Started with guitar as a kid, then played mostly bass for over 40 years. Don’t see many solo singer/songwriters accompanying themselves on bass guitar.
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From Guitar To Bass
- Thread starter BassAdder27
- Start date
I started out on guitar when I was 14. Switched to bass some years later. I still play acoustic guitar and learned mandolin about ten years ago. My biggest collection is basses, but I’m probably a better mandolin player. It’s all good to me, I love them all. I’m in 3 bands right now, and it’s because I can multi- task, as well as sing. I also play percussion. I love music and when I learn a song, I can play all the different instrument parts.
i started learning acoustic, fingerstyle guitar in 1968. i stopped for years, picked it back up, and was surprised after a ramp up period that i played better than i had years before. it was fun, i was in demand for jams and some bands. and then 1n 1994 a friend asked me to stand in as bass player for his old band for one night. i hadn't previously played the bass.
it was love at first play. it still is.
it was love at first play. it still is.
This picture sums up why I originally switched from guitar to bass back in 1980.
The flesh of my fingers doesn't stick out past my nails.
The nails touch the fretboard when I try to fret on my fingertips.
The adjacent strings can't ring free because of the fingers aren't on the tips.
My fingertips are not like this.
On a bass the strings are fat enough to keep the nail away from the fingerboard.
I can fret on the fingertips and the nails don't touch the fingerboard.
The flesh of my fingers doesn't stick out past my nails.
The nails touch the fretboard when I try to fret on my fingertips.
The adjacent strings can't ring free because of the fingers aren't on the tips.
My fingertips are not like this.
On a bass the strings are fat enough to keep the nail away from the fingerboard.
I can fret on the fingertips and the nails don't touch the fingerboard.
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I learned to play guitar in my early teens, and switched to bass in my late teens because it just sounded way cooler to me (I'm in my 50's now). For jamming purposes, it helps that I can recognize the chords the guitars are playing. I still know how to play most of the chords, I just can't play guitar live anymore because it takes me forever to change chords now. Bass is my happy place ;-)
I played guitar for 6-7 years before I started playing bass. For the next 5 years or so gigging on bass, I still identified as a guitarist, that happens to busy bass. Then recording started happening where I found out that as a guitarist, I was somewhat limited even though what I played was pretty good. I also learned a thing or too about my bass playing that was not real good at all.
Studying my “art” on both instruments from recordings allowed growth as a player on both. But what really improved the most over the years was my musicianship. Eventually I came to grips that I’m a better musician than I am an instrumental technician. So, today I’m a musician that can play both.
I cannot play 99.9% of my favorite guitar solos on guitar, but I can play 99.9% of my favorite bass lines on bass. Choice was easy.
Played rythm guitar for our band for 20 years and never tried bass till 10 months ago because our bass player had issues making it to quite a few of our gigs. Thought I would have issues because I am one of the lead singers and harmonize on all the other songs. It was tricky at first, but I think I overcame it. What helped was the covid shutdown, which allowed me to teach myself how to play bass, but then sing and play bass at the same time.
My question is...is this GAS thing just for bass players or what? Took me over 20 years to accumulate a dozen acoustic guitars. Took me 10 months to accumulate over a dozen bass, not to mention, going thru quite a few heads and cabinets searching for that right tone.
My question is...is this GAS thing just for bass players or what? Took me over 20 years to accumulate a dozen acoustic guitars. Took me 10 months to accumulate over a dozen bass, not to mention, going thru quite a few heads and cabinets searching for that right tone.
20 years ago my sister got me a Peavy Raptor strat copy for my birthday. I tried learning guitar, then gave up and wanted "something easier" so I got a bass. Then I gave that up and went back to guitar, taught myself some stuff, and never really advanced. I started playing bass again in Jr high for pep rallies and basketball games and never looked back. I play the 6 string serviceable, but bass is my #1. I also find much more work for bass players, especially ones who live in the pocket.
I think more instruments the better. I can play a few chords on a mandolin, can keep a decent beat on a drum kit, and was first chair French horn in high school. All of it just helps me be a better bass player.
Plus I'm quiet and love standing in the shadows behind everyone else on stage. So it just works.
I think more instruments the better. I can play a few chords on a mandolin, can keep a decent beat on a drum kit, and was first chair French horn in high school. All of it just helps me be a better bass player.
