What Are The Best Beginner Basses?

[greghagger]

30 minutes ago, machinehead said:

Ibanez Talman range.  Available for under £150.00 brand new.

I've just bought a Talman TMB100M from Tom1946 and, after lowering the action a little to suit my playing style, it's a superb bass.  I gigged it on Saturday night.  It's up there with my US Fenders for sound and playability.   The hardware, woods and assembly are good enough to gig this bass for life.

I wish I'd owned a Talman when I was starting out on bass.

Frank.

Great thanks, so are these the Ibanez P and J range basses? 

[machinehead]

1 minute ago, greghagger said:

Great thanks, so are these the Ibanez P and J range basses? 

I think they're all PJ pickups with a very powerful active EQ.

Frank.

[Delberthot]

My Harley Benton JB-75, albeit with retrofitted Fender pickups, has ousted my EBMM Musicman Sterling, Fender Geddy Lee Jazz and soon to go Fender Player Precision.

I was going to get another but those J&D basses at DV247 have mighty similar headstocks and come in nicer colours so I could be going for one of those next.

I don't believe that there is anything that can be defined purely as a beginner instrument. I've had 140+ basses and could have chosen something costing thousands but chose a £140 bass instead as my main player.

Edited August 22, 2019 by Delberthot

[greghagger]

2 hours ago, Delberthot said:

My Harley Benton JB-75, albeit with retrofitted Fender pickups, has ousted my EBMM Musicman Sterling, Fender Geddy Lee Jazz and soon to go Fender Player Precision.

I was going to get another but those J&D basses at DV247 have mighty similar headstocks and come in nicer colours so I could be going for one of those next.

I don't believe that there is anything that can be defined purely as a beginner instrument. I've had 140+ basses and could have chosen something costing thousands but chose a £140 bass instead as my main player.

Great, some good choices there. 

The intention of compiling a list, is to point beginners in the right direction. I’m not implying that more established players can’t also use these basses. So I agree with you, that we wouldn’t want to define these choices as purely for beginners. 

[chris_b]

6 hours ago, Twigman said:

I wish I'd started learning to play on a playable bass rather than the POS that i did start on . . . .

+1

That's why they say, start learning on your second bass and make it easier for yourself.

[Lozz196]

9 hours ago, Twigman said:

What qualifies a bass as a 'beginner' bass?

Surely the easier a bass is to play the better....that would, for me, rank my EBMM USA Sterling 4HH at the top of the list and my first bass, a late 70s Kay at the very bottom.

Was that a Kay EB-0 copy Ian? I had one of those, action about half an inch high, certainly made me appreciate a good instrument once I got hold of one.

[lownote]

12 hours ago, hooky_lowdown said:

If a person wanting to play punk, doesn't tell you, and you suggest a Squier bronco (which is an excellent starter bass) or a jazz with 'vintage' voiced pick-ups and flats, they're not going to get the right sound they want. This is why I believe knowing what type of music they want to play is justified.

I think we differ on the word beginner. To me a beginner is someone who’s new to bass and just wants to get the basics down.  That was me for a year. By the time I’d settled on a genre I’d also found out enough about basses to be discriminating about sounds and makes. 

[hooky_lowdown]

2 hours ago, lownote12 said:

I think we differ on the word beginner. To me a beginner is someone who’s new to bass and just wants to get the basics down.  That was me for a year. By the time I’d settled on a genre I’d also found out enough about basses to be discriminating about sounds and makes. 

Yes, when I started learning bass it was because I wanted to play/sound like Hooky and Krist Novoselic, so I knew the sound I wanted from the getgo.

[Twigman]

3 hours ago, lownote12 said:

. By the time I’d settled on a genre I’d also found out enough about basses to be discriminating about sounds and makes. 

Don't normal people 'settle on a genre' before they even pick up a bass?

People know the music they like long before they pick up an instrument.

[lownote]

Fair point. 

[Low End Bee]

I wanted to sound like Jean-Jacques Burnel when I bought my Avon EBO in 1978. I thought all basses sounded the same. I think it cost £135. According to google that equates to £667 in 2019. Plywood. Fake single coil. Awful build quality. I ended up sounding like I was playing a rubber band stretched over a shoe box. It also had an action you could limbo under. Truly a terrible thing that needed killing with fire. Modern entry level basses are so much better. Amazing to think you can quite happily gig with something that costs £100 new now.

[greghagger]

1 hour ago, Twigman said:

Don't normal people 'settle on a genre' before they even pick up a bass?

People know the music they like long before they pick up an instrument.

Yes, I think this is the case for some people, but remember that ‘the music they like’ could be a lot of different styles. When I started playing bass, I played along to Cream, Hendrix, Weather Report (unsuccessfully 😂), RHCP, Nirvana, Faith No More, Senseless Things, Free, etc. etc...

I wanted to play bass over everything! 

More entry level basses would have sufficed, as I developed the sort of sound I wanted, over time. 

[hooky_lowdown]

11 minutes ago, greghagger said:

Yes, I think this is the case for some people, but remember that ‘the music they like’ could be a lot of different styles. When I started playing bass, I played along to Cream, Hendrix, Weather Report (unsuccessfully 😂), RHCP, Nirvana, Faith No More, Senseless Things, Free, etc. etc...

I wanted to play bass over everything! 

More entry level basses would have sufficed, as I developed the sort of sound I wanted, over time. 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but most of the bands you listed above can be grouped under a 'Rock' banner. Therefore you would be looking for a "Rock" bass, and the obvious choice would be a P bass. There, wasn't so hard to point (the younger you) in the right direction.

Had you or anyone else said they were into jazz fusion, a P bass wouldn't be the obvious choice. So, any bass will do mentality is totally wrong.

