To the people here who play guitar AND bass

HGS · #1 04-13-2010, 08:31 PM

which do you think is easier?

your idol · #2 04-13-2010, 08:54 PM

trick question. guitar is easier to make sound passable as music IMO. more room for error depending on what of music you play..im mean guitar magazines are LITTERED with with famous guitarists who admit theyre terrible. i mean Kurt Cobain, shining example!

bass takes more skill and rhythm and restraint and its tough to learn how to be a tasteful and desired bassist. the basses simplicity ends up making it very complex. very expressive.

to become good enough to "get by" isnt the hard part of either, becoming proficient and mastery is just as hard on both...but at that level the two instruments become more of an "apples to oranges" comparison. at the basic level the two can be approached with alot of the same ideas and building blocks but at the top theyre VERY VERY different.

but the bottom line is theyre both as easy or hard as you make it. stay passionate enough and you can learn anything

Cannabass · #3 04-13-2010, 09:02 PM

i agree with everything you said.

voted bass cause its simpler, and just comes more naturally to me

i've been playing guitar for a lot longer but i don't play all that much anymore, its too tech for my brain lol

engedi1 · #4 04-13-2010, 09:03 PM

like my first teacher told me "its really easy to be a bad bass player..."

TheDarkReaver · #5 04-14-2010, 05:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by engedi1

like my first teacher told me "its really easy to be a bad bass player..."

It's really easy to be a bad guitar player too...or piano player...or trombone player...drummer...saxophonist...bassoon player...

ourworldisgrey · #6 04-14-2010, 05:21 AM

It all depends on which I have been playing more lately. I guess that's happens when you start playing guitar two months after bass.

T-Bird · #7 04-14-2010, 05:44 AM

Hi.

In a band setting (we are talking about that right?), the bass wins hands down. IME/IMHO only of course.

IME, to learn even a power chord (I,VI,IIX) is too much for some folks who wants to play guitar

.

As a solo/acoustic instrument it's an even game, perhaps bass is even harder. IME/IMHO again

.

Regards
Sam

Phalex · #8 04-14-2010, 06:15 AM

Define easier? Easier to sing lead and play? Guitar. Easier to start from scratch? Bass.

LAPetrarca · #9 04-14-2010, 06:38 AM

In general......I'd have to say bass.

LOTS of stuff going on that bass players have to be aware of and in control of......rhythm for one thing.....plus, at least in my band, everybody looks to me to be the "anchor" if they get lost. My patterns, runs and riffs are always VERY consistent. Whenever somebody gets lost, they can follow me and get back where they need to be.

**baba** · #10 04-14-2010, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phalex

Define easier? Easier to sing lead and play? Guitar. Easier to start from scratch? Bass.

This is what I was going to type. I can sing and play 10x the number of songs on guitar as opposed to bass. Bass and singing is much more difficult.

Singing aside, I could get a virgin up and banging out 3 root notes to a simple song in a few minutes. Getting them up and playing in time with 3 chords to the same song will take days....hell, weeks for some.

MonetBass · #11 04-14-2010, 08:11 AM

You need a "carrots" option on your poll. Really neither, since technique and mindset varies quite a bit between the two instruments (for me, anyway).

That said, I think it took me longer to get what I would consider "good" on the bass than it did on the guitar.

Ric5 · #12 04-14-2010, 08:21 AM

Bass is easier for me because I do not practice guitar.

JTE · #13 04-14-2010, 08:27 AM

Neither is easier. They're both demanding to play well, and being able to do well on BOTH is even more of a challenge. They're different mindsets first of all. And then it depends on what you mean by "play well". Guitarist CAN get by without knowing anything about what they're doing. You CAN play guitar if all you know is that this shape is a C chord, but bass players have to understand on some level what a C chord is. However, to play well means to me that one can extrapolate from the basics to make music. That means you have to understand how things work.

Playing guitar has helped my bass playing because it allows me to really understand harmony in a way that a typically monophonic instrument wouldn't. And likewise, playing bass has helped my guitar playing because it helped me NOT look at chords as static shapes, but combinations of different voices and melodies.

Sure, standing there playing bad pentatonic minor solos and bashing power chords for a 12 bar blues is easier than playing good bass in that situation. But understanding when to play a full six-note barre chord versus grabbing a little Curtis Mayfield sliding triad is just as hard as nailing a Rocco pattern, walking at 140 BPM, or copping Jerry Jemmott's feel on "Think".

John

pasta4lnch · #14 04-14-2010, 08:32 AM

loaded question! since I started playing guitar more than a decade before I touched a bass I can't objectively comment. . . I will say being a bass player is blessedly easier from a gear/gear stability standpoint on a gig!! (I'd like to note I'm not a pedal nut - though I do use 2)

dukaruk · #15 04-14-2010, 08:38 AM

I think they are equally difficult to become great at.

That said, I think practice is easier with a guitar because you can play/sing a cohesive song front to back. Just bass you really need to play along with some music.

**Bryan R. Tyler** · #16 04-14-2010, 09:43 AM

Play the most difficult solo you know on guitar. Then try to play it on bass.......

It's music that is easy or difficult. Instruments only vary slightly with ease of playability. Piano is one of the easiest instruments to physically play. Most of the music written for piano makes the playing of it far, far more difficult.

wolf7883 · #17 04-14-2010, 10:13 AM

To execute things on a guitar is easier for me. And singing with a guitar is really easy--- I can't do that with bass.

But to really "feel" the music and write parts. Bass is easier. I just feel the groove more playing bass. The bass lines just kind of flow out and I don't have to think as much.

KsPiNeSh · #18 04-14-2010, 10:15 AM

For me, bass... very natural in my hands. They didn't like guitars at ALL

Shaun_Bass0 · #19 04-14-2010, 10:24 AM

I write all my material on guitar

I play bass live/on recordl and let a real guitarist play live/on record.

Not entirely sure how to answer TBH, i started out on both guitar and bass at the same time and my bass playing slays my guitar playing, always has....

dwm74 · #20 04-14-2010, 01:25 PM

I think bass is 'easier' if you're a guitarist who graduates to the bass as I did, rather than a bassist going to guitar.

But as others have mentioned, the definitions are too vague. For some, learning the guitar chords of C, G, & D can provide you with the ability to play dozens of songs. On bass, if you can play an eighth-note root over those chords, that's pretty easy also. As Roy Clark used to say, "Hey! You're making music!"

I believe both instruments fall under the same adage...they're both easy to learn, but they're both difficult to master. As much as I've become a bass convert, I'd still have to say guitar is harder to excel at.