To Play Or Not To Play

[greekbassist]

Thanks Boplicity for your words of encouragement

I start lessons tomorrow with a bass teacher..I will let everyone know how it goes...

Thanks again!

[whitedk57]

What I like about playing bass is that the bass player is usually in the shadows. Just watch a music video and search for the bassist - chance are, he/she is not very prominent.

I understand wanting to be noticed, but the bassists I see getting noticed are the singing bassist or the ones with excellent chops. Of course, being a hot chick would help you out too.

Good Luck in whatever direction you choose...

[HMZ]

I think you should be a guitar player your ego is too big to be a bass player.

[Vorago]

I haven't read all the replies, but I think a lot of that spotlight position really depends on the genre you are willing to play. I'm in two bands; a progrockthing and a jazzfunk quartet. In the progrockband I'm mostly in the shadow; 2 guitarists who like to solo, a drummer who fills every moment of rest, etc. I try to keep it simple, I hardly show off (not that I have major chops, but I hardly show all my tricks), etc. I'm defenitely in the shadow, after gigs everybody is always saying "woah duuude, your guitarplayer is awesome!!!", you know the stuff. I don't mind that, but from to time I'd like to get some props too.

Now, I played with another band last night for the first time, a jazzfunk quartet. Keys, drum, sax and me on fretless bass. All I got to say is that now I am in the spotlight. I have a keyfunction in the band, I hold down the groove, without me there is nothing. It feels great, although it is a responsability I'm not really used to. If my intonation is 0.2 percent off, everybody hears it. It's very different, but I love it.

It's all relative I guess.

[greekbassist]

HMZ,

Wow, you don't even know me...First off, I have NEVER treated any bass player with an egotistical attitude....

I am actually very humble as a player...YES, even as a guitarist!!! I have NEVER had arguments with a bassist or ever made a bassist feel that they were nothing...

It's hard to express myself in my first post....Yes, I believe ALL of us have an ego to some degree......

Bass players do deserve the RESPECT and NEED to have recoginition....

I know the IMPORTANCE of the role of bass playing...

I have seen bands that have excellent guitarist, keys, etc, but have either a lousy drummer and or bass player...

And believe me as you all know when the rhythm section sucks they can make the egotistical guitarist suck as well...

So there I know the importance and I am not as egotisical as my first post made me out to be...

I guess my problem is I have been playing guitar for 8 years that I am wondering if I would feel comfortable in playing bass....Or even that matter if I could even be a decent bass player....

However, thanks for your response...

[HMZ]

I’m sorry I guess I’ve had my share of guitar players who think the world revolves around them.

[Skeletomania]

Nothing like seeing a chick that play a bass, especially finger style. All I can say is more power to you. I wanted to know how your lesson went.

[RSalvador]

I scanned the posts so I hope I'm not repeating something but...

As a guitar player for 35 years that has switch to bass, I think the most important thing you can do in the beginning is listen to music with a real awareness of the bass. I'm still amazed when I go through my 20+ Gig music collection of how limited my listening used to be as a guitar player and how I literally tuned out the bass. It's like I have a new collection of music because I'm hearing all this great musicianship that I missed before.

You need to hear and feel what the bass players part in the song is and get a sense of what they are adding to the music and how they are accomplishing their task.

It's totally different than guitar, but its a part of the music that I discovered I strongly relate to, more so then I ever did with guitar. That's when I knew it was bass for me and nothing else will do. The rest is just getting yourself on the road to being all you can be with your instrument, but doing so for the long haul because it's YOUR instrument.

[Thegiantgnome]

i havent read all the replys but some really good bassist are actually ex-guitarist. Such as every one knows Paul McCartney.

[Sippy]

Yea.. you better be careful!! I was a guitarist and violinist.. I picked up the bass because they had a cool deal on it and I really was digging some of the jazz guys out there. I promise you. From the day that I purchased my bass I have picked up my guitar once (and sold it 2 weeks ago) and picked up my violin MAYBE twice or 3 times.
In my view bass is a superior instrument.

[greekbassist]

Hello Everyone,

Again, thanks for all the great advise and replies.

