Any guitar players here?

[SteveC]

I'm taking a break from bass playing. Quit my bands. Looking to do something different. Thought about acoustic guitar. My kids love signing and it's easier to do that with a guitar than a bass.

Anyone else play guitar - weather or not they still play bass? Any suggestions for me. Thoughts?

[waleross]

I have been taking guitar lessons and playing it for 2 years. I got good enough to be able to use it as a tool for song writing.

[Mike M.]

Originally Posted by waleross

I have been taking guitar lessons and playing it for 2 years. I got good enough to be able to use it as a tool for song writing.

It's for the same reason why I also got into guitar...to write.

I'm no better of a player than John Lennon was at his best, but I have my own fun with it.

[bassbully]

I play guitar way more than my bass. In fact I play my 76' Gibson J-45 daily and traded a 1979 P bass for it

I love writing songs and learning more about chording and chord progressions helps my bass playing. I love being a bassist as well, just as much as guitar, but I am not creative on bass unless I am in a band setting.
On guitar it's just me, my guitar, a pen, paper and maybe my harmonica. I also love to sit outside on warm days, nights and sip a cold one strumming out songs. I sit and watch TV nightly with my guitar in my hands...my wife is used to it.

My Daughter is 7 and I am teaching her music thru guitar. We sing songs together and I learn songs she likes and she sings them while I play. I can't so this on bass and that time we share together is priceless and means the world to me.

[Gaius46]

Yep. But for my own enjoyment or playing solo or on guitar only kinds of gigs. In a full band setting I far and away prefer playing bass to playing guitar.

[oldcatfish]

I have played guitar a lot longer than I've been playing bass. I'm in my 40's...started guitar as a teenager; picked up keyboard/piano in my 20's, bass and drums in my 30's. I actually feel most at home on bass though.
I play electric guitar, acoustic, and a bit of classical/flamenco.

What is it you want to know?

For just general suggestions with acoustic...

--For choosing an acoustic guitar, get a solid top (back and sides don't need to be solid wood). It will project better, and sound better with age. Yamaha and Washburn both have consistently good but inexpensive solid tops.

--Buy a capo. Spend your time learning to play basic common chords well in 4 or 5 keys...and use the capo to transpose to fit your vocal range. I suggest the keys of C, G, D, A, and E....in that order. Don't worry about anything except basic major and minor chords at first. Add in sevenths and ninths a few months later.

--Learn to strum and to fingerpick. Learn a few patterns of each, in different time signatures. Then combine some of them. Then learn a few more, etc. Before you know it, you'll be able to arrange any song (even when played on other instruments), so that you can play it.

---If you are going to sing and play...don't be afraid to change a strum pattern to be easier doing both at the same time. Most people won't know the difference anyway.

---The first couple of months can be frustrating. Once you have the strength and dexterity to change chords without thinking about it...it then is a lot of fun.

--You have a head start. Acoustic guitar really should be approached similar to the bass...as part of the rhythm section. Often, it holds the music together, in a similar way--even including walking bass note runs between chord changes.

--You can also learn solo fingerstyle guitar...which is an entirely different approach. Listen to Laurence Juber plays the Beatles to see what I mean. That's a fun style to play too, and can be done without alternate tunings. I use to arrange Christmas songs and Hymns for church and play them...people were really impressed.

[bertbassplayer]

I've been playing guitar for longer than bass. I teach both guitar and bass... though actually right now I only have guitar students. I think I play a lot more guitar than I do bass as well.

Originally Posted by oldcatfish

--For choosing an acoustic guitar, get a solid top (back and sides don't need to be solid wood). It will project better, and sound better with age. Yamaha and Washburn both have consistently good but inexpensive solid tops.

Solid top with Laminate back and sides won't age as well as a solid wood instrument. I would suggest, if you can afford it to go solid wood... however, that usually requires a significant cost. As with all things go with what sounds good. I usually recommend Takamine or Seagulls to my students... but again to each his own.

[klejst]

I actually started out my musicial career playing electric guitar back in 1997 and then became interested in bass about a couple years later. I play primarily bass and the guitar just kind of became a side hobby or something to pass any down time with. I have recently thought about getting serious again with my guitar while playing bass as well.