Plus I'm quiet and love standing in the shadows behind everyone else on stage. So it just works.
I started playing guitar in 1969, mostly rhythm to accompany my own singing. I never had much interest or aptitude in lead playing, though I can do a few things. Always was interested in bass (Paul McCartney, Motown, etc.). After a couple of false starts, I switched to bass in the early '90s. I still have a couple of acoustics and electrics, but rarely pull out a guitar anymore. Don't miss it and in no way think of bass as a consultation prize.
I have always preferred bass over guitar, or any other instrument. Guitar is okay. I own a nice Telecaster with a Rickenbacker TR-7 amp, and it's fun, but it's just not what draws me. The sounds I want to make come out of a bass.
I was always a bass player, but noodled on guitar off and on over the years. Guitar parts never inspired me as much as bass lines have. I always heard those first. It's always a red flag for me when someone says they play bass and guitar. IME, they really only play one or the other. Playing guitar does not automatically make one a bass player...
So Anyway, started out on electric bass when I was about 20. Can't play guitar or even make a chord.
But that hasn't stopped several people giving me guitars that they no longer use. And they just sit in the corner...and mock me.
But that hasn't stopped several people giving me guitars that they no longer use. And they just sit in the corner...and mock me.
[QUOTE="Joe Nerve, post: 24649452, member: 10982..and despite how people will scream it ain't, its FAR easier than guitar. Or more accurately stated, its far easier to get good enough to be in a great situation playing bass than it is guitar. Yeah, we can argue Jaco playing better than Joey Ramone, but we all know deal. Someone starting out on bass will learn a cover set of songs a whole lot faster and more easily than someone learning a cover set on guitar. Especially if Sweet Child and some Van Halen are thrown in 
.[/QUOTE]
My apologies for jumping in here. But bass is not "easier" than (insert name of instrument).
In fact, no instrument, is intended to be easy to learn. It is all in your abilities to develop the skills you need to excel on it.
As a guitar player that switches back and forth on both, there are challenges that will likely make it worth your while to face and beat. What good is any level of education where you can't grow unless you're challenged to improve?
Thus neither is supposed to be easy, unless you would not like learning an instrument that will take you out of your comfort zone. You may find bass more fulfilling, and that's fine.
But you have no idea how many accomplished guitarists feel the same about bass playing.
.[/QUOTE]My apologies for jumping in here. But bass is not "easier" than (insert name of instrument).
In fact, no instrument, is intended to be easy to learn. It is all in your abilities to develop the skills you need to excel on it.
As a guitar player that switches back and forth on both, there are challenges that will likely make it worth your while to face and beat. What good is any level of education where you can't grow unless you're challenged to improve?
Thus neither is supposed to be easy, unless you would not like learning an instrument that will take you out of your comfort zone. You may find bass more fulfilling, and that's fine.
But you have no idea how many accomplished guitarists feel the same about bass playing.
Your take on #3 is frankly rather ignorant sorry to say. You can mention many,many instruments and say that they are only of use in a band context. Why bother learning them though?. Are there solo drum concerts out there?, probably are but they’d be a pretty niche thing. Many,many members here are content playing at home.
I started on folk guitar. Took lessons at the community center and played in church. Then a buddy from a previous post (we were both military brats) moved into the neighborhood. He was well beyond his years on guitar. We decided to start a band. He said my fingers looked long enough for bass, and that rhythm guitarists were much easier to find than bass players. He helped me buy a '64 Gibson EBO from the classifieds, and we were off!
Turned out I related to the bass much better than guitar because I could feel the bass. The first drummer I played with, who played in a marching band, coached me not to count, but to feel the changes. That did it. I still play a little guitar, and it helps picking up tunes because I can read the guitarist's hands.
I think it is easier to learn a basic 4/4 thump on electric bass than, say, getting a good tone out of a violin or woodwind at a beginner level. But to be proficient is a challenge for any of them.
In my other life as a desk jockey, I like think of myself as the bass player in control of the rhythm of the organization. Keep up the momentum and pace, highlight the changes, and drive the beat. What could be more fun--and useful--than that?
Turned out I related to the bass much better than guitar because I could feel the bass. The first drummer I played with, who played in a marching band, coached me not to count, but to feel the changes. That did it. I still play a little guitar, and it helps picking up tunes because I can read the guitarist's hands.
