Finding the best bass guitar for beginners that looks cool and is easy to play can be challenging. There are tons of good beginner bass guitars to start playing bass there, but not all of them are right for you.
You need to find a bass that you not only feel comfortable with but also something that you like the look and tone of. Nothing makes you want to pick up your bass and play more than opening the case and seeing how cool your instrument looks. There are a couple things you should consider when picking out your first bass guitar: pickup configuration, number of strings, scale length, and tone woods. Don’t worry though. We’ll help you figure it out.
Let’s check out the top-rated bass guitars for beginners on the market and compare their features, so you can find the right one for you.
Compare the Top Beginner Bass Guitars in 2020
Contents
- 1 Compare the Top Beginner Bass Guitars in 2020
- 1.1 Sterling by Music Man StingRay Ray4 Bass
- 1.2 Fender Squier Affinity Series Precision P Bass for Beginners
- 1.3 Yamaha 4-String Entry Level Bass Guitar
- 1.4 Ibanez GSR Micro Bass Guitar for Beginners
- 1.5 Fender Squier Vintage Jaguar Short Scale Bass
- 1.6 Schecter Omen 4 Beginner Bass Guitar
- 1.7 Jackson JS Series Spectra Bass JS2
- 1.8 Davison Starter Bass Guitar Pack
- 1.9 Goplus Beginner Electric Bass
- 2 What We Recommend and Why
Here’s a list of the best beginner bass guitars that sound great and will help you learn how to play quickly.
- Sterling by Music Man StingRay
- Fender Squier Affinity Series Precision P Bass
- Yamaha 4-String Entry Level Bass Guitar
- Ibanez GSR Micro Bass Guitar for Beginners
- Fender Squier Vintage Jaguar
- Schecter Omen 4 Beginner Bass Guitar
- Jackson JS Series Spectra Bass
- Davison Starter Bass Guitar Pack
- Goplus Beginner Electric Bass
Sterling by Music Man StingRay Ray4 Bass
Specs, features, and benefits
Sterling is Music Man’s little brother and having said that, you’ll immediately know that we are talking about a quality bass guitar that comes for an affordable price. The StingRay Ray4 by Sterling is a beginners bass, that sounds great, plays awesome, and It is a very wallet-friendly bass. Ray 4 is an affordable version of the original Music Man Stingray 34.
It is a precision bass, made to meet the needs of the beginners. It has a double-cutaway body made out of basswood, and a bolt-on slim-taper neck made out of hard maple with either Jatoba or Maple fingerboard. It has twenty-one Medium frets.
It has a nice pack of open-gear tuning pegs and a fully adjustable fixed bridge designed by Sterling by Music Man. The StingRay Ray 4 has one low-noise ceramic humbucker, and a 9V Active Preamp with the Master Volume control knob, Hi-Boost, and Low-boost control knobs.
You can find a Ray 4 bass in Black, Mint Green, Vintage Sunburst Satin, Fiesta Red, Vintage Cream, Walnut Satin, Trans Blue Satin, and Ruby Red Burst finish. It is also available in a left-handed version.
Pros and Highlights
- Affordable – The Ray4 bass won’t break the bank! Now, you don’t have to be rich to have a cool bass guitar – just grab a Ray4, and you are good to go.
- Playability on the spot – the neck of the Ray4 is very well designed. It will inspire you to play some groovy lines.
- Good sound – The Stingray Ray4 sounds great. The ceramic humbucker and the active preamp work great together. You can gig with it!
Cons and Potential Flaws
- No cons! – The Ray4 is a great bass guitar for the money. Perfect for beginners, but also for experienced fellows who like to have a secondary option.
Bottom line
Ray 4 is great for beginners. It is a sturdy bass guitar that sounds great and feels great on the hand. It is also affordable. It will take you time to outgrow it – you can start immediately gigging with it.
Fender Squier Affinity Series Precision P Bass for Beginners
Specs, features, and benefits
Squier Affinity Precision P/J Bass is a great beginner bass guitar.
