Guitarists looking down on bassists?

[Abington]

I've also never really experienced any negative attitudes towards bass from guitar players. I find that most good musicians love the bass's role in music and appreciate having a solid rhythm section supporting them.

Additionally, my experience has been that even very skilled lead and rhythm guitar players are often so dialed in to the world of open chords and scale patterns that their knowledge of music theory lags behind the typical bassist or keys player (although the keys players are usually in a league of their own). This kind of makes any talking down a little less relevant in most of the contexts I've played in.

 

[J-Bass RMR]

Yes, I've experienced this.
We were on a multi-level stage, and the guitarist was looking down on me, trying to figure out the chord progression.

surely, I jest. (waiting for it)

Actually, I'm fortunate to have had the privilege of playing with musicians well above my "pay grade".
Generally, they have been supportive, complementary and provide positive input & direction.

 

[DwaynieAD]

I look down on bassists

 

[gumbynotpokey]

I take great delight in telling guitar players I don't need a capo, just tell me the chord progression and I will transpose in my head.. they often look at me blankly....

Man, I'm not even kidding. We had a sub on rhythm and background space playing acoustic, while our regular song leading electric player was at the gig. The acoustic rhythm player had to turn every lead sheet into C in his head, then capo the....??? I'm not even kidding. The guy could only play like 4 or 5 chord shapes in one position, and had to reverse-engineer on at least two levels to be able to play ANYTHING in the ONE WAY he knew how. I'm totally not exaggerating. It was so hard to follow, me and the electric later were like, "What? Why doesn't he just learn to play?" Geeze. They guy was like over 10 years into playing guitar

carry on...

 

[Koshchei]

Depends on the music… can’t compare a Kiko Loueiro guitar solo ala Angra to the bass line in Tennessee Whiskey. REALLY good guitar players like Reb Beach or Doug Aldrich are absolutely miles beyond in terms of technical, rhythmic, and melodic playing than most bass players.

Fair, but to put it into context, REALLY good bass players, like Jaco, Jonas Hellborg, or Tony Levin, are miles beyond in terms of technical, rhythmic, and melodic playing than most guitar players.

Also, at 6'4" I look down on most people. Not that this counts for anything.

 

[Hevy T]

Some jams I have gone through, when I get up I make a point of saying that I don't sing. So I will make song choices of stuff I know the singer can do. Well often I either get told they will make the choices because I don't sing. Then they usually choose stuff I don't know. Also I have also been ushered up and down for 2 or 3 songs while others can do a half hour or longer set.

I don't bother going to many jams these days because of this stuff.

 

[swarfrat]

The guy could only play like 4 or 5 chord shapes in one position..

I play in P4 a lot. But... There's not but 5 shapes anyway for a given chord in standard tuning CAGED

 

[ChickWithaRic]

They always wanted to play bass, but found they didn't have the hand strength or endurance, and settled for noodling because they wanted to take part.

 

[MJ_Sotti]

I'm sure this sort of thread has been done a billion times before but as a multi-instrumentalist who's a member of a guitar forum I always sense a certain snobbery against bass players. As someone who's played both lead electric guitar and filled in on bass I can tell you that the later is harder; even at a meat and potatoes level. As a bassists filling in you ALWAYS gotta be on the money. A monkey can pick up a Strat, plug into a Deluxe Reverb and go to town over a backing groove lol...

Stop. You're a giutar player. Stop trying to get on our good side.

 

[easyj]

I play both guitar and bass guitar, mostly rock. I would not say bass guitar is more difficult at a meat and potatoes level for rock I’ve seen some pretty lazy bass players fair pretty well, and I know that bass never left its case in between rehearsals. In my last band I played lead guitar, and I really looked up to our bass player. Now if you are in an R&B band, I could imagine the bass player needing to carry way more weight than the guitar.

I would say I never witnessed a guitar player looking down on a bass player BECAUSE they played bass. I never dealt with band members who were that ignorant.

 

[MNAirHead]

I'll be the first to say...

I can listen to a song on mp3.. never touch a bass.. and play it..

Yes, (like drums) it's more analyze/think/do (thank guitar, keys or vocals)

 

[SLPimp]

They could not. I am taller than most.

 

[bass.slinger]

I am taller than the guitarist in my band - tough for them to look down on me…

 

[Spectrum]

Guitarists look down on me?

Nah. Never seen it.

But those kazoo players, those guys are dicks.

 

[Durham52]

Fair, but to put it into context, REALLY good bass players, like Jaco, Jonas Hellborg, or Tony Levin, are miles beyond in terms of technical, rhythmic, and melodic playing than most guitar players.

Also, at 6'4" I look down on most people. Not that this counts for anything.

You might be right, but that's not a fair comparison is it? You could pick out a few exceptional guitarists and say the same thing comparing them to most bassists.

 

[Durham52]

Just a final thought then I'll shut up.

Generaly, to my mind, as soon as someone says, "In my experience, most (insert guitarists or whatever here) do/are, something or other", all credibility is gone. That's just generalization based on at best, a few personal experiences, at worst something a little more deep seated.

 

[drumvsbass]

Yes! I play with two guitarists and they are both taller than I am. We all look down on the drummer. He's the shortest.

This is the right way.

 

[dave hope]

Guitarists looking down on bass players? Well how short are you guys now days? As long as the pays the same, we’ll just keep pretending that we don’t laugh with drummer over their frontman antics.
Also, a good bassist is somewhat rare. But guess what’s a dime a dozen.

 

[Lesfunk]

Just a final thought then I'll shut up.

Generaly, to my mind, as soon as someone says, "In my experience, most (insert guitarists or whatever here) do/are, something or other", all credibility is gone. That's just generalization based on at best, a few personal experiences, at worst something a little more deep seated.

Depends on the amount of experience, but yes generalizations are bad.



unless we are talking about singers or drummers…



generally…

 

[JimmyM]

I combatted it by playing guitar and drums fairly well and never hesitated to let anyone know. I was never as good as the others but I was competent.