I just thought I would update everyone on my lessons last Saturday...

Well, the teacher thinks I have great techinque (fingerstyle) he can't believe that no on had ever shown me how to play...

He gave me cool exercises and the plan of my study is to learn jazz and theory.

I really love jazz music a lot...I love the Punk Jazz thing...LOL

I am no longer questioning on whether bass is right for me as I really like it...

I will say that I won't stop playing guitar, but I LOVE BASS equally...

I have a lot of respect for bassist...I hope my lessons keep going great....My teacher is a very accomplished bassist and wants to try to teach me a lot of different things....

So I guess I am on my way

Again, thanks to everyone who replied to my post!

[AspiringBassMan]

greekbassist
i'm still having a similar dilemma to you. i'm very much a beginner at the bass and at the guitar, but i own both of them. i was wondering on whether i should concentrate solely on bass or solely on guitar. i don't really have the time to concentrate on both, but i'm aware that knowing guitar technique and theory aids learning on the bass, and visa versa. but i do want to get to know one of them, and only one of them, well.
being an extremely indecisive person doesn't help my dilemma much either. i don't want to get 5 years down the road only to realise that i'd made the wrong choice. so thats why i'm procrastinating as to which one to concentrate on learning. i know that only i can make the right decision for myself. i have chosen the bass, so i can only hope that i've made the right choice. i think i have. i love the deep sexy sound of the bass. i love the way that its more 'logical' than the guitar in the way that every string is always a fourth apart, no matter whether its a 4, 5 or 6 string. i like the way that the bass is the 'foundation' for most music. although jaco etal have expanded its horizons, i like the fact that the bass is a relatively unexplored unstrument and there is still room for discovery.
i wish you well in your bass playing, and i'm sure you've made the right decision by choosing bass

[greekbassist]

Aspiring Bassman,

I have chosen not to drop guitar because I am playing bass...

That was one of my big dilemia...Because I have been playing guitar for a while I can concentrate on both guitar and bass.

However, from what I am learning there is a BIG difference between guitar and bass...

I am starting to look bass as more of a drummer with strings...The notes being the voice....Kind of like the drummer voice is the hit hats, snare, etc....

Playing bass is WAAAAAAY different then guitar....Any guitar player who thinks that bass is an easy instrument to master is full of it...

Being a guitarist only helps me in the fact that I can physically play bass well....I can even play finger style, but the most in import things like comming up with a groove and a good bass line is a nother story....

I like the challenge of both instruments and if I can be accomplished at both that would be even greater

Good luck in the path of bass playing...You did make a great choice

[AspiringBassMan]

However, from what I am learning there is a BIG difference between guitar and bass...

so very true.

I am starting to look bass as more of a drummer with strings...The notes being the voice....Kind of like the drummer voice is the hit hats, snare, etc....

i think they're just different sides of the same coin. i remember someone saying that the only thing a bass player needs to pay attention to is what the drummer is doing, and visa versa.

Playing bass is WAAAAAAY different then guitar....Any guitar player who thinks that bass is an easy instrument to master is full of it...

i think its because many guitar players perhaps try to see the bass in terms of what they know about the guitar.

I like the challenge of both instruments and if I can be accomplished at both that would be even greater

i'm sure you can . you seem quite passionate about music. also, because bass can be used as a melody instrument on occassions with bass solos and stuff, you can transfer what you know about guitars to doing a killer bass solo when the time is right within a song. but i've been reminded to never lose sight of the bass as a rhythm and groove instrument.

Good luck in the path of bass playing...You did make a great choice

cheers, mate. thats what i like to hear .

[tim99]

I wonder if your original doubts where not related to "being a guitar player" as much as feeling like you would be starting over. Kind of like, "Oh my goodness, I spent all this time and money and now I am going off on a different direction and I just wasted eight years of my life." That is not true. You are a musician first. All of what you have worked on will help you with bass. Gosh, I played trumpet for six years. Different fingering, treble clef. All that work applies in some way to any music or instrument I now play.

[AspiringBassMan]

"Oh my goodness, I spent all this time and money and now I am going off on a different direction and I just wasted eight years of my life."

yes, thats the way it feels like