Do you actually know how to play guitar?

[Jon_West]

First of all, I'm an idiot and the poll question should be "do you know how to play guitar?"

I was fooling around with one of my buddies guitars and he was surprised that I was playing it like a bass (not able to play guitar to save my life).
He said "It's funny, because most bassists can play guitar", to which I said "Really? You think so?"
His reply was "Well... most guitarists can play bass just fine".

So, I'd like to see how many bassists can actually play guitar (2 chords in rhythm don't count (that's me ))

[Holy War]

I voted yes as to being able to play bass (thought it was kind of a silly question), but then I saw the edit in your post. No, Im not really that great on guitar. I mean i can play it, but I am by far a much better bass player.

[Sonic_Death]

Over the past year I have grown really fond of guitar. It is expressive in such a different way than bass that I am quite smitten with the both of them now.

I think it has even improved my bass playing in some ways to have picked up guitar. Since I play bass with my fingers my downpicking is not the greatest, but I have definitely gotten better over the past year.

[John Deacon]

I can find my way around. I'm not Brian May or anything, but I can find my way around.

[jmattbassplaya]

I`m a pretty strong rhythm player.

[The_Ox]

I can play bass quite well, and I can pound out about 20 chords on guitar.

It really helps your chordal recognition and finding root notes.

[MJ5150]

Nope. I'm alright on Guitar Hero though.

-Mike

[bassteban]

I suck. I can wail on *You are my sunshine*, *Hush little baby* & a couple of old Beatles tunes, but my mind likes the low end.

[jdieh1]

I wouldn't say that most guitarists can play bass...

I also wouldn't say that most bassists can play guitar.

Playing an instrument is different from playing one. If you get what I'm trying to say. Sure, you know some basics of the other if you are competent on one but it takes more than that to be actually able to play the instrument well

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by Jon_West

His reply was "Well... most guitarists can play bass just fine".

There's yer problem right there.

[Shaky]

Originally Posted by jdieh1

I wouldn't say that most guitarists can play bass...

I also wouldn't say that most bassists can play guitar.

Playing an instrument is different from playing one. If you get what I'm trying to say. Sure, you know some basics of the other if you are competent on one but it takes more than that to be actually able to play the instrument well

+1

I think I can play both, but many others may not agree.
Having said that, I started off on guitar. I don't play guitar very much now because I now consider my self a bassist and I want to concentrate more fully on the instrument of my choice. Therefore I don't consider myself a guitarist as much as a bassist. The longer I have been playing bass, the more I am realizing how different to the roles of the 2 instruments are in music. Yes, many bassist can play a little guitar, just from having a knowledge of the fretboard. Many guitarist can play a little bass for the same reason, but the roles they fill in a band setting are very different. That is where the real difference between having a bassist that plays a little guitar or guitarist who plays a little bass, and a bassist/guitarist. Which I think I true bassist/guitarist is a little more rare. IMHO

[baba]

I've been playing it for 24 years. My main axes are a Taylor 314CE acoustic and Fender Strat with all singles.

[Phalex]

I once joined an acoustic trio. I wasn't the worst guitar player in that band (I should have been.) It didn't last very long.

[jwbassman]

I played guitar for about 10 years before switching to bass, I switched to bass 7 years ago. My guitar skils have diminished over the years, as I have almost exclusively switched my focus to bass. I have done some gigs in the past couple of yeas on guitar and I still play at home and use it for writing and composing. So I can still play just fine, but my chops aren't quite what they used to be. The couple of times where I had a gig coming up on guitar, with in a week of constant practice I was almost back on track wit my chops.

I'll tell you what though, it feels weird going right from bass (especially 6 string), and picking up a guitar. A couple of times at church the guitar player (13 YO kid, who is getting better all the time. I constantly ride him), was playing something wrong or his axe was out of tune and I had to show him or tune it for him, I was like, whoa the neck on this thing is puny and cramped!

[bassyboy]

any really good bass player is a excellent guitarist, how could you not play both! come on bass players you owe it to yourself and the music shame on you if you only play bass!!!!! I mean you got to be a really really good guitar player to to even try the bass....am I right??
or am I right......

[Tommygunn]

Damn I can only play one power chord...

[CapnSev]

I teach way more guitar than bass at my job unfortunately, because that's what the kids want o play. I can teach them all the way up until they want to play a lot of lead stuff, then i pass them along to someone better.

[Tommygunn]

Originally Posted by Hoover

There's yer problem right there.

+1

[Unrepresented]

Started learning guitar around 15 years ago and picked up bass a year or two later. Bass is now my prefered instrument to play in a band, but I'm a better guitarist than a number of the guys I've played bass for. It's incredibly valuable to be able to communicate with guitarists by being familiar with their instrument.

[L-A]

A lot of guitarists play guitar on a bass and think that's all there is to it.

I'm not a very good guitar player. I could probably be a last-resort sub, but that's it.