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Guitarists say the dumbest things.

#41
On a guitar forum I post on, some kid posted wondering if it'd be ok to remove the D, G, B, and E strings from his guitar because all the "real" bands like Blink 182 only use the two "thick ones" for power chords. We were confused...about several things...

He later imparted the following wisdom (after someone pointed out the range of having ALL of your strings):

"Solos are for old hippies."
 
#43
the guitar player in my band never practices or learns scales or anything like that so when he solos he basically chooses a string and starts playing eight notes fishing for notes that fit on the one string, it's hilarious to watch. logically he never solos at a gig, and he told me to stop playing so much like a lead guitar player and stop taking the fills. to which i responded maybe if you knew how to play scales and could solo i wouldn't have to take responsibility for what you can't do and i could play less...frikkin' idiot
 
#44
j.a.e.r.i.p said:
the guitar player in my band never practices or learns scales or anything like that so when he solos he basically chooses a string and starts playing eight notes fishing for notes that fit on the one string, it's hilarious to watch. logically he never solos at a gig, and he told me to stop playing so much like a lead guitar player and stop taking the fills. to which i responded maybe if you knew how to play scales and could solo i wouldn't have to take responsibility for what you can't do and i could play less...frikkin' idiot
Click to expand...

yeah the guitar player in our former band was like that, well actually when he gets back from austrailia he says he wants to be in a band again, even tho he hasnt layed guitar at all in a year....anyway, he would come up with really good songs on the guitar and he is very open minded and lets me be as creatve as i want as i do with him, but the only problem is he doesnt know the notes, doesnt know any scales or anything, if he would just learn his fretboard that would be awsome...but aw well
 
#45
wmcjhi said:
On a guitar forum I post on, some kid posted wondering if it'd be ok to remove the D, G, B, and E strings from his guitar because all the "real" bands like Blink 182 only use the two "thick ones" for power chords. We were confused...about several things...

He later imparted the following wisdom (after somehow pointed out the range of having ALL of your strings):

"Solos are for old hippies."
Click to expand...


Pff, who cares what you play when your focusing on jumping up and down on stage like Blink 182 :P
 
#46
I think what's funny about this thread is that probably most of the statements are true it's just that bass players are defensive.

  • Four strings are easier to play than six.
  • Most bass amps do sound the same.
  • The bass should play root notes during a guitar solo unless it's arranged.
  • If the bass is too loud it will make the guitar sound out of tune because your intonation is probably off.
  • Bass players do play too many notes and most of them are not Steve Harris or Geddy Lee, you only think you sound like them if you play too many notes.
 
#47
blipndub said:
  • Four strings are easier to play than six.
Click to expand...

Four strings is easier, because you have to shift your hand around more? I don't know about you, but I find playing melodies on a guitar a lot easier than on bass, and I don't even play guitar. And no, I'm not saying that guitar is easer than bass, I think that playing technique wise they are both pretty easy, almost as easy as the piano.
 
#48
I read a thing in Guitar Player years ago by Barney Kessel who was auditioning a bassist and the guy was just all over the neck, filling up every available space.

Barney quit playing and said;

"Listen man, I think we both need a bass player."
 
#50
blipndub said:
Most bass players aren't playing melody, if so than yes, it's harder to do that on a bass I guess.

I should say:in a typical band setting it's easier to play bass than guitar because: 1) chords 2) solos.

Edit: all you bass chord soloists out there, I mean thee no offense.
Click to expand...

So it's not the bass that is easier, it's the material that the bassist plays that is easier (in a typical rock setting).
 
#51
Hmmm. I suppose. But I still think the nature of how the instrument typically played (one/two notes at a time) is generally easier than haveing to play 4/5 notes at a time that a guitarist has to.

Muscially I wouldn't say that the material is necessarily easier. It's kind of like saying a violin is inherently easier to play than an guitar, and I'm not sure that's true.

Ok here's my thinking about this. Guitar players can pick up a bass and fill in the parts of a bass player, I don't think the reverse is true for most bassists (including me even though I know how to play guitar sorta).
 
#52
blipndub said:
Guitar players can pick up a bass and fill in the parts of a bass player, I don't think the reverse is true for most bassists (including me even though I know how to play guitar sorta).
Click to expand...

I know a few pretty (technically) good guitarists who that really doesn't apply to. Fret buzz, horrible timing (not necessarily due to a lack of a sense of time, but coping with the different feel of the instrument)... I'm sure playing guitar will help with picking up bass (and vice versa), but I've never heard a guitarist just pick up a bass and actually play it well.
 
#53
I disagree with you on the "gutiarists make better bassists than bassists make guitarists" thing. Most times I've ever seen a guitarist pick up a bass, he make it sound like crap. Fret buzz left and right, attempting to play chords, terribly timing, etc. Most bassists have at least a basic understanding of music theory and can at least play a basic guitar part. That is my experience, anyway.
 
#54
Hi.

IMHO a guitar player that just picks up a bass and starts to play it, sounds just like that, a guitar player playing a guitar, only an octave lower, a fish out of the water :rolleyes: .

He/she plays the bass with a similar touch and feel as they would play a guitar and while the sound somewhat resembles the bass, the rythm and feel don't, those resemble guitar.

IMO it's much better the other way around, a decent bass player makes a fairly good and versatile rythm guitarist. And quickly too if needed. But then again, who would need more guitarists? :confused: ;)

Just my 0,02€
Sam
 
#56
I went with a friend to a rehearsal studio to hang out while his band practiced. One of there songs was pretty good - it started with bass and drums, bass player stayed on one note (d -1/4 notes) and the drummer had a really cool beat. What was pretty unconventional about the song was that my friend (rhythm guitar) "walked up" to the d note (c-c#-d) every measure until the verse started.

I noticed that every time he dropped down to c to walk up to d dropped at different times. So I chimed in...

me: Hey man, you have to drop down to c on the same beat every time.
him: what to you mean?
me: You keep dropping down to c on the wrong beat.
him: No I'm not, I'm just counting different than you.
 
#59
As a bass player that plays guitar, I have to say that I think the whole playing chords/more strings point is a bit silly. It's not that hard to make a few shapes and strum a chord and it becomes quite automatic quite quickly. Especially the basic open chords. Infact I think that it's harder to learn a chord via its arpegiation as a bass player would learn it. Chord shapes on a guitar seem to be based more around muscle memory than anything else. Having to learn arpegios and applying them effectively as a bass player requires a deeper understanding of the music and the theory behind it.

As for solos, I really think that depends on the person regardless of instrument. However bass players generally don't practice soloing. If thats all we did then we'd probably be better soloists. How many rhythm guitarist are great soloists?

Four strings are easier than six? What about a six string bass?
 

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