How to Teach Yourself to Play Bass in 9 Steps

Hello everyone! I just wanted to clarify a few things I've seen cropping up in the comments:

1) Totally messed up the steps. Forgot about step 1 and instead there are two step 2s. My mistake!
2) Learning piano certainly accelerated the process but I truly believe even if I didn't have that background, I would've still gone through the exact same journey. I think it's alike learning Cantonese being a native speaker of Mandarin - you'd definitely learn it faster than a native English speaker but the process is largely the same, just condensed.
3) 6 hours a day was when I was in high school - I definitely don't have that amount of time at my disposal any more!
4) Learn theory, don't learn theory; use tabs, don't use tabs - it doesn't matter! This is just what I think is a relatively accessible method to learn the bass by yourself and the journey I went on to becoming a 'self taught' bassist. Having said that, I do think that having to teach yourself theory/musical notation on top of having to teach yourself a new instrument may be a little intimidating and act as a barrier to getting started. At first, all I really wanted to do was jam with my favourite tunes ASAP! But in the long run I'd certainly steer towards using ears/hearing and building a better musical foundation. Ultimately, you do you!

6 hours daily? Wow. It's like Bocchi but with bass, just amazing. I wish I had that amount of time.

Thanks for all these pieces of advice.

Hello! This video is super interesting! Coming from a similar experience, I have 8 years of piano experience and am currently looking into buying and learning bass! This video is pretty interesting and helpful, thank you!

Thank you 😮

From Cleveland Ohio just bought my first bass can't play but have inner feelings of fallen in love

Im now 51 and the time I started was at 17 after watching Steve Harris play clairvoyant on video, from there I walked into my local guitar store and declared I want a guitar it's black and white with 4 strings and it is called fender 😂, came away with a used squier and then spent the next 6 months learning to play Clairvoyant from that video 😅😅

Súper!

im about to turn 21 and sometimes i feel like it's already too late to learn something that is deemed a lifelong skill, but after this video it kinda chilled me out and now slightly hopeful. I would love to learn but first i gotta earn the money lol

I would have thought that step 1 would be learning the strings themselves , then the Techniques

Got my Ibanez Gio GRS today. My guitar basics gave me a bit of a head start, but my fretting needs work. Using 3 pick because I have fibromyalgia and my right hand cramps up a lot, so fingerpicking is only possible in short bursts.
This video will come in handy.

I hate music theory. It's by far and away more tedious than trigonometry 😂

Nevermind the bass how have you not aged in ten years

Not looking to play bass, but found this surprisingly helpful for digital compositions, as well as for my own instruments. I know this is quite old, but I am glad you have made this. ^^

I got a 5

I'd slap your bass hard

what do you mean by tabs?

Well I was a ble to find a nice cheap bass on market place, but would it matter if we get a 5 or 4 string? I got a 5 string. I've been playing drums for a while and have always wanted to play bass, so it's finally time, my end goal for the bass is to play Jazz on a stand up bass (double bass). Wish I could of started drums in Jazz! But I can on bass!!!!!

This was great, thanks!

Please do a series for beginners, I want to learn to play the bass guitar but I'm presently overwhelmed with everything that's available. I don't know where to start and how to go, please help...🙏🙏🙏

Is your bass a long neck? I got my first bass used. It’s a long neck and doesn’t feel right in my hands. I’m 5’7” tall with a 5’9” lateral arm width fingertip to fingertip. I think a regular/standard neck length might be better for me.
It’s also a 5-string.
I do love the look and sound of it. It’s a Square Jazz Bass.
If I learn on it, will it mess me up should I go to a regular length later?

Hi there from one bassist to another keep on doing your thing and you go girl

Step 2 - Listen. This was some advice I needed as a kid. I played the bass from the age of 11 until I was 18, but I never really understood the role of the bass, and what I was supposed to be doing. I think even nowadays I would be challenged to come up with a bass line.

Nice Dr Who poster in the back there 😊

you wanna know how I learned bass?

Around a year and a bit ago, I was the lead singer in a band with some friends. We were a band of 4, guitar, bass, drums, and me. I'm a pretty good singer, so I was good with this. Well, one day, the bassist got bored I guess and he wasn't the nicest guy anyway, so he just didn't show up to practice anymore. When we found this out, we had a performance in about a month. So, being the masochist I am, I picked up the Bass, and because I have perfect pitch, I quickly figured out the theory and started playing. and it was at that moment I realised that A) I have lil' baby fingies that blister real bad, and B) this is super fun. So fast forward a year, I am in a different band as the bassist, playing around grade 5 level. It also got me into guitar, and it has snowballed into me now playing and practicing music for about 3 hours a day, every day.

