Buying a Left Handed Bass Guitar is simple when you know what to look for.

Check out the buying guide below for some great information on bass guitars.

Special Note to Buyers:

If you are left handed you may or may not want to buy a left-handed bass. It’s totally up to you. Many left-handed people play right handed bass guitars just fine. And if you start playing a left-handed bass, it may be difficult to change later. Plus, that there are fewer bass guitars to choose from and the price may be more than for a similar right handed bass. If you are a beginner, you may not want to get a left-handed bass.

How to Buy a Bass Guitar

The main difference between a bass and a non-bass guitar is that the bass guitar plays notes an octave lower and along with the drums provides the beat and foundation of the music. The other guitars which have a higher range play a supportive role and are more out front in the band most commonly playing the solos. The bass is critical to a band.

While it takes years to play any instrument well, the bass may be easier to learn than learning the guitar. To be a good bassist you need to have a well developed sense of rhythm. A band can get by with a poor guitarist but not with a poor bassist.

Playing bass might be a great place to start leaning guitar. You can begin playing easy stuff that also sounds good.

Bass Guitar Types

The most common bass guitar is the electric bass guitar. This instrument has a solid body and needs to be plugged into an amplifier to be heard. A bass amplifier is nothing more than a powered speaker.

There are also acoustic bass guitars. These instruments have hollow bodies and a sound hole where the sound—the vibrating air comes out. These holes are sometime called f-holes when they are shaped like the letter F.

There are also acoustic electric bass guitars that are really acoustic bass guitars that can be plugged into a bass amp.

Another type is the semi acoustic bass guitar. This guitar is partially hollow. The violin shaped bass Paul McCartney often plays is a semi acoustic bass.

What Bass Guitar Do You Want?

You are probably interested in buying an electric bass guitar. This is the most common bass you hear in musical groups and will probably what most people looking for a bass player will want you to play.

Besides, unless you are willing to spend a lot of money, most acoustic bass guitars sound quite mediocre. The better sounding acoustic basses have very large bodies since more air is needed to push out low notes. If you get a chance, play an acoustic bass with a very large body and then play one with a smaller body. The sounds are very different. If you buy an acoustic bass guitar get one with a large body.

As a first bass guitar, the electric is the best way to go. Later you can get a second bass that is an acoustic or some other type of bass.

The Number of Strings

Bass guitars come most often with four, five and six strings. But really, any number is possible.

The first electric bass guitars were made with four strings. Later more strings were added to give more range to the instrument. A greater range lets the musician play more lower and higher pitched notes. Plus, more strings means more notes are available to the musician without having to move up and down the neck as much.

The popularity of five and six string basses exploded in the 80s when bassists had to compete with electronic keyboards that played lower bass notes than the standard four sting bass. To compensate, bassists began to play five string instruments.

Also, very good bass players like Stanley Clarke, Jaco Pastorious and Jeff Berlin showed that electric bass players could play solo and melodic roles. Adding the sixth string on the high end of the bass let bassists reach higher notes.

As more strings are added, there is more to control. Not only do you want to get the notes to ring out, you also want to keep the other strings quiet. Also with more strings, it makes some playing styles, like slap bass more difficult since more accuracy is needed. And, with more strings, the neck is wider which means more reaching and stretching around the neck.

Regardless of the instrument you chose, you will need to practice. And you can always switch later since it isn’t hard to go from one to another.

For most, the four-string bass will be adequate if not perfect. And if you want, you can tune it lower than the standard tuning in order to get those lower pitches. However, since it isn’t designed to be tuned that low the sound quality may not be the best.

It is probably easier to learn to play using the standard tuning with an extra string than detuning your bass that only has four strings. If you need that low note a lot, then buy the five-string. The other option would be to get a four string bass and string it like you would for the lowest strings on a five-string. So the tuning would be B-E-A-D instead of E-A-D-G.

As your first bass, you probably shouldn’t get a six-string and should probably focus on playing the traditional role of the bass of playing the lower notes more often. Get a six-string bass later as your second or third bass.

Bass Scale

The scale of the bass is the vibrating length of the strings and extends from the bridge to the nut. The scale relates to the quality of tone with the longer the string, the lower the pitch. That is why bass guitars are longer than non-bass guitars.

The most common scale known as long scale is 34 inches. Extra long scale is longer than 34 inches and includes many five-string that are 35 inch scale. Medium scale is 30 to 35 inches and short scale is less than 30 inches.

When the scale length increases the notes are spread further apart along each sting which requires more stretching and shifting around when playing them. So there is a balance between scale and playability. Unless you have large hands, a scale length of more than 35 inches is very uncomfortable to play.

A good scale for a four strings bass is a 34 inch scale. But for good sounding low B on a five string bass consider a 35 inch scale.

If your hands are quite small or you are buying for a child, you should probably consider a short scale bass. But don’t buy a small scale just because you think your hands are small or you’ve had difficulty playing in the past. Sometimes it just takes practice to be able to get accustomed to stretching to reach the notes.