So I figured I'd take the time I have now to focus in and learn an instrument I can actually play in this house, Bass Guitar.

What songs would be best to learn as a beginner?


Thanks in advance to those that are helpful. You all get a cookie. The rest can feast upon the flan in the other thread.

e-drums, dude:

Oh hell, those are too expensive. I'm not even buying the Bass, just using my son's.

hamn Hickman this is crazy

I just came to the same conclussion about a month ago

walked down to the local pawn shop (yep I live in the ghetto)

bought a nice ibanez bass for 125 and Im selling my drums to buy some e-drums for when we move since I wont be able to make all the noise

I wish I still had my drum set, man. I stored them at my mother's house and she had flooding in the basement and...well there they went.

It is a very odd coincidence, I'd agree.

I just wouldn't mind getting proficient on an instrument I can actually carry around with me easily and maybe start playing with some people.

You could probably find that model above for less than $1000 new with an online retailer. Much less for a used kit. The sound and versatility is unreal, even with the basic models.

Bass guitar songs? I have no fucking idea.

Out.

I'm a drummer and I can't play bass, but "With or Without You" by U2 has to be a layup to learn.

Go for "Public Image" by PiL

roundabout

Mike Watt recommends the Stooges, because the songs don't have too many changes.

Listen to and learn some Fleetwood Mac's Rumours

It will make you a solid player - I'm serious.

Fascination Street.

Van Halen is nice start. You can get Michael Anthony's signature "CHUGGA CHUGGA CHUGGA" down in a day.

You could play a primitive version of " Gloria" by Them/ Shadows of Knight this very day. In my first band in eighth grade, we taught it to the bass player in the cloak room 5 minutes before we went on stage at St. Joe's auditorium. He never played the bass before; kinda the original Sid Vicious.
All open strings, E-D-A.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
You don't even need your left hand, so you could drink a cup of coffee at the same time.

Start with the blues bro. That way, when you rock out with your cock out later, it will sound like you mean it. Many of the best bands/players start that way. Plus, you can go to blues jams and meet some players.

I started playing this winter. Heres the first things I learned:
Pink Floyd - Money
Queen - Another One Bites the Dust
Blur - Song 2
Parliament - Flashlight
Pixies - Gigantic
Pixies - Monkey Gone to Heaven
Sly & the Family Stone - Sex Machine
Curtis Mayfield - Freddie's Dead
Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
Stone Roses - She Bangs the Drums
Otis Redding - (Sittin' On the) Dock of the Bay
Kinks - You Really Got Me
Kingsmen - Louie Louie
Deep Purple - Smoke on the Water (basically a simplified guitar part, not the real bassline)
Led Zeppelin - Dazed and Confused (just the slow part, my fingers still aren't really quick enough for the fast sections)

Some (Gigantic, Dazed and Confused, Another One Bites the Dust) are a lot easier than others, so you may want to start there.

for starters, just put on a ramones record and try to play along...

The first song I ever learned on bass:
Crash course in Brain Surgery. It was 1990 or so and I had a hard-on for Metallica. After that, bass got boring really fast, and got my ass back behind a drum kit.

Cream- Sunshine of your love

Pearl Jam- Jeremy

Anything from the Pixies "Dolittle"

Anything from Nirvanas "Nevermind"

Minutemen- Vietnam

Beastie Boys- Anything from Check Your Head

"Thank You falettinme be mice elf agin" - Sly & the Family Stone

Get this and play along with Macca

Good one, it's a really simple, catchy line to learn popping with.

Learn some scales and practice them, even after you learn a few songs.

I recommend ay Smashing Pumpkins song. they are extremely easy. Muzzle, Stand Inside your Love, Bodies, Zero, Mayonnaise, all very simple and fun to play.

The Guns of Brixton

What were you using as bait?

some of the songs I learned when I first started playing are:

Soft Cell-Tainted Love
Spice Girls-Wannabe
Salt-N-Pepa-Push It
Creedence Clearwater Revivial-Down On The Corner (very fun once you get it!)
the opening riff to "Airbag" for Radiohead (this is for when you decide to man up and build you calluses)
Weezer-El Scorcho (ridiculously simple)

FYI: If you learn how to play "Push It" and "Tainted Love", you'll be the second baddest motherfucker alive.