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Guitarists who think they can play bass better...

kai_ski

kai_ski

Apr 14, 2007
1,641
46
Wenatchee, WA
#1
I hopped on facebook today, and saw the following status from a (talented, but young) working guitarist in my town:

guitarist said:
Man with all the phone calls today, I have the idea off getting a good bass rig so that way I can fill the void of the pop bass player who doesn't play too busy. Anybody getting rid of some bass gear?
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Here's the gist of the discussion:

me said:
sad day when the guitar player is getting the calls for bassist's work. I've got a guitar and a couple of cabs for sale, but no amps.
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Several other decent bassists respond, "wish I was getting calls" etc.

me said:
sounds like there are plenty of guys to "fill the void." you don't need bass gear, you just need a couple of phone numbers.
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guitarist said:
I think I wouldn't play busy because I know terrible it can be go play with too busy of a bass player.
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I can't decide if I'm more annoyed by the guitarists know-it-all attitude, or the fact that local producers, engineers, singers, etc are calling a guitarist for bass gigs. I feel like I've done a good job of getting my name out there and playing in the "style" of the gig. I don't think he's referring to me when he says players that are too busy for pop, but I take it a little personal when other players (who I've played with and I know) would take a gig for an instrument they don't play or own instead of referring a qualified, prepared colleague.
 
#3
Like you said, he's only a young fella. He's got to learn somehow. Sounds like he's trying to get more work & sees bass as an 'easy' option (this guitarist attitidue of 'bass is easy' gives me the ***** too) so at the end of the day when the people calling him realise he doesnt have the lock-in-with-the-drummer-&-groove thing going on, he might not get called again.
Also he may be getting called by producers etc with no idea & you wouldnt want to work with anyway... Or he may have had just one phone call & is blowing things out of proportion to inflate his ego.
 
#6
iovar said:
Not nearly as bad as when they think they can teach bass...
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yeah, I don't teach, so when a guitar teacher I know called me because he has a bass student and doesn't know what to do with him, I refer him to a bassist who does teach. but from the short phone call we had, I know that he wasn't teaching anything in terms of correct right hand technique or even how to hold the instrument. guitarists don't know what to do with the large format or scale, it's comical to watch them even try to approach the instrument.
 
#7
Kai Ski said:
Guitarists who think they can play bass better...
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I could be wrong, but it seemed to me that most guitarists think they can play bass. I've even gotten phone calls from guitarist asking if they can borrow a rig, so than can play a bass gig that night!
 
#9
Bass seems easy to guitarists... for 5 or 10 minutes.

See how well they can play at the 2 hour mark!!!!

My friend is a bassist in another band. He broke his wrist and was out for 6 weeks. The other 2 guitarists decided to 'fill in' for some gigs. The band sounded awful!!!

Now those 2 guitarists have a lot of respect for the bass as an instrument. They said that it seems easy, but playing for any length of time was SO hard. Wrist and forearm cramps, sore fingers etc.....

I wish that ALL guitarists got to play the bass for a 2 or 3 hour gig. See how 'easy' it is then........
 
#10
geddeeee said:
Bass seems easy to guitarists... for 5 or 10 minutes.

See how well they can play at the 2 hour mark!!!!

My friend is a bassist in another band. He broke his wrist and was out for 6 weeks. The other 2 guitarists decided to 'fill in' for some gigs. The band sounded awful!!!

Now those 2 guitarists have a lot of respect for the bass as an instrument. They said that it seems easy, but playing for any length of time was SO hard. Wrist and forearm cramps, sore fingers etc.....

I wish that ALL guitarists got to play the bass for a 2 or 3 hour gig. See how 'easy' it is then........
Click to expand...

Bingo!
 
#13
Easy8 said:
I'll probably get slammed for this, but in my experience the really great guitarists I've worked with are good bass players. :hiding:

Here's a link:

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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You shouldn't. Really 'great' guitarists need to be decent musicians. With enough understanding of music a great musician should do well with any instrument if given enough time to adjust to the physical skills (eg. drums need special coordination). The rest of us without tens of thousands of hours of dedicated practice are pretty much one trick ponies or close to it. OK maybe not but you get the idea. :hyper:
 
#15
in our town there are a lot of bands. but a hand full of the same guys seem to play in ALL of them. every guitar player playing bass in another. it kills me. because they cant seem to do it without just playing bass like its rhythm guitar
 
#18
I have nothing against bass players using a pick which almost all guitarist attempting to play bass do. However, I find most guitarists don't have the ability to really lock in with a drummer. They tend to either pedal roots because they're scared to death or play a grooveless fury of notes because they have chops but no real understanding of the rhythmic role of bass.
 
#19
I once was in a band that for a very short time had two bassists, me and another guy who was a guitar player. We were working on "Truckin'" by the Dead and he came over after the first try and said I was doing it all wrong, "This is the way you play it." He said, and proceeded to demonstrate the "right way".
Whereupon I politely nodded and proceeded from there on to play it exactly the way I had been playing it. For whatever reason, he never came back after that rehearsal, I still played it the way I wanted (by myself with no other bassists at that point) and it ended up sounding much better without him. Did it sound exactly like the record? Hell, no, but that wasn't really the point of this band. We were indeed a cover band, but we did the songs more or less our way and to have some fun with them, which this guy didn't seem to understand.
 
#20
I don't know what genre of music this is happening in but with gospel, contemporary jazz and old school R&B no one calls a guitarist (98% of the time) to play bass! :scowl: They just don't play with the same sensitivity as a bassist so why bother??
 

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