considerations for 6 string guitar for a bass player.

[coffee-sipper]

I hope this doesn't get flamed. Anyway...

I want to learn some chords, a little guitar fretboard theory, and some common riffs on the guitar. I figure it'll help my bass playing - to have a better understanding of the melody parts of songs and also what the guitarists left hand is doing. The guitars I have liked tended to have a wider string spacing; ie. yamaha and gibson. I will probably get a yamaha aes-something. My question is this, I can't stand picks, is there a style of guitar playing (serious) that I can focus on sans the dreaded pick? I guess to focus my question, is there a guitar playing style (right hand picking/strumming) that I should learn that would be similar to bass.

On a side note. When trying guitars I played them all like a bass. To say the least I got some strange looks, but no one asked any questions???

[lennyonbass]

Have you thought about finding a nice middle of the road nylon string guitar.
I have found that studying the classical techniques has really taken my bass playing to a new level.
Just a thought...

[CJK84]

Originally Posted by coffee-sipper

I figure it'll help my bass playing - to have a better understanding of the melody parts of songs

What type of music would you like to improve upon in your bass playing?

If it's rock, then learn some of the basics of rock guitar. If it's funk, then learn some of the basics of funk guitar.

To do these, you'll probably have to learn to use a pick - if you push yourself through the awkward stage, you'll probably find that it's not too difficult.

Good luck to you. Learning a new instrument will probably help your bass playing a lot.

[Rakshasa]

Slap on the guitar,
It's hard to learn, but really fun once you can do it

[ole Jason]

If you want to learn electric guitar just bite the bullet and learn to use a pick. It's really not that difficult once you start working on it properly.

I think this is a great idea, especially if you play guitar based music.

[coffee-sipper]

Follow-up.

I am about to buy an electric guitar - Yamaha (like the bass I play), they have a wider fret board so my fat bass fingers can fit between the strings. I found a good teacher and will take some lessons starting next week. I'll post another follow-up if learning some guitar actually improves my bass playing. Thanks for all the good "direction".

later-
C

[lemur821]

It's probably easier to learn to use a pick than to learn some form of fingerstyle guitar, since fingerstyle on the guitar is different from fingerstyle on the bass. There are some similarities, but you have to use your nails on the guitar if you want a clean sound. I'd recommend learning both.

[ironmaidenisgod]

Chords can easily be played without a pick.In fact few guitarists play chords with a pick.I find(as an ex-rhythm guitarist myself) that bassists and rhythm guitarists are complementary.Lead guitar is another ball-game entirely.Slash was born a guitarist.Stick to chords