Acoustic Bass?

[Muziqmann]

I heard it's better to learn to play acoustic bass first because it doesn't have frets and if you don't hit the note exactly in the right place you could produce the note in between F and F#.  How do you feel about this concept?

I learned to play on a 5-string and on I'm up to 7 and I know every note on every string.  Bass in not my instrument, but people say I'm pretty good.

[uprising_bassist7]

well thats good on you , but personally i dont like acoustic basses but i guess it wouldnt hurt to try one out and practice your technique
God bless

[Andrzej]

My first bass was a fretless kit Jazz.  I didn't move onto fretted until about 2yrs later.  I can't really say that it made any significant advantage for me.  I guess I hit a lot less bum notes, but that's it.  What you have to bare in mind with a fretless is that you are producing the note in a different place on the fingerboard than you would with a fretted bass.  Your finger placing for the notes will be in the same place where the fret would sit.  With a fretted bass your finger placement will be further down as you are stopping the string on the fret to produce the note.  Learning on a fretless would improve your finger accuracy, but the position of the notes compared to a fretless fingerboard will be slightly different.  It's quite an easy adjustment to make when you get used to it.

[DWBass]

Are you referring to an upright acoustic bass? If you are, let me tell you that they are totally 2 different beasts!! Whilst you will learn proper intonation and fingerings, the necks are of totally different scales and do not translate the same. It will be like playing different instruments!

[Cherri]

This interesting I must ask the M.O.M. about this. I know he has played all.

[MikeGee]

I want an upright so baddddd. I think I will go with an eletric upright, most of the time it's cheaper, it's easier to take care of and it'll fit in my car. 

[Cherri]

I want an upright so baddddd. I think I will go with an eletric upright, most of the time it's cheaper, it's easier to take care of and it'll fit in my car. 

Get it, get it, get it...

[Andrzej]

I want an upright so baddddd. I think I will go with an eletric upright, most of the time it's cheaper, it's easier to take care of and it'll fit in my car. 

Amen to that!  I did have a 3/4 acousic double bass a few years back, but I sold it to get a KYDD electric upright just for mobility sake.  It came with a soft case which was about 4ft in length.  You could collapse everything down, including the stand, and it all fitted in there.  I could fit it into the boot (trunk I believe you will call it) of my car with ease.  But, no more unfortunately.  Sold it 3 weeks ago!  I love playing upright, but that bass never really paid for itself as I didn't use it that often.  Shame really...it was a great sounding bass  .  I would have sold it to you MikeGee for an exculsive LGM price if I knew you were in the market!

Are you referring to an upright acoustic bass? If you are, let me tell you that they are totally 2 different beasts!! Whilst you will learn proper intonation and fingerings, the necks are of totally different scales and do not translate the same. It will be like playing different instruments!

I totally agree.  I was lucky that my friends father is an exceptional double bass Jazz player and taught me the technique for playing upright over the course of several months.  Believe me, it's not an easy instrument to learn!  I had been playing bass guitar for about 5-6yrs before I started to learn upright and I thought because of that I would jump into quickly...nuh-uh!!  It was like starting over again.  Like DWBass said, it's not the same as playing bass guitar...they are two very different instruments.  If you do decide to play upright God bless you!  We need to see more double bassist's in modern music today.  It's a skill that has started to fade away over the years :-(.

[funkStrat_97]

I heard it's better to learn to play acoustic bass first because it doesn't have frets and if you don't hit the note exactly in the right place you could produce the note in between F and F#.  How do you feel about this concept?

I learned to play on a 5-string and on I'm up to 7 and I know every note on every string.  Bass in not my instrument, but people say I'm pretty good.

IMO, this is bad advice.  If you want to learn to play bass guitar, then learn on that.  The two are truly different animals.  BTW, acoustic bass guitars are not to my liking either.  They simply do not have enough acoustic volume to be of any real use and would require amplification any way.