What does bass is easy mean?!

[Suckbird]

I never get it in to my head how an instrument could be easy.
Like it's easier to play basss because there's no extreme guitar solos, that means a guitarist who says is easy could do the same solo on a 6string bass tuned like a guitar but easier?
Or if they cant then it actually should be easier to play guitar?

It might happen it's easy to play roots like blink182 but that doesn't mean the bass is easy right?
Or else guitar should be easy because it's just as easy to play power chords to the roots.

Sorry, i know this has been disgusted before, just had to get it out of my head.

[Bad Brains]

I think every bass player has probably been told this before. I have been asked by idiots "why do you play, it's just boom boom bum boom, why don't you play guitar" or something along those lines.

A lot of people don't really know what goes into playing bass.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Suckbird

Sorry, i know this has been disgusted before...

What... you mean the whole of TB is disgusted at this concept!!

[Rick Blanc]

What does bass is easy mean?!

It means the person who said it is an idiot.

[Brad Johnson]

Bass is one of the easier instruments to pick up and play. Easier than guitar, harder than basic percussion. The fact that that bothers some bassists is nothing new.

Playing single notes on a bass is easier than playing power chords for someone who's never touched either instruments. By the same token don't confuse level of difficulty with how well an instrument can be played.

Again, basic bass is easy... why pretend otherwise? OTOH becoming accomplished on bass isn't.

It's only an insult if you take it that way

[JMX]

Moved to General Instruction, I think it fits there best.

[Brad Johnson]

Originally Posted by Bad Brains

I think every bass player has probably been told this before. I have been asked by idiots "why do you play, it's just boom boom bum boom, why don't you play guitar" or something along those lines.

No offense but... were you playing boom boom bum boom at the time?

It's pretty easy to show people it's more than that IME.

A lot of people don't really know what goes into playing bass.

Including a lot of bass players.

[Suckbird]

Originally Posted by Brad Johnson

No offense but... were you playing boom boom bum boom at the time?

It's pretty easy to show people it's more than that IME.

Yup, the easiest way is to do some easy slap lines.

Originally Posted by Brad Johnson

Playing single notes on a bass is easier than playing power chords

A funny thing is that my friends have a hard time getting a sound out of a bass but easily can do power chords on guitars, and they are total natural. When they play bass the only thing they get out of it is fret buzz.

[Brad Johnson]

Slapping isn't the only way to get it across... but that's what a lot of bass players think

I don't know anyone who picked up a guitar cold and played power chords.

[Minger]

I KNOW that slapping isn't the only way to get accross - mainly because I can't slap in the first place :P

But I mean I tried teaching my friend who plays pretty much solely Acoustic Guitars...well, prolly a bad song to start with but it was Superpowers by Five Iron Frenzy (Ska Band) - Your fingers and fretting hand hafta move pretty quick (not that fast compared to some others but you get the point) - in which She barely got the hang of it.

I think I got the point across to someone that bass isn't that easy...:P

[Whafrodamus]

I find bass easy. I mean, the transition from mind and sould to the fretboard and bass is smooth. It's like talking, you know? You're jjust talking with your bass, and you have to get comfortable with it and vice versa.

[jeff schmidt]

My mother-in-law said - when told that I play the bass - "oh. . .that's the one that only sounds good with other instruments...right?"

the **** you put up with for love.

[Brad Johnson]

Originally Posted by Minger

I KNOW that slapping isn't the only way to get accross - mainly because I can't slap in the first place :P

But I mean I tried teaching my friend who plays pretty much solely Acoustic Guitars...well, prolly a bad song to start with but it was Superpowers by Five Iron Frenzy (Ska Band) - Your fingers and fretting hand hafta move pretty quick (not that fast compared to some others but you get the point) - in which She barely got the hang of it.

I think I got the point across to someone that bass isn't that easy...:P

And if she weren't playing that particular song?




Bass is easy.

[Dynna]

I always tell people that 'bass is an easy instrument to play...but one of the HARDEST to play WeLL."

Seriously, anyone can sit down, hold a fret with one finger on the left hand, and pluck a string(hopefully the same one) with one finger on the right.

HOWEVER... arpeggios, scales, walking, passing tones, understanding harmony & chord motion, and the ultimate four letter word..T I M E , are what take people years and lifetimes to learn to play WELL.

We could get away with saying "bass is an easy instrument to play" if less people acted on it as if we were serious.

[Suckbird]

Originally Posted by Dynna

I always tell people that 'bass is an easy instrument to play...but one of the HARDEST to play WeLL."

Seriously, anyone can sit down, hold a fret with one finger on the left hand, and pluck a string(hopefully the same one) with one finger on the right.

Anyone can play a tone on a guitar too, right?
It's not that hard to play a guitar bad either,

[Mudfuzz]

Originally Posted by Suckbird

Yup, the easiest way is to do some easy slap lines.

Actually one of the reasons I didn't get in to slapping early on was that every guitarist that would pick up my bass would "try" to play slap bass, and they all though that the harder you slap the better it has to be.......

[Wrong Robot]

Bass is only easy based on the established paradigm of playing roots and fifths. Essentially that's all that's 'needed' and anything else is just elaboration that is cool, but ultimately unneeded, in the strictest interpretation . Whether or not you agree, is inconsequential to the fact that this is how the bass is viewed by most people. Keep time, keep it simple, keep it solid...etc. which, all bass players should be very mindful of, of course. But obviously there is a lot more to the instrument than it's specified role.

So, of course there is a lifetime's challenge in 'mastering' the bass(as if such a thing as mastery truly existed), of course the bass is no easier than any other instrument, but, given the very specific and very essential role the bass provides(this role that extends beyond upright and electric bass, and extends from everything to foot pedals and left hand keyboard bass) Bass is 'easy' in many senses of the word. But the kicker is, that it's not.

[Suckbird]

Originally Posted by Aaron Noguer

Actually one of the reasons I didn't get in to slapping early on was that every guitarist that would pick up my bass would "try" to play slap bass, and they all though that the harder you slap the better it has to be.......

True, it's funny when people who haven't played bass at all picks it up and try to slap it, and after that their finger hurts =)

[Brad Johnson]

Originally Posted by Suckbird

Anyone can play a tone on a guitar too, right?
It's not that hard to play a guitar bad either,

Not true. Pick up a guitar and play a basic chord with no prior musical experience.



Heck, playing a simple bassline on a guitar is easy. That's not the principle focus of the instrument though, is it?



Look... playing bass is really, really, really hard. Does everyone feel better now?

[Brad Johnson]

Originally Posted by SMASH

Thank-you. Why are people are so eager to kid themselves?

Self esteem issues?