Author: Justin Shelton

Don’t Leave the Bass Out of the Mix Sure, metal music is indeed guitar-based. But just make sure that you don’t drown out the bass guitar as Metallica did on the Justice album. Here’s a method you can try that I often use when I’m mixing the bass: Play the current mix. Does metal use […]

Most bass players use the right hand fingers to play the strings. Some Rock bass players prefer using a pick because it gives a crisper sound. How many fingers do you use for bass? If you play chords on the bass, the majority of the time you’re going to use more than two fingers to […]

Yes. Plenty of rock/punk/metal bands play fender jazz basses. There is no such thing as a “jazz bass” (in the sense of a bass that can only be used for playing jazz). The only thing that determines what music an instrument makes is the player. Can you use a jazz bass for punk? Solo’d neck […]

The lowest note is E (written E below the bass clef staff and sounds an octave lower). The four strings (E A D G) are one octave lower than the lowest four strings of a normal guitar. What is the lowest tuning for a bass? A bass guitar can be tuned an octave below E […]

I’ve been playing for over 20 years…and have no calluses. If you do, you’re probably playing too hard. Doubtful, it’s a pretty natural thing to develop calluses playing bass. They don’t have to super thick layers of skin but I know more bass players with them than without them, many with a far lighter touch […]

SIGNATURE ARTISTS TCB. Stephen ‘Thundercat’ Bruner. SDB. Sharlee D’Angelo. MDB. Mike D’Antonio. K5. Fieldy. ANB. Adam Nitti. GVB. Gerald Veasley. GWB. Gary Willis. Is Ibanez good for bass? Ibanez is an excellent guitar brand with a strong reputation in the industry. They make quality guitars and basses for beginners, high-end instruments for pro players, and […]

A 100 – 150 watt bass amp is the bare minimum to use for rehearsals and small gigs; 300 watts is better since it allows the amp to push out the same or louder volume with less effort or strain. A louder amp doesn’t have to work as hard, which means less chance of overheating, […]

Bass, as with most things, demands a comparison of quality vs quantity. More bass does not necessarily mean better bass. The power is determined by the wattage of the subwoofer in question, where a higher wattage demonstrates a more powerful subwoofer. How many watts is a good bass speaker? As a general rule of thumb, […]

The starting cost of a guitar refinish is about $200 for the body while a professional custom paint job can cost $600 or even more. Paint and other material will only cost you around $50 to $60, it’s the labor that’s expensive. You can do it on your own, but the process will take a […]

Modulus Flea Bass. Flea primarily used an original Modulus Flea Bass to record Californication, occasionally swapping to a Fender Jazz Bass and Taylor acoustic bass guitar for ‘Road Trippin’. What kind of bass guitar does Flea play? That instrument is the Flea Active Jazz Bass. Flea has been a Jazz Bass aficionado for many years […]

Ampeg SVT’s. Another new aspect of Unlimited Love is his choice of bass amp. He told Bass Player Magazine editor Joel McIver that he’s switched to Ampeg SVT’s after many years of being a Gallien-Krueger endorser. What bass is Flea playing now? Fender Jazz BassCurrently, his main stage bass is a Custom Shop Fender Jazz […]