Help!!!

haythamehab · #1 02-01-2005, 06:15 PM

i have started playing bass for 2 months and i'm getting my way on it but many told that i have to learn guitar 2 (i know how to play all usual chords and some licks).....should i ????PLEASE help me

SunShine · #2 02-01-2005, 06:22 PM

That's a big negative on the NEED part, but I find that learning a small amount of guitar gave me some idea of how guitarists play. So you can, but you don't have to, however I suggest learning atleast a few things about it, maybe learn a few songs. It makes writting songs way easier though, because you can write your own part for guitar without having to deal with an overdose of ego. Plus it's kind of fun!

Joe P · #3 02-01-2005, 06:25 PM

NOOOOOOO!!

No.

Some of the worst bass players out there are those good guitarists who play bass too. I'm serious.

Bass uses a different part of your mind somehow. Most every guitar technique is BAD technique on a bass!

We have several Bassist/guitarist here on TB, and most of them will even tell you this.

The direct answer to your specific question - that being 'do you need to learn guitar to be a good bassist' is definately no.

I played guitar for twenty years before I picked up a bass again a couple years ago. I can tell you that bass is physically and mentally different!

Joe

Joe P · #4 02-01-2005, 06:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SunShine

...because you can write your own part for guitar without having to deal with an overdose of ego...

Get it? He's talking about guitarists in-general.

That reminds me, Haytha: Does this happen to be GUITARISTS that are telling you this? If so, do they also say that to learn to play guitar you need to learn bass? If not, then they must consider the Bass to be somehow inferior to the geee-tar, wouldn't you think?

Ahhh... Maybe it's all coming together now...

Stick around here, and practice your bass. It's from bassists that you'll learn what's-what.

Joe

haythamehab · #5 02-01-2005, 06:35 PM

yeah joe p but why do people always say that you have to learn guitar and bass togther........i'm so confused

haythamehab · #6 02-01-2005, 06:37 PM

And i was thinking would it help ..or there is no use of learning it

Joe P · #7 02-01-2005, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by haythamehab

yeah joe p but why do people always say that you have to learn guitar and bass togther........i'm so confused

I've never heard anyone say that, and I've been in music for almost thirty years!

Joe

haythamehab · #8 02-01-2005, 06:45 PM

i mean that people say that it will help

Joe P · #9 02-01-2005, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by haythamehab

And i was thinking would it help ..or there is no use of learning it

Dude - Sunshine's post #2 up there covered it pretty well.

It's not that there's no use in learning guitar, but considering that one could (and many HAVE) spent their entire lives mastering the Bass, and you've only been playing a short time, why spread yourself thin, and possibly develop bad habits? Get a teacher - a professional BASSIST teacher, that is - and learn a minimum of proficiency on the bass, THEN maybe expand your horizons a tad with some giutar. As for myself, I not only have practically no inclination to pick up my guitar these days, because I love playing bass so much, but I figure it's just as good because after two years of dillegent practice, I'm still advancing all the time - I'm a little superstitious that playing a little guitar again could impede or somehow 'confuse' my muscle and mental development on bass.

Dude: Read what I said again! Are these guitarists telling you this? Are they non-musicians? Are they under twenty years old? Then they're not a young bassist's best source of wisdom.

Joe

haythamehab · #10 02-01-2005, 06:55 PM

Thanks man,,,really u helped alot

haythamehab · #11 02-01-2005, 07:05 PM

if anyone would like to add something please add

BassManJim · #12 02-01-2005, 07:46 PM

Any guitarist that tells you a bassist has to learn guitar is nuts.

I play a little guitar and GUESS WHAT? I sound like a bassist, the bass is MY instrument.

After you spend a year or so with the bass, learn some keyboard skills.

this WILL help with your musicianship.

more than any other instrument.

....................Jim

Jace The Bass · #13 02-02-2005, 02:14 AM

Yeah forget guitar learn the keyboard instead much easier to learn your musicianship plus you don't pick up Joe P's bad habits on the guitar

Seriously though I agree with Joe spend some quality time on the bass instead

Matteran · #14 02-02-2005, 06:04 AM

i have a guitar, and i play it off and on. Sometimes when my bass rig is at my bands practice space, i'll play my guitar, and be grooving with it and everything, but once i get back on my bass it's a complete breath of fresh air, it's just so much more natural.

