2nd instrument?

[Rytch]

hey there, not sure if this is off topic for a bass forum lol,

what is the best instrument to learn to complement my understanding of bass and music?

i have 3 choices at the mo, gtr, piano and drums. i can play each at pure beginner level, but am stronger on drums and piano.

i feel that learning the piano would help with my understanding of chords and how they work, using inversions, and composing, also my hand interdependence.

drums would help me to become more rhymically aware, as well as understanding how a drummer thinks.

guitar would i think would also help my compositional abilities as well as my finger dexterity.

any opinions?

[scottbass]

IMHO there is no question: piano. IMHO.

[Atomik Rooster]

Originally Posted by scottbass

IMHO there is no question: piano. IMHO.

Agreed. Learning piano can reveal a lot about what bass can do in a song.

[ErebusBass]

Knowing how to play the drums never hurts either.

[CDuff]

I think the guitar will come to you eventually given it's similarity, physically, to the bass guitar.

If you're talking about focusing for a time on another instrument, for me it would absolutely be the piano.
We can be solipsistic about it and say it will help you understand the bass or teach you about the bass within music but actually, it's just a beautiful instrument. A great solo instrument, great ensemble instrument, huge range and so versatile.
I wish I could play the piano.

[cosmicevan]

as a musician, i would say you can't beat piano, but if you want to be a better bass player, play the drums. after all, jaco was a drummer turned bassist.

[capnsandwich]

I was a guitarist for 20 years so bass came rather easy to me. However, I played piano at the age of 5 so maybe that's why guitar came easy to me. To answer your question, piano has pretty much everything covered theoretically, but guitar is technically a closer instrument to bass. All in all, it depends on in what way you need another instrument to help you, with theory or technique.

[Chipsonfire]

I'd say piano. I'd really like to learn piano, but those and lessons for them are hard to come by around here, while guitar's are much easier (little bro gave me an old one of his) and probably a bit easier for me to learn given bass background. Long story short, learn piano

[pbass2]

+1,000,000,000,000,000,000 for piano
And don't worry about waiting around 'til you get going with lessons or whatever---get yourself some kind of keyboard and start banging around on it!

[HaVIC5]

Piano is an essential instrument for which EVERY musician should have basic competency at least at some stage of the game. It is, as someone once said, the most "complete" of all the instruments, you have the greatest chance at fully realizing the harmonic structure of music if you're spending time at a keyboard.

[rarisgod]

Originally Posted by cosmicevan

as a musician, i would say you can't beat piano, but if you want to be a better bass player, play the drums. after all, jaco was a drummer turned bassist.

+1 to both comments here.
Music-wise = piano, but I would think drumming helps with bass.

[GianGian]

Depends on the style you play. I play hard rock and heavy metal, and I didn't need to play guitar to understand how they are thinking. Now, playing drums has helped me an awful lot.

[DocBop]

Piano make theory visual. Working on ear training is easier on piano. If you get into recording need some KB skills for MIDI stuff. Last there is KB bass being using on lots of stuff and who knows better how bass parts should feel or be create than a bass player. Many of the studio bass players double on KB bass. If you can't get work on one then get the gig with the other.

Every musician should learn the basics of piano it is great tool.

[Arx]

If you're wanting to do it to improve your bass playing, drums all the way.

Piano can help you with you with the theory and such, but for the amount of time you put in, drums will help way more with your bass playing.

-Nick

[zeppelinfreak]

Piano. Just because knowing even basic piano makes theory so many millions of times easier.

[JimmyM]

Absolutely. Even if it's what's known as "arranger's piano." Maybe you can't play great but you know enough to form chords and work out ideas in your head. That's arranger's piano.

Drums are a very close second for bassists, IMHO.

[ZonGuy]

Piano is my first choice for reasons well stated above by others. I took a year in night college and it really helped me ecome grounded as a musician.

Drums may help rhythm, but the independent 4 limb coordination discouraged me. I think studying drum books, programming drum machines and listening carefully to what drummers do can be a more effective aproach than buying drums and learning how to play them.

Guitar: I am torn on this, since I played guitar for 40 years before I started bass. It is probably easy to learn and useful to communicate with other musicians. I bought a 6 string and transcribe guitar parts to bass, so i rarely pick up a guitar these days. Thinking about a 7 string.

[All_¥our_Bass]

Piano.

[Richard Lindsey]

For complementing "understanding of the bass and music," I'd say piano, on the whole. Guitar second.

I'm not particularly convinced that playing drums, in itself, does all that much for your bass playing. I am, however, convinced that listening to and understanding drums will help you play better bass. I also think that playing with as many good drummers as you can will help.

[Richard Lindsey]

Originally Posted by ZonGuy

I think studying drum books, programming drum machines and listening carefully to what drummers do can be a more effective aproach than buying drums and learning how to play them.

+1. Being a bad drummer probably won't help you be a good bassist. But being a bad pianist can still help you understand harmony.