IMHO, if you become proficient at flamenco style bass lines you could apply those techniques to help you learn classical Latin guitar styles. Otherwise no, it's apples and oranges.
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Bass guitar = classical guitar, right?
- Thread starter Greenman72
- Start date
I took up classical seriously two years ago and it's been quite a challenge. I did have a leg up on apoyando scales and the notes on four of the strings but after that the similarities dropped off considerably. For one thing, the repertoire is all in treble clef. Fortunately, I could read treble clef, but most bassists usually don't. For another, besides apoyando, the plucking hand is busy arpeggiating much of the time, and the music includes bass, chords and melody most of the time, too, all of which was terra incognita.
I have an acoustic bass that I love to play - 5 phosphor bronze strings, 34" scale. I'm not great at it but I love it's sound. I also have a few 4 string electric basses
My other (first) instrument is piano.
I've tried acoustic guitar, and I have problems with the different tuning, the string spacing, the string gauges, the shorter neck, etc. Basically I can't play acoustic guitar at all. Can't do much with an electric guitar, either.
I think a person who learned classical guitar first, could probably adjust to bass without too much difficulty.
I say they are more different than similar.
My other (first) instrument is piano.
I've tried acoustic guitar, and I have problems with the different tuning, the string spacing, the string gauges, the shorter neck, etc. Basically I can't play acoustic guitar at all. Can't do much with an electric guitar, either.
I think a person who learned classical guitar first, could probably adjust to bass without too much difficulty.
I say they are more different than similar.
I play both. I started classical guitar a decade and a half before starting bass, which seemed like "the same thing" at the time I considered switching. It's a computation that is easy to get wrong
ok fair enough, they are similar but also very different, just as violin and double bass or speaking and singing are similar but very different
With a lot of work, yes. You get some transfer credits, but not as many as you'd think in some regards, and more than you'd think in others.
And once you have both, there's a lot of crossover:
Sorry to be cryptic.
while there are mechanical similarities, particularly with the wider string spacing and flamenco stype of play being applicable to both instruments - the whole point of the 2 instrument in different they are (usually) intended to play different roles within a musical context.
if you're just messing around by yourself (cough cough im a solo musician aCKTUually) then yea the results of your poll are way off - there is enough transferable skill that you can start to have fun on both with the skills from one
worth noting you can make the job easier for youself by changing the guitar to have a consistance and regualr tuning interval between the strings (e-a-d-g-c-f) to make the chords 'normal' when you move them around the neck.
hopefully you go on to enjoy both instruments (but not equally)
if you're just messing around by yourself (cough cough im a solo musician aCKTUually) then yea the results of your poll are way off - there is enough transferable skill that you can start to have fun on both with the skills from one
worth noting you can make the job easier for youself by changing the guitar to have a consistance and regualr tuning interval between the strings (e-a-d-g-c-f) to make the chords 'normal' when you move them around the neck.
hopefully you go on to enjoy both instruments (but not equally)
In the big universe of musical instruments, classical guitar and electric bass guitar are off in the same corner, as are, say, trombone and trumpet. They have enough in common where it's easier to learn one if you already can play the other, but are different enough where it's a false assumption to assume that someone who is really good at one will be able to just naturally pick up the other.
Of course you can play classical guitar. However, you'll still come home to your first love. Your Bass might even let you LEARN how to play Classical Guitar......BUT.....None of your moves that work on bass are gonna work very well on the guitar, they might earn you a slap on the face!
Seriously: Two completely different instruments that happen to share a similar tuning. Like a motor car compared to an F1 car, they both have wheels and an engine.
Seriously: Two completely different instruments that happen to share a similar tuning. Like a motor car compared to an F1 car, they both have wheels and an engine.
Well, besides being a bass player I am also a cyclist, so I'm not sure about the ukelele analogy. And most times it's car drivers who cut in front of cyclists right after they have overtaken them.
It's not serious. I cycle sometimes and rarely are cyclists an issue. Ukulele players however.
I'm a failed classical guitarist who took up bass
Enough strings, but not enough knobs.
