 
This is a bass guitar.
This is a Fender Precision,
probably the most popular bass out there
and a great bass for getting started.
But don't worry about your brand of bass
for now.
Any bass is fine as long as it's
set up okay and works.
And if you bought the bass brand new from
a shop, then everything should be fine.
So first things first,
let's have a quick look at the bass.
Now, in terms of the anatomy,
it's a little like a person.
We have the body, the neck,
and the head or headstock.
So there's no arms or legs, just body,
neck, and head.
The strings run up and down the bass from
the bridge down here at the body up to the
nut at the end of the neck.
They've been attached to the tuning pegs
on the headstock, which are these four
devices up here, and we turn these pegs to
tune each string,
which I'll get to a little later.
So we can obviously pluck the strings to
get a sound from the bass and we compress
the strings down on the neck to get
different notes.
♪ [music] ♪
So these metal lines that you see running
up and down the neck are called frets.
Each fret represents a note and we place
the finger down just behind the fret
of the note that we need.
So here is a C note.
♪ [music] ♪
Here is a D.
♪ [music] ♪
Here is an E
♪ [music] ♪
Okay, so over time, you'll learn the notes
and every single fret on the bass.
When we play a note on an electric bass,
we have pickups here on the body that
capture the vibration of the string,
just like a little microphone.
And if you're plugged into an amplifier,
you'll hear the notes loud and clear.
The knobs that you see here on the bass
can do a number of different things
depending on the bass that you have.
But you'll usually have,
at the very least, a volume control and
the tone control.
Now, don't worry too much about the tone
control for now.
You just need to make
sure that the volume is turned up.
So find out which one is the volume and be
sure you have it turned up full or
turned completely clockwise.
And if you don't know which knob is the
volume, just experiment.
So when we get plugged in,
you can just try turning up
each of the knobs in turn.
So this is my volume,
turned down.
As I bring it up,
we get some sound.
So just experiment with the different
knobs until you find the one that turns
your volume up and down.
So we obviously need to plug the bass in
to hear it properly and to do this you
need an amp and you need a lead.
So most beginners will be using a bass
combo.
A combo has both an amplifier and a
speaker all in one cab,
hence the name combo.
So to get started, be sure to plug the amp
into the mains and turn it on.
You'll usually see a power light on the
amp when you do this and maybe hear
a slight pop.
As for the amplifier controls,
you'll see an assortment of different
knobs depending on the make.
All amps have a main volume control that
controls the loudness of the amp.
Just turn that about a quarter of the way
around to begin with so it's set
to about 9 o'clock.
Some amps will also have a gain knob which
controls the amount of signal
that you're taking from the instruments.
That will also have an impact
on the loudness.
So if you have one,
set that to about 12 o'clock for now.
As for the tone controls like bass, mid,
and treble, just make sure that they're
all set to 12 o'clock.
That's a neutral position so neither
boosted or cut.
So now we have the amp ready to go,
let's plug in.
So first of all, plug the lead into your
bass first.
Then plug the other end into the input
socket on the amp, okay?
Now, you want to plug into the bass first,
otherwise, you're going to get a lot
of bangs and noise as you wiggle the jack
plug around in the socket.
Then once you've plugged in,
be sure that the volume on the bass is
up full, and then turn up the volume on
the amp to the desired level.
And that's it, you're ready to rock.
Next, let's quickly look at holding the
bass.
So we have two options.
We can be seated or we can be stood.
So if you're seated,
simply place the bass on either thigh.
I personally prefer to place the bass on
the left thigh because I find I can
stretch a little easier and the position
is closer to when I'm stood, like this,
but it really doesn't matter.
So place the bass down on your leg then
put the left hand thumb
in the back of the neck, okay?
So midway between these two edges,
so just there in the back,
and then just place the fingers down over
the fingerboard.
Then place the thumb of the right hand on
the pickup there, with the fingers ready
to pluck the strings.
And that's the traditional posture for
playing bass guitar.
And obviously, if you're left-handed,
you just want to switch all of that
round to the other hand.
Now, if you're going to stand,
you're going to need a strap.
So here's a strap and you'll notice that
there were these two pegs on the bass.
So we've got one up on the horn end of the
body and then just one down here,
just past the bridge.
All you have to do is attach the wider end
of the strap up on this horn end then the
thin end down here at the bridge end.
So just push the pegs through the holes.
So we've got this one here up on this horn
end, and then this thinner end here
down at the other end and you're
good to go.
