Forget the naysayers: in many ways, this is a great time to try to break into the music business. The slow decline of the old label system has opened up practically infinite new potential for online musical promotion. These days, previously-unknown musicians have risen to be worldwide successes with nothing more than a YouTube video that went viral.

If you’re an up and coming bassist, you need to be coming at your craft from a lot of different angles at once. It’s not enough just to keep practicing and dreaming: you gotta make those dreams happen through constant effort.

Here’s our list of six things we think any budding new bass guitarist should know about getting into the music business!

Six Tips Newbie Bassists Need To Know!

I. Always Lay New Tracks

Chances are, everything you need to record some demo tracks is sitting right on your smartphone. If you’ve got a tablet, you’ve got even more options. Either way, never let a musical idea get away. Find an app that will let you quickly record snippets played on virtual strings or take hummed input. What this gives you is an idea storehouse; a place to turn when you’re looking for inspiration.

II. Focus On Building True Fans

If you’re in any way involved in the music business online, you’re going to be involved in social media. It’s just too fantastic a tool for reaching out and connecting with fans. However, there’s always going to be a temptation to treat your Fan\Follower\Linker lists like a high score grid. Don’t. Having quality fans who honestly love your work and evangelize your music will do you far more good than just trying to have a lot of followers.

III. Play Live Whenever Possible

You don’t get new fans by staying home and noodling. Get the band together – or at least a couple of you – and perform for someone! Just start playing in the park, or subway and see who comes to listen. (Especially once you send out the Tweets….) Doing spontaneous live gigs, just for fun, is a great way to meet people and get word out about you!

IV. Keep Better Time

No matter how tricky your fingers get, never forget that your purpose in a band is to keep time, especially when the drummer cannot. Time drills are boring, but you need them to get truly better as a bassist. Practice with a metronome. You might also consider playing with a click track in one ear, as is common among some drummers.

V. Expand into other realms

There’s no reason you have to “just” be a bass guitarist these days. You’ll have a lot better luck in the music business if you’re multi-functional. If you can’t sing or play other instruments, take an interest in what’s happening in the production booth. Or teach yourself beats and sampling with your mobile device. The possibilities for personal growth in the music biz today are enormous.

VI. Learn ‘The Game’

Enormous possibilities also bring enormous pitfalls, and few today can be naive about the power of the music industry to use and abuse its artists. Be smart about how you proceed. Do your homework. Look for advice online from other budding bassists on how to conduct business, and what to look for in your contracts. In short, learn “The Game” of the business side.  After all, the more money you keep flowing in, the more you’ll be able to rock the rest of the time.

You gotta be smart to keep rocking in today’s music industry!