Just curious as to how many of you have been encouraged to pick up learning guitar after learning how to play bass?
I tried to teach myself guitar many years ago but gave it up after much frustration with landing notes because of my huge sausage fingers. No matter how much I tried I couldn’t get to one string without holding down 2 or even 3 others. I wrote it off as a mechanical failure and moved on.
Now, after immersing myself in the bass world, that little guitar player in my head has been poking at me to try again but Lord knows my bank account can’t handle the added addiction of buying guitar gear on top of bass gear right now.
Squier do a 6 string bass that is more of a bass-tuned guitar (from what I can tell) rather than a bulky intimidating 6 string bass like what people with ridiculous skills play.
Whether you do or not, if you can manage to recognize the major guitar chords, it will help your bass playing, particularly when just jamming. Or really, just look for the lowest note in the chord the guitarist is playing and play that note on your bass. However, if you can recognize the chords this is easier as sometimes they move to fast to try to do the arithmetic in your head, particularly with bar chords and chords that don’t play their low E. e.g. They are only playing the 5 highest strings, but it can be hard to see that visually.
I’d also mention that if you are popping between bass and guitar, then you’ll probably naturally fall into rhythm guitar as opposed to lead guitar, but that’s not a certainty and it’s not a bad thing if you do lead. I just found I’m a rhythmic person so am not personally drawn to shredding on guitar.
@rickpalacios1973 - I’m not sure I (personally) would have the desire to learn to play guitar after learning to play bass.
I’ve played all sorts of guitars for many years, sometimes on stage and even in state competitions back in the early ‘60’s yet, now that I’ve taken on the bass, my desires to play guitar have lessened - partially due to the arthritis in my hands. It doesn’t mean that I will never play my other stringed instruments again because I still use them quite often - just not to the extent I use to.
I (personally) find the bass much more intriguing and a bit mystifying when I play it compared to my guitars. I suppose that could be that when I play guitar, I can do it in such a way that i can easily hide any imperfections and mistakes, not to mention find numerous ways to shortcut playing style and still come very close to getting what I want in sound and tone. Not the case with the bass… each note has to be spot on in tone, key, and timing - otherwise the entire song suffers. With guitar, you can bend notes when you’re a little off key, and blame timing on the drummer.
I would say that I do believe that being a guitar player has helped me to be a better bass player, and that being a better bass player has helped me to be a better guitar player…
At the moment I don’t think I’ll ever want to be a guitar, keyboard, or drum PLAYER. I will say that I do have a passing interest in being passable in all three for home recording purposes and so I can enjoy music in ways other than bass. Never say never, but I feel I will only ever be a bass PLAYER.
@PeteP I’ve seen that “bass” over the years and always been intrigued by it. I wonder what it would sound like in the mix of the bass player playing literally what the guitar player is just down an octave. In my mind, an instrument like this gives so many interesting possibilities in sound. I must be missing something though as it doesn’t seem to be as popular in music as I feel it should in my head.
@rickpalacios1973 I’ve never had a desire to play guitar or any other instrument. For 30 years it has been the bass that has always stood out to me. I like all the other instruments. It would be nice to know how to play guitar but, for me, only in the context of being a better bass player.
I love a ripping guitar sound that cuts through my brain like a chainsaw made with fine sharpened steel. But I don’t want to make those sounds myself. I don’t feel it and I couldn’t be genuine and pull it off. (Did I go too big here?)
@PeteP The Bass VI. Comes in both Squire and Fender versions. I would love to have one of those to be able to explore all that crazy sonic capability. I am much more interested in this rather than a traditional guitar.
@ChrisThomason From what I’ve read, they were used a lot more in the studio. I also saw stuff about it crossing too many lines in the higher end so that it didn’t sit in the mix very well in a live performance. I still want one.
I know this is an old thread, I have played guitar my whole life pretty much on stage, in the studio, etc. once I picked up the bass I haven’t touched the guitar again. This may change in the future but I really love playing the bass it has broadened my musical experience. So to answer the thread I believe this worked opposite for me. Plus in my personal experience a good bassist is hard to find and guitar players are a dime a dozen
A friend of mine gave me a guitar as a gift about a year ago. It’s been sitting on a stand ever since. I pick it up every now and then and just noodle around, but I have no desire, energy, or time to try to learn to play it. I’m a bass gal and that’s what I am.