Then you can just put the strap around
there and you're all ready to go.
Next, let's quickly look at the strings.
Now, when we play a string without
pressing down any of the frets,
that's an open string.
So there's an open G string.
The strings work across the bass from
thickest to thinnest,
and we label them by the note that we get
with each open string.
So on a four-string bass like this,
from thickest to thinnest,
we have the
E string,
A string,
D string, and
G string.
So if we pluck each string in turn,
we have the notes
E, A, D, and G.
Now, if you want to remember the order,
there's a bunch of different mnemonics
that you can try, like "Every Angry Dog
Growls."
Or" Eddie Ate Dynamite Goodbye."
But you can make your own up
if you need to.
And trust me, the funnier the better when
it comes to memory.
But basically, all you need to know is
that the strings move across from thickest
to thinnest, E, A, D, G.
Now, let's play something.
So we're going to begin by just playing a
basic open E string.
So we want to get into position first.
So remember what I mentioned earlier,
you want to take that thumb on the
fretting hand and you want to place it on
the back of the neck.
So midway between these two edges, okay?
Then just bring these fingers down to rest
on the strings.
So we've pretty much got this kind of hand
puppet position here in the
fretting hand, okay?
So then for the picking hand,
take that thumb, place it on the pickup,
and then you just simply take that first
finger and place it on the E string.
So this is the position we're starting in.
Make sure that your volume's turned up.
Then to get the note,
we're just going to raise these fingers
on the fretting hand,
and then just bring that finger there
on the picking hand into the thumb, okay?
So this is called rest stroke and this is
the reason it's called rest stroke.
Because we're taking that finger,
plucking the string,
and bringing it back in to rest on the
thumb, okay?
And that's all there is to it.
So we've just got the finger on the
string, and then bring it
into the thumb, okay?
Now, if I was to play that note,
but then place that finger back
on the string, the note stops, okay?
So I've choked the note.
That's called choking.
And this is the first step in learning how
to control the notes that you play.
So you pluck with the finger,
and then you stop with the finger, okay?
So this is just in this hand.
There's a lot more that we can do in this
left hand as well, which we'll come to,
but for now, all you need to know is that
we're controlling the length of the notes
with that finger there.
So let's try plucking each string in turn.
So we're going to keep that thumb of the
picking hand just anchored for now
on the pickup, and we're going to try two
notes on each one.
And each time we'll play and then choke.
So for the E string we have pluck, choke,
pluck, choke.
Then we can move on to the A
string,
pluck, choke, pluck, choke, then for the
D string, pluck, choke, pluck, choke.
And then for the G string,
pluck, choke, pluck,  choke.
Now, you might have noticed that as you
moved across onto the D and the G
strings especially, when you've choked off
the notes,
you still have some noise in there.
And that's caused by the vibration of the
other strings, okay?
So when we play, these other strings
are actually vibrating and you get
this residual noise.
So don't worry about that too much for
now.
But as you progress,
you'll learn how to lock all of that down.
So what you'll generally do as you start
to get a little better is you'll start
to move this thumb on the picking hand
across as you move across the strings.
So you're okay on an E string, you know,
there's nowhere to go with this thumb.
Then when you move across onto the A
string, you can then put the thumb
on the E string.
Then when we move on to the D string,
you can put the thumb there on the
A string and pull it back a little bit to
hold down the E string.
♪ [music] ♪
And then when you move up on to the G
string, you can do the same thing again.
You can put the thumb on the D string,
locking down all of these other strings.
So that's how to get rid of that unwanted
residual noise.
Now, like I said, this is something that
will develop as you progress.
So don't worry about it too much,
you know, you can put your thumb on that
pickup for now and just keep it there.
But if you've noticed that you're getting
a bit of a messy sound,
and you're getting that residual noise
that is caused by these other
strings vibrating, and you will be able to
cut that off using the thumb
as you get better.
Up until now, some of the notes that
you've played on the strings may well have
sounded very different to those that I
played.
And this is because we need to tune the
bass.
If you don't tune up,
everything's going to sound wrong and
out of tune.
So it's possible to tune up with an
electronic tuner, but in this lesson,
we're going to look at tuning by ear.
Tuners are great, but there are many
different types.
There are pedals, clip on types,
phone apps, and if you don't understand
what note, you know,
is which it can be a little confusing.
So for the beginner,
it's much more important to learn
to manually tune by ear.
So to get started, we have to first of all
learn how to use the tuning pegs.
