Guitar or Bass... What do find easier?

ROON · #1 09-09-2007, 03:40 AM

A couple of months ago my uncle gave me his old Yamaha classical guitar. It had a few broken strings, and today I finally got around to getting a new set. So I've stringed it up, tuned it, learnt a few tunes... and much to my surprise, I find it a lot easier to play the acoustic compared to any bass. Am I alone in thinking this? I feel more challenged, and therefor more pleased when I learn a tricky line on bass. Having learnt a few acoustic songs tonight I can't say that I found it hard or challenging in any way.

What have you guys found, which is easier for you?

NOTE: Don't bother voting unless you have experience with both instruments!

saxnbass · #2 09-09-2007, 04:25 AM

Bass, but that's cause I play it a lot more than guitar. If I were a guitar player, then guitar would be easier. I find that kind of logical.

ROON · #3 09-09-2007, 04:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by saxnbass

Bass, but that's cause I play it a lot more than guitar. If I were a guitar player, then guitar would be easier. I find that kind of logical.

Very true. Did you find learning guitar was harder than bass?

saxnbass · #4 09-09-2007, 04:31 AM

I started with guitar and then picked up a bass 6 months later. I found learning chords on the guitar a bit tricky. I think knowing a bit of basic guitar helped with learning bass at the beginning. I guess it depends on your goals. Like I can't solo or shred on guitar worth a jack, but I can jam out rythm chords on guitar all day long. Got no problems playing chords and that kind of rythm stuff. Lead, forget it. On bass, I have no problems keeping the low end with the roots riffing into the next roots and such; walking bass and complex improve and riff writing, I'm not so good at that. I guess it depends on your strengths and weaknesses.

Phalex · #5 09-09-2007, 01:33 PM

I went with bass because, well, I'm a bass player. I know a sax player that plays bass in a band, being a sax player, he might say the sax is the easier of the two, but I would certainly disagree.

saxnbass · #6 09-09-2007, 01:42 PM

I actually personally find sax easier than bass, but enjoy bass more. Maybe I find sax easier because it was my first instrument and have played it longer than bass. I do prefer bass though.

Deacon_Blues · #7 09-09-2007, 02:06 PM

Carrots.

It's a matter of what you're used to and the music style. If you play for instance country music, the bass lines are usually very simple whereas the guitar parts can be very difficult. However in other styles of music like reggae, funk or soul, its usually the opposite.

Rugaar · #8 09-09-2007, 02:07 PM

For me, bass seems easier. I think it's because I was a drummer throughout my school years and rhythms/grooves seem to come more naturally to me than leads. I can hold my own on rhythm guitar, though.

scott plummer · #9 09-09-2007, 02:42 PM

It depends on the exact comparison. I find playing eddie van halens eruption harder to play on my six string bass than on a six string guitar. Conversely I find playing the "standard" styles usually easier on bass. I also find fingerstyles more complex than most pick styles. That also depends on the technique.

905 · #10 09-09-2007, 04:07 PM

I play guitar a bit, mostly chords, but also some riffage. Definitely not huge solos with two handed pinch harmonics or anything.

I think bass is easier because I'm more familiar with it.

Mr-Bassman · #11 09-09-2007, 04:25 PM

I've got 20+ years on guitar and 3-4 on bass but with all the hours on my bass it still seems harder. The longer stretches and bigger strings take a little more effort to play fast and clean. Dealing with the physics of low frequencies make it seem a little tougher to dial in a good tone. "Driving the bus" with a solid bass line seems to require a bit of control rather than wildly wanking away. I get favorable comments frequntly on my playing but I know I'm still a rookie bassist and got a heap to learn before I personally consider myself "decent".

Unrepresented · #12 09-09-2007, 04:34 PM

I'm equally comfortable with either.

They've both got different challenges to a beginning player, and I think it's really an apples and oranges comparison to decide which one's "easier."

Pumping out power chords or open open chords with a standard strum pattern is not much more difficult than playing root notes on a bass. But both instruments are capable of much more than that though.

I think I had more difficulty when beginning guitar because I had to learn the basics of musical theory along with it (my first real instrument). By the time I moved onto bass I could focus more on the mechanics of the instrument -- a lot of which could be carried over.

I'm sure it would've been the inverse if I'd gone the other way.

ROON · #13 09-09-2007, 04:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unrepresented

and I think it's really an apples and oranges comparison to decide which one's "easier."

Of course, this is why the thread is asking whether personally, which instrument you find more difficult.

I thought it would be interesting to see the responses, seeing as guitarists usually put a lot of crap on bassists saying that because it only has four strings its easier. Having just taken up acoustic I don't believe that anymore.

phat daddy · #14 09-09-2007, 04:57 PM

Bass is definately more challengeing to me than guitar. First of all, there's the obvious physical challenge, being that the scale is quite larger. Second there is the fact that for every chord shape the guitarist knows, a bassist has to know a whole scale and how the scale integrates with the chord. It's the formula of the music that makes the bass quite more difficult.

jamiefoxer · #15 10-06-2007, 09:50 PM

I'm surprised nobody's talked about the symmetrical layout of the STANDARD bass tuning (in 4ths). When I first tried a guitar, it would drive me bonkers that the first two strings are a half step lower in relation to the bottom 4 strings (tuned in 4ths). I've talked to two very accomplished classical guitarists on the subject and both couldn't give me a good explanation for the lack of symmetry and consistency in that type of tuning. The only thing they could mention was that some chord voicings would be easier in standard tuning, but that, for the most part, 4ths tuning would make playing easier, both from a soloing perspective and from a "consistency in chord voicings" perspective.

For that reason, I find bass a lot more simpler to understand. Simpler to develop a consistent approach to the fretboard...simpler to develop consistent, movable, and easily adaptable chord voicings across the fretboard, etc.

I'm currently experimenting with tuning my guitars in 4ths, ala Stanley Jordan, because it efficiently uses the knowledge I already have from playing bass guitar. Less time invested learning a new technique, and more return on time invested practicing (a new instrument to double on). I'm also doing the same for the Puerto Rican Cuatro...an instrument that is naturally tuned like a 5-string bass (high to low - G, D, A, E, B). Again, what i practice on bass guitar and regular guitar tuned in 4ths would translate to what I use in the Cuatro. I just have to develop familiarity with different size fretboards and plucking/playing techniques. But the most exciting thing is that whatever new lick, chord voicing, and solo pattern I learn on ONE of the instruments translates easily to the next one. In essence, I can master all 3 instruments faster in a way that couldn't be replicated the same way if I was learning how to play a trumpet, a saxophone, and a trombone.

David Lansen · #16 10-06-2007, 09:59 PM

Bass is easier for me. I can't for the life of me play those skinny guitar strings.

Skel · #17 10-06-2007, 10:06 PM

All I can say is that I find neither one "easier". To be played really well, either one is a little talent, endless hours of practice, and a lot of time out there on stages learning how to play for money.