6 steps to learn bass how to learn bass guitar for beginners

Bass is an incredibly fun instrument to play and a lot of songs have simple toned parts any beginner can learn.

This guide will walk you through 6 vital steps to learning toned from scratch with links to useful guides and lessons.

After reading this guide, trammels out these handy toned guides and resources:

If you are thinking well-nigh learning toned or just getting started, follow these steps to speed up your learning.

Step 1: Learn How to Read Toned TAB

The first step to learning toned is to learn how to read Toned TAB (also known as tablature).

Bass TAB gives you an easy shortcut to start playing songs and exercises.

You can learn the nuts of Toned TAB in under 10 minutes by reading this well-constructed guide.

This is an example of Toned TAB:

Bass TAB numbers example

It might not make sense to you now, but it’s an extremely simple way of reading music for toned that doesn’t require you to learn notes on the music staff (known as ‘Standard Notation’).

Bass TAB uses numbers to tell you what frets to place your fingers on and horizontal lines to tell you what strings to play.

So the whilom example is telling you to play the 1st fret, then the 2nd fret, 3rd fret, then 4th fret all on the marrow string.

See how easy that is?

You don’t need to learn the names of the notes (yet) and can immediately swoop into reading music without memorizing note positions on a staff.

Once you learn the nuts of Toned TAB, you’ll be worldly-wise to start trying to play your favorite songs on bass. The TAB for myriad songs are hands found online (covered later).

Learn how to Read Toned TAB here.

The whilom guide includes detailed diagrams to explain all of the important symbols used in Toned TAB.

Once you read through the whilom guide, you’ll be worldly-wise to learn all the exercises and songs covered in the next steps.

Do You Need To Learn to Read Music?

There are two ways of reading music for Bass: TAB or Standard Notation.

TAB uses numbers on lines to tell you what frets and strings to play.

Standard Notation uses notes on a staff to tell you what notes to play, then you need to find those notes on the toned fingerboard.

The unelevated riff shows a joint staff that has Standard Notation on the top and TAB on the bottom:

Livin on a prayer toned riff TAB

Some bassists only know how to read TAB, some only know how to read Standard Notation, some know how to read both, and some don’t read any music and play by ear instead.

It’s up to you which ways of reading music you segregate to use.

I recommend starting with TAB considering it gives you a quick and easy way to start playing music. The whilom riff example should immediately show you how much easier TAB is to learn. You simply find the fret number and the right string, then play the note. Reading Standard Notation involves increasingly steps and memorization which slows beginners down.

In the future, you can segregate to learn the nuts of Standard Notation and decide if you want to learn to read it.

Musicians often oppose well-nigh reading music and you will sooner talk to somebody who says the method you have chosen is the wrong way to do it. Ignore them.

Use whichever method you prefer and just enjoy playing bass!

Step 2: Learn Some Vital Finger Exercises

Once you know how to read Toned TAB, the next step is to start playing some simple exercises.

Basic finger exercises will help you build conviction and get your fingers used to pressing lanugo the toned strings.

The 6 vital finger exercises in this lesson are worth practicing every day and will speed up your learning process.

For example, the unelevated exercise helps you practice jumping when and withal between strings as well as stretching your fretting hand out:

Bass Exercise 5

Practicing exercises like this every day builds up your finger dexterity and independence.

You’ll be surprised by how easy some songs can be without you have spent some time working on exercises like these.

Even practicing these exercises for 5 minutes per day can have a big impact on your abilities.

Check out these 6 vital finger exercises in this lesson and practice them every day.

Step 3: Learn Some Vital Toned Riffs

Now that you can read Toned TAB and have practiced a few finger exercises, you’re ready to start playing some real music.

A ‘riff’ is a short part of a song and while many toned riffs are challenging to play, a lot are easy unbearable for beginners to start learning on day 1.

The 14 toned riffs in this lesson range from easy to challenging for beginners, but all of them are fun to play.

Every riff will rencontre you in variegated ways. For example, the unelevated example only uses two notes, but the rhythm will requite your fingers (or picking technique) a good workout.

Under pressure toned riff TAB Riffs are a unconfined way to learn variegated techniques and new skills. Spend some time every day learning a new riff and you’ll be surprised by how fast you modernize your abilities.

