Walking Bass Line

What makes a “great” bass guitar? If you ask every bassist, you would probably get a bunch of different answers. For me it is its “feel”. More specifically, the feel of the neck. You can always replace the pickups, try different strings, etc, but you need to like the neck. That Gibson Thunderbird does look pretty sweet, and lots of people play it so it must be good. But then you actually get to play it and the neck is huge, and you have small hands. This is gonna be difficult. A lot of brands use the same necks on almost all of their guitars/basses, so one ESP bass is going to feel very much like the next ESP bass. At least get to know the brands’ tendencies. As a general rule:

Gibson necks are about the largest, they are jokingly referred to as “baseball bat necks”
Fender necks are smaller than Gibson, slightly flatter, but still relatively round
Ibanez necks are extremely thin and flat; better for small hands; some say easier to play fast
ESP/Schecter necks are fairly thin and flat, not as extreme as Ibanez, slightly more round
Ernie Ball/Music Man necks are fairly thick and round, but not overly large, Fender-ish
Dean Necks are about midrange on thick/thin and round/flat; V-Necks start off fairly round and come to a “point” towards the neck joint

Hope this can be helpful as a rough guide; try many basses before you decide. You will know when you have found the right one. Be sure to check out more helpful info at promusicianschoice.com too!