So have a look at the tuning pegs on your
bass and have a look and see whether you
have four in a line like this,
or maybe you've got two on either side.
When you have four in a line like this,
like on a Fender Precision or a
Fender Jazz, they move across in the order
E string, A string, D string,
and G string.
So you can see how each string is attached
to each tuning peg.
When you have two on either side,
you're going to have E string, A string,
and then D string and G string.
And sometimes on things like a Music Man
bass, you might have three on the top and
then one on the other side, E, A, D,
and then G, okay?
So you just have to look at the strings
and figure out which one goes to which
of the tuning pegs.
So let's just play an open G string.
Okay, so it's the thinnest of the strings
and then if you take the tuning peg there
and then you turn it clockwise,
you'll hear that the pitch drops, okay?
Then we turn it counterclockwise.
So by moving those tuning pegs,
we can move the pitch up and down.
And this is how we tune the bass.
Now, bear in mind that on some basses,
the tuning pegs are actually reversed.
So if you were to pluck the string and
turn it clockwise, it would actually
raise in pitch.
My Marcus Miller Signature Fender Jazz is
a perfect example.
Certain basses do this.
So if you do have a bass that, you know,
is clockwise to raise the pitch,
you just have to bear that in mind.
It doesn't matter.
You know, you just have to get used to it.
So on this bass, clockwise,
brings the pitch down,
counterclockwise raises the pitch.
So have a little experiment with turning
the tuning pegs.
But be warned, if you keep tightening the
string up and up,
eventually, it'll get so high and get so
tight that it'll snap.
And if you lower it too much,
and you keep lowering it, eventually,
it's going to loosen up so much that it
just falls off the bass.
So it takes a lot of turns to do this,
you know, you'd have to keep turning it,
tightening it to make it snap,
but it will eventually do that.
So yeah, that's just a warning in advance,
don't tighten it up too much, because,
you know, you'll break your string.
So I'll just demonstrate by tuning the G
string.
And to help I've just created a recording
of a repeating open G string that's
in tune, okay?
So that's going to be our reference tone.
So here's the sample.
So that's just going to run round and
round, and if I was to play my G
string there, you can hear it's the same
note, okay?
So that's in tune, okay?
Now, if I was to loosen that string off,
so that we flatten it,
and then play the G string again,
you can hear that wobble,
that horrible, out of tune sound.
So that's the sound of an out of tune
string.
So because I know that I loosened it off
there, I know it's flat.
So to tune that up,
there's the in tune G.
All I've got to do is turn it
counterclockwise
slowly, to bring it into tune.
And eventually, you'll hear those wobbles
disappear.
And that is how we tune a string.
We just want to match,
that, the sound of our bass,
to the reference tone that we're hearing.
So, I mean, you know,
you can listen to a sample like that,
or you could, you know,
play it on a piano.
Whatever it is, that reference tone you
want to get used to hearing what it sounds
like to hear the bass and the reference in
tune, okay?
And as you could hear,
when we're out of tune,
we get that horrible, you know,
dissonant wobble in there.
And as you bring it into tune,
that wobble flattens out and we get a
nice consonant sound.
Now, if I was sharp, again,
it's going to sound out of tune.
So here's the reference pitch again,
in tune G.
Now, let's sharpen it up, tighten it up.
You can hear there, once again,
it's that horrible wobble.
So let's bring it back down.
Okay, so again, you want to match them.
So this is an essential skill for any bass
player.
You want to know the sound
of an out of tune string.
Now, just in case you don't know whether
you're sharp or flat, you know,
you can tell that it's out of tune,
but you can't tell whether it's
up or down.
What you can do is take control
of that by just
loosening the string off, you know,
just loosen it down so that you know it's
then flat, okay?
So with the sample,
you can hear that and it's low,
and then you can just bring it back up,
okay?
So always by just dropping it down a
little,
you know that you're going to be
sharpening it to get it in tune.
So with the lesson material I've provided,
reference notes as audio files for each
of the strings in turn,
so you can just practice now trying
to tune each of those strings in turn.
And I generally tend to work from the
higher notes down.
So I go from the G string,
to the D string, to the A string,
and the E string.
And if I only ever have one reference tone
to work from, I'll generally want one
on the G string because it's just easier
to hear the higher notes there, rather
than tuning with these lower notes there
on the lower strings.
So now, you plugged in and tuned up,
let's finally look at playing some fretted
notes so we can start learning some cool
riffs.
