
Yes, the TMB30 has the 30” scale length that most short scale basses has. Yes, it could be a great choice for a child just starting out, or even a more experienced bassist that just wants something a little smaller than a full size instrument.
And…yes – it has many of the features that are found on higher end guitars.
The TMB30 has a poplar body and a maple neck capped with a jatoba fretboard with simple dot markers. The hardware sports a fully adjustable B10 bridge along with vintage style open gear tuners.
The Dynamax pickups are configured with a split single coil for the middle and a regular single coil for the bridge. Controlling the tone is simple, with each pickup having its own volume knob and an overall tone control.
The feature set is there, and the price is right. With the TMB30, you may find a shorter scale bass guitar that has a performance level much larger than its physical size.
Positives
Negatives
What is the difference between a bass and a guitar?
Actually, there are plenty of differences between the two. That’s because each instrument has a completely different purpose.
Amount of strings
The first difference – and the most obvious – is that bass guitars has only four strings while ‘standard’ guitars have six. These four strings are a lot thicker. That’s because the whole point of a bass is to deliver notes with a much lower frequency than that you get from a guitar. A bass is where you get that thump and rumble that holds down the bottom end.
Different tuning
The strings on the bass guitar are usually tuned (low to high) as E, A, D, and G. The bottom four strings on a guitar are tuned in the same way. What makes the bass different here is that, while they are the same notes, they are tuned one octave lower. This is what gives that low end that you can only get from a bass guitar.
Generally larger size (well...not always)
Bass guitars are usually quite a bit larger than guitars, but they usually have to be. That all comes down to a matter of physics. In order for a bass to be comfortable, play smoothly, and sound as good as it can, the overall length is bigger.
But here’s where a good 3/4 size bass guitar is different. Kids start out having smaller hands and arms so may not be able to handle the expanded size of a standard bass. With a short scale bass, they are designed in a different way to still give the same performance while being a smaller instrument.
What should you look for when buying a bass guitar for kids?
There are a few factors worth considering, but generally speaking, the idea is to keep up the motivation and enjoyment of learning to play above all else.
It’s easy to play
At the early stages of learning to play the bass (or guitar for that matter), you really don’t know what makes a ‘good’ one from a ‘bad’ one. That type of opinion comes with experience.
But one thing is for sure. If a bass isn’t comfortable to play then it’s easy to lose interest really quick. Kids struggle enough with their fingers hurting until they grow some good calluses, so having a bass that’s hard to play can make things even less appealing.
Most beginners bass guitars that you’ll find today have a quality level that is much better than it was in the past. Back in the day it wasn’t unusual to have strings that were so high off the neck that it could be a real pain to fret notes properly. That isn’t the case so much anymore. It should be pretty easy to find one that plays smoothly.
String action is just one part of playability, The body size and shape should be a good fit for a youth’s body as well. It should feel good either sitting down or standing up, and it shouldn’t be too big for them to handle.
It sounds good
How well a child’s bass sounds might not be as important at the beginning as it will be once they get more into playing. At this point you just have to be sure that the overall tone is good and well defined. That means not sounding too muddy or mushy. It also means that the notes ring out clearly without fretting out at any place on the neck.
Looks are important
This one isn’t really a ‘must have’, to be honest. But let’s face it – when you’re a teenager it’s really cool to have an instrument that just looks awesome! And it may sound a little silly, but if someone is all geeked out about how their bass looks, then they may be more excited to play it (and that’s even true for us adults, right?)
And, as we all know, practice is the key to learning. Anything that can motivate a kid to play is a good thing in my opinion. If all it takes to get someone to put some playing time in a great looking bass, then I’m all for it!
What is the best way for kids to learn how to play the bass?
Yeah – learning to play the bass can be one of the coolest things a kid can do. But I’d be lying if I said it was easy. Heck, even many adults can struggle with it! It’s almost like learning a second language. There are some basic things that anyone wanting to learn how to play the bass needs to think about, no matter how old they are.
There are countless resources online for learning. Many of the ones that are geared towards beginners are great for kids as well, as they tend to keep things simple. A bunch of little successes eventually add up, for sure. Keep at it and one day you’ll realize that you’re actually a bass player!
The biggest piece of advice I can give here is to not try to take on too much too soon. Kids (and a lot of adults I know) tend to have very short attention spans. Taking things bit by bit at a slower pace may be the right way to go.
Bottom Line
In my opinion, the one of the best kid’s bass guitars is the Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro, especially as it will fit comfortably in the hands younger kids and adults alike. My premium pick is the Squier PJ starter kit, perfect for older kids and an absolute bargain when you include all the accessories.
Competition is pretty fierce though, with the Dean Custom Zone Bass and the Cordoba Mini ll making strong showings in our roundup as well.
So what do you think? I’d love to hear your opinions about what you think are the best kid bass guitars you’ve seen out there.
Leaving your comments below would be, well, pretty cool!
2 thoughts on “What Are The 8 Best Bass Guitars For Kids Aged 4 – 12 Years Old?”
Thanks for the post. Could you please help me with something? What type of guitar tuner do you use? I’m deciding whether I want to get a clip-on tuner or the plugin kind. This would be for my acoustic/electric guitar. Thanks!
Hi Clementine! Great question… I’d say both options would do the job nicely, you have an acoustic-electric guitar which means you can plug into a tuner, but generally the clip-on models are really good too and quicker to set up.Fanny M.C. Cheung
BA (UC, Berkeley); PhD (Minn)
Pro-Vice-Chancellor / Vice-President
Choh-Ming Li Professor of Psychology
Co-Director, Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies
Professor Cheung is currently Choh-Ming Li Professor of Psychology and Co-Director of the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at CUHK. She was formerly Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Chairperson of the Department of Psychology. Professor Cheung was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research in 2013. As Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, Professor Cheung is the Chairperson of the Research Committee and oversees the governance of interdisciplinary research institutes as well as, personality and vocational behavior, gender equality, and women leadership. Professor Cheung is Past, Advisory Group on Eliminating Discrimination against Sexual Minorities, the Women’s Commission, and the Independent Police Complaints Council,.’s academic publications total over 180 internationally refereed journal articles, book chapters, books and monographs. Her research on Chinese personality assessment has raised international attention on the need to mainstream culture in psychology.).
pickled red onions with black dots in them - edible?

I've been googling this a lot and even looking into boards here but I didn't find anything similar.So this was my first time doing pickled red onions, I followed the instructions from a calendar I've got in Sweden but it's not my first language and I mostly google translated it.

Water + vinegar + sugar, boiled it and then poured it over sliced red onions in jars, closed all of them and put them in the back of the pantry (the recipe just said "let it cool down and eat"). Well, a month and half later I finally decide to open them just to see that one of the jars has a lot of small black dots over most of the onion, and they also don't have that pretty magenta color anymore, they are kind of brownish. The other jar didn't have any black stuff and created vacuum. 

The question is the same I've seen many people asking here: is this mold? Should I eat it? Do I have to keep it in the fridge now or should I have done it since the beginning