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I'm torn between Bass and Electric guitar

V

Vika

Feb 5, 2014
2
0
#1
I absolutely adore the sound of bass guitar but I also love guitar's high notes! I don't know which of them I'm willing to pick up the most. Any advice/ point of view on it? As subjectively as it can be. I know many of you happen to play both instruments, I'd love to, but for the time being I'll fully commit myself to make the most out of one.

Thanks in advance, everybody!
 
#3
I started on acoustic, then moved to bass. I had an electric and an acoustic guitar for awhile, but I played bass the most. I feel like over the 4 or 5 years I have been playing, I have begun to favor higher notes more than lower notes. I generally play alone, so this is acceptable for the most part (I can be a real bassist and keep low end in the mix in a group setting). In the last couple months, I have been enthralled with harmonics, and being able to play notes that are usually in the sonic space of an electric guitar. When I play with one of my guitar playing friends, he often complains about this, but when he solos, I can fill up that area with chordal harmonies that most bass players do not do. So basically, I compromised and play bass very similar to the way a rhythm guitarist would, while still maintaining low end when it needs to be present. It may not work for everyone, but I enjoy it.
 
#4
Vika said:
I absolutely adore the sound of bass guitar but I also love guitar's high notes! I don't know which of them I'm willing to pick up the most. Any advice/ point of view on it? As subjectively as it can be. I know many of you happen to play both instruments, I'd love to, but for the time being I'll fully commit myself to make the most out of one.

Thanks in advance, everybody!
Click to expand...

Yes, play both. I play bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, drums, and keyboard/piano. I don't gig as a keyboard/piano player or drummer, but do on the other three. Because my time is limited, I just pick one to focus on whenever I have a gig coming up and then do the others with whatever time I have left, just to keep my skills up.

If you aren't gigging you could easily do both--just practice guitar one day, then bass the next...alternating every other day. If you are practicing correctly, you'll make good progress with each.
 
#7
I would continue to play both. You will likely find that by playing guitar, it will help your bass playing and vice versa. As a guitar player, primarily, I've discovered that I'm more comfortable playing a short scale bass but I also play a regular 34" scale bass as well and it helps with my stretch on guitar. If you practice efficiently and smartly, there is no reason you can't become good at both instruments.
 
#9
When I was about eleven years old, I told my mom (a drummer in an all-women rock band) I wanted to learn guitar. Her first counter-proposal was, "Why don't you learn bass?" After listing a bunch of practical reasons (four strings vs. six, don't have to deal with multi-string chords until waaaaay later, a good foundation for learning six-ers later, etc…) she capped it by telling me, "Guitarists are a dime-a-dozen. Everyone tries to play guitar, but there will always be a demand for a good bassist."

And she's right about that. Just think how many bands' bassists are frustrated guitarists who, when faced with the prospect of having no low-end, raised their hands and said "<sigh> Alright, I'll be the one to play bass." How many bands do you know of who's rhythm section contains a "pure bassist"?
 
#11
Either instrument would be a good choice. However, they are different in right hand technique and different in left hand playing. My advise to you is whatever you learn to play, learn to read music on that instrument. That's what separates the hackers from the musicians.
 
#14
Another vote for "both".

I play both, albeit I play bass MUCH better because I "love" bass, but only "really like" guitar.

I feel like switching gives a better perspective of the other, and often opens up new ideas and creativity.

When I'm practicing in the house my spouse MUCH more prefers to hear me play guitar, and I agree as a solo instrument of course for the obvious reasons.

However, my real joy is playing LIVE MUSIC, and bass guitar is my passion. I know what gets folks up, moving, dancing, and gyrating their tail feathers, it is not a guitar.

I really like when folks who are not used to hearing live music get to experience a full band for the first time, particularly a driving and thundering bass. I've had numerous occasions where someone tells me they finally understand what a bass can/should do and be about. :bassist:

Yep live bass is as visceral as it is audible, and so many people don't really "get" that only listening to pre-recorded music through their home or car systems, or even a good dj rig doesn't tell the whole story.

So, yeah, OP you gotta follow what speaks to you. :)
 
#15
bassgod0dmw said:
+1. Why choose?

Start with whichever you feel like you have a stronger connection with. Go play both at the store and see which speaks to you.

I feel like bassists that pick up guitar have a better respect for it, and guitarists that pick up bass usually do it because they think it's easy.
Click to expand...

Great thoughts here. I play both but I played bass first and it is by far and without question my first and only love. I picked the guitar up about 6 years after I started playing bass to help me write songs. Playing the bass for that time and picking the guitar up did indeed make me appreciate the guitar more. And the bass for that matter. But I do feel that you either feel stronger and or more passionate about one or the other. Quite honestly the bass took a back seat to me playing for about 2 or 3 years ago for about a year. I just enjoyed playing the guitar a little more. But my passion for bass, that never really went away, just lacked for a little bit there and I was playing guitar a lot more. I think it had to do with where I was in life at the time. I wasnt in a band at the time and I was writing a lot at that time and the acoustic guitar really helped me get through some things. But that gradually died off and my bassdom grew back with a serious vengeance and it was on from there. Then I joined TB and I was back in full swing.
 
#16
I play bass only. I chose it because it combines rhythm and melody, and because the booming low sounds have always made me happy.

Fingerstyle only, no pick, no slap. I do read music thanks to the Hal Leonard Bass Method. Yet I often work from chord charts or tab. P&W music, Motown and now blues. I've come pretty far in less than two years, or so people tell me.

Every band needs a bassist. The bass provides the foundation. And it makes the booties shake! Including mine. :bassist:
 

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