or just play cowboy chords
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+1
It took me literally 5 minutes to find a local band roughly in my age range that had everything BUT a bass player.
And theyāve been looking for more than a year.
Granted in Cologne I live in a highly populated area but they could have picked up multiple guitarists in the time they looked for a bassist. I quote the drummer at first band practice/getting to know each other: āItās so good to have the bass back in our music.ā and all I did was chugging along root notes. I got better and play more than the root and the rythms are not as simple anymore but to fill the void in the music while being appreciated with not soo much effort felt good.
Being a guitarist on the other hand felt way more competitive just due to the amount of guitarists mentioned above. Well maybe I also simply was more competitive in my 18s to 20s 
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Which I will this yearā¦but I donāt look that old, do I?
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of course notā¦none of us doā¦weāre all shored up with so many good times and great stories and yet there is the growing need to yell at kids to get off the grass
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I like learning guitar because it has actually improved my bass playing.
I mean barre chords wonāt but everything else has 
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@howard I still incorporate barre chords in my bass playing I have been so used to using them or even extended chords in jazz guitar that I find them a lot in my bass playing. I was playing around with Primusā John the Fisherman the other day and found it more comfortable to barre the main riff on the bass. I think we as musicians get confined in what we feel a proper musician would play like and then forget to leave room for individuality at times. Take the route that feels most comfortable as long as it achieves the same end result and doesnāt physically cause pain
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I am guilty of dipping a toe into the world of guitar. Forgive me!
Started after a comment Josh made in a video about watching what chord the guitarist is playing in a live situation. Also aided by seeing Greg from Allegon a technical metal band from Colorado playing classical guitar.
So after first trying out on a steel string guitar, the second time for me it was on a cheap Classical nylon string acoustic guitar, which are just about the cheapest 6 stringed instrument you can buy. Also much easier on the finger tips.
It was interesting to be learning something new, while also having the advantage of the prior knowledge of the bass fretboard. True classical guitar is a whole other world with fingernail length being a big topic, and getting your head around strumming with 3 fingers and a thumb at the same time.
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Interesting!
I love the idea of barre chords - they are actually what I assumed most chording on the guitar would be, as they make sense.
Itās just the actual physical action of doing them that is challenging
I should have gone with 9ās while learning too. Though 10ās are not so bad.
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@howard Beginning guitar is like raking your fingers across razor wire lol I started the guitar when I was ten years old. I played that guitar for hours a day everyday without fail. I actually played until I would bust my fingertips wide open and would physically have to stop. I played 9ās then, all my guitars now run 11-52 and some are 13-72 those are the detuned monsters. I run flats on my hollow body jazz guitars in 12ās. When I switched over to playing bass I thought my goodness these strings are brutal but then I recalled how them little wires cut my hands up in the beginning.
The cool thing for me was when I studied Jazz and classical I learned how to seriously involve my pinky in ways I thought werenāt possible, and also how to make some beautiful chord shapes that I have carried over to the bass in a lot of ways. Classical and Flamenca playing gave me a great right hand technique I studied with Douglas Lora from the Brasil Guitar Duo over Skype in private lessons and he had some wonderful techniques for the right hand. In turn this has in some ways made my right hand technique a bit unconventional at times because I still like to pick classically on the bass but I have been able to use it in certain areas of my playing like doing a fast bass fill or run.
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One thing I have noticed already is that learning guitar is improving my fretting accuracy on bass.
My fingerstyle plucking is getting rusty though as I have been focusing on pick for both bass and guitar for a while now.
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For me it was the opposite. I started on guitar, and made the choice to pick up the bass. Failed guitarist, if you will.
I like the idea of being the glue, a support instrument. I donāt need the spotlight on me or play 200mph; I just want to make good music and enjoy myself. Let me lay down that groove and you guys go to town on it.
I see a lot of young and older guys on jam sessions just want to make it about just them. No thanks; whatever sounds good, even if I have to play the same half note throughout the whole song. 
If I ever get back into six strings, itāll likely be a nylon string and fingerpicking. Chet Atkins is my favorite guitarist, and I think heās one of the best ever.
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Yep, Iām one of those that thanks to discovering the bass about 3 years ago. I have now stumbled into learning guitar.
I had no intention of this- guitar always seemed way too daunting. But that all changed about 3 months ago when I started noodling around with my sons old Gretsch. I just started pretending it was a bass and started playing riffs on the first 2 or 3 strings. Plugged in some pedal effects, and whoa, I was hooked.
Flash forward 3 months, Iāve added a couple of 6 strings to my arsenal.
I am playing basic power chords, writing more original material. Even if I donāt progress beyond what I am accomplishing now, I will be a happy man! There are definitely skills that translate well between bass/guitar, and can be helpful for both. So if you have an interest, give it a shot!
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Pretty much the same for me. Did not really initially intend to do it but one day decided to try it and hey, what do you know, itās fun
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Like you mentioned earlierā¦ learning guitar is tough on the fingertipsā¦ yikes!
At least until the callous forms and can withstand the pressure.
(Although the pain is temporary- i just was not expecting it to that extent)
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Waitā¦isnāt it the opposite? I thought all bass players were just failed guitarists!
Jokes aside, I play both and did start on bass. Not very good at guitar at all, but have written songs on guitar and then the bass lines to the guitar parts.
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Iām still thoroughly terrible at guitar but having fun.
I was thinking about this today, as I was playing Bass. I picked the guitar up for the first time ever at 47. For the first year I dabbled but never really practiced too hard. Then a year ago I decided to be more disciplined and force myself to do a solid 30 minutes a day.
Unsurprisingly the more I practiced, the better I got and so 30 mins a day wasnāt enough. Soon it was at least an hour and Iād be frustrated if I didnāt get to play every day.
I picked up the bass for the first time a few months ago and applied what I learned about practice to that. I consider myself a bass player now. I practice at least an hour a day sometime 2-3. I have got the bug. But I still pick up the guitar because itās still enjoyable to play.
The takeaway for me was that thereās no such thing as talent. Itās just good old fashioned work. Nobody is born being able to play music. However if you put in the work you get to the point where you can play well enough that it somehow morphs into fun.
I was happy that at the end of the year I could play something that sounded a bit like an old record from my childhood. Finally, playing to make yourself happy and not measuring up against others is the best way to learn; Mark Twain said it best āComparison is the death of joyā
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I canāt +1 this enough. Well put.
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Pretty late to this thread but Iām currently falling back in love with guitar after ignoring it for 20+ years, and learning to play bass is 100% the reason Iām enjoying it so much. Like others have said there is a ton of crossover and mutual benefits between the 2 instruments.
I got a guitar and lessons when I was 15 but never really took playing music seriously after that, until I decided to āget seriousā with bass via B2B. When I recently picked up my guitar again there was an avalanche of āahaā moments that had been unlocked by learning the bass. Mostly music theory stuff, but also finger strength, strumming rhythms, fretboard knowledge, etc. Like @howard said the previously ādifficultā reaches and pinky movements on guitar were almost easy compared to what bass requires.
So yeah in my experience there are huge benefits you can carry over from playing bass to learning guitar. Iāll always consider myself a bass player first, but I want to be proficient at both for recording and versality purposes.
It also helps that I actually invested in quality gear for bass, and that most of it can also be used for guitar (amp, pedals, etc). Bass Clone, Bass Big Muff and MXR Envelope Filter are all a ton of fun on guitar.
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