Bass Guitar Rocks

Welcome to Bass Guitar Rocks (BGR)- a place where all things bass guitar related: bass strings, bass amps, bass builders, bass stores, bass effects, bass cables and, yes, even bass players are discussed!

I’ve been playing bass guitar since I was 15 years old. Now that I’m in my thirties my love for bass has only grown and allowed me to have some great experiences while performing original and cover tunes throughout Southern Ontario, Canada.

I want to give back to the bass community by sharing some of what I’ve learned over the years, as well as interview other players, merchants and builders to find out more about the instrument we all love: the electric bass. It’s taken me a little while to figure out that I have a passion for learning and sharing what I’ve learned with others.  It dawned on me as I started to talk about bass gear with other bassists during shows that we had in common – hey, I’m having fun and learning something too!

However, it’s impossible to have a one on one conversation with every bassist out there – so BGR is the result.

You can read and comment on pretty much everything here and let me know what you think. I do my best to share the insights that I’ve gained after performing for close to twenty years on the bass.

My goals for this site are to help beginners and intermediate bassist by sharing the type of information that I wish I had access to when I first started out. I mix some of my opinions (which I never try to pass off as fact) along with first hand experience playing bass guitar in a three-piece hard rock band performing a blend of cover  and original songs. I also share resources like books and dvds that I feel have helped me to become a better player.

I’ve been slowly adding real-world content that I think is crucial for beginner and intermediate bassists to learn to play bass, help them eq their bass amp, shop for a new bass guitar or even sell their old one.  I’ve bought and sold numerous basses over the years, been a regular subscribed to bass player magazine as well as a visitor of several online bass communities and will share them with you. I’ve also switched from being mainly a pick-style player to almost exclusively finger-style and from starting out on a 4 string electric bass to full time on a 5 string bass guitar. If you’re looking to explore either technique I can probably help you out with some of my experiences and hardships along the way.

I’ve also experienced a few negative issues with playing bass due to improper technique, so I like to caution everyone starting out on electric bass to listen to their body and don’t try to run a marathon before you’re even crawling on the ground. Persistence pays off!

I feel that there are few resources online that this type of information, so that’s what I feel helps make BGR stand out from other websites or bass blogs. I want to provide they type of content and answers that are hard to find elsewhere so that you have a good reason to come back and become a regular visitor to my particular corner of the low-end.

So far I haven’t delved too deeply into incorporating bass videos into this site – but I plan to soon. I tend to stay away from lessons on how to play bass, how to read bass notation or demonstrate techniques, there are plenty of resources online for this type of instruction from more talented or qualified players than myself. However, one of my goals in the near future is to add bass video clips to my site that I have pre-screened.  It is so easy today for just about anyone to grab a video camera, shoot a video lesson and put it up online that a lot of what is being shown may not be correct or accurate.  There are so many techniques out there and often more than one way to approach getting a particular sound. I think if you’re going to teach how to play bass to others it’s your responsibility to show all the ways to play, or at least state that you’re going to show ONE way to slap and pop (as an example) and not THE way to slap and pop.

I also want to incorporate more reviews into this site.  While I don’t use a ton of bass guitar products I’m more than happy to share the information I have on what I do use with you. I’ll share as many details and factual info as I can with you and let you know if I’m stating a personal preference or not so that you can make up your own mind on the matter. I’m well aware that just because a certain piece of gear, gauge of bass strings or type of bass cabinet works for one person – it doesn’t mean it’ll work for everyone regardless of what style of music that they play.

The main goal for BGR is to help YOU(!) and to be a friendly and informative place for bass players to learn and share what they learn with each other. I encourage you to interact with me and with each other by commenting. What are you looking for in a bass guitar website? Do you want more videos, podcasts, posts or reviews? Heck, if there’s enough demand I’ll hook up a forum if you prefer that to commenting on the site!

You have a lot of say in what I write and what I’ll write more of in the future – if one person requests something, chances are there are many others that feel the same that just haven’t bothered to take the time to write. So even one request is important to me.

There are many ways to use this site; you can bookmark it and check back often – or subscribe to my feed (that big orange icon on the top right corner) to get updates sent direct to your inbox. Additionally, I’ve also created the BGR mailing list where I will send even more tips and tricks that I’ve learned over the years or discovered on line and share them with you. It’s another way to get regular (but not pesky) reminders about new content and updates in the world of the bass.

Playing the bass guitar has been an extremely rewarding part of my life. Learning the finer nuances of bass playing is my continuing mission and I will continue to share all that I’ve learned with you in the process.

I’m thankful for all of my visitors readers and want to again encourage your comments or ideas for future posts. You can email me via mike[at]bassguitarrocks.com . I currently have many ‘real world’ commitments that require my time, but I still do my best to update this site on a semi-regular basis.  I intend to incorporate more video content as well (when my time frees up a little)

Thank you for visiting Bass Guitar Rocks, please come back again !

  • It’s glad to know another fanatic bassist like me… ;D
    Keep music alive bro!!

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