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Can you also play guitar?

#42
I play guitar, have fat short fingers that match my fat hands lol, I did blame my fat fingers for having trouble sounding chords and strings in the early days especially the F chord it was my most hated chord took me months to get it to ring out. But with time your fingers adapt and I'm sure you will to its time time and time and your fingers will get position memory.
 
#46
If you look at most guitarists they are short, my buddy was about 5 foot 4 and had fat fingers and could destroy the guitar. Muting on a guitar is completely different than bass though Fwiw. Just have to put a ton of time into it. I started on guitar at 13 and bass at 18, I'm 34 now and I still play and gig on both but more bass than guitar and I have to dedicate time between when I am switching instruments to re learn the basics and get up to speed on either.
 
#47
I cant solo on an electric, but I can do most of the first position chords and barre chords. I play mostly finger style, but can use a pick as well. I play acoustic and electric, as well as bass. I've gigged on acoustic once, and electric a few times, but I am better at bass.
 
#49
socialleper said:
Real bass players, not third guitarists or roadies that half @$$ it, are in higher demand than guitarists. That has always worked to my advantage as a guy that is mostly focused on bass. But in the quiet darkness of an empty room I might admit that it pisses me off how much easier it is to be a guitarist. They have 2 to 3 times the equipment in music shops, its easy for the audience to hear you and you aren't trying to find way to poke out past the other instruments, and the fact that people actually pay attention to the guitarists, while the bass player is often the guy that isn't the singer, guitarist, or drummer. In the hierarchy of bands we are only above keyboardists and roadies.
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Mind you, I had lamented my decision to switch from guitar to bass at the beginning, but then I discovered Steve Harris. After watching Live After Death on VHS over and over and over again, I wanted to play like him. After Steve, I discovered Cliff Burton, Frank Bello, Geddy Lee, etc. and realized that I was definitely in good company on the 4-stringer.

FWIW, my wife thinks I'm much better on the bass than guitar. She compares my technique to Steve Harris. A higher compliment I can't ask for.
 
#51
Yup. I don't think I have especially fat fingers, but they are large. I play guitar reasonably well and found (after quite a bit of trying) there are things I simply can't do on guitars with narrower nuts. There's just no room. My first cure was to get a cheap classical (they have much wider string spacing) and set it up to play easily. That got me through the basics. Then I got a Gibson with a much wider nut than, say, a typical Fender and it's been smooth sailing ever since. I suspect you can skip step one and go straight to a cheap Epiphone or something like that -- try one out in a store. Don't be embarrassed if you can't play it; just don't amplify it (much).

Chubby fingers shouldn't be an issue with piano, though. Can't help you there.
 
#52
Not really.

Took a few acoustic guitar lessons and it wasn't terribly difficult, but I just wasn't interested. I might still know a chord or two, but now I just keep a cheap acoustic and electric around for jamming with visitors.

However, I recently started taking lessons on the Pedal Steel Guitar and I'm loving it. It's super-hard and brain-twistingly confusing but lots of fun. However, it's about as far as you can get from the 6 string guitar and still use the term "guitar" in the name.
 
#54
Guitarists are short?
Like buckethead and Billy corgan?

I started on piano and guitar. I played trumpet in school and picked up bass at age 25.
No matter how much I play guitar I just can't play really fast. Learning bass has allowed me to play in better bands than I could as a lead guitarist.

I second trying out a classical guitar. Failing that, acoustic is easier for a bassist than electric (to learn on).
 
#56
25 years ago, I was a pretty decent guitarist. I was deep into B.B. King and Clapton. But after I left my last gig as a guitarist, I rarely picked it up anymore. Nowadays, I just sort of fumble around with a guitar. Like they say, if you don't use it, you lose it. I like to think I'm a better bassist now than I was guitarist then, but I'm often prone to self-delusion. :D
 
#59
Misfit Wookiee said:
Mind you, I had lamented my decision to switch from guitar to bass at the beginning, but then I discovered Steve Harris. After watching Live After Death on VHS over and over and over again, I wanted to play like him. After Steve, I discovered Cliff Burton, Frank Bello, Geddy Lee, etc. and realized that I was definitely in good company on the 4-stringer.

FWIW, my wife thinks I'm much better on the bass than guitar. She compares my technique to Steve Harris. A higher compliment I can't ask for.
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Dude! It was the Live After Death video that made me want to start playing bass. I could hear Steve's tone on my tapes, but actually getting to see how he played was the clincher.
The physicality of playing the bass is definitely part of its appeal to me. You can really hammer the crap out of it.
My wife likes bass players too, but to be fair, she didn't know what a bass was until she met me ;)
Its nice to have at least one fan though.
I like playing the bass, but like I said, I just get tired of being treated like a second class citizen by MI stores and having to spend all my time trying to find a tone that will let me sneak past the guitars in the mix since asking them to turn down is never going to happen.
 
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