Guitarist an Automatic Bassist

[E2daGGurl]

Back in highschool when I had a practice after school people would see me carrying around a big gig bag and wonder whats inside it. When I told them its a bass they said the isnt bass easyer then guitar line. And I always replyed with Its easyer to become a famous guitarist then a famous bassist. Some that played guitar asked to play it. I let them and like everyone else said they play guitar riffs on it. Then I played some slap licks that I came up with and they never said bass was easyer then guitar again.

Good tactic.

And on another point, sure - some people play lots of instruments at equal ability. But most people don't play lots of instruments equally well.

In general, the skills of the typical guitar player don't transfer so immediately to bass (and vice versa).

If you can play both equally well, that's very cool. Most people can't (and some who think they can, can't, as well).

/very opinionated about such issues

 

[NKUSigEp]

I don't know if it's been mentioned yet but the amount of pressure to hold down a string on a bass versus a string on a guitar is immensely different, not to mention scale differences, neck differences, etc...I get a kick out of younger guitarists influenced by this thinking who pick up a bass and suck the high heavens because their little fingers are too weak

 

[skeptikal]

There is a difference between a guitar player who plays bass, and a bass player.

 

[Qvist]

TalkBass Forums > Bass Guitar Forums > Bass Guitar Forums > Technique [BG]

We're all guitarists here.

/thread

I kinda agree. I see myself more as a bass-guitarist than a bassist, and that's because I enjoy the guitar aspects of bass more than the bass aspects. Who says you can't lay down a cool groove on guitar?

Take a look at metal and rock in general. Does the bass-guitar just follow the guitars, OR does the guitar follow the bass-guitar rhytm?

 

[SiliconElle]

And that's exactly right. Many guitarists (and actually, a lot of people in general) seem to think bass is easier due to it having less strings, or because they don't play chords like guitar players do. It's ridiculous. The bassist has an entirely different role in the music than a guitarist. Even a different role than the rhythm guitarist. The bass not only provides a background, it provides support. The lower register of the instrument provides backing for the rest of the music. And to provide that support, one must know how to be a bass player.

And this references another thread on the forums, but that's why I refer to the bass as either the electric bass, or just the bass. I rarely use bass guitar, and it kind've annoys me when people refer to my instrument as my "guitar". In correspondence, I never refer to myself as a "bass guitarist". I am a bassist. That's why I joined "talkbass.com" and not "talkbassguitar.com"

Actually in some cases, it is appropriate for the bass player to play a chord here and there as long as it doesn't interfere with the bass line. Also you can use two-hand tapping two play chords and a bassline at the same time. I sometimes like to play the melody for some pieces. Teen Town is an excellent example. You guys are acting like it is wrong to use the bass as a melody instrument. Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Clark, John Pattitucci, and many others use (in Jaco's case used) the bass as a melody instrument, but not exclusively of course.

 

[rarbass]

I don't know if it's been mentioned yet but the amount of pressure to hold down a string on a bass versus a string on a guitar is immensely different, not to mention scale differences, neck differences, etc...I get a kick out of younger guitarists influenced by this thinking who pick up a bass and suck the high heavens because their little fingers are too weak

+1. Nothing to add, however, but this is a very good point.

 

[SiliconElle]

I kinda agree. I see myself more as a bass-guitarist than a bassist, and that's because I enjoy the guitar aspects of bass more than the bass aspects. Who says you can't lay down a cool groove on guitar?

Take a look at metal and rock in general. Does the bass-guitar just follow the guitars, OR does the guitar follow the bass-guitar rhytm?

The bass guitar is as much a guitar as a bass clarinet is a clarinet or a bass saxophone is a saxophone.

This is when I wish that there was a good prefix for what most people consider to be the guitar. Baritone guitar is taken and so is tenor guitar, alto, and soprano. Maybe contra-tenor guitar. But, I don't know what is lower, the tenor guitar or the "normal" guitar. By the way, a tenor guitar is a four-string guitar that is designed for banjo players who want a guitar sound.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

This is when I wish that there was a good prefix for what most people consider to be the guitar.

Somebody, I forget where, called it the "prime" guitar. I guess resistance is futile.

 

[SiliconElle]

Somebody, I forget where, called it the "prime" guitar. I guess resistance is futile.

I started a new thread under "miscellaneous" called "Better prefix for the lead guitar".

 

[Nappa]

I don't know if it's been mentioned yet but the amount of pressure to hold down a string on a bass versus a string on a guitar is immensely different, not to mention scale differences, neck differences, etc...I get a kick out of younger guitarists influenced by this thinking who pick up a bass and suck the high heavens because their little fingers are too weak

You should hear my guitarist, whenever he tries to do anything on my bass all I hear is what sounds like muted notes. He cannot do chromatic chords without messing up...