Short Scale Bass and Lessons

Chili

Chili

Site Moderator
My 12 yr old is interested in learning bass. He's on the small size for his age and I thought a short scale bass would work for him. But I've got this image of Danny Partridge in my head. :(

Anyone with experience with kids and basses??

Also, need recommendations for a lesson book. Ideas?? Anyone? Anyone?

Cool guys. Thanks!! :)
 
Get him a bass, some motown records, some mountain dew, and tell him to get to work. :D

I'm not gonna discount the value of lessons, but you play guitar pretty well. You could just teach him yourself, and it could be some good bonding time. A short scale bass is a good idea. Hell I'm a full sized person and I love short scale basses.

What kind of music does he like? Does he have good rhythm and a feel for the pulse of a song? If lessons don't work out, he could always teach himself if he's really into it. That's what I did. I'd sit with a Ramones or AC/DC record and pick out the bass. Then when that got too easy I'd go raid my mom and dad's oldies collection and learned all those cool motown and Spector songs. Lots of good bass work in the oldies!
 
Cool. looks like that book will work just fine!! :) Thanks Groovy!!

Yeah Greg, I plan to teach him myself which is why I want a book. Love the idea about the oldies and motown stuff, plus, he'll probably like it too. He listens to Queen :eek: I don't get it. Maybe later on, if he's still into it, I'll send him off to real lessons where they can take him farther than I can.

He's in the school band playing trumpet and doing pretty good. He auditioned and got into the jazz band which I'm stoked about (I never made it into the jazz band when I was a kid!!). Last night I was talking with one of the band directors and the subject of a bass player came up. So, I offered to teach my son and my son is up for it. He's a little timid about it, so not totally into it, but I'm hoping he'll warm up once he's comfortable. If not, I'll sell the bass, no biggie.

Speaking of which, so the Squier is okay?? I'll probably look at an Ampeg or Acoustic 15" combo amp. I've always wanted one for myself anyways.

Thanks guys!
 
Squiers are hit and miss. Definitely try one first. Some of them are great, and some are clunky unplayable shit. When you find a good one though, and you will, it will serve you well. No need to spend a bunch of money on a bass right now. I think I remember seeing a Squier Mustang short scale bass that seemed pretty cool for about 250. The Epi SG short scale bass is really cool too. He could rock out on either one of those.

Yeah, here ya go. This is a cool bass! I might get one myself.
Squier Vintage Modified Mustang Bass Guitar | Musician's Friend
 
What's that joke about bass lessons...the kid goes the first day and learns G, second day and learn C, third day and learns D, then he doesn't come home until after 2am the fourth day and smells like beer and cigarettes...you know that one?

But, yeah, right on...get him started early and he'll be set for life. I always tell people you'll never be a great guitar player unless you started in 7th grade and had no friends. That's how I got to be pretty good. I had tons of time to just practice.
 
Ha! Two votes for the Squier Mustang. I'll have to try it before I buy it which means a music store. Probably GC. :( But Christmas around the corner, so....

Amp -lookin at the Ampeg BA115 or an Acoustic B100. Saw one on CL for $250. Something he can use, something I can use. Mom ain't gonna be happy with all this money being spent. :laughings:

Thanks Aaron, for the support. I hope he takes to it. He does good with the trumpet, but he gets weird with things like this. Makes a decision one or the other in a heartbeat and sticks with it regardless of advice. 12 year oldssss.. I tell ya.... :rolleyes:
 
Ampeg bass amps are pretty solid. I had a buddy with a BA115 (I think) and it was a great amp. Bass players and drummers will always have jobs...us guitar players have to work hard for them :)
 
As someone who started out as a bassist as a kid, here's what I recall from the experience:

Shortscale is a great idea. Basses are big, heavy instruments that little hands and shoulders can struggle with.
Get a wide strap. My first full-size bass hurt my teenage shoulder a lot until I got a wider strap to spread the weight out.
Get an instrument and amp that sound good. Seems obvious enough.
Get him a book that isn't too boring. The book I learned on was nothing but 12-bar blues over and over again, so I gave up on that pretty quickly and just started writing songs on the bass. Songwriting lead to homerecording. And that's lead me to be the dysfunctional adult I am today. :D
Seriously though, as Greg implied, get him playing stuff that he finds interesting as quickly as possible. If he's playing music that he doesn't enjoy, he'll get bored that much faster.
 
I went to GC to look around and play. They had only one short scale bass, a Squier Bronco. But it played nicely, neck felt good, light weight and only $150. I'm not sure what to look for to differentiate between a good Squier and a lemon. (well, I know lemons are round and yellow...) No fret buzz anywhere. String height at the 5th fret was less than 1mm when the string was held down at the 1st and 12th fret. I think that's good. Neck was tight to the body and no slop. Only one PU, but that's okay. So I bought it.

Anything in particular I should be looking at?? I'm never any good at shopping for guitars.

Got the Ampeg BA-108. An 8 inch 25 watt practice amp.