The body of this bass is made out of Alder, while the neck of the Squier Affinity Precision bass is made out of maple. The neck has a C-shaped profile, and it sports a rosewood fretboard with twenty Medium Jumbo frets. The bridge on this bass is a standard “vintage” fixed bridge with adjustable saddles, and the tuning pegs on the headstock are standard open-gear die-cast ones.
As the name suggests, the Squier Affinity Series Precision P/J Bass has a P/J configuration of pick-ups, which means one single-coil at the bridge position, and one split-coil at the neck position. These are passive pick-ups, and they have separate control knobs for Volume, and a shared Master Tone control knob. Besides having passive electronics, the Squier Affinity Precision P/J Bass has a pretty decent output. Due to the P/J configuration, this bass shines with tonal versatility.
Pros and Highlights
- Won’t break the bank! – Everybody can afford a Squier!
- P/J pick-up configuration – This allows you to have tonal versatility.
- C-shaped neck – The Squier Affinity Series Precision P/J Bass will be comfortable for playing for many hours due to the nicely shaped neck – this means a lot. Some basses are very hard to play – not this one though.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- It is a cheap bass – This usually means that the hardware, the electronics, and the wood used on the instrument won’t be as good as on the guitar that costs two or three times more. It might need a setup, right out of the box too. So, if you decide to buy one of these, we recommend going to your local guitar shop, try it, and if buying, buy it there.
Bottom line
If you are on a tight budget, we recommend checking out the Squier Affinity Series Precision P/J Bass.
Of course, it is not the best bass guitar in the world, and it can have imperfections. But, for the price, it is a good one. There are better basses than this one that are just a little pricier than this one.
However, it all depends on your budget, of course.
Yamaha 4-String Entry Level Bass Guitar
Specs, features, and benefits
We all know that Yamaha is great at making instruments, and this time they’ve made a great bass guitar that comes for a very affordable price. The Yamaha TRBX174EW not only that is an affordable, awesome sounding, and great for playing bass, it is also a great looking one.
The double-cutaway body of the Yamaha TRBX174EW is made out of Mahogany, and on top of it it has a Flamed Mango – this is why it both sounds good and looks beautiful. The bolt-on neck is made out of maple, and it has a rosewood fretboard with twenty-four frets.
On the headstock you can find four sealed chrome tuning machines and a string retainer that helps the strings to never go out of tune. It has a vintage bridge, and a nut made out of Urea.
The electronics on the TRBX174EW are also great – you will find a P/J pick-up configuration with ceramic single-coil at the bridge, and ceramic Split-coil at the neck position. Each pick-up has a separate volume control knob, but they share the control knob for tone. You can’t guess the price of the Yamaha TRBX174EW, by listening to it – with its sound it can easily stand up to pricier models. It comes in Translucent Black Finish.
Pros and Highlights
- Love at first sight – The Yamaha TRBX174EW TBL looks amazing, and just by taking a glance at it, you can fall in love with it. It is a beautiful bass guitar.
- Comfortable – The neck of this bass guitar is designed with a great amount of detail, which makes it perfect for playing all-night-long gigs, without breaking the bones in your left hand. Also, the body is designed so you can access all of the frets on the neck easily. Awesome, right?
- P/J configuration – Due to the combination of magnets, the Yamaha TRBX174EW is capable of projecting many different bass sounds. This makes the bass versatile enough to be played in any kind of genre.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- No cons!
Bottom line
With an affordable price, great and versatile sound, and awesome playability, the Yamaha TRBX174EW is not awesome only for beginners, it can serve as a bass that you would take on to gigs, even if you are a hard-core professional bass player. It is a bang for the buck.
Ibanez GSR Micro Bass Guitar for Beginners
Specs, features, and benefits
We just can’t exclude Ibanez when putting up a list on bass guitars. The Ibanez Micro GSR is a compact bass guitar, perfect for beginners. Due to its size, it is great for beginners at a young age, and for anybody that has smaller hands.
The Ibanez GSR Micro has a Poplar wood body, and it has two cutaways for easy fret-access. The neck of this bass is a slim-shaped one, made out of maple. It has a Jatoba fingerboard on top. It has twenty-two frets.
