“How much would you pay for a bass guitar?”

In the 1950s, Leo Fender and his team of engineers began to work on an idea for what would become the Precision Bass. It was a simple concept: use a solid body to eliminate feedback from hollow-bodied instruments, add frets so that musicians could more easily find the notes they wanted to play, and improve the ergonomics so that it could be played while sitting down. The result was revolutionary. Players from Chuck Berry to Paul McCartney have used Fender bass guitars on some of the most iconic songs of all time.

The first Precision Bass prototypes were made out of wood in Fender’s music shop in Fullerton California, with parts sourced from local hardware stores. But when it came time to manufacture the instrument commercially, Mr. Fender needed a way to make it more cost effective. So he turned to plastics expert George Fullerton to help reduce production costs. Together they figured out how to mold a one-piece body using ABS plastic reinforced with fiberglass and designed a neck using Poplar wood. Their innovations helped make the electric bass available to millions of bass players around the world. In today’s dollars, early P-Basses sold for around $200 when they were released in

Question 1:

If you were going to buy a bass guitar today, how much would you be willing to pay for it? Enter the price in dollars. (Use a dot as a separator, e.g. “123.45”)

Question 2:

Please select the single answer that best describes your level of experience as a musician.

1. I am an experienced bass player with many years of practice and performance.

2. I am an aspiring bass player and have been playing for less than 6 months.

3. I have never played bass before but I want to learn how to play now.

4. I am not interested in learning how to play bass, but I enjoy listening to music with a strong bass line or beat.

5. None of the above

The holiday season is upon us, and for many it’s a time of gift-giving and family reflection. For millions of music fans, the holidays also mark the beginning of a new concert season, and with that comes the annual tradition of the Secret Santa gift exchange with coworkers at Ticketmaster.

For those unfamiliar with the Secret Santa tradition, participants are assigned to buy a gift for one other person without revealing their identity. It’s usually something small, but fun and thoughtful–an autographed photo or a poster perhaps. This year as I was pulling names out of a hat (yes, we still use an actual hat), I was shocked to see my coworker Mike’s name appear. I’ll be honest–I was terrified.

Mike is an avid bass guitar collector. He owns more than 50 instruments, including prized guitars owned by legendary players like Billy Sheehan and Geddy Lee. Some even featured custom artwork commissioned by the artists themselves.

The bass guitar is one of those things you don’t think about unless you play one–or until you see Mike’s collection. It’s one of those instruments everyone can recognize on sight but few can name offhand. It’s not as sexy as a Fender Stratocaster or as pretty as a Gibson Les

The most obvious way to find out the value of a bass guitar is to ask the manufacturer. You can do this in several ways:

1. Call a customer service number and ask directly.

2. Visit the manufacturer’s website and look for details on the item you want, including price.

3. Contact a dealer that carries that brand of guitar and ask them to help you find the value of your guitar.

4. Call an appraiser who specializes in musical instruments and have them assess your equipment.

This year I decided to get my father-in-law a bass guitar for Christmas. It was a simple choice. He is a bass player, and had been hinting for years that he wanted an electric bass. He had an acoustic, but his band plays soul music, and you really need an electric bass to play that.

I asked my brother-in-law what he thought my father-in-law would like, and he said “It’s hard to find good bass guitars for less than about two thousand bucks.” I figured that was more than I wanted to spend on the gift, so I looked around on Google, and found that you could buy a perfectly good one for under $300.

So I ordered one from Musician’s Friend, who seemed to have the best price. When it arrived it looked great: nice finish, nice feel, no flaws or defects at all that I could see. So I wrapped it up in fancy paper and bows, and took it to Christmas dinner.

My father-in-law opened it up, smiled appreciatively at the wrapping paper and bows (which took most of the space in the box), then opened up the case. Inside he found a piece of cardboard shaped like a guitar with “Ep

In a recent post, I talked about the importance of non-obvious questions in sales. This is one of my favorite topics, because it’s so easy to fall into the trap of asking typical sales questions. It’s also an important topic, because asking the right questions can set you apart from your competition.

There are many ways to ask non-obvious questions, but one of my favorite methods is to ask a series of simple yes/no questions. Here’s an example:

You’re in sales. You meet a prospect who owns a guitar shop. After building rapport, you ask if he has a bass guitar on his store floor. He says “Yes.” You then ask him if he has a display case on his store floor that holds bass guitars. He says “Yes.” You then ask him if he has any other displays that hold bass guitars on his store floor (other than the case). He says “No.” Then you ask him if he’s ever sold more than 12 bass guitars in a month (from his store floor). He says “No.” At this point, you can say something like “You want to sell more bass guitars, don’t you?” His reply will probably be something like “Yes” or “Of course.” Then

The first thing I noticed when I started playing bass guitar was that it felt like the band needed me. If I wasn’t there, something would be missing. I loved that feeling.

I had taken piano lessons for years when I was a kid, but abandoned them when I went to college because I couldn’t see myself forming a band with my piano teacher. He was an old Russian gentleman with a thick accent, and while he had enormous patience with my clumsy attempts to learn my scales and arpeggios, we didn’t exactly connect as people.

When I saw the ad for bass lessons in the local paper, however, something clicked. Not only did this guy play bass in a band, he was also willing to teach me how to do it myself!

I called his number and left my name and phone number on his answering machine. A few days later he called back and invited me over to his house for an interview.

“I’m not sure if you’ll like this,” he said over the phone, “but everyone else who’s heard about it has.”