First 50 Songs You Should Play On Bass

As I learned to play guitar first, my bass guitar playing is a but too… guitar-like. Poking around on YouTube I came across a video that goes through 50 songs to learn on bass. I thought I’d try walking through that myself, grabbing tab for each. And as long as I’m doing that, I might as well share.

Pedalboard Version 3

My guitar pedalboard has continued to evolve from its last iteration, and after many stable months of the same configuration I’m calling this “version 3.” Why change it at all? Two instigating events:

Pedalboard Version 2

After I created my first pedalboard, I learned so much, and assembled a second board. Let me go over the contents of my second board, in signal chain order.

Pedalboard Lessons

After creating my first pedalboard and living it with it for a while, I had some lessons:

Journey to My First Pedalboard

My first electric guitar was a hand-me-down from my uncle, given a few years after I started playing guitar in elementary school. It was the era of grunge, and much of the music I was listening to was filled to the brim with distortion. A stark contrast with my modest electric setup. And yet, when I assembled my own money to buy my first ever guitar pedal… I hipstered myself. I could have bought a distortion pedal like the Boss DS-1, used prominently by Nirvana and so many others. Or a Big Muff Pi fuzz pedal, used heavily by the Smashing Pumpkins. Or I even could have bought a delay pedal to do my best impression of U2’s The Edge. But no… I decided at the last minute to get something quirky and “unique”: an octave pedal, the DOD Octoplus. It was immediately clear I had made a mistake. An octave pedal can have its uses, but as a first and only pedal? A dismal choice. And I had no money for a second pedal.

The end result? I spent the next 25 years primarily only playing acoustic guitar.

The Guitar Story

There are many reasons that people who met me over a decade ago would see me differently than those who’ve met me recently, but there’s one reason in particular that secretly bothers me. Most people I know now would be surprised to hear that I used to play the guitar. A lot. The people I met before would be equally surprised to hear that I no longer do.

The Beatles: Rock Band

Played on Xbox360

My love affair with rhythm video games has cooled a bit. I don’t lust after the experience like I once did. I’ll never turn down an opportunity to play, but it’s not something I’m generally seeking out anymore.

Rock Band

Played on Xbox360

Back in December I was harsh to Guitar Hero III, but with good reason. By the time I was trying to write down my thoughts on Guitar Hero I had already started playing Rock Band. And Rock Band blows Guitar Hero out of the water.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

Played on Xbox360

It’s hard to talk about Guitar Hero III without also blabbing about Rock Band, but I’ll do my best to fight the temptation. We’ll save that comparison for when I do a proper Rock Band review. But it’s totally fair to start talking about Guitar Hero III by looking back at what I had to say about /2007/05/16/guitar-hero-ii-xbox-360.html.

Guitar Hero II

Played on Xbox360

It’s hard to really explain how much I love Guitar Hero II. But I don’t really have to, because everyone else seems to as well (reviews: GameSpot, GameSpy, GameRankings). It’s one of those games that anyone can play and have a blast. I played the first Guitar Hero for the PS2, which totally rocked, but the sequel’s arrival on the Xbox 360 is a distinct upgrade. The graphics are totally better, although that’s more a feature for the spectators, not the player. There’s a cooperative mode where one player can play lead and the other can play rhythm or bass. There are more songs. As a 360 title there are achievements, which are well balanced. There are also leaderboards where you can size yourself up against your friends or the whole world (I’m currently ranked around 13,000). The gameplay itself is more of the same, but no one’s complaining about that.