Switching from guitar to bass

[Michael Stanley 2112]

I wasn't playing guitar for nearly as long as you, but I was an "established" guitarist.

I was third guitar/lead vocals in a band and we lost our bass player. I've always been a team player. So ...

Your first point, "avoiding playing like a guitarist": I believe coming from the guitar helped to make me a better bassist. Unlike so many "frustrated guitar players" who switch to bass, I was never (and I never say: "Never") a ride-the-root-tone type.

We played hard rock/metal and I riffed (appropriately); like a good bassist should do in certain songs/styles.

I was self-taught, translating what I knew about guitar playing to playing the bass. I worked with the drummer to find interesting ways to transition between phrases or progressions.

I worked hard to lock in with the drummer; even more so than I did as a guitarist because I'd come to understand the bass truly is the pathway between melody and rhythm and back, again.

Since I am no longer able to gig (and live in an area where there isn't much demand for studio bassists), most of my "projects" are either recording by myself or remotely with others.

When recording by myself, I'm it. I play both (and love it). When playing with others, it depends upon what's called for. There are lots of guitarists who are convinced they can just pick up a bass and be a bassist. As we all know, with that kind of attitude, they're usually mistaken.

Because of this prevailing (seemingly) view, many guitar players don't want to bother with bassists (heck, lots of them don't even like working with other guitar players [but ego is never an issue. No ...]).

Primarily, I work with a drummer and will occasionally invite a guitar player to be featured.

My biggest piece of advice: Don't turn your back on your guitar playing past. I firmly believe it will make you a better bass player (and don't get my started on keys, relative minors, sevenths, etc.).

Good luck and if I can help ...

 

[MotorCityMinion]

IMO, in an original project with a limited amount of instruments you have more room to breathe and perhaps put some of those guitar skills to work on the bass. It's still music, just don't step into somebody else's sonic space or get overly busy. In a cover band, playing bass like a guitar sticks out more. Best to tone it down unless you need to fill a void.

 

[Elmstreet]

Stick with the kick

 

[bassicmike]

This kinda speaks to your use of the word, "solo". I think it's meaning can be pretty broad. I knew a guy that was a very talented multi-instrumentalist. He could play pretty much anything. But he said his favorite was bass. When asked why, he said, "soloing all the time".

I get where he was coming from, but you are also correct about locking in with the drummer, IMO. Most of the time the two players are a single unit called the "rhythm section".

BTW, I'm a bass player from beginning to end, though I can strum a few chords on the guitar. I've noticed that a lot of really good guitar players that pick up the bass can almost immediately technically play "better than me", but their playing style doesn't work as well for the bass. They sound amazing, but they detract from the overall quality of the sound produced by the whole band.

Solo, not in the sense of soloing, but as a solo musician. A collective of one. The guitarist is the guitarist, in charge of one's own part.

The bassist is part of a pair - bass and drums, dependent on each other to form the perfect rhythm section.