NEED HELP! DUMB GUITARISTS!

Nuttboy311 · #1 07-07-2002, 12:16 PM

Almost all of my close friends play guitar and are pretty ignorant. They all think that guitar is older than bass in general. This started because I always say that bass is much better than guitar. Last night we had a huge debate over this. I kept on telling them that the double bass has been around centuries longer than the acoustic guitar (which they think is older). They are the most frusterating bunch of lunkheads. Me being the only bassists out of any of my friends must defend it! I need the help of you wonderful people to help me prove my ignorant, guitar-loving, friends wrong. Also, they believe that guitar requires much more coordination, even after I try and explain to them that using 2 or 3 fingers to pluck a string requires much more coordination than strumming with a pick. I know that you all think that I am some sick child who hates everyone, but thats not true, I just want to prove them wrong.

Nick Gann · #2 07-07-2002, 01:17 PM

Put this up in the Double Bass part of the site. They will be able to tell you.

EvilBassPlayer · #3 07-07-2002, 01:26 PM

In fact... g**tars in their early stage had only 4 stings, just like Jaco!

Also... the very first bass wasn't electric...

EBP

JMX · #4 07-07-2002, 02:39 PM

Franky, who cares...

Cort45 · #5 07-07-2002, 03:01 PM

i would say that guitar type instruments came first because youd could carry them around easily and play anywhere but when people started playing together, then lots of other instruments (such as bass) developed. just a geuss

CS · #6 07-07-2002, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Nuttboy311
This started because I always say that bass is much better than guitar.

Stop saying that bass is much better. If they are your close friends you'll respect their feelings. 99% of the time you'll be playing music with non bassists. A band is a bunch of mates with a common interest not a long running argument.

Eric Cameron · #7 07-07-2002, 04:24 PM

The lute (the fore-runner of the guitar) is actually a VERY old instrument, dating back as far as 2000 years. The lute was brought into Europe by the Arabs sometime during the middle ages, only they called is an Ood.

Bass is a much later instrument, when people started to get the concpets of musical theory and syncopation. My guess is that the bass instrument (not counting drums) has only been around since about the 1500s or so.

Rock on
Eric

Nuttboy311 · #8 07-07-2002, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CS

Stop saying that bass is much better. If they are your close friends you'll respect their feelings. 99% of the time you'll be playing music with non bassists. A band is a bunch of mates with a common interest not a long running argument.

It is just a childish argument, we all love eachother.

Nuttboy311 · #9 07-07-2002, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Eric Cameron
The lute (the fore-runner of the guitar) is actually a VERY old instrument, dating back as far as 2000 years. The lute was brought into Europe by the Arabs sometime during the middle ages, only they called is an Ood.

Bass is a much later instrument, when people started to get the concpets of musical theory and syncopation. My guess is that the bass instrument (not counting drums) has only been around since about the 1500s or so.

Rock on
Eric

I know of the lute, but I was speaking of the conventional guitar and bass. Not its origins.

Brendan · #10 07-07-2002, 09:22 PM

What? Like Double bass and/or chello? Or what?

ConTraBajisTa · #11 07-07-2002, 10:15 PM

the acoustic guitar, i'm sure, is younger. sure there's lutes or oods or whatever, but if you're comparing an acoustic guitar, as in, the 6 string thing with a circular hole in the middle, still played today, etc etc, the upright bass has been around longer... back to the 15th or 16th century i'm pretty sure.

Howard K · #12 07-08-2002, 04:50 AM

Sorry, I think you're on a loser there!

Guitar in a different form, lute or whatever, is a much more audible frequency to most people than bass. The first instruments would have been in that frequency, why would anyone build and instrument that people can hardly hear? The 1st instruments would have been played by some guy singing along in the pub or whatever.

I'd estimate guitars or simelar stringed instruments have been around for probably centuries longer than bass in almost anyform, probably since the dark ages when everyone wore leather slippers and died of the plague at the ripe old age of 25 etc...

Bruce Lindfield · #13 07-08-2002, 05:04 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Nuttboy311

I know of the lute, but I was speaking of the conventional guitar and bass. Not its origins.

What is a "conventional" guitar and bass? If you mean electric then it's pretty clear that electric guitars were around long before electric basses.

The Double Bass is in no way the equivalent of an acoustic guitar and to compare the two is just a fallacious argument. The DB was developed as an orchestral instrument whose higher pitch equivalent was the viol or violin family.

The acoustic guitar was based on the lute or oud - Spanish guitar playing is very much influenced by "Moorish" music, which was around for over 2000 years as has been mentioned.

You can't just take an arbitrary decision and say that xxxx is "conventional" - this is not a valid concept and the development of intruments is not something that has stopped or started at one particular time - it is continuous.

Nuttboy311 · #14 07-08-2002, 06:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bruce Lindfield

What is a "conventional" guitar and bass? If you mean electric then it's pretty clear that electric guitars were around long before electric basses.

The Double Bass is in no way the equivalent of an acoustic guitar and to compare the two is just a fallacious argument. The DB was developed as an orchestral instrument whose higher pitch equivalent was the viol or violin family.

The acoustic guitar was based on the lute or oud - Spanish guitar playing is very much influenced by "Moorish" music, which was around for over 2000 years as has been mentioned.

You can't just take an arbitrary decision and say that xxxx is "conventional" - this is not a valid concept and the development of intruments is not something that has stopped or started at one particular time - it is continuous.

First, I was not the one who mentioned the acoustic guitar, that would be my friends the guitarists. Also, by conventional (it may not have been the right word to use) I meant it looks today as it did when it began, not what its origins were.

Howard K · #15 07-08-2002, 06:32 AM

None of this really matters, your guitarist friends are very obvisouly right. Let them enjoy it, it probably wont happen again!

Bruce Lindfield · #16 07-08-2002, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Nuttboy311

Also, by conventional (it may not have been the right word to use) I meant it looks today as it did when it began, not what its origins were.

Well I think you missed my point in that I was saying instruments develop continuously - so a Double Bass today is not necessarily anything like a 17thC or earlier DB - the latter might have frets, wouldn't have machine heads as such and the strings would be very different.

"Conventional" just has no meaning in this context!

Eric Cameron · #17 07-08-2002, 09:52 PM

I have a t-shirt that shows a Domenico Selas 5-string acoustic guitar dating from 1679, and it DEFINITELY looks like a guitar.

Rock on
Eric

jazzbo · #18 07-09-2002, 01:58 AM

Hmm, this seems to belong in ROSIN [DB]

**Chris Fitzgerald** · #19 07-09-2002, 06:31 AM

I like Pops, but it's kinda gritty in the summertime.

rablack · #20 07-09-2002, 07:43 AM

"The bass is much better than the guitar" what nonsense is this Nutboy? The DB happens to be my favorite tool for making music, does that make it better than any other instrument? Do you hear carpenters arguing whether a hammer is better than a saw? (No duDe, cHiSeLs RuLe) Each tool/instrument has its unique and indispensible function in building/music. (No way man, RoUter usErs uNite agAinSt those laMe tAblE sAw neRds)

And since we're in the ROSIN forum (good call jazzbo) I'll add that I used to use Pops but find that Carlson's gives me a smoother attack.