My cousin wants to learn bass. He is 11. So I want to get him something. What would be a decent one for him to learn on but he could play for years.

Well... budget?

$300 or less sorry

One of those Dean Z's or similar styles:

http://www.zzounds.com/item--DNEZMM

I actually picked one up on ebay for 70 bucks. it sounds great, feels great on playing. well under budget as well.

Those Ibanez Soundgears are awesome too. I had a red one that sounded awesome.

Ofcourse now the don't have any lol

my Ibanez Gio didn't set me back too far a few years ago, and kept me going up until recently.

Look for used instruments. Way more value for the money.

It may sound stupid, but Squier's precision bass is actually a great starting bass. It's rather easy to play, and you can play anything with it, more or less. I started out with a Squier Precision bass and I'm happy I did. I still use it now 6-7 years later for when I practice at home

Looking at his young age and your budget, I would look into one of those packages that come with the bass, amp, cord, etc. I think he'd really appreciate that, and with his little amp, it'll be much more fun to play for him, and he'll want to continue to learn more. I have been playing bass for about 8 years, and I still get very little enjoyment out of playing without an amp.

I bought my first two basses from a pawn shop for real cheap. Not terrible quality, either. Just make sure you try any used gear out before you buy it, especially from a pawn shop.

I have been impressed with the quality of the Ibanez Soundgear/SDGR basses and Squier Jazz Basses (especially the five string) at $200 or less. I also liked Dean's $99 guitars and similarly super-cheap basses. I was surprised by the lack of any flaws in those that I had a chance to play.

As always, rondomusic's stuff is also good if you don't mind a bit of setup work (sometimes) in exchange for cheap prices, but the Ibanez and Dean basses might be a better bet at those prices.

Looking around you local pawn shop can get you some great bargains, I got my Schecter Studio-4 for £200, and it's a fantastic instrument.

I can't tell you if Schecter's lower-end instruments are any good, but I agree with the Ibanez SDGR comments. They've got pretty nice necks from what I've played, which should make it a lot easier to play for a beginner.

Schecter's lower-end basses are great, but they start around $300.

Pawn shops and used stocks of local music stores are great, as long as you have enough experience to know what to look for and can handle setup when needed.

im with the p-bass, i bought mine for $35 from my parents friends son. you can find one used at a pawn shop or guitar store for under $100 usually, an amp though will run you atleast $30 if your not buying a starter package

I second this pos. Very good beginner bass, not bad quality at all. I got lucky last time I went shopping for a bass and picked up a 1993 Peave Foundation...love it to death.