Guitar will help your bass playing?

[Mahumadi]

My former guitar teacher had mentioned that I should be playing as much guitar as I do bass. Meaning, if I play bass for two hours I should then play guitar for two hours, roughly. I remember him saying that it is about speed and your ear. He claimed that playing guitar will make you faster on bass, and your ear can more easily identify a guitar pitch.

Im wondering if anyone else has heard this, or what you may think about it?

[bwv1013]

i play both, and the overlap of concepts can be helpful, as well as techniques that are unique to each instrument; i.e. after studying classical guitar i have a better thumb/arpeggio technique than i might have had just playing bass.

with that said, there are some benefits to learning other instruments, but if you like bass, practice bass. learn guitar for guitar's sake if you like, but there's no replacement for time on the bass. if anything, i find that in order to perform at a high level on one instrument i have to ignore the other one for a while. when i was preparing for my bass recital i took a break from practicing guitar so i could get my hands in "bass shape."

[rappa29]

What's your teacher's deal with speed?? I never knew speed was a priority in learning\playing bass...or any instrument for that matter....or did he mean something different when he mentioned speed? Just seems odd to me because I'd think learning rhythm (sp?) and meter takes priority over speed, especially considering bass can often dictate the pace of the music. YMMV, IMHO, etc, etc...

If you want to practice identifying pitch\ear training...you can do that on a piano, guitar or any instrument that creates pitch.

[Mahumadi]

Originally Posted by rappa29

What's your teacher's deal with speed?? I never knew speed was a priority in learning\playing bass...or any instrument for that matter....or did he mean something different when he mentioned speed? Just seems odd to me because I'd think learning rhythm (sp?) and meter takes priority to speed...YMMV.

If you want to practice identifying pitch\ear training...you can do that on a piano, guitar or any instrument that creates pitch.

I think he may have been talking about fretting hand speed. I could see it making sense if your fretting hand will move faster on the guitar neck.

Maybe he mentioned it because I began as a guitar student?

[bwv1013]

perhaps. i would say if you need to work on speed for whatever reason, work it out on bass. the tactile response of the instruments is different enough that you should ideally practice both.

[megadan]

I don't think you need to play it as much as your bass, especially if you are just starting to learn bass.

But I agree it is good to have a guitar around to noodle on; if you learn some basic chord shapes that guitarists use, it can help you with your basslines.

Learning drums improved my bass playing a lot, as I learned where to put the bass notes so they would line up with common kick patterns.

[MN_Bass]

Playing guitar really opened up my bass playing. It really helps with the pitch and whatnot also.

[draftsmann]

When I play guitar, I try to think like a guitarist. When I play bass (BG or upright), I try to think like a bassist.

The more you play music, the better a musician you will be - I am sure of that.

I'm less convinced that playing guitar will make you a better bassist - or vice versa, come to that.

Adrian

[PBass101]

I can honestly say that in no way would learning guitar help improve me as a bass player. I can cleanly play Entwistle-esque speed patterns on my bass. Playing guitar would not have gotten me that ability.

You should know how to maneuver around a guitar player's chord patterns by knowing how to use theory and knowing how to listen. I don't think playing guitar is at all necessary to being able to play well with a guitarist.

[kraigo]

I think playing other instruments definitely opens doors. I don't know if I'd divide my time 50/50 though.

KO

[derekd]

Like others, I disagree with the strict 50-50 thing. However, my classical guitar experience informs my right hand for bass playing, and because I play guitar mostly, I can hear harmony easier I think when outlining changes on the bass.

Obvious things like transfering fretboard knowledge, basics of getting a sound you like on the bass, dialing in an amp, are easier because of years of playing the guitar.

However, like draftsman points out, I think differently with a bass in my hands. More focused on time and rhythm, less focused on texture.

[Lurker79]

Guitar is lightning, bass is thunder.

[capnsandwich]

I'm a bassist now but I'm also a guitarist and have been one for over 20 years. I can relate to your music teacher. I don't know about the whole speed thing since they are technically 2 different instruments, but they are theoretically the same. I learned a lot about bass very quickly when I picked it up about 10 years ago. I knew scales and chords and simply transferred my knowledge over to bass which, in turn, made me a quick learner. However, it took me a while to develop a good fingerstyle method since I was so used to using picks. Slap was also a bear to get used to but I finally forced myself to learn it and I've developed a decent slap style.

So, theoretically I can see and understand how it could help your bass playing but technically I think you need to spend more time on the bass, IMO and IME.

[mambo4]

Originally Posted by Mahumadi

He claimed that playing guitar will make you faster on bass,

I disagree, from a physical technique standpoint. the bass is physically different enough that the muscle memory required is different.

and your ear can more easily identify a guitar pitch.

Agree.

For learning conceptual, abstract stuff any additional instrument will open your thinking. for lesarning teh physical technique, use a bass.

[ubado]

Originally Posted by Mahumadi

My former guitar teacher had mentioned that I should be playing as much guitar as I do bass. Meaning, if I play bass for two hours I should then play guitar for two hours, roughly. I remember him saying that it is about speed and your ear. He claimed that playing guitar will make you faster on bass, and your ear can more easily identify a guitar pitch.

As he was your "guitar" teacher ... no wonder he thinks that way ... he is a guitarist (who may or may not play the bass)

Although I believe that having the ability to play guitar will be helpful ... an equal amount of pratice isn't the going to help as a bassist. If anything, taking time away from bass practice, will make learning the bass take even longer.

I started as a bassist ... played acoustic guitar for a couple of years, without touching a bass ... then went back to only playing bass. When I returned to bass, I found myself to not only be a rhythmic player, but much more melodic as well. Therefore I find learning/playing guitar is helpful to playing bass. But not necessary.

As far as speed ... the opposite should be true. The ability to play bass faster; should translate to playing even faster on guitar ... due to the dexterity needed to play bass vs. guitar (which is a shorter scale, shorter distance between strings, yada yada yada).

When it comes to finding the "pitch" easier ... that should come with time/pratice/experience. All of which you have to do with either the guitar or bass. (not all beginning guitarists can find the right pitch ... right off the bat).

[TripleDouble]

Learning the basic Scruggs style banjo rolls on the banjo really helped my bass playing and guitar playing, and learning drum rudiments with a metronome really, really helped my bass playing. And I have a buddy who is a really advanced hand percussionist who gets just awesome tone from his fingers when he plays bass. I just wish there were more hours in the day.

Edit: I also agree with bwv1013, it is a matter of if you want to be competent at a few instruments, or a master of one.

[Bassman203]

I think learning to play guitar well will help with your bass playing, but not for the reason your teacher said. Your teacher seems to be a little biased towards guitar.

I think learning guitar is good for writing bass lines to guitar lines, and working on chords on bass (I think it's easier to start out learning different chords structures on guitar). Also, if you write a bass line, you can write a guitar line to go along with it.

[Bassman203]

Learning any instrument will help with the others though.

[Scott01]

Originally Posted by Lurker79

Guitar is lightning, bass is thunder.

And drums become what? the rain? sunshine? hailstorms??

[mike.everio]

I am learning bass with my friends Mike Everio, Christopher Freville and Alison Sharman we are also playing guitar since 22nd January 2004. And it is very helpful for us to learn bass