[greghagger]

16 minutes ago, hooky_lowdown said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but most of the bands you listed above can be grouped under a 'Rock' banner. Therefore you would be looking for a "Rock" bass, and the obvious choice would be a P bass. There, wasn't so hard to point (the younger you) in the right direction.

Had you or anyone else said they were into jazz fusion, a P bass wouldn't be the obvious choice. So, any bass will do mentality is totally wrong.

I don’t think that this is a polarised, right or wrong discussion. 

The aim of this list, that I am providing is to give beginners, who ask the question, ‘what is the best beginner bass’, a list of basses to go away and try. 

I very quickly went on to play jazz, and many other styles of music. Any bass, that I could develop on, would have sufficed at the time. In fact the Encore I managed to obtain for £40, from a guy at school, was my only option! 

You were obviously very fixed on what you wanted to play from the start, by what you have said. Many players aren’t. 

[Twigman]

I'm still of the school of thought that price is irrelevant to whether or not a bass is good for a beginner.

Ease of playing is the number one criterion for any bass in my opinion, especially when starting out.

That rules out most of the cheaper basses, in my experience. Just because a bass is 'budget' doesn't make it 'better' for a beginner.

 

[greghagger]

Just now, Twigman said:

I'm still of the school of thought that price is irrelevant to whether or not a bass is good for a beginner.

Ease of playing is the number one criterion for any bass in my opinion, especially when starting out.

That rules out most of the cheaper basses, in my experience. Just because a bass is 'budget' doesn't make it 'better' for a beginner.

 

If you can afford a more expensive bass, then that’s a great option. But some beginners can’t.......

[hooky_lowdown]

@greghagger It seems that you are asking a rhetorical question. A bit like asking which is the "best" car for a learner - prepare to get a million answers from a million different people. If there's no structure to your question, you might as well ask 'how long is a piece of string'!

[greghagger]

26 minutes ago, hooky_lowdown said:

@greghagger It seems that you are asking a rhetorical question. A bit like asking which is the "best" car for a learner - prepare to get a million answers from a million different people. If there's no structure to your question, you might as well ask 'how long is a piece of string'!

Ah, I get the confusion now!!!

This is a frequent question I get from beginners. It’s not my question! So I am providing an answer in my FAQs page on my website. 

https://gregsbassshed.com/faqs

I get your point, that this is a bit of a vague question, but rather than telling the beginner to go away, and come back with a ‘more correct’ question, I am providing a list of potential basses that they may want to try out. 

Hopefully that has given you more context to the question?

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. There are a lot more entry level basses out there that I didn’t know about. Keep the suggestions coming. 

[hooky_lowdown]

40 minutes ago, greghagger said:

but rather than telling the beginner to go away, and come back with a ‘more correct’ question, I am providing a list of potential basses that they may want to try out.

No one is saying to tell a beginner to go away. Your list is not going to help any beginner. 😥

[lownote]

2 minutes ago, hooky_lowdown said:

No one is saying to tell a beginner to go away. Your list is not going to help any beginner. 😥

I could no disagree more.  This would have been very useful to me as beginner.  But this seems to be descending into an argument which you have to win. So I'm out.  

[greghagger]

4 minutes ago, lownote12 said:

I could no disagree more.  This would have been very useful to me as beginner.  But this seems to be descending into an argument which you have to win. So I'm out.  

@lownote12Yeah, it was productive for a while. Thanks for yours, and other’s contributions. Found out about some good basses to add to the list. 

[hooky_lowdown]

1 hour ago, lownote12 said:

I could no disagree more.  This would have been very useful to me as beginner.  But this seems to be descending into an argument which you have to win. So I'm out.  

People have different views and perspectives, I welcome this.

[machinehead]

9 hours ago, hooky_lowdown said:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but most of the bands you listed above can be grouped under a 'Rock' banner. Therefore you would be looking for a "Rock" bass, and the obvious choice would be a P bass. There, wasn't so hard to point (the younger you) in the right direction.

Had you or anyone else said they were into jazz fusion, a P bass wouldn't be the obvious choice. So, any bass will do mentality is totally wrong.

I think that any genre of music can be played on any of the most popular basses.  Could you not play jazz on a P bass?  I know I could.

And for young beginers, cost is usually important.  I think this list would be very useful.

Frank.

[machinehead]

8 hours ago, Twigman said:

I'm still of the school of thought that price is irrelevant to whether or not a bass is good for a beginner.

Ease of playing is the number one criterion for any bass in my opinion, especially when starting out.

That rules out most of the cheaper basses, in my experience. Just because a bass is 'budget' doesn't make it 'better' for a beginner.

 

I agree very strongly with your second point and totally disagree with your first and third points.

Point 1.  Most beginners are poor.  A "good" cheap bass is therefore very important.

Point 3.  Many "budget" basses are excellent and could be used for a lifetime of gigging.

Frank.

[3below]

1 hour ago, machinehead said:

I agree very strongly with your second point and totally disagree with your first and third points.

Point 1.  Most beginners are poor.  A "good" cheap bass is therefore very important.

Point 3.  Many "budget" basses are excellent and could be used for a lifetime of gigging.

Frank.

On point 3 I feel the need to mention Peavey Milestone basses (of which I have two, they were 'nuts' cheap used £50 & £60 with Hiscox case).  Given that they are alder bodies, BBOT bridge, maple necks, rosewood boards and J pickups I do not find much difference between them and my USA Fenders and G&L basses. The machine heads are not the greatest but the rest is really very well built. Wish these had been around in my youth - Woolworths K bass,  Avon SGs, Jedsons, Columbus sort of F copies etc. were less than satisfactory.  I could and do gig with the Peavey basses.