The bridge on the GSR Micro is an adjustable fixed B10 bridge. It has a plastic nut and a pack of Ibanez die-cast tuning pegs. The Ibanez GSR Micro has the famous P/J pick-up configuration. The two pick-ups have a separate Volume control knob, and they share a Tone control knob.
This low-end beauty is available in Black, Brown Sunburst, White, Transparent Red, Metallic Purple, Root Beer Metallic, Starlight Blue, Walnut Flat, and Weathered Black finish.
Pros and Highlights
- Low-cost – This is great! This bass will set you back only $180!
- Awesome sound – Don’t be fooled by the size or the price of this bass, it sounds big!
- Compact – The size of the Ibanez GSR Micro makes this instrument easy to be carried around in a gig bag – it doesn’t weigh a lot, and its size makes it space-friendly. Also, due to the size of the bass guitar, the GSR Micro is perfect for young beginners, and generally for players with smaller hands.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Of course – Since this bass is made to be wallet-friendly, Ibanez had to cut a few corners here and there. First, you probably will want to change the strings – the ones that come with the bass are not the best, and changing them will improve it a lot.
- Second, you should probably change the nut too, when changing the strings – the one that comes with the bass is made out of plastic, and it is not a very solid one. Some owners also complain that the input jack is constantly getting loose – maybe you should change that too.
- Also, we don’t recommend this bass guitar if you have big hands – it will be hard for you to play it. Ibanez probably designed this bass with kids in their minds.
Bottom line
Try it before you buy it folks -Of course, you can’t expect to have the best instrument in the world with paying less than $200, right? Well, the Ibanez GSR might be great for kids that are just starting to play bass guitar. However, if you are an experienced player, you surely want to stay away from this bass.
It will probably be too small for your hands. Also, if you tried it, and you liked it, be prepared to spend a few dollars for a new pack of strings, and a new nut. These will not cost you a fortune, but we must mention that the ones that come on the bass are not the best.
Fender Squier Vintage Jaguar Short Scale Bass
Specs, features, and benefits
If you decided on picking up a bass guitar, and you want to start learning how to play it, but you have smaller hands than all of your friends, or your kid who is ten stated that he wants to rock the low-end, you want to get a Short Scale bass guitar. The Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar Short Scale Bass is an awesome beginner’s guitar.
The body of this bass is made of Agathis, while the slim C-shaped neck is made out of Maple and it features a Rosewood fingerboard. The neck is a bolt-on to the body, and it is shorter than the one that you will find on most of the bass guitars, which makes it easier for playing to small-handed players. The hardware on the Squier Jaguar SS bass consists of a fixed standard bass bridge, a synthetic bone nut, and a pack of four open-gear “elephant-ear” tuning pegs.
On the Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar Short Scale Bass you will find a P/J pick-up configuration, Two control knobs for Volume (each pick-up has its own), and one Master Tone control knob.
The sound of this bass is not comparable to the sound you would get out of a Fender Precision Bass, or to the sound of a Fender Jazz Bass, but for beginners, it is a decent one. You can probably get away with this sound on small stages.
Pros and Highlights
- Wallet-friendly – With a price of around $200, you can get a bass guitar without breaking the bank.
- Short Scale – This is perfect for kids, and generally for people with small hands.
- Decent sound – Maybe the experienced musicians won’t like it, but for a beginner, the sound that the Squier Jaguar SS Bass projects will be decent enough for practice, and performing.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- There are some corners cut – Of course, due to the affordable price, Squier had to cut a few corners. When buying this bass, be sure to try it before you buy it – you might get all sorts of problems on it, like sharp fret ends, defective bridge, loose tuning machines, etc.
Bottom line
If you want to start playing the bass guitar, and you are at a young age, or you just have smaller hands, we recommend checking out the Squier Vintage Modified Jaguar Short Scale Bass.
It is decent enough in terms of sound and quality for a beginner, and it is very affordable. However, if you have the budget we recommend trying out all of the basses that we covered in this list. If you are an experienced fellow, of course, we recommend staying away from this bass – it is made strictly for beginners.
