Wife considering an instrument

[Glacies]

My wife is a social worker outside of a big city and it's just beat her up over the last few months. She submitted her 2 week notice last week, is on call for another 7 days before she'll be unemployed for the first time in her adult life. I told her to take some time and find herself. She thought maybe she'd try to learn an instrument, something she always wanted to do but never had time for.

I'm trying to steer her to bass. I play guitar and sing (enough), my Brother-in-law plays drums... if we had a bass player we could be an all family band and that'd be sweet.

Her sister is trying to talk her out of it saying bass is too big, will be too tough for her... I just told her Flea is a tiny guy and he plays like a monster. I plugged in my Les Paul for her and put on a deep octave effect to get a big rumble and showed her single notes to hit to play under a few songs, and she loved it! She had a hard time staying in time sometimes, but that just comes with the territory of learning an new instrument.

Anyway, she's considering a keyboard or bass. I showed her those SX bass setups from rondo for like $150 with amp, anyone try those? Going down to one income will suck, but I'll dish out $150 for her to get something like that. I'm assuming the amp is crap but if it gets her moving, it's worth it. I still have my SX guitar and the thing obviously isn't the best, but I think it's a decent starter especially for someone that doesn't know how far they're going to go. I still play it in the band when I am afraid my axe is going to get trampled by a drunken person and I don't want to bring the good one. It's got dimarzios in the neck and mid position so its been modded.

So if anyone has any more ammunition for me to get her interested, let me know. She loves Pnut from 311 and loves Flea..., but I think she's intimidated by the amount of time and work I've put into learning guitar as an adult myself over the last few years. I'm not telling her what to get, I want the decision to be her own, I just want to make sure I'm giving her the room to think about things without commitment right now.

Here's hoping I get to start a new band (still looking) with my wife!

[kidsmoke*]

That's super cool!! and regardless of WHAT she chooses...being able to make music with your partner...well that's as good as it gets.

I know Tig bought a short scale bass a while back, I don't think it was too expensive he can pipe in.

I have a gal pal, started playing a full scale bass recently (she does already know a guitar fingerboard fairly well, however) but she's 5'1" 100 lbs.

Another friend of mine plays bass with a giggin band and his carpal tunnel had him in wrist braces for quite a while. He played gigs using some sort of keyboard for bass. It sounded great, although it didn't look quite right. BUT he was making music and pulling his weight with the band.

Good luck Glacies. I hope this proves to be a good time of re-alignment for her, and a good time for the two of you as well.

[R_of_G]

So if anyone has any more ammunition for me to get her interested, let me know. She loves Pnut from 311 and loves Flea...,

Victor Wooten is a tiny little man with tiny little hands and at the same time one of the greatest living bass players.

[piebaldpython***]

Tal Wilkenfeld.......stand-out bassist for Chick Corea band and notably for Jeff Beck on the CROSSROADS tour. She is a tiny thing though not sure of her height.

[FrankenFretter***]

A short scale SX would be a nice way to go if she's concerned about it being too big. I've never owned an SX bass, but my brother had their Jazz Bass clone, and it was nice.

[Eric***]

That's pretty cool that your wife is looking for an instrument as an outlet. As a word of unsolicited advice, I would encourage her to pick out whatever she is most interested in and don't make it about your family band and be very careful to avoid pressuring her at all. I know you have the best of intentions, but it's really easy for things to get misconstrued in these sorts of situations. At least that has been my experience.

Good luck with helping her to find something she finds fulfilling.

[NWBasser]

Tell her to get the keyboard.

Bass players smell funny....

[duhvoodooman***]

My wife is considering an instrument, too. She says that if I buy another amp or guitar, she's going to come after me with a scalpel. I won't say what part of me she'd come after....

[FrankenFretter***]

My wife is considering an instrument, too. She says that if I buy another amp or guitar, she's going to come after me with a scalpel. I won't say what part of me she'd come after....

So she's considering taking up the scalpel?

[Katastrophe]

My stepdaughter has an SX bass beginner's pack. It came with a gig bag, strap, tuner, and a small practice amp, along with an instructional DVD.

The fit and finish on the instrument was great, especially for the price. It's got a nice medium action and is easy to play. The one we got was a short scale (30") bass, and it's a great size for my stepdaughter's smaller hands. The pickups and amph sound decent, and we haven't had any problems with the electronics. We haven't had any problems with high frets, or sharp fret ends.

One word of caution, though: the tuners suck. They had to cut corners somewhere to get to that price. It's not THAT bad, though, you just have to twist a tuner or two after playing a song. That's a small complaint, though.

The SX is a great bass to have around. If your wife decides playing bass isn't for her, then you aren't out much money, and you have a convenient outlet for those times when you need to rumble!

[duhvoodooman***]

So she's considering taking up the scalpel?

Well, they always say "sterilize your instruments" when performing radical surgery.....

[Glacies]

That's pretty cool that your wife is looking for an instrument as an outlet. As a word of unsolicited advice, I would encourage her to pick out whatever she is most interested in and don't make it about your family band and be very careful to avoid pressuring her at all. I know you have the best of intentions, but it's really easy for things to get misconstrued in these sorts of situations. At least that has been my experience.

Good luck with helping her to find something she finds fulfilling.

