Are you accumulating too much bass gear? Gear Acquisition Syndrome or GAS affects millions of bassists, causing debt, divorce, desolation. But don't worry, there's still hope. If you can avoid buying
these seven types of basses, you'll skip wasting thousands of dollars, your spouse won't think you're a loser, and the gear you do buy,
you'll actually love playing. When you focus less on gear, you focus more on playing and
can become a better bassist. So stick around 'cause
at the end of the video, I'll give you my cunning plan so GAS never gets the best of you again. But first, which basses shouldn't you buy? You know when you see that
brand new bass come out, all those glowing reviews
just dropped on YouTube, you're ready to click buy, but after you do, the buyer's high fades and you're left with a
bass you don't really need? I'll tell you how to resist
impulses like this in a second. But why do they happen in the first place? Our dumb lizard brains are hardwired to notice shiny new things. I am very good at focusing and paying- Bass! It's a useful survival mechanism, but not so useful when
you're struggling with GAS, 'cause you buy the hot new thing, and a week later a newer
hotter thing comes out and then comes GAS Guy,
that voice in your head like a pushy used car salesman. Now, that is one sexy bass. Imagine how cool you're
gonna look playing that! Dual humbucking pickups,
three band active VQ That's one sweet axe. Go on, treat yourself. You can't afford not to really if you think about it, am I right? But when you buy the
hot new bass on impulse, you're more likely to end up with basses you don't actually love or need. So here's my foolproof
three-step impulse itch buster. Step one, ignore the initial
YouTube and press release hype, which is often sponsored. Two, wait for more real
world feedback to come in. And three, just tell GAS Guy
to shush for a month or two while you decide. He'll keep pestering you. But hey, whose name is on the credit card? It's hard to beat a tried
and true classic bass. But sometimes they're out of reach so instead you go for
something similar but cheaper. But this doesn't scratch the itch unless you actually love the bass. Otherwise you're left dreaming
about the one that got away, and the money you spent on the compromise gets you even further
from your dream bass. Have a nice day. Saving up and buying
a bass you really love helps shut GAS Guy up. So how do you know if you
love a bass enough to buy it? Here's my three question
"Know if She's the One Quiz". One, the "Will You Love
Her Tomorrow Test?" Have you waited at least a month
before pulling the trigger? If you have and you're still hankering, that's a good sign she won't
just be a one week stand. Two, the "Ask Your Friends Test". Have you read unbiased, not
sponsored non-BS reviews? A lot of the reviews you see on YouTube and blogs are from folks who got paid or at least sent free gear,
which can create bias. And that's why I never have sponsors or affiliate links on gear reviews. It's also why you should
subscribe to BassBuzz and help me keep the lights on because my landlord
doesn't accept integrity as a rent payment. [plz halp] So look for where people
have actually spent their hard earned cash in
YouTube comments, on Reddit, shout out r/Bass, or head
over to the BassBuzz forum and ask us there. And third, the "Test Drive Test". Is that right? Have you played the bass in real life and did it meet your expectations? I know it's really in vogue
to buy online these days and that may be your only
option, but you don't know if you really, really
really love something until you have it in your hands. If you answered yes to
all three questions, then she's probably the one
or at least one of the ones. So how many ones can you have? Five. Being in debt sucks. It's hard to think about much else when money's on your mind. Here's where GAS Guy can
be especially devious. 'Cause buying gives you a temporary taste of happiness. But that hit is short-lived
until the next bill comes in. I've got more helpful tips to keep GAS Guy from dragging
you further down the hole at the end of the video, so stick around. 'Cause when you just give to
GAS Guy and buy the thing, you think it'll shut him up, but no, suddenly your new
bass is so much better than your old amp and your old pedals. Now those need upgrades too. But wait, there's more. Why would you wanna plug
such a gorgeous bass into a puny 40 watt practice amp? What your bass deserves and what you deserve is
a brand new 500 watt amp. Bigger is better is what they say. And of course you're gonna need a bigger speaker cab to match. A person of your stature
deserves at least a 410, don't you think? And while you're at it, how
about a compressor pedal to keep all those nasty peaks tamed? You wouldn't wanna blow
that new speaker, would you? But the thing is you don't
need really expensive gear to sound good. Here's me jamming on some dirt cheap
hundred dollar P-basses. So yes, buying new toys is exciting, but as your bass teacher, your friend, your stern surrogate father figure, I recommend you ask
yourself two questions. Can I really afford this without negatively impacting
the rest of my life? And is my playing good enough
to warrant this upgrade? Or would I be better off
swapping my shopping tabs for bass tabs and actually practicing? Some basses are like Swiss army knives, good for almost anything. Others are more specialized and really only good
for one or two things. If you're new to the field, you might not know which is which, but there are two super easy options to make sure you get the
right bass for your needs. The first is to go for a Swiss army bass. This means any bass that has been historically
vetted as versatile, making it a safe bet. The four basses on my Swiss army list are the Precision bass, the Jazz bass, the Stingray, and any
dual humbucker design. It's hard to go wrong with anything that fell out of Leo Fender's
wrinkly genius brain. Your second option is to
go for an oddball bass. This means basses that are less common and have a more specific sound. I'd include on this list the Gibson EB-0, a Hofner, a Rickenbacker, a
Thunderbird, any fretless bass. Oddball basses are riskier because if you end up wanting more than the very specific
sound they give you, it can lead to further visits from GAS Guy and a ballooning bass collection. A Swiss army bass will take
care of more of your needs and less of your storage space. But here's a method you can try to pick out the right bass for you. Make a list of your favorite 5 to 10 bands in the styles of music you want to play. Then look up what their bass players use and look for common threads. Spoiler alert, this test
will probably land you on a Swiss army bass
because of the most common and the most versatile. And that is what I'd recommend for a main bass and