[Gaius46]

Originally Posted by oldcatfish

--Learn to strum and to fingerpick. Learn a few patterns of each, in different time signatures. Then combine some of them. Then learn a few more, etc. Before you know it, you'll be able to arrange any song (even when played on other instruments), so that you can play it.

Absolutely agree about fingerpicking. Some of the most beautiful guitar work is played fingerstyle and the right and plucking and muting skills are pretty much directly transferable to bass (assuming you play bass fingerstyle).

[stratovani]

Like others in this thread, I've been playing guitar a lot longer than I play bass. I started playing guitar back in 1972, when my folks got me an acoustic guitar for my 18th birthday. I played in a couple of bands in the mid to late 70s, then gave it up when I started my family. I started playing bass in 2007, but I've played guitar right along with it. Right now I'm just a bedroom player, and I like to switch back and forth between them, depending on my mood.

[Dr. Cheese]

I recently have started learning songs on ukelele for a church program. It is a blast! I have never been good at playing chords, but it seems that the Ukelele agrees with me, at least in the first position.

The other nice things is that it totally divorced from GAS. I am learning songs on a little $39 Makala Uke, and I could not be happier!

[punkinfantry]

i played guitar for ~10 years before i ever picked up a bass. then i realized i'd been playing the wrong instrument all that time. i LOVE my classical guitar though, and acoustics in general!

[Burgardj]

+1 for playing guitar longer than Bass. I've played acoustic guitar most of my life. Depending on what you'd like to invest, Fender and Alvarez both have some nice, entry level acoustic guitars. If you're pretty confident you'll stick with it and have some $$$ to spend, I'd look at a Martin or Taylor. Martin more so for strumming, Taylor more so for finger-style. Just depends on what you want to play and how much you want to invest. Tons of tutorials on YouTube to get you started. Kirby's Covers, Justin Sandercoe, Dave Jones Guitar ... you'll be off and running in no time.

[Morkolo]

I started off on bass but picked up guitar after about 4 or 5 years to get a band on the go playing bass. I haven't given up on bass but trying to learn how to play like Chet Atkins on guitar can be time consuming.

[James Judson]

Every bass player should know basic guitar skills. Being able to look at a guitarist and know what he's playing is a really nice problem to have.

[Kwin Smith]

My concentration in college was classical guitar, and I still play every day that I can.

Having the kind of nails that are almost 100% necessary for the classical guitar, and playing bass is very difficult. I dislike the scratchy sounds on the bass strings, and I have to almost constantly keep filing and sanding my nails.
If I'm not gigging on the bass for a while, I'll usually just set it aside for a couple of weeks, and just work on the guitar.

Playing the guitar will put all the chordal applications into better focus. Piano, even more so.

[chaosMK]

I just started learning guitar (15+ years on bass, prog metal mainly) so that I can flesh my own writing/compositions. I love the guitarist I've collaborated with and we do some stuff remotely, but I wanted to control my destiny a little more and develop stuff on my own time lines.

I picked up a 7-string that I tuned to drop B with a low F# (27 scale). Then I realized this "machine" was a little too crazy for where my picking technique was and I GAS-ed a gorgeous Agile LP copy (24.75 scale, huge difference!) which I learn basic songs with in E standard.

It's been fun... I am surprised at how simple so many great/classic songs are and I'd often wondered about the chord structures of many things.

[bassbully]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

I recently have started learning songs on ukelele for a church program. It is a blast! I have never been good at playing chords, but it seems that the Ukelele agrees with me, at least in the first position.

The other nice things is that it totally divorced from GAS. I am learning songs on a little $39 Makala Uke, and I could not be happier!

UKEs are a blast i have two.

[Dr. Cheese]

Originally Posted by bassbully

UKEs are a blast i have two.

I'm really enjoying learning how to handle a different instrument. I'm not that good of a bassist, but I can play 95% of what I want to play. Also, playing chords is just so much easier for singing than playing a bassline!

[SteveC]

Originally Posted by Dr. Cheese

The other nice things is that it totally divorced from GAS. I am learning songs on a little $39 Makala Uke, and I could not be happier!

I wish my basses would sell so I'd have a little money to explore some options....