Bass easier than guitar?

[jorissie]

Do you people think playing bass is easier than playing guitar?

My opinion is as follows:
There are things easy to play on guitar and there are things more difficult to play. Same applies for bass. There isn't really a rule which specifies that bass is easier, because bass is an entirely different kind of instrument than a guitar and there is no really accurate way to determine what's easy and what's difficult.

[Audiophage]

Uh, considering that my main instrument is bass and that I hardly play guitar, bass is definitely easier for me. I can't really talk for anyone else.

[jrw588]

my opinion on the difficulty is that they are about equal. Bass is easy to play in some applications, such as the pop/punk world, but to make bass sound good and to really stick out as a bassist, i feel, its much harder.

[fenderhutz]

Not again

[PrimusNut]

Lol, another "Is bass easier topic". Wonderful.

In general, for rock music, the ROLE that the bass plays is easier than the role that the LEAD guitar plays, but not easier than the RYTHM guitar (IMO). It has absolutley nothing to do with which instrument is easier to play, it has to do with which ROLE is easier. I would like to see a guitarist pull off a choppy slap funk solo, or a bassist pull off a high pitched heavy metal guitar solo filled with bends, tapping, and pinch harmonics. It can be done, but it sounds much better on the instrument designed for doing it.

I would say that your role as a bassist is much harder than that of a rythm guitarist, but maybe a little easier than that of the lead guitarist, depending on the music genre and the role that the bass plays in that particular genre. In metal, for instance, the bass is generall hidden behind a wall of guitars (with exceptions of course, because what would Black Sabbath be without Geezers up-front low end?), and is generall considered an easier instrument, mainly because it cannot be heard.

That being said, bass is much more physically demanding, seeing where it is a lot bigger, and has a lot more space between the frets, which causes people to strain their wrists.

I usually don't worry about which is easier, as long as I enjoy playing my instrument, does it matter if there is an other instrument out there that is harder to play? Not really, not if what you play is what you WANT to play. Sometimes I wish I could pick up a guitar and start shredding, but generally I find that when my plucking fingers play over the strings, I feel like they belong there, not holding a pick and playing a million miles an hour just to show off (altho don't get me wrong, I enjoy trem picking on my bass occasionally).

Hope this answers your question.

[PrimusNut]

BTW jorissie, check out my Cliff Burton Fan Club (link in my sig). I noticed in your sig that you're a fan.

[kenlacam]

Are apples more delicious than oranges? hmmmmm......

[capnsandwich]

I play both and have more experience on guitar than bass. I can say that theoretically, bass is easier. However, Technically guitar is easier. It's more to learn playing chords and scales on a guitar but to actually learn fingerstyle, slap, picking, etc., I can say bass can get as complicated as you want it to get.

I read on a website that the bass guitar is one of the easiest instruments to begin on but one of the hardest instruments to master. So true!

[theshadow2001]

Take your favourite guitar solo and try and learn it on a bass. It's going to be harder to play on bass. From a technique point of view then. Bass is harder.

[rreynoldsbass]

It is what you make it, as with any instrument. It's based on your dedication to that instrument. The way I see it, an instrument is your musical voice, bass and guitar alike. For some people, all they really wanna "say" is a cover of Smoke On The Water. Others wanna write the next Classical Thump. The difficulty of an instrument is determined by the person playing it.

[Foamy]

It's easier - deal with it, and enjoy it!

[elpelotero]

As a guitarist of 4 years and a bassist of 2 years, I would have to say guitar is more difficult if you are playing complex songs. In other words, pop and the like does not count. But, if you are playing Metallica or something, it is definitely harder (IMO).

However, to achieve virtuosity on bass of the likes of Victor Wooten is pretty much as hard as achieving virtuosity on guitar, like Steve Vai. Each takes phenomenal talent and practice.

[jsbass]

I play both. They're both equally hard.

It takes me awhile to adjust to the spacing on guitar though, that is what makes me suck at it.

[Amitio]

I think people nowadays listen to a lot of music with bassissts just playing the root whilst the lead guitar is ripping up!

This makes it seem bass is a lot easier!

There just naive!

[RickenBoogie]

It's easier still to play nothing at all. A persons potential is at it's highest point when they are doing absolutely nothing.

[Busker]

I play both.

A lot of years on the guitar, a new bass player. I'd say both instruments have their challenges.

I know one thing. It's harder to sing and play bass (at the same time) than it is to sing and play guitar. Why is that?

[Yngwie 4String]

I have huge hands and fingers, thus the bass suits much better and is easier for me.

[meev992]

i think the search function is easy.

[rreynoldsbass]

Originally Posted by Busker

I know one thing. It's harder to sing and play bass (at the same time) than it is to sing and play guitar. Why is that?

Singers generally write to the guitar line.

[Phlintlock]

The rhythm of what your hands have to do is usually less straight forward than that of a guitar while you're singing so it's more to think about and a bit more complicated, at least that's the problem I've had when trying to sing and play bass.