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Bass players with guitars?

SlugThrower

SlugThrower

Supporting Member
Sep 7, 2011
684
496
Seattle, WA
#1
How many of y'all play our six-stringed cousin, the guitar? Do you think it helps with your bass playing at all?
I love to write on the guitar, and when I get bored of playing bass, i'll pick up a six-string and try to learn new chord progressions or try to figure out our guitar player's guitar riffs. I used to play piano, trombone and baritone, but I lost interest years ago after I stopped studying music in college.

What do you bassists do? Any bassists here who just play bass?

 
#2
check out this thread http://www.talkbass.com/threads/do-you-also-play-guitar.1126515/

I play guitar , started out playing guitar and then took up bass 6yrs later that was 30yrs ago. I find that playing guitar helps me with my bass playing ,even when I just use my guitar knowledge to reference what the guitarist in my band is playing .
I find that most guitarist I play with don't actually know what they are playing in regards to chords or scales or what key the piece is in ,as they are self taught .
I have found that by learning the bass I have a greater understanding and knowledge of music theory in regards to chord progression ,scales .modes and understanding harmony and melody and rhythm.
 
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#3
I played guitar from when I was 6 to about 15 years old when I picked up bass about 30 years ago.

I still love to pull out my Les Paul and crank my amp and rock out, but I am really just an ok player. I can basically only play Rush and Zeppelin as that was what I listened to all the time as a kid.:D

I am good enough to play acoustic with just about anyone around the campfire, but I play bass 99% of the time now.
 
#4
I have two guitars,an Epi LP Plus Top Pro and a Squier Strat. It helps me to better understand chord notes. I suck at guitar but use RockSmith to learn songs, good fun more than anything.
If you're a bassist who always wanted to learn six string,try RockSmith,it is the fastest way to learn guitar. And the fastest way to learn songs.
 
#5
I've played guitar for ~25 years. I started playing the bass a little over a year ago and pretty much only play bass now. I found it quite enlightening to listen to music in a different way.

Guitar is a fantastic discipline but it is just a part of the picture. I find myself a better (amateur) musician now. It also helped deconstructing my playing and learning how to play bass as its own entity instead of mimicking melody.

But yeah, it certainly helped my learning curve understanding chord progression from the years of the treble clef.
 
#6
Banjo first, then rhythm 6 string, then lead electric, then 4 string bass and a 4 string fretless has just shown up.
Music is music no mater what instrument you use, and as all of those were string instruments every one helped with the other.

In between a keyboard, fiddle and a clarinet - the woodwind did not fit my mouth. Gave it to a friend and it is now second chair at the local high school. The fiddle had cats in it. Gave that to a friend and he could not get the cats to leave, no telling where that fiddle is now. Still working on the keyboard.

Even the clarinet and the fiddle taught me about music.
 
#7
SlugThrower said:
How many of y'all play our six-stringed cousin, the guitar? Do you think it helps with your bass playing at all?
I love to write on the guitar, and when I get bored of playing bass, i'll pick up a six-string and try to learn new chord progressions or try to figure out our guitar player's guitar riffs. I used to play piano, trombone and baritone, but I lost interest years ago after I stopped studying music in college.

What do you bassists do? Any bassists here who just play bass?

Click to expand...

Like many of us BPs I started on guitar and never quite gave up the habit.

I think the main way it helps my bass playing is I get to F*** around with chords and leads and noisy stuff and am less a "frustrated guitarist" when I am actually on the bass.
NO FLAMES - I have nothing against noise or lead bass, but as a mid-level semipro I play covers - that means rhythm and support.
Realistically, I don't think playing guitar makes you a better anything but a guitar player - playing a second instrument (including guitar) does make you a better musician as you can wrap your brains around chordal voicings and kinda know what other members of the band are doing.
 
#8
I started years (decades) ago on bass, but recently come to own a few guitars and play them on recordings. Consider myself a bass player way more...
2024326119.jpg
 
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#9
I started playing guitar when I was 10.Got my first good one that I still own when I was 13,Mia Tele,played till I was about 19 then stopped.To many guitar players in the world.Got tired of going to jam with ppl and there be 3 other guys playing guitar and it turning into an ego contest.So picked up the bass and been playing ever since.

I still pull my Tele out from time to time and I've got an Ibanez acoustic that I play around with.

I found that playing guitar before I started playing bass really helped.I already knew my music theory and fret board.It was just the technique that I had/have to really learn.
 
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#10
I started on the guitar. After a few years I decided to pick up the bass. But, I had issues with the scale length and would often end up putting it down after bouts of tendonitis. Having found a good short scale bass I'm now playing bass almost exclusively. But, this is also because I have a band situation that I'm involved with. I've found that if I'm playing with other musicians I always prefer the bass. But, if I'm out of an ensemble situation I spend more time on the guitar. I do also prefer writing on the guitar. I picked up the guitar at practice a couple of weeks ago and it just felt foreign.
 
#11
I am primarily an acoustic singer/guitarist (solo/duo) but make much more of my gig money playing bass. Never spent a lot of time on electric guitars ... I was always the bass player in the band, and that was fine by me (an interesting departure from my other projects).
 
#12
I was a bass player first, but write on guitar, so I have a Strat that I put together with an Eric Johnson neck, and a Gibson SG for those humbucking moments. I have two acoustic guitars laying around too. I've been playing guitar for the same amount of time I've been playing bass (26 years), but my degree is in bass, and I prefer to play bass over guitar any day!
 
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#13
tangentmusic said:
I started years (decades) ago on bass, but recently come to own a few guitars and play them on recordings. Consider myself a bass player way more...
View attachment 545476
Click to expand...
I have the same Les Paul...only it's a Univox copy (from 1973).
:)
Also, I came very close to getting a white Fender P-bass w/ a maple neck for Xmas 1974. I actually talked my mom out of getting it for me.
Thing is, if I had that bass, I am sure to have converted it into a P/J...just like yours.
 
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#15
JimK said:
I came very close to getting a white Fender P-bass w/ a maple neck for Xmas 1974. I actually talked my mom out of getting it for me.
Thing is, if I had that bass, I am sure to have converted it into a P/J...just like yours.
Click to expand...
That P/J I bought new in '04. It originally had an anodized gold pick guard on it.
It's the passive version. Newer ones are active. The photo is of my wife of 33 years...
 
#19
I'm a guitar player who also plays bass and over the last 2 or 3 years has been playing more & more bass, getting a fretless almost a year ago.
I think of myself more as a guitarist than a bassist, but I am both to some degree--and I find that it works both ways.
My bass playing helps my guitar playing and my guitar playing helps my bass playing.
I also took piano lessons as a kid and still fool around on keyboards--although I'm not very good on them--but that has helped my playing on bass & guitar.
 
#20
I have an acoustic guitar that I play around on. I'm also learning Mandolin. But I am not a guitar player that plays bass. I'm a bass player. It's a completely different way of looking at the music.

Edit: Sorry, Zontar. I read your post AFTER I posted mine. It was not aimed at you.
 

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