Thanks again for all the advice.
 
Last edited:
Cool beans boss!
Methinks that would be a good start for him.

You gettin him started with the fangers or the pick?
I started with pick but felt like I was missin something by not goin the fanger route.
How's his ear? Rhythm?
Does he like cheese? :confused:
 
Ya know.... he's so frikkin particular about the cheese. So, my kid is a little OCD and it manifests itself on the dinner plate. Don't get me started. :facepalm:

Imma gonna teach him that finger playing and pick playing are different tools that he can use to get different tones. He's first chair trumpet and I think that means he'll have to learn what it's like to back up the melody line. It'll be a paradigm shift for sure. I think he's up for it.


Cool m'brother!!
 
The Epi EB short scale is pretty good & pretty cheap.
Books: the problem is they're either too easy or too hard.
If your aim is to teach him to read bass at this stage get an easy book & a harder one because you can hop between when he's doing well at a concept & not so well.
You should make a wall chart of the 1st 7 frets of the neck that he can read logically & horizontally when you're not in front of him. Progressively label it with the notes you teaching him at a given session + 1 more so he can progress without you.
As much as I hate them a chart for 12 bar walks in 1st position would als be very beneficial.
ALONG with the above record a drum track for him to play along to any where on the neck he likes then intro drum & guitar in established chord sequences.
Grab the tab to a Queen track (most of Deacon's playing on the 1st 2 albums was fairly elementary) as an extension exercise (but try to get him to learn it from the notes rather than the tab).
 
Chili said:
No fret buzz anywhere. String height at the 5th fret was less than 1mm when the string was held down at the 1st and 12th fret. I think that's good. Neck was tight to the body and no slop. Only one PU, but that's okay. So I bought it.
Click to expand...

Yee~ ha !
That's what I like to see, parental decisiveness backed with practical intent !

VomitHatSteve said:
The book I learned on was nothing but 12-bar blues over and over again, so I gave up on that pretty quickly and just started writing songs on the bass. Songwriting lead to homerecording.
Click to expand...
When I was teaching myself to play bass, I borrowed a book by Harvey someone or other to see if that would sharpen me up. I got to the first page and a piece called "St Louis blues". I never looked at it again and from that day in '82 to now, I've never looked in a book teaching bass. Books of guitar chord pictures are different.
As a trumpeter, tell him that he's already at an advantage because he's playing an instrument that covers the upper range, now he can supplement this with knowledge and skills in the lower realms. He's also in a good place because he's going to be helped along by his guitarist Dad. The guitar chord progressions are often the most wonderful platform on which bass parts are suggested to the mind.
Also, encourage him to think in terms of bass parts, however odd they may initially feel or sound. If they're complex, wonderful. If they're simple, fantastic. He'll be a better player for learning to get comfy with both.
 
Well, I see you've already made the purchase, so I guess any advice at this point is moot. I was going to recommend an Epi EBO, simply because it sounds a lot better than the Bronco. I have both basses, btw, and while I love the feel and playability of the Bronco neck, the sound is somewhat anemic. Perhaps yours will be different. I've also got a couple of SX short scale P and J basses that are kinda cool, though no competition for the real things. I've also got an original Mustang that I learned on as a teenager, and it rivals any P bass out there for sound and volume. They'll pry it out of my cold, dead hands.
 
And the Danny Partridge thing was him trying to play a full-size hollow body. That was the funniest part of the show. Of course, I watched it to see Susan Dey. She also looked silly trying to fake the keyboard, but I didn't care.
 
notCardio said:
And the Danny Partridge thing was him trying to play a full-size hollow body. That was the funniest part of the show. Of course, I watched it to see Susan Dey. She also looked silly trying to fake the keyboard, but I didn't care.
Click to expand...
Susan Dey was kind of hot but in 1973 she simply didn't compare with the girls in my sister's class or the incomparable Becky Smith so her beauty passed me by and by the time of 'LA Law' my tastes had moved on......
Danny Bonaduce tells a funny story about filming the show and how, when he used to pretend to play the bass, having no idea how the mechanics worked, he just used to strum it and David Cassidy used to get really pissed with him telling him "You don't strum the bass, you pluck it, sheesh ! "
 
Glad to see a few others got my 70's reference. Was starting to think I was the only old f*ck here.

Right now, I'm only concerned with comfort and playability. I don't want him to come to hate it because he can't get his hand on the strings or it's too heavy. Tone is secondary, which is why only one pick up is okay. He doesn't know a thing about tone and I doubt the band director is going to care. He'll be happy just to have a bass player. Later on, when he really starts to know the instrument and enlightens himself to "tone", he'll get another bass that will cover more ground. At least I hope he goes that far with it.

Hey Ray, do you have a sample of this:

As much as I hate them a chart for 12 bar walks in 1st position would als be very beneficial.
Click to expand...

I think for this jazz band gig (and my own benefit) this could be very useful.

Thanks everyone!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top