Guitar is fun to play around with, but if bass is your primary instrument, try not to focus on guitar at all, just use it to dabble around with the thin part of the sound spectrum they use.

Compressed · #15 02-02-2005, 03:31 PM

Saying a bass player HAS TO learn guitar is like saying a guy going to prison HAS TO bend over and take one for the team. If you want to learn the guitar at some stage, then go for it, but while you're new to the bass and grasping it's techniques, stick with the bass.

jadesmar · #16 02-03-2005, 12:03 PM

I recommend this:

Learn the open guitar chords. E-A-D-G-C major and E-A-D minor. That way, if mix is too terrible to hear everyone properly, or you need a quick reminder in a live setting, you can look at the guitar players fingers and know what is going on. This also comes in handy if a singer-songwriter kicks off into an original piece and expects full band coverage in a live setting.

It may also help to review how a capo will change these open shapes into other tonalities.

You can't go wrong knowing what the guitar player is doing.

Another thing I found helpful was to learn how to play the keyboard and how to recognize the chord shapes looking at the keyboard upside down and rightside up. In case your ears, or the mix, fail you suddenly.

Richard Lindsey · #17 02-03-2005, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Compressed

Saying a bass player HAS TO learn guitar is like saying a guy going to prison HAS TO bend over and take one for the team.

Nice vivid simile there, Compressed.

I don't believe I've heard it put quite that way before.

I agree that there's no particular reason why a bassist *has* to learn the guitar. However, I think that any player of an instrument that is mostly or entirely played one note at a time can only benefit from an understanding of a more chordal instrument. It just is so much easier IMO to get a grasp on harmonic concepts that way. No particular reason that it has to be guitar, though; I'd argue that piano might be more useful in some ways. I'm certainly not saying that everyone has to learn to play the piano--I certainly can't play the thing worth a damn--but an understanding of the keyboard can help a lot. I'm a guitar player also, and I know that's helped my understanding of harmony a lot, but I think I've been helped as much by gaining some familiarity (even though hardly any facility) with the keyboard. FWIW, every good horn player I've ever met has had a solid understanding of the keyboard, and a few have been pretty good players as well.

jusaplaya · #18 02-03-2005, 03:35 PM

Dude,

Step away from the guitar. man it will be a total waste of your time. I learned piano years ago and it is making it so easy to learn how the theory relates to the bass. I can visualize things on the piano and then relate it to the bass. Also you can create some really cool basslines on the piano that can be transcribed to bass. But, if you are gojng to play bass, play bass. But some basic keyboard skills can really be helpful and pay dividends in the future. JMO

PilbaraBass · #19 02-03-2005, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jadesmar

I recommend this:

Learn the open guitar chords. E-A-D-G-C major and E-A-D minor. That way, if mix is too terrible to hear everyone properly, or you need a quick reminder in a live setting, you can look at the guitar players fingers and know what is going on. This also comes in handy if a singer-songwriter kicks off into an original piece and expects full band coverage in a live setting.

It may also help to review how a capo will change these open shapes into other tonalities.

You can't go wrong knowing what the guitar player is doing.

Another thing I found helpful was to learn how to play the keyboard and how to recognize the chord shapes looking at the keyboard upside down and rightside up. In case your ears, or the mix, fail you suddenly.

+100 It really helps to be able to look over at the guitarist and see what he's doing. If you already know the chords of the song, it's very easy to lock in with the guitarist and follow his changes.

I agree with knowing the keyboard as well...however, that's a little easier, just look at the keyboardist's left hand.

Knowing guitar is a tool, knowing keyboard is a tool...reading music is a tool. Put them in your tool bag and use them when its appropriate.

Kevjmyers · #20 02-04-2005, 08:21 AM

I come from the school of thought where if you wanna have any chance of true mastery over a given musical instrument, pick ONE and stick with it. Otherwise your taking valuable mental/physical capacity away from bass and its beautiful techniques and applying valuable time to something else you might not be as passionate about.

If you HAD to devote time to another instrument I would make it a keyboard/piano not a guitar. But the time your devoting to something else besides the bass could be devoted to theory, ear training and sight/speed reading...for your BASS. This is just my opinion of course. I was lucky to fall in love with the bass at a young age and playing other instruments is kinda like "cheating" on my bass.