Schecter Omen 4 Beginner Bass Guitar
Specs, features, and benefits
The Schecter Omen 4 bass guitar is one of the best representations of Schecter as a company – it screams quality. The body of the Omen 4 is made out of basswood, and it has a quilted maple top. It’s design lets you easily access all of the frets on the neck. And speaking about the neck, we must mention that it is a very comfortable thin C-shaped one. It is made out of maple, and it has a Rosewood fingerboard with twenty-four frets.
The Omen 4 has very good hardware on it too – it has a Diamond Bass bridge made by Schecter, and standard die-cast tuners, also made by Schecter. It has a Graph Tech Black TusQ nut.
The electronics on the Omen 4 are fantastic too. It has an Active Preamp, two Diamond Bass pick-ups, and four control knobs. The two pick-ups have a separate volume control knob and a Tone control knob. It sounds awesome for just any genre that exists – this makes the Omen 4 perfect for gigging. It is available in two finishes, Black and Walnut Satin. There is also a left-handed version available.
Pros and Highlights
- Great sound – Due to the awesome Diamond Pick-ups and the great Active Preamp the Omen 4 sounds fat and thick. And having in mind that it has two pick-ups and a nice pack of controls, we can say that it is a versatile bass guitar that will sit easily in any kind of music situation.
- Nice neck – The Schecter Omen 4 has a thin C-shaped neck, which makes playing bass guitar a pleasure.
- Looks beautiful – Not only it looks great due to the ergonomically designed body, it also feels nice. It is a great one to take it on the stage.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- No cons and flaws – The Omen 4 might need a set-up right out of the box. But we don’t consider this as a flaw or a con, because most of the instruments will need a setup. Just imagine the roads that this instrument took to get to you.
Bottom line
If you are looking for a bass that can handle all sorts of genres, that will be great on the hands, that will sound great, and that will not cost you a fortune, you might want to try out the Schecter Omen 4 bass.
It is a greatly designed bass that is versatile in sound and comfortable on both your hands.
Good job, Schecter!
Jackson JS Series Spectra Bass JS2
Specs, features, and benefits
When we usually hear Jackson, one word will pop up in our heads – metal! However, the JS Series by Jackson, that came out this year, are basses that can, of course, play metal, but they can also sit in genres like rock, blues, funk, pop, etc.
The interestingly designed body is made out of Poplar wood, which is not good as maple, of course, but is better than basswood. The neck of the guitar is made out of maple and it is graphite-reinforced, while the fingerboard on top of it, is a Laurel one. The neck is a thin U-shaped neck, which feels very comfortable – you will appreciate this, especially if you play a gig that lasts more than an hour. On the fingerboard there are twenty-four Jumbo-sized frets, all of them are easily accessible due to the body’s cutaways.
It has a Jackson Hardtail bridge, plastic nut, and Jackson Sealed Die-Cast tuning pegs.
When it comes to the electronics, the Jackson Spectra JS2 has a P/J combination of pick-ups, an active preamp, and three control knobs: Volume (which has a push-pull feature so you can make it active or passive), Blend control knob (that lets you blend the two pick-ups for the perfect sound), and a Bass Boos control knob (which can be used only when you set the preamp to be active).
In terms of sound, the Jackson JS Spectra JS2 bass is versatile, and this is why it can be used in many different genres.
Pros and Highlights
- Low cost – With a price like that ($200) everybody can afford the Jackson JS Spectra JS2 without selling the car.
- Versatile in sound – Due to the nicely designed electronics, the Jackson Spectra JS2 can be played in all sorts of musical situations. It sounds pretty well, having in mind its price, of course.
- Great neck – the neck of the guitar is very strong – it is made out of maple, and it is graphite-reinforced, but it also feels very comfortable due to the Thin U-shaped form.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- There are none – For a price of two hundred bucks there is not a single thing on the Spectra JS2 by Jackson that we can complain on.
