When I first started playing bass I instinctively started using my fingers. I just felt natural and I assumed that’s how most bassists played. Picks were just for guitar players…right?
The thought of using a pick to play bass didn’t even cross my mind, at least at first.
After a few months of playing, I started to notice that quite a few bassists used a pick. I was curious about this weird playing style but was it for me?
The Fender Precision Bass introduced in 1951 changed the world of music forever. Leo Fender’s ingenious idea to create a solid body electric bass guitar that could be mass produced proved to have a profound effect that is felt and heard to this day. The four string Precision Bass had a Telecaster style body and … Read more
For many Fender bassists owning a vintage Fender is the ultimate
experience. There’s nothing quite like the feel and sound of a well
played Fender Bass.
The question is how do you find a good, authentic vintage Fender for the right price…and how do you know it’s for real?
Just as buying a Fender bass online can be a somewhat scary experience, so can selling one, if not more so.
The key to successfully selling your Fender bass is following some simple guidelines and precautions.
I’ve personally sold several basses online without any problems at all. Not only can you easily sell your bass, but it can be fun too.
I’ve always thought that there was something mysterious and
fascinating about the original Fender custom colors. Partly because of
the history but also because of the misconceptions and myths.
There
is a lot of confusion and misunderstanding about what colors were
available and when they were originally offered. There are even some
colors that didn’t even really exist at all. And when it comes to the
actual finish types it can get even more confusing.
The first thing to understand is what type of finishes Fender was using during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.
Take a perfectly good new bass and deliberately beat it up so that it appears to be much older.
It seems like total madness to some people, but many bass players think relic basses are very cool.
So cool in fact that they’re willing to part with thousands of dollars to get their hands on a well made, great playing and sounding bass that’s beat to heck on purpose.
Throughout the long and impressive history of Fender Musical Instruments, there have been some odd bass creations that didn’t quite take off as well as some of Fender’s other classic designs.
At times, early on in Fender’s production history, it seemed as though everything they touched turned to gold. The Precision Bass, the Jazz Bass, and of course their classic guitar designs like the Telecaster and Stratocaster.
However, even Fender has turned out some misses. Some were flops, a few were interesting, some of them were baffling, and others were just plain weird.
When Leo Fender invented the first Precision Bass back in 1951 he
probably had no idea that he was basically creating the standard for all
electric basses for years to come.
No other bass in history has
been copied more than than the Precision and Jazz Bass and virtually
every bass built since has been compared to one of these classic axes.
The question is….is the Fender Bass still the standard by which all other basses are judged?
Fender introduced the Jazz Bass in 1960 as a “deluxe” model to augment the Precision Bass. Since its debut, the Jazz has stayed remarkably similar to its original design. There have, however, been many smaller changes over the years that are important not only to Fender Jazz bass history in general, but also as valuable year indicators for vintage Fender bass buffs.
When Leo Fender invented the first mass-produced electric bass, no one could have guessed that it would have such a massive impact on music. The first Precision basses looked liked over-sized Telecaster guitars. But by the late 1950s, the Fender Precision Bass became the definitive electric bass in modern music. So