I realized i was doing this and backed off quite a bit. I told her to let me know when/if she was interested. So this weekend, I had most of my gear at her sister's house because my BiL has a drum kit and we like to get crazy. She asked if she could hit some bass notes for some of the songs we were playing. So I grabbed the acoustic, just taught her how to play the roots with the songs and we went through Badfish, Kryptonite, What I got, Stiff Parrot (my original), and one or two others. She loved it and I could see her getting into it pretty well towards the middle of the song where she found the rhythm. Then afterwards she told me she had a blast and that she wants to give it a shot.

Playing with a full band is one of the pleasures in life I wish everyone gets a chance to do, and her first time even trying an instrument was like that - and she kept the rhythm pretty well on most of it. It told her the real bass will sound better. She was on my 60's strat so even with the bass up it was a bit tight, but still filled out the acoustic nicely.

My wife is considering an instrument, too. She says that if I buy another amp or guitar, she's going to come after me with a scalpel. I won't say what part of me she'd come after....

That's funny man. I expect to hear that soon. I want a gibby gold top with p90's and either a white gretch hollow body. I told my wife that and she rolled her eyes.

My stepdaughter has an SX bass beginner's pack. It came with a gig bag, strap, tuner, and a small practice amp, along with an instructional DVD.

The fit and finish on the instrument was great, especially for the price. It's got a nice medium action and is easy to play. The one we got was a short scale (30") bass, and it's a great size for my stepdaughter's smaller hands. The pickups and amph sound decent, and we haven't had any problems with the electronics. We haven't had any problems with high frets, or sharp fret ends.

One word of caution, though: the tuners suck. They had to cut corners somewhere to get to that price. It's not THAT bad, though, you just have to twist a tuner or two after playing a song. That's a small complaint, though.

The SX is a great bass to have around. If your wife decides playing bass isn't for her, then you aren't out much money, and you have a convenient outlet for those times when you need to rumble!

How good is that amp? She is scared of the full sized bass so she wants the 3/4. This one because of the color: http://www.rondomusic.com/product6117.html

I was hoping she'd get something with 2 pickups to try out some versatility, but she wants what she wants and if she is going to get more serious, she can get something higher quality.

[Eric***]

I was hoping she'd get something with 2 pickups to try out some versatility, but she wants what she wants and if she is going to get more serious, she can get something higher quality.

Being somewhat entrenched in the bass world at this point, I will caution you that it's less about versatility with bass and more about finding your spot, which a P bass generally does well. Opinions will of course vary on that, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that other than the occasionally bulky neck, I think the simplicity and it-just-works aspect of a P is what I would recommend to almost any beginning bass player.

I'm happy to hear that you're taking a her-first approach to this; I think it will yield way better results for both of you.

[Glacies]

Well, she pulled the trigger last night. Bought the SX P-bass package and she's pretty excited. She told me she really loved it when I was singing and playing the rhythm guitar. I hope she doesn't get overwhelmed, but I think the fact that I had her playing songs with the full band right away means that if she gets frustrated, we can always go back to playing music. I just bought her the Hal Leonard Bass Method books and have been scouting youtube for some tutorials. That's what I do for guitar when I want some quick lessons.

Anyway, I might be getting on here to pick some of your brains for some material for her. I'm not sure she'd start an account.

[Eric***]

Cool deal. A good website comparable to justinguitar.com for bass is scottsbasslessons.com (complete with an accent!). There are lots of nice easy songs for bass if you don't try to get them note-for-note. Just What I Needed by The Cars comes to mind, though I can't think of exactly how the bass goes ATM.

HNBD for your wife!

[NWBasser]

Well, she pulled the trigger last night. Bought the SX P-bass package and she's pretty excited. She told me she really loved it when I was singing and playing the rhythm guitar. I hope she doesn't get overwhelmed, but I think the fact that I had her playing songs with the full band right away means that if she gets frustrated, we can always go back to playing music. I just bought her the Hal Leonard Bass Method books and have been scouting youtube for some tutorials. That's what I do for guitar when I want some quick lessons.

Anyway, I might be getting on here to pick some of your brains for some material for her. I'm not sure she'd start an account.

Tell her welcome to the world of bass from another bass player!

That is aweseome news. Fortunately, the bass is very easy to learn - yet very hard to master.

There are probably hundreds, if not thousands, of three-note songs that are extremely easy to pick up. ZZ Top's catalog is a good start. Wild Thing by the Troggs can be played by nearly anyone on bass.

From that humble beginning, the sky is the limit. The opposite end of the spectrum from Wild Thing are players like Victor Wooten, Pino Palladino, Marcus Miller, Stanley Clark, Tal Wilkenfeld, etc.

There is a world of really fun and challenging music between the prodigal stars and the super-simple tunes. Nearly any funk tune will be a gas to play on bass.

[marnold***]

That is the great thing about bass. You nailed it, NWB. It's much easier to pick up than guitar IMO. But some of that simplicity is deceiving. For example, playing a constant stream of eighth notes in perfect rhythm requires practice and a good internal metronome.

[Glacies]

Bass came in, seafoam green, 3/4 scale, SX P-bass.

Pretty high quality, great finish - will post pics this weekend.

She was really excited and played around with it a bit. Then I took a turn. As a guitar player I found it really easy to create some great sounding lines and now I have all this music floating around in my head with this power tool at my disposal. Even if she drops it, I'm glad to have it in the arsenal.