So let's play on the E string again.
So that's the thickest string and I want
you to press down the G note,
so this is the third fret with your index
finger.
Now, you may be thinking which one is the
third fret?
Well, one way to find it is to just count
up the frets.
So one, two, three, okay?
Which is fine, but you can also use the
fret markers as a guide.
So these dots that you see here,
so you can see these dots on the front
of the fretboard there,
they're fret markers,
and they're usually found on the third,
fifth, seventh, and ninth frets.
So just think odd numbers.
Then you'll see a double fret marker here
at the 12th fret.
Now, the 12 fret is just a repeat of the
open strings, but we just need that third
fret for now.
So look for the fret markers and then you
want to press down fairly firmly with the
index finger, just behind the fret,
you know, not over it because
do that and you'll get a rattle.
So it wants to be just behind the fret
there
and then you just pluck the note.
So, again, I've anchored the thumb on the
pickup, got the hands in position,
thumb in the back of the neck,
press down with that index finger,
at the third fret and
there's our note, okay?
So you'll probably need to press down
quite firmly at first, you know,
because your hands won't be particularly
strong or used to it.
So press down fairly firmly,
and there's the note G.
So now you can play a fretted note,
you can just experiment in playing other
fretted notes to just try playing around
the neck.
Just holding down various notes in
different areas, okay?
Just move around.
And you could try, you know,
moving up with the fret markers just
as a guide.
So maybe on the E string,
there's each fret marker, third, fifth,
seventh, and ninth frets.
Then maybe the A string,
D string,
G string,
Okay?
Just getting used to a nice clean tone.
And remember, like I said,
if you hold it down on the fret,
you'll get that horrible rattle.
So it wants to be just before the fret.
So let's say on the third fret one, two,
three, there's the fret and then just move
back a little bit just before it, okay?
Hold it down fairly tight,
and you should get a nice,
clean tone, okay?
So now, we can pluck both open strings and
fretted notes, you're all ready to learn a
simple bass line.
So this all is going to take place on an E
string and it sounds like this.
♪ [music] ♪
Okay, so that's the bass line and you can
just try playing it round and round.
So this riff all takes place on an E
string, so the thickest string there and
you want to start by getting into
position.
So thumb on the back of the neck there,
thumb on the pickup,
and all we're going to do is play two hits
or two plucks on each note that we play.
So we begin with the open E string.
So we have one, two,
then we're going to move to the third
fret, the G, which is that first
fret marker, so one, two, one, two,
okay?
Then we move up to the next fret marker,
the fifth fret, and again,
play two plucks, one, two,
and then we're going to move up to the
third fret marker, the seventh fret
and play two plucks again.
Okay, so we have one,
two,  one, two,
one, two, one,  two,
So we're just moving up this E string
there, okay?
So try and get that down to begin with.
♪ [music] ♪
Okay?
For the second part of the riff,
we play almost the same thing,
we start on the open E string, two plucks,
then we move to that third fret again,
then up to the A...sorry, the fifth fret,
which is the second fret marker.
And then we just play one
pluck on the third fret,
and then the second fret.
So that's the first fret marker and then
we just move down a fret.
So one,  two,  one,  two,  one, two,
and then one,  two,
and we're back to the beginning, okay?
So you want to practice that, again,
in isolation.
♪ [music] ♪
Okay, and then you can put them both
together, which sounds like this.
♪ [music] ♪
And again.
♪ [music] ♪
Okay?
So that's a really simple bass line to get
you started.
We're picking with one finger,
we're only fretting with one finger,
and we're on one string, okay?
So it's pretty straightforward.
But even with a simple bass line like
this, you'll probably find that there's
strange bits of noise, little rattles,
you know, it won't sound perfect to you,
you know, and it can be quite
disheartening, actually,
when you first start playing something on
a bass guitar.
And you think, ah, this doesn't sound like
I expected it to, it all sounds
out of control because you're playing
through a bass amp, stuff like that,
but just persevere.
It doesn't matter.
This is the absolute basics.
So as you start to develop over days,
weeks, months, all of that will
tidy up, okay?
So just persevere and just try playing
through that riff.
So that's your very first bass lesson.
We've looked at the anatomy of the bass,
how to hold it, tune it,
and the basics of playing notes.
In the next lesson, we'll get a little bit
more adventurous and look at crossing the
strings and playing a few more cool riffs.
So I'll see you there.
♪ [music] ♪
