Probably seems easier to learn the basics in comparison to some instruments but no instrument is easy (apart from the Kazoo)
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Yeah thatās a really good point - āeasyā is a relative term here, not absolute.
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My college professor repeatedly reminded me (as he urged me to learn upright bass and dedicate myself to that noble - and impossible - instrument) that the electric bass is āthe easiest instrument in the world to play.ā
I hated it when he said that.
Butā¦ it is easier to get into than most.
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I completely agree, Gio.
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Iām not gonna say playing bass is easy, but when I was in college, some friends were starting a band and asked āhey, you were in band in high school, right?ā When I said yes (played baritone and trombone) they handed me a bass and just like that, I was in a band. Of course, when someone who actually knew how to play bass came along I was quickly replaced.
Easy to pick up and lay down some root notes with? Yes.
Easy to play well? Not without practice.
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I think these two statements just about sum up the answer to my OP, especially the @Wombat-metal statement about keeping rhythm and āsitting back in the pocketā. Very nicely put IMHO:+1: 
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I forgot to add that I did play a bass clef instrument beforehand, so I had a slight leg up so-to-speak when it comes to reading the notation staff.
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Maybe I will be able to answer that question in a few years, when I finally learn something? 
Gee, as everyone here says how easy it is, Iām starting to wonder if I require special care or what? 
Itās not easy for me. At all 
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@Hann
Donāt get the downs. Look at how far youāve come! From not playing at all to being able to hear something and think āyeah, i can play that.ā Thatās an amazing thing. So lots of folks make it look real easy, and maybe it is for them-meanwhile, youāre so much further than you ever knew. You got this, Iām quite sure of it.
Probably the best piece of advice i ever got was-ādonāt compare your insides to other peopleās outsidesā
I believe you are right on the verge of being where you want to be. Keep plucking away, itās there.
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For someone who has never played an instrument, everything is new, so you donāt have anything you can really hold on to.
I remember when I got my bass and hold it in my hands for the first time. My hands didnāt know at all what to do and I was thinking I probably might just return this thing. It was just like ā¦ I was so amazed how much my hands didnāt know what to do.
This now is almost 2 years ago. I am still not good at this, but I can play some bass lines, easy ones even quite decent and I know that if I only put the practice time in, I might be able to play anything.
What I would like to now is how much hours I have since then in practicing, but that is not so easy to estimate. Because āplaying since 2 yearsā, that can mean anything from several hours per day, every day down to very little practice time, so what someone can do after 2 years of playing can differ a lot from player to player.
Just hang in there and have fun.
On the topic of the thread, I canāt commit much. Bass is the only instrument I really ever tried playing.
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I know. Thank You and donāt worry 
, I think positively and Iām happy to be where I am. Iām just a little jealous sometimes Must admit that have always learned new things quickly and easily, and this is the first time I started something that is a real challenge!! A lesson in humilityā¦ One canāt be good at everything!
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@hann, I believe that some folks here who have gone through the rigors of learning to play other types of instruments are saying that, in comparison, bass is easier to approach and learn.
Having learned guitar, sax, flute, piano, and now bass, thatās what Iāve discovered.
That said, bass is not necessarily easy to learn without proper instruction, attention to proper technique, and much practice. But this applies to any musical instrument, actually.
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everyone is different, and dont fret (see what I did there).
I came from other instruments that set the bar in a different place, so it is relative.
I thought trumpet was incredibly hard (my first adult learning instrument) and then went to sax and found out trumpet is not that hard after all.
I find guitar immensely compex and completely undoable for me.
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I never tried to learn any other instrument and I had zero knowledge of music theory when I started bass. So I canāt compare to other instruments but Iām finding it, if not easy, at least doable, and I can tell I have learnt a lot in the last year (at least I can now roughly explain what scale, keys, etc are ). A friend of mine is now learning guitar, also zero previous musical experience, and to me it seems so much more complicated than bass, I am so grateful I donāt have to deal with chord fingeringsā¦!
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Yeah, I started out learning guitar chords, as one typically does. Some players gravitate to playing lead (cool melody lines that impress everybody), but chords and chord tones are the foundational building blocks for melody lines, including bass lines.
I focused on playing rhythm guitar, which supports lead players with chordal textures. Rhythm guitar players also obviously mesh with the bass and drums to support and enhance the rhythmic groove. Rhythm guitarists generally donāt get a lot of attention, but Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead not only was a frontman along with Jerry GarcĆa, but he also was credited with creating arrangements involving deceptively intricate chord structures that he played seamlessly as he sang.
Just goes to show every instrument and player in a band contributes substantially to the overall sound, expression and emotion of a tune.
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I was more comparing it relatively to other instruments that give me hell to play 
This.
Except slap bass. F slap bass.
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" f slap bass "
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I agree with this completely, and Iāll throw my pick collection in for flavor.
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Yes, this exactly. No instrument is āeasyā. Some are easier to learn than others. And all are hard to master.
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Amen to that. 
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