Moral of the story, doesn't matter how old you are, where or why or how you first start playing bass. You being able to even play basic stuff is a valuable skill. Most genres need a bass, and Jazz needs bass more than it needs guitar. Yet, everyone wants to learn Guitar. You're a musical commodity. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise, and keep practicing.

Such great info. I too am self taught. And I can relate to much you've said here. It IS a life long journey.

awesome 😎 thanks for the tips :)

Extremely helpful! Imma self taught keyboardists that pick up bass runs faster than chords by ear. Been doing that for over 30 years. I just got my 1st cheapy bass because when the “number system “ finally clicked in my brain, I feel I can do this! This was inspiring! Thank you!

Yo you be rippin ! Love your funk, glad i came across you today

Nice pause on the word “fret” to really let the pun sink in lol

Love her.

Very convincing

The video of you playing crazy little thing called love gave me a lot of hope lol. Im about as bad as you are in that video and i hope to he as good as you are now !

Her accent is crazy. A little Aussie a lot english and some American. Weirding me out 😂

“No need to FRET 👉” had me dying

Curious. Did you get better at learning music theory?

I want to be like you. Thank you for this video

I've been playing bass(if you can call it that) for over 20 years. I am a really good finger technician, but I have no soul.
I can learn a song if I can find the tabs or slow down a video, but by the 300'th repetition, I'm sick of the song. (until a few months later...again,...again...)
A few tips for the "non-talented" like me.
1. Listen and try to play with early motown soul music, where the vocals and bass are the primary instruments. There's barely any guitar stuff on those. Actually, disco is easy to learn(harmonics), but you need very fast fingers.
2. Always pick with your finger even though if you listen closely one finger(usually the middle finger) plucks harder than the other. We are not in the studio. Feel is everything.
3. Practice developing raw speed and finger/wrist strength by playing along with some Ramones music.
4. Listen to live music(where the bass player's amp is very loud), so you can feel it. Notably, the term "locked in" w/drummer. When this happens the bass and the kick drums amplify together(resonance).
5. Learn some drum basics, so you know when drums need the bass beat(1....3 and..)
6. Learn either guitar(90% of great bass players, all used to play guitars....such as Paul Mccartney) or Piano. Now, you understand the "purpose" of the bass line. Besides the root note of the song, you know the "bare minimum" or the "maximum...bass riffing" that will fit in a song.
7. Find a real musician a friend or a friend/friend to get some real in person lesson. 90% of learning is just being blown away by watching a real musician do it.
A few things to avoid:
1. Do not try to learn from "bass driven" bands or songs like Red Hot Chilli Peppers, where the bass player is a virtuoso. Not only do they play fast or slap, but they're doing other things nobody else can do.
2. More than 4 strings.
3. Getting a bunch of Boss EFX pedals
Good luck and Rock on!!

Too much talking

Sounds good. 🎸 listening 7/13/2023.

Good advice. And you still have a long life ahead

It's fun to see the subtle change in the bassface as your technique progressed :)

I must become a pro bass player

glad to see self taughted musicians, same for me(guitar), keep going!

I notice you were NOT using your PINKY in the older videos

The Sterling Ray4 by Music Man is my Dream Bass. I hope to have that one day. I managed to get a Ibanez miKro GSRM20 Bass Guitar and want to learn on this after my surgery. Disabled, but I am hoping to get enough sensation and strength in my left hand to learn to play. Thank you for making this video. 😊

"As you can see I was pretty bad"
Hol up, what?! You said that was after a week or two of first picking up the bass right? That's crazy impressive as far as I'm concerned. I'll be happy if I can play any song to completion after a month.

Well young lady you just might get me to pick up a bass guitar , I am hooked on music , love it only problem is finding the time to play all the instruments I have already lol , electric guitar , acoustic guitar , piano , harmonica , flute , violin , had drums but sold those, whistle and chanter , ukulele , and now possibly a bass guitar lol I got issues 😂 so much fun learning it all

6 hours a day at anything for as long as you’ve been playing will make you good at anything. If you punch a wall for 6 hours a day for ten years, you’d probably have to replace that wall…🐸🍺🔪🔥