Check out these 14 easy toned riffs and start learning some fun toned parts.

Step 4: Start Good Practice Habits

Every beginner has doubts well-nigh their skills and talent. At some point, you may wonder whether you have what it takes to play bass.

As a teacher, I can tell you the number one thing that makes or breaks beginners is their practice habits.

Beginners who develop good practice habits will end up rhadamanthine unconfined bassists and be worldly-wise to enjoy playing the songs they want to play.

Beginners who don’t develop good practice habits will end up frustrated and quit learning bass.

It’s as simple as that.

Here are some simple tips to help you develop a good practice routine:

Set up a practice area. Check out this guide for examples of practice areas and why your practice zone matters
Practice every day. Even if you can only squeeze in five minutes, make sure you don’t finish your day without practicing a few finger exercises or riffs
Don’t overdo it. A lot of beginners mistakenly think they should have a marathon two-hour practice session. Long practice sessions don’t work. Have short and regular practice sessions for the weightier results
Have a plan. Don’t sit lanugo to practice without knowing what you will practice. Know what step you’re up to and work on that step. If you don’t have a practice plan, you’ll end up wasting time
Don’t requite up. The start is unchangingly the hardest part when learning bass. Every new technique will finger nonflexible and some may finger impossible. If you stick with your regular practice, you will improve
Know your limits. Even if you want to learn really complicated music, take it one step at a time. Learn the nuts surpassing you try to play harder techniques. If you overly finger as if something simple like finger exercises are overdue you, you’re heading for trouble. You need to build a solid skill foundation surpassing you can tackle harder songs or skills

Find out how long you should practice each day in this guide. The guide looks at the science overdue how long to practice so you can learn faster with less time practicing.

Here are three important guides to help you develop good practice habits:

Step 5: Learn Your First Well-constructed Song

Once you have mastered some vital finger exercises, can play a few riffs, and have set up a good practice routine, it’s time to set yourself a challenge.

The rencontre is to learn a full song from start to finish.

This is a big milestone victory for every beginner bassist. The sooner you can unzip this, the increasingly confident you will be well-nigh learning bass.

Being worldly-wise to play a full song from start to finish proves to yourself and everyone else that you have what it takes to learn bass.

There are a lot of beginner bassists and guitarists out there who can play a few riffs and parts, but not a full song. As soon as they learn their first well-constructed song, they suddenly get a massive conviction uplift and their progress speeds up.

While it’s unconfined to be worldly-wise to play a lot of riffs or parts of songs, it’s a unconfined feeling to be worldly-wise to hit play on a song and jam withal from start to finish.

Use this step-by-step tutorial to learn any song in the weightier way possible. The tutorial talks well-nigh learning guitar parts, but you can follow the word-for-word same steps for bass.

Step 6: Memorize the Notes on the Fretboard

While it’s possible to wilt a unconfined bassist without knowing any of the note names you play, you’ll learn faster and easier when you know the note names you play.

Imagine jamming with a guitarist and they tell you to jam withal with the chord progression: C Am Em G.

What can you play?

If you know the notes on the fretboard, you can simply follow withal by playing the root notes for every chord. So you would play the note C over the C chord, A over the Am chord, E over the Em chord, and G over the G chord.

Learning the notes on the fretboard will make your learning process easier and it will unshut up increasingly options for your playing.

Bass fretboard notes

While it might seem daunting at first, memorizing the notes on the fretboard should only take you a week or two of practice.

Read this guide on Memorizing the Notes on the Fretboard to learn two simple methods.

While the guide was written with guitar in mind, you can follow the same steps for learning the notes on a bass.

Tip: the marrow 4 strings on a guitar are the same as the 4 strings on a bass, so the note names are the same to memorize.

6 Steps to Learn Toned Summary

Here are the 6 steps to learning toned with links to the lessons you should work through in order:

Take your time working through the whilom guides and lessons and you’ll requite yourself a unconfined headstart at learning toned on your own.

Once you get through all six steps, you’ll be worldly-wise to start learning challenging songs, write your own toned riffs, or jam with other musicians.

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