Can you also play guitar?

[Killed_by_Death]

Nut need filing?

I finally got around to measuring it, which I never had.
.015" on both sides.

 

[Knifedge]

I learned guitar and bass at the same time. I learned some Piano about ten years ago. I took up classical guitar for a couple years as well.. if there is anything I can say about learning classical guitar is that the technique greatly improves playing bass... I still have a ways to go on keyboards, but I know enough to do my own studio work assertively and confidently.

I did start on bass, and when I started on the guitar, it took a while to catch on to it, but I find if I practice lots and then just put the instruments away for a couple weeks, I feel more in command of the instrument..

 

[iriegnome]

Short answer to the OP... Yes. In the 36 years I have been playing bass, I have learned to play drums, guitar, keyboards, organ, and several others.

 

[hondo4life]

Yes. In fact, my first guitar was a guitar.

 

[lowsideonacurve]

Though I'm not very good, I go through phases where I love playing guitar. I've never played guitar with a band and don't intend to, (Bass is where I live) but I could hold down some rhythm on a few songs.
I'm getting married in July and will do a short duet with my bride at our reception, she will sing while I play ukulele for our first song and then I'll switch to my Ibanez AS73 for our second song. Recorded music and and dancing to follow, gonna be a blast.

 

[Miker27607]

I have an acoustic and an electric guitar that I use for songwriting. I make demos and then step aside and let the guitar player do his thing. Learning chords and melody lines definitely has made me a better bass player.

 

[Antisyzygy]

I have tried learning to play guitar and I can't seem to get my short fat fingers angled enough to not mute strings. I have watched every video and tried every method. But! I can pick up a bass and play just fine. It was mostly the reason I went with bass. It is the physically most comfortable of guitar and piano. I was wondering what you guys thought, are you just bassist or also multi talented?

I used to play guitar a lot. I took classical and folk lessons so I played finger style. I like to think I got pretty good, I could play just about any blues song there was since that was my thing. Muddy Waters was my favorites so if you can imagine I played a lot of slide. I also played some Flamenco and Classical/Folk songs.

Fast forward 10 years, I took a 3-year break from guitar. Now I have the same problem. I fat finger guitar strings pretty badly anymore. I attribute it to the fact that I focused on bass and lost my guitar chops. It just takes practice to learn how to contort your hand so you don't mute strings, in fact you might want to take a lesson or two and ask the instructor how to do it. Lessons are good for learning proper technique as well as learning theory, songs, etc.

You might also want to try getting a guitar with a wider neck, like a Nashville Telecaster. I believe 1 11/16" at the nut is what you'd be after. Most Fender necks are 1 5/8" these days.

One other thing to consider is the fretboard radius. I am not sure the reason, but I've always found it was much easier to chord with 7.25" radius.

 

[direwolf333]

I play, I'm getting back into Nirvana. If you have a Fender amp, EH small clone chorus and a Boss DS-2 the you're halfway there. It's easy stuff but you must fret the chords the way Kurt does in the videos. The orange pick is the key to Nirvana:
Dunlop 418P.60 Tortex Standard, Orange, .60mm,

 

[stringthrough]

I'm twice a bassist as I am a guitarist, but when I'm not jamming, rehearsing or gigging (always on bass) I almost always play the guitar. I find it to be a superior composing tool, and for me, more enjoyable to play when I'm by myself.

 

[Cat-A-Tonic]

I can play guitar.
That was my path to bass,
and electric bass was my path to upright bass.

Personally I feel the string thickness and spacing on a guitar is not as comfortable to play as a bass.

Also:
Round wound steel strings are not as comfortable as flats or nylons IMO.

I stopped playing electric bass for years and just played upright.
Then I got another electric and am loving both.

Upright wrist position is more comfortable.

...but sometimes I still play guitar.

 

[morgansterne]

Do you mean that piano would be ok for my little log fingers to play ? Or would I be up a creek?

One of the main piano accompanists for choir at my college was a girl about four and a half feet tall with correspondingly tiny hands. She did ok, though she wasn't a virtuoso by any stretch. She also had uncanny perfect pitch; if you sang her a random note she could tell you it was an E flat, plus whether you were sharp or flat.

 

[alaskaleftybass]

I think I saw this subject come up a while back, and I think I answered but nowadays who knows LOL.
I played guitar first in junior high then in high school switched to bass when a guitarist far better than I asked me to play bass. Besides I always listened to the bass lines and always thought the bass player could have done better. Then when I switched I knew I would stay on bass.
Pro career travelling for 20 years I was bass singer/bandleader. Met Mrs. Right and I got a day job for years. Then I got back into playing bass, but the odd thing was my childhood friend and I switched instruments in our little duo back and forth. He passed away a few years ago and now I do singles act with guitar. I miss doing bass every weekend but play bass on some songs in my solo act. I also play for pay every holiday in various local bands.

 

[aledeville]

I play guitar the way bass players kind of tend to play... not much going on in experimenting and soloing, but more of a rhythm guitar type of thing.
First I record the drums, then the guitar and the bass in order to save ideas of new songs or portray those to the other band members. Often the final songs then created sound far from it^^
Here's an example:

 

[MJ_Sotti]

always was a bass player. probably know 5,6 first position chords and some barre. but my right hand is pretty darn good...up down, heel mute, I always thought I'd be a darn good rhythm player, I just hate chords and guitars.

 

[Woody1999]

Yes, I can play guitar...badly. I picked up my first electric guitar a few weeks ago, an early Squier Strat. Plays pretty darn nice. I took a few snippets from the first jam I had with it and put them together into a recording.



I fill in as the rhythm guitarist for the band in a pinch. My fingers aren't as fast as our other guitarists but I can hold a groove and make a few licks if I'm in the mood

Woody

 

[RRDieselbass]

Yes but I just play simple chords that I pretty much made up in usually open turnings like Keith Richards uses. I have written a lot of songs on guitar and played rhythmn guitar and sang in a band for a few years too. I'm now back to playing the bass exclusively and feel much more confident since I've been playing bass since '78.

 

[Lo-E]

I started with bass and it will always be my principal instrument, but since learning bass I've also become a fairly decent guitarist, a barely decent Chapman Stick player, a poor banjo player and a terrible mandolinist.

At one point I managed to learn a G major scale on the trumpet, too, but the trauma my neighbors endured left me feeling too guilty to continue with it.

 

[jmverdugo]

of course, isn't kind of like the same thing?

 

[higain617]

I've played for 20 years now, and still fat-finger arpeggios quite a bit. I'm considering taking lessons again for the first time since I was a teenager. I sometimes fill in on lead guitar, but have played bass in bands for years now.

 

[KevInDaBassment]

I do both, but I make a much better rhythm player on guitar due to my picking technique not lending well to tiny strings and their tight spacing. Used to picking on bass, where it takes some oomfh just to play a single note.