I think it is easier to learn a basic 4/4 thump on electric bass than, say, getting a good tone out of a violin or woodwind at a beginner level. But to be proficient is a challenge for any of them.
In my other life as a desk jockey, I like think of myself as the bass player in control of the rhythm of the organization. Keep up the momentum and pace, highlight the changes, and drive the beat. What could be more fun--and useful--than that?
I guess technically I was a guitar player first, but only technically. I decided I wanted to learn both instruments during the pandemic, so I have had an electric guitar for about 8 weeks, and a bass for about 7 weeks. Watch out Bootsy, here I come!
I can see that it is true that the bass is somewhat easier to play at least at first; here in week 7 the bass is merely nigh impossible, while my feelings on guitar are more OMGWTF?!?!1 It's my rough plan to fail utterly at guitar in another 3-4 months, and give up on bass a few months after that. You'll know when that happens when I stop posting dumb questions here, and start posting guitars on Craigslist.
I did a lot of music stuff when I was a schoolkid but none of it worked out. Acoustic guitar when I was about 8? Fail. Drums in junior high school? Fail. (All the instructor wanted to do was rhythmic dictation and I had ZERO aptitude.) Piano in high school? Fail. Trumpet, from grades 5 - 11? Well I could play the thing and read music, but they didn't teach anything about music theory. None of my various instructors did, and I didn't know to ask about it.
Playing trumpet was kind of like saying mass in Latin... yeah those marks on the page make sense and I am making the right sounds, but ... what does it all mean? How did someone write this? So I played an instrument for 6 years and never learned what a "key" was or what a "chord" was if you can believe that. Composing and improvising looked like actual black magic to me since I did not understand the rules.
I am trying to make up for all that now, and learn theory, and learn to play these $^#& devil strings. We'll see if I can hack it. I picked trumpet as a kid because it looked like the easiest instrument, with only 3 buttons. That's where I am still coming from so a fretboard looks like the cockpit of an airliner to me. I know what's going on in academic terms, because the internet is an amazing resource for a motivated learner... but a crash is still guaranteed when I am at the controls.
But even if I fail again at learning to play these new instruments, I will have learned a lot about music theory. Even if I never become a real musician, better understanding my decades old riddle of how music actually works will have been worth every minute and cent spent, I can see that already. If someone had taught me fundamentals like scales and keys and the 1-4-5 chord progression when I was a teenager, I would have found that energizing, I am sure!
I can see that it is true that the bass is somewhat easier to play at least at first; here in week 7 the bass is merely nigh impossible, while my feelings on guitar are more OMGWTF?!?!1 It's my rough plan to fail utterly at guitar in another 3-4 months, and give up on bass a few months after that. You'll know when that happens when I stop posting dumb questions here, and start posting guitars on Craigslist.
I did a lot of music stuff when I was a schoolkid but none of it worked out. Acoustic guitar when I was about 8? Fail. Drums in junior high school? Fail. (All the instructor wanted to do was rhythmic dictation and I had ZERO aptitude.) Piano in high school? Fail. Trumpet, from grades 5 - 11? Well I could play the thing and read music, but they didn't teach anything about music theory. None of my various instructors did, and I didn't know to ask about it.
Playing trumpet was kind of like saying mass in Latin... yeah those marks on the page make sense and I am making the right sounds, but ... what does it all mean? How did someone write this? So I played an instrument for 6 years and never learned what a "key" was or what a "chord" was if you can believe that. Composing and improvising looked like actual black magic to me since I did not understand the rules.
I am trying to make up for all that now, and learn theory, and learn to play these $^#& devil strings. We'll see if I can hack it. I picked trumpet as a kid because it looked like the easiest instrument, with only 3 buttons. That's where I am still coming from so a fretboard looks like the cockpit of an airliner to me. I know what's going on in academic terms, because the internet is an amazing resource for a motivated learner... but a crash is still guaranteed when I am at the controls.
But even if I fail again at learning to play these new instruments, I will have learned a lot about music theory. Even if I never become a real musician, better understanding my decades old riddle of how music actually works will have been worth every minute and cent spent, I can see that already. If someone had taught me fundamentals like scales and keys and the 1-4-5 chord progression when I was a teenager, I would have found that energizing, I am sure!