Every now and then I still do pick up one of my guitars and play. I still try to stay a bit active in their use simply because one of my grandsons has one of my acoustic‘s, and one of my electric tele’s, and one of my granddaughters has one of my classical acoustics. They like it (and so do I) when we can play together a bit, but mostly talk about music with each other.
I suppose if staying active in the use of my guitars allows me to be a little more involved and helps bring me closer to my adult and teenage grandkids, then by-ghad I’ll be right there with them pickin’ and grinin’ until that time comes when they start to realize that playing bass is way more fun and enjoyable!!
Love seeing these old threads come back alive! Yeah, it’s all personal preference, but, if you’re looking to play with others, then bass is the place to be. I found that even as a beginner, I had no problems last winter finding people to play with who wanted me, and felt glad to have found a bass player that was at least semi-competent.
And when I put out my own Craigslist ads looking to jam with people, tons of guitar players always seemed to be around, truly, a dime a dozen, I could even be picky, and play with the best of them (and there are some very talented guitar players out there).
If you are worried your hands are too small for bass, guitar will cure that immediately.
“Wow, my hands are way too big for this! How do you guys fit so many fingers in one fret?”
“You guys find this Cmaj stretch hard? Seriously? We do this on the regular.”
It has made my bass playing better.
I didn’t expect this one. But it has. Probably something about having to be more accurate with all the tiny, sharp strings. Plus, it really ups your picking game.
It’s a whole new kind of finger pain.
If you think you have callouses from playing bass, you’re wrong. Mine are finally starting to build up now but the first few weeks I couldn’t take more than about 20 minutes at a time.
Another interesting thing is that much like guitarists picking up the bass have advantages in learning, it works the other way too. I find myself blowing through the beginner course, which is kind of bad, because things like my callouses and chord changing speed are lagging behind my ability to do the actual lesson material, especially picking riffs, which are super easy for me so far (basically like playing a super short scale bass).
This is a whole new kind of sideways finger strength thing I am clearly lacking or something, because my index finger is doing a great job of muting instead of fretting right now
i was actually given a guitar for christmas, ive been playing the bass for a year now, and guitar is frustrating cuz its quite different but i will be trying my best to learn it.
I was reversed after many moons of playing guitar the bass became my main instrument. Not because I didn’t like guitar or because I wasn’t really that good at it, it is because the groove in music that makes me feel a song in my soul comes from bass and drums not how many notes I can run in a solo or what impressive chord shapes I can do. Take the guitar out of a mix and you can still groove, remove a bass and watch the rhythm start to fall apart
Barre chords yes, the rite of passage. It’s easier to learn barre chords further up the neck. You’re further away from the nut so less pressure is required . It’s easier to form an A Chord than an F to start with.
First off just place your index finger down and practice barring with that before using the other fingers. Also the best result will come from using the side of your finger. I have YouTube links on barre chords if you’re interested.
I am primarily a guitar player and only became interested in the bass to be able to record stuff I had written. That seems to have changed as now I write more and practice almost exclusively on the bass. The basic theory that I had picked up as a guitar player carries over, helps a lot as most of the stuff I come up with is arpeggio based and then me thinking what note can I throw in here that makes it sound just off enough that people will think I know what I’m doing. As a bass player learning the basic of guitar can help as you look at the guitar player you’ll recognize the chords and it can help give you a starting point in jam sessions if nothing else. Maybe you find yourself in a bind like mine where you need to learn guitar to record the stuff you’ve written.
I grew upon a midwest farm back in the 50’s/60’s… Although our main purpose was to raise crops ( corn, soybeans), we did have a couple milk cows (along with other food source animals)… I HATED those damn milk cows - especially since they had to be milked twice a day… With only a couple cows, having a modern type “milking machine” was totally outta the question - me and my other two younger brothers WERE the milking machines. 4:30 AM and 4:30 PM… Every gahdamn day!!
Sorry for all the background BS @howard, but the only damn thing that has done me any good that I know of after all these years is that… years and years of pullin’ on those friggin’ teets kinda built up muscles in my hands that allow me to run “barre chords” up and down a guitar (easier on my tele than my acoustic) easier than chuggin’ open string eighth notes on any bass…
Squeeze a rubber ball. Squeeze a tennis ball. Build your hand muscles and you’ll be easily able to squeeze a guitar’s neck in order to assure all of the strings on the neck are properly fretted. Although a bass and a guitar my be similar in many ways, they are two different instruments meant to be played differently… I have to constantly remind myself of this when I swap between the two (I love playing both).
