I doubt he will) but the speaker is slowly going to break. Guitar speakers are usually less durable than bass speakers as they don't need to handle loads of low rumbly frequencies, so get damaged by basses

Guitars can also pick up radio signals...

My friends were playing a small gig, and every time they finished a song, there was a hillbilly tune playing through the guitarist's amp

Smaz wrote:Guitars can also pick up radio signals...

My friends were playing a small gig, and every time they finished a song, there was a hillbilly tune playing through the guitarist's amp

No way man. That was God, hinting.

hahaha..So far the amp has been holding up okay. If it lasts a month I'll say I got my money's worth out of it.

mistawac wrote:hahaha..So far the amp has been holding up okay. If it lasts a month I'll say I got my money's worth out of it.

Considering you didn't pay for it, I would say so .

I started with a 15 Watt Fender B Amp cost me about £80 but it sounds so good. I started with a really nice sounding, comfortable, Ugly Squier standard series in a goldy beige sparkly colour. But with its J pickup and its P pickup sounds so good. and I love it.

Fret buzz eh.... well as far as the practicing unplugged I do that too but only because my mother doesn't enjoy listening to me practice. I could use headphones but practicing without the amp is another alternative.

If your finding that the buzzing is that bad you may not have your strings set up right. Make sure the intonation is set right and make sure that the strings are tight and not an octave lower. It happened to me with the G string on my bass as I'm new to this haha. It was a whole octave low... showed up as the right pitch on the tuner but wasn't the "right" G. My guitar was even hard to tune and wouldn't stay in tune because of this... a friend looked at it and tightend that string up and all has been good ever since!

As far as ithe intonation you may wanna have the guitar checked by a shop if your not comfortable with the truss rod and things like that.

First you should make sure the neck is straight... if its bowed then a truss rod adjustment is in order.

If its straight then you should make sure that the bridge saddles are set correctly. If you play an open E and the tuner picks it up as an E then your half way there. If you play the same E string fretting on the 12th fret and it's sharp or flat then you need to adjust the bridge saddle. Same thing for all the other strings..

You may just wanna have a shop do this. I would but I'm a person that likes to tinker. Though I wouldn't make a truss rod adjustment on my own... I don't want to mess my guitar up =p

Your strings can go a whole octave down?! O.O

I need your gauge. NAOW.

*imagines Drop E or Drop Drop C* =P

I dont know if they all can but the G string was lol...

it was sooo loose that when i played it open it would vibrate to the point of hitting the frets and I didn't have to hit hard either.

Haha

lol. If you could stillhear it then its a bit of an acheivement =D