Which is easiest to play?

[WilliamSandoval]

Guitar or Bass?

[5StringBlues]

[bassteban]

[enricogaletta]

Both are easy to play bad and hard to difficult to play good!
Cheers. Enrico
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[JacobE]

i pick up stuff on guitar way easier, maybe that's because thats what i normally i what registers with me

[EdHunter]

This one is:

[chaseman]

IMHO bass is easier to bluff and just play root and hide. However, I think it is easier to learn, but harder to master. I have a lot of respect for SOME guitarists regarding their knowledge of theory (although many are clueless). It also depends on the type of music IMO, e.g. jazz on bass does not compare with pop on guitar. Feel free to disagree though, as this is all opinion-based, like many of the 'which is better...' thread here on TB.

[hrodbert696]

What is hard to play is not an instrument -- it is the music you are expected to play on the instrument. Pachelbel's Canon is a lot easier to play on piano than on bass -- but bassists are not usually expected to play it.

I would say that most bass parts, at least in popular music, are easier than most guitar parts. But that's a difference in the sensibilities about each instrument's role in the music, not a difference in the instruments themselves. A good bass line holds down the foundation while the guitar is expected to have fancy flourishes.

[happycat]

Both are easy to get the basics. Both are hard to master. Both are very different instruments - to be proficient with each requires very different mindsets. You need to leave space as a bass player but as a guitarist you tend to fill them up.

Personally, I find transitioning from lead guitarist back to bassist is a big challenge (I really need to work hard at NOT playing lead guitar using the bass)

[son_of_mogh]

I couldn't play for **** on guitar until after I got chops on the bass, so guitar is harder to play for me

[Strat Hater]

BAss is where my heart is. Also My hands don't work well enough for the tight spacings of a 6 string guitar

[NoiseNinja]

I would have to say kazoo.

[AdamJames306]

Finally, a thread that will put this argument to bed once and for all.

[Papa Dangerous]

Guitar is hard for me because open chords get boring, and I just do not force myself to sit down and play barre chords. So chords are harder, in my opinion, on a guitar. However, if you play bass, and you are not just laying down the roots, and understand inversions, your role becomes much more important to supplying chord progressions. The guitar player may be playing A minor (a c e ) but all the bassist has to do is play a single F note, and boom, its now F Maj7. So thats technical skill verse musical knowledge.
On the other hand, a guitarist can just play a simple 1 4 5 1 power chord progression while the bass player arpeggiates the entire chord to fill in the qualities, while using a pop, slap and tap technique.
A bass player can play root quarter or eighth notes and a guitarist can take a stab at playing George Russell's The Lydian Chromatic Concept of Tonal Organization
Therefore, I think both are equally difficult.

[Savage_Dreams]

Originally Posted by chaseman

IMHO bass is easier to bluff and just play root and hide.

i dont believe that. its just as easy to play power chords on a guitar, probably even easier to get away with that on guitar because a million songs can have just sustained power chords. bass at least needs to keep picking/plucking/whatever to make it through a song. it kind of saddens me that %30 so far are saying bass is easier. way to support that stereotype bass players.

[Joe Louvar]

cowbell

[LuckyBassPlayer]

On guitar you can bluff and hide away as well, I play nothing but bar and power chords, and ocasionally some simple leads. Both aren't that hard to pick up, as said before. You do, however, need to invest lots of time and study to truly master the instrument.

[uethanian]

oh look this thread again

it completely depends on what you are playing. for a lot of popular stuff, guitar is more demanding. for jazz, reggae, soul, bass is more demanding. comparing 'masters' or 'virtuosos' between different instruments is pointless.

[Tupac]

Bass most definitely. Although, it is easy to "cheese" being good at guitar. It's very easily to just alternate strumming chords in a song. Now, what I find really difficult is keeping your left and right hand coordinating. There's too many damn strings, hahaha. My left hand will be somewhere and my right hand will get lost and not know which string my left one is on.

[funkybass4ever]

Originally Posted by enricogaletta

Both are easy to play bad and hard to difficult to play good!
Cheers. Enrico
YouTube
My Album
WebSite

Well said!