Playing the bass like a guitarist?

[kebbs]

Hey everyone,

What does it mean to play the bass like a guitarist? You know - when a guitarist grabs a bass and starts playing...

I can't seem to figure out what the most obvious features of this playing would be. Lack of groove? Literally treating the bass like the last four strings on a guitar?

Any ideas or thoughts?

Thanks,
kebbs

[OtterOnBass]

The man I saw playing and thought he played like a guitarist had played bass for many years. He used a pick, bent the strings and played all over the place. Was it bad? No way.

[bassmodder]

From what I have seen they can not take the heavy strings... Buzz buzz. I know when I pick up a guitar it feels like I am going to break the tiny little thing

[Mharris]

I think you could even say Justin Chancellor of Tool plays the bass like a guitar most of the time. It's not a bad thing at all given the context. I mean, after all, it is a bass guitar.

[Kwesi]

Cliff Burton

/thread

[Toastfuzz]

I wonder if people on guitar forums say rhythm guitarists play guitar like a bass....

[TFunkadelic]

There's not really a wrong way to play any instrument. It just depends on what you're trying to accomplish.

[Sgt-Pluck]

Two words, John and Entwhistle!

Linky

Pluck

[ALiP BoB]

Maybe that's coming from ignorant people who think that bass is purely fingers.

[Fnord Explorer]

I started out playing guitar and people told me I played guitar like a bassist.

The switch was an obvious decision.

[Chriso21]

guitarists tend not to pluck the strings very hard and even though their fingers move fast they don't understand that you have to push down harder on the strings on the frets to stop buzzing and to make a nice clean tight punchy bass sound.

[Michael Case]

I have a friend who plays bass like a guitar. He is actually a guitarist, but wanted a very deep and heavy sound so he started using a bass like a guitar. It's pretty interesting.

[JeremyBender]

Berry Oakley before he died (Allman Brothers) was often criticized for playing the bass like a guitar and I never thought he had no groove. Frankly it was quite the opposite.

[varunkapahi]

i often ask some better guitar players to play my bass like the way they would play their guitar. and watching them gives me cool new ideas, learnt this from victor wooten!

[The Lurker]

I think it's a sort of general-purpose gripe that different people use to describe different things that they personally do not like.

[Rickett Customs]

+1 on all the posts.
I think it just has more to do with the approach. Any non-bassist will tend to approach another instrument differently, not in the aspect of not being able to groove, slap or etc.... Although, I'm not discounting the way bassists other than myself approach the instrument either, i tend to always learn something new from watching anyone regardless. Even if they're playing something I've seen a million times over, I can learn something new from it every time.

/Jason

[JimK]

Originally Posted by Toastfuzz

I wonder if people on guitar forums say rhythm guitarists play guitar like a bass....

"You don't strum a bass"-
David Cassidy to Danny Bonaduce.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by JeremyBender

Berry Oakley before he died (Allman Brothers) was often criticized for playing the bass like a guitar and I never thought he had no groove. Frankly it was quite the opposite.

Some of Oakley's bass parts mirrored the guitar lines...on a whole, though, I think he played bass lines + had some nice bass figures. Maybe people thought he was playing "lead bass (which is different than a guitaristic approach to bass)?

[Laredo]

Live at Buffalo 1994.............Buy it on iTunes. Like a guitar player, yes.............Amazing H*ll Yeah! Billy Sheehan is spectacular to watch, whether you are a guitar, or bass player.

[5andFretless]

When I saw the title I immediately thought you mean...

- Too Loud
- Constantly Tuning
- Playing between songs when everyone else is trying to discuss something