Venturing into g***** territory

[Gonzo476]

A friend of mine who also plays bass asked me if I wanted to start a band with him. We would be playing covers by bands such as Taking Back Sunday, Senses Fail...mainstream hardcore and punk, you get the idea.

Now, here's the catch: I would have to play guitar.

I've been thinking for a while about getting a cheapo Les Paul copy and I wanted to know if anyone had tried Thomann's house brand, Harley Benton.
This is the guitar that caught my eye http://www.thomann.de/es/harley_bent...k_egitarre.htm

I also have a very important (and maybe stupid) question: will my bass playing suffer in terms of technique and such if I start playing guitar? I just want to learn a few chords, not become a guitard. I love bass too much

[robthegaff]

Hi, I bought myself the harley benton telecaster guitar they have. I don't know what you're experience with them is, but the guitar and bass I bought were fantastic value for money, and in terms of quality they are quite usable.
Learning guitar will not make your bass playing suffer, it will make it much, much better, as you will be able to immediately recognise chords which are being used when you're playing bass which allows you use the "right" notes, anticipate changes and patterns more readily and trade ideas in songwriting with bandmates.
Rob.

[Scottgun]

Originally Posted by Gonzo476

I also have a very important (and maybe stupid) question: will my bass playing suffer in terms of technique and such if I start playing guitar? I just want to learn a few chords, not become a guitard. I love bass too much

No, I'll always be a bass player, but picking up the guitar was very enlightening. And I can't resist a dig: If you are normally playing punk, then I must ask: what technique?

[Gonzo476]

Originally Posted by Scottgun

No, I'll always be a bass player, but picking up the guitar was very enlightening. And I can't resist a dig: If you are normally playing punk, then I must ask: what technique?

I normally play brit-rock, some power pop and alternative/hard rock when I'm playing bass. I don't usually play modern punk because I find that, in general, the basslines are quite boring.
On guitar I won't mind if I'm playing the same 3 chords for 5 minutes. I still want my left hand to behave as it should :P

[Gord_oh]

i just picked up a guitar to start learning too.
if anything my bass playing has improved as i learned more on the guitar.
technique is very different, but the transistion was pretty easy for me.
although i can still hold my own way better on bass, im sticking with learning guitar too.
here is a thread i did awhile back with some helpful advice:
should I go to the dark side?