How to find a good bass guitar?

Question

what are some specific things i should be looking for when interested in buying a bass guitar, is a jazz bass appropriate for slapping and picking... im not in a band i just love to play the bass on my free time and i just broke my guitar so i need a new one which was givin to me.

Answer 1

First thing you need to deside is budget, and what sort of amp do you have? If you have a small practice amp you might avoid active electronics as they tend to feedback and are too effecient for the little amps. If you have a older tube amp I would say dont bother with active electronics. You need a base that fits you, its more important then anything else. If you have a familiar shape/neck you are comfortable with like fender style, try to find a good quality fender or clone. If you interested in slapping you might look for an old   Rickenbacker Bass. Try to avoid playing with a pick, its very limited to bass players. I started with a pick and had to relearn everything.

Answer 2

a jazz bass is appropriate for slapping and picking...well really no bass is appropriate for picking but you know what i mean.  A jazz bass will sound great with slapping, areally thin and cutting tone, which won't fit the picking sound so well.  a Precision bass is great for picking, and also has a great slapping tone if you eq your amp right.  my recomendation would be the fender aerodyne p bass.  It has both a precision and jazz pickup.  Fender gave me one before it came out so i could test it for them, and it's really a piece of magic.  Also, the American Jazz and Precision bass have this thing called S-1 switching, that essentially can make a jazz bass sound like a precision bass and vice versa, however thats a bit costly.  Jazz basses are more comfortable to play.

Schecter is another great band for bass, great for slapping and fingerplay, though pick work takes a bit of eq'ing.  Schecter basses will give you more than what you pay for, and they are excellent.

Epiphone makes pretty good basses, if a bit overpriced.  i have a 2001 Epiphone flying V bass, and It sounds decent next to my 82 gibson flying v bass.  I never had the heart to sell the epiphone, even after getting the gibson, as it had been so good to me.  Slapping is not epiphones strong point, but pick work is amazing

Ibanez makes great basses as well, great for the price.

You want to take into consideration tone, action (the tension and looseness of the strings, as well as their distance from the fingerboard), comfort (how the guitar fits to your body), and overall playability.  does the guitar feel comfy when you play it?  Is the neck the right size?

Precision basses have slimmer necks more for moving around, jazz basses have fat necks for increased tone in walking lines.

hope this helps, email me with questions

edit: i almost forgot about weight, do you play standing up or sitting down?  how long do you play?  will you be able to play this bass as long as you do standing up, or is it too heavy?

Answer 3

I think two very important things are the relief in the neck and the electronics.

I'm a big fan of Fender Jazz.  I think you can pick and/or slap on them, but they aren't the best for slapping.  I bought one years ago with a rosewood neck and active EMG pickups stock.  While I've always been happy with the sound, if I had it to do all over again I'd buy it with stock passive pickups = less expensive, too.  Or else put in some nice after-market passive pickups.  The preamps in active pickups just take from a bass' organic sound to me.  

Read a little about reading a neck.  You should make sure the bass is in tune to pitch - ask the sales person to tune it for you, not by ear but to a tuner.  Or better yet, bring your own.  Once it's tuned you sight from the the headstock down along the neck to see if there are any bows in the neck, if the relief is ok, too much or needs more, etc...  There is an art to this, and it is easily learned, but it's important to know you're getting an instrument with a neck that's in good shape.  

The best Bass I ever heard/saw for slapping and an overall groovy and nice sounding bass was a Music Man (I think Ernie Ball owns them now).  The bass has one large pickup near the bridge and just excelled at slapping sounds.  It sounded good finger-picked, too.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/M...