Bottom line
The Jackson Spectra JS2 bass is an awesome bass for beginners that want to grow in the music world – it is versatile in sound, it looks great, it plays awesome, and it is affordable. If you are on a tight budget, but you must start rocking that low-end, we recommend checking out the Jackson Spectra JS2 bass guitar.
Davison Starter Bass Guitar Pack
Specs, features, and benefits
The Bass Guitar Starter Pack by Davison allows you to have everything you need to have as a beginner bass guitar player. In the package, you’ll get one full-sized bass guitar, one 30-watt Bass amp, a cable, a strap belt, and a soft case. The bass guitar, as Davison claims on Amazon, features an Alder body and Maple neck. The body of the bass is painted in a high-gloss black finish. On the neck, there are twenty-two frets. The bass guitar has a single Split-coil, two control knobs – one for Volume, and one for tone, four die-cast sealed tuning machines and an adjustable fixed bridge.
The amp you will get in the package is pretty basic – it has Volume and Tone controls. It is not a powerful amp that you can play gigs with it. Instead, it is a 30Watt amp, good for home-practice.
The sound of the bass guitar plugged into the amp is not something that would make you proud, but again, it will be decent for practice – if you lay your hands for the first time on an instrument.
Pros and Highlights
- Cheap! – This is one of the cheapest options available when you are in search of a bass guitar!
- You get the whole package – for $130 not only you’ll get a bass guitar, but you will also get an amp, a strap, a cable, and even a soft case!
- Simple – Just plug & play. No fancy pick-ups, no fancy control knobs, and stuff like that. In the package, you’ll find just the basic things that every bass guitar beginner needs to have to start playing.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Cheaply made – You might get a bass guitar that has buzzing frets. Also, you might get sharp frets on your bass. The Bass guitar also doesn’t sound good enough to be played on stage. The amp that you will get in the package is also very quiet and basic – you can only use it in your home.
Bottom line
If you are the type of human that just wants to buy stuff and keep them in your basement, and you suddenly saw a bass guitar, and you got to have it, you might want to check out this Davison package.
However, if you are serious about playing the instrument, we recommend buying a more serious instrument. Of course, you don’t have to spend a fortune on your first bass, but for a hundred dollars more you can get a pretty decent bass, that you can take on rehearsals, and even on stage.
If you are on a tight budget, and you want to start practicing right away, maybe Davison pack will get the job done for you, but in that case, you must be aware that you will outgrow this instrument very fast.
Goplus Beginner Electric Bass
Specs, features, and benefits
The Goplus Electric bass is one of the cheapest bass guitars on Amazon. And with that said, we must mention that there are a lot of satisfied owners.
The body of the bass is made out of Paulownia wood, some sort of solid wood for the neck, and rosewood fingerboard. The bridge is a fixed one, and on the headstock, there are four open-gear tuning pegs. It has one split-coil at the bridge position, and two control knobs, one for Volume, and for Tone.
It is available in two finishes: Black, and Blue. It comes with a soft case, a guitar strap, a pick, and a cable.
Pros and Highlights
- Dirt cheap – This is one of the cheapest bass guitars on Amazon!
- It looks fine – You can impress your non-musicians friends by showing this bass to them.
- It comes with a soft case – Yeah, so you can take it anywhere you want to.
Cons and Potential Flaws
- Cheaply made – It costs very little. This means that for making this bass are used cheap materials, cheap wood, cheap hardware, and cheap electronics. You can’t expect this bass to be a serious instrument. However, it seems that many people like it, and play it. So yeah, you decide for yourself.
Bottom line
If you want to buy a bass just for the matter of owning one – the Golpus Electric Bass might be a great choice. However, if you are serious about bass playing, you should probably stay away from this one.
What We Recommend and Why
We recommend the Schecter Omen 4! It is definitely a great bass for the money. And yes, it is a bit pricier than the others in the list, but you already know it – you get what you pay for.
If you are a beginner, but you are serious about playing bass (or any kind of instrument), we recommend the best one that you can afford. If you buy the Omen 4, it will take you a lot of time to outgrow the instrument. It will serve you for years (or decades) of practice, playing, and performing.
Great job, Schecter!