especially a first bass. But if one of the oddball
basses on that list is really nagging at you and it's the sound you want to make, then you may want to go for it. The thing is, a lot of cool
moments in musical history were the result of somebody
playing the 'wrong' instrument or the 'wrong' way, and if they had just played a P or J bass like everybody else, we would've missed out on
part of their creativity. Okay, four strings,
three knobs, 500 bucks. More strings, more knobs,
more money, more better! If you're a beginner, there
are three types of basses that GAS Guy will try to
convince you you need. One, the hella complex bass. Basses with fancy active EQ with sweepable multi-band
parametric blah blah are super cool. But you don't need that as a beginner. And it takes a long time to train your ear to understand what all
these twisty bits do. Seriously like two or
three is all you need. And even as a pro, often
a simple passive bass with two or three knobs is
the right tool for the job. Two, the too many strings bass. Four strings is a good number
of strings for beginners. Five is too many strings for beginners. See my reasons not to
learn on five string video for more on that. And three, the expensive starter bass. You really don't need to
spend a mountain of money on your first bass. You just need something solid
enough to build your skills on until you're ready to commit
to a bigger price tag. You can buy something super
solid for three to 500 bucks and if that's out of your price range, you can try to get one
of those same models used for like $200 or less. Buying used can be dangerous,
but I'll give you some tips on how to do it more safely in a minute. Even though I've played
basses that cost thousands, a lot of my favorites are in the more reasonable
five to $600 range. About five years ago, I was on Craigslist, and I spotted this made in
Japan 62 reissue P-bass, and I really wanted it because I already had and loved this bass, which is the same model, same era, and I wanted another one to
set up with different strings and lower action to
get like a more modern, less motowny sound. It seemed like a solid deal for 750 bucks so of course GAS Guy started
whispering in my ear. You better buy it before
someone else gets it. So I met the guy in a
parking lot, like you do, and tried out the bass. The action was like way,
way high when I bought it, but I assumed that I
could just take it home and set it up and
everything would be fine. But later, I found out that the neck was really
uneven on the top frets and needed like $500 of
work, which super sucked. So how can you avoid sticky
situations like this? Buying in person from a music store with a good return policy
is your safest bet. You can try before you buy, make sure you really fall in love, and if anything goes wrong,
they've got your back. If you're buying in person from the owner, like via Craigslist,
make sure you play it, fall in love instantly and
have someone knowledgeable check out the setup, hardware, and electronics to make sure it's healthy. Lots can be wrong with a bass and it's hard to tell
upfront without expertise. If you're buying online, buy
the seller, not the price. Don't buy from sketchy off brand websites and always check the return policy. How long do you have and who
pays for return shipping? And don't buy cheapo
basses by fake ass brands, like some of the ones I reviewed
in my cheap basses video. If there's no brand name on the headstock, whoever made it wants to remain anonymous and that's not a good thing. And some of the companies
I bought from in that video aren't even in business anymore, so like what would you
do if an issue came up? There's nobody to call but your mom. You see there's a very
simple mathematical formula for the perfect number of basses. Basses needed equals
current basses plus one. You can't go wrong. Trust me, it's science. Having lots of basses might
sound like fun and it can be. But there are also a lot of drawbacks. You have to maintain all their setups, you spend more money on strings, you need more storage space, maybe you piss off your other half. The basses you own, end up owning you. It's a cunning trick GAS Guy plays making you feel like buying all this is gonna make you a better bass player. Hey, more gear, more better, am I right? Am I right, am I right? When what actually makes
the difference is practice. Spend five minutes picking
which bass to play today or spend that time learning
the notes on the fretboard. Spend two hours researching basses or spend that time actually
learning bass lines. Which one do you think is gonna give you the most
satisfaction in the long run? Obviously the practicy one. So how does GAS Guy trick us so easily? "I get stressed out and boom,
I'm browsing for deals again. Right now, my head is telling
me to get a legit bass because the one I have sucks,
but it really doesn't." "Despite being quite
well-equipped for a beginner, I keep looking at gear websites. I spent two hours last week
browsing secondhand sites. Time I should have spent on practicing." Ultimately, we just want
to be good bass players. But when you hit up against
a roadblock in your practice, it's tempting to blame the gear. The thrill of researching
and buying new toys is a great distraction, but
that instant gratification won't actually get you to the next level of playing you're chasing. I knew almost nothing about gear for my first decade of playing, and I only ever had one
bass and one amp at a time. And I'm really glad I didn't get into gear until more recently because I never thought
of gear as a solution to my musical problems. I always just used my mind and my fingers, which makes you a better bassist
and is also a lot cheaper. So ask yourself, why
do I need another bass? Will it inspire hours
and hours of regular play or will it get a few noodles
and then start collecting dust? One or two basses you really love will get you way more inspired
and motivated to practice than a whole menagerie of meh basses. And GAS Guy doesn't give
a about your actual goals, he just wants to fill your house and your brains with distracting clutter. But in addition to all the previous tips, you can trick GAS Guy by using this GAS Guy
pitch ditcher technique. All right, GAS Guy, I'll buy that new bass but first I have to learn
these three songs perfectly. Suck on that. Okay. You're leveraging the gassy excitement about shiny new things to get yourself to focus on
practice and improvement, instead of just infinite shopping. You're calling the shots, rather than GAS Guy convincing
you to buy on impulse. Then you can save your money for something that will
truly make you happy, like some lessons that could take you
from beginner to badass. If only there was a
course that could do that over at BassBuzz.com...
