Tips for a bassist learning guitar

[KickingBass]

I have no clue if this is in the right forum but I was looking for some assistance. I truly enjoy playing bass but I also really like guitar so I bought myself an acoustic/electric guitar. I can ask my bandmates and watch youtube videos for general instruction and tips on how to play the guitar but I was wondering if there are any unique insights that I can get from bassists on learning to play the guitar. It's all about becoming a better musician right?

 

[newmusicmichael]

Be patient. There'll be some things you probably pick up pretty quickly - i.e., playing individual notes, b/c that's pretty similar to bass - and there will be other things which will take longer to master - i.e., chords, because there's just no parallel on the bass. Especially the tricky chords, like barres.

 

[MrLenny1]

Get a chord book, those are easy to learn on your own.
Start playing scales, the first 4 strings are tuned in 4ths, there is one string(B) tuned a third.
that will be a little tricky compared to bass.

 

[theduke1]

Stop!

 

[hrodbert696]

Great idea! I started learning a bit of guitar a few years ago and have been working on it more intensively lately. I agree, it's all about becoming a better musician all around. I agree as far as getting some chord books and scale books and picking up the patterns. Probably my greatest hurdle to get over is the B string. The patterns I learned on bass all work fine on guitar until I get to that string and then it's all kablooie. So concentrate on working with that string and its relation to the G and E on either side of it so you can play through it smoothly. We all complain about guitarists who play bass like it's a guitar - don't play guitar like a bassist, either.

 

[fretter]

Learn the blues scale.

 

[Tom Bomb]

The key's to have fun.

Guys like Justin will virtually ensure you do.

 

[lfmn16]

Buy a Marshall Stack, get a pointy end guitar with a whammy bar, assemble a pedal board the size of Texas, turn everything up to 11, then dial in so much distortion that no one can tell what notes you are playing anyway!

 

[Lobster11]

There are several reasons that I wish I had the time to learn to play a little guitar -- and chords in particular. First, I'd like to do more songwriting, which I find difficult to do with only a bass. Second, I'd like to improve my ability to recognize chords (other than simple bar chords) by sight when my guitarists play them, as we do a lot of improvising in one of my bands. And third, I think it would be helpful to beef up my theoretical understanding of chord construction. (The last would be the least important reason for me, as I think I understand that stuff pretty well now, but I would probably list it as the most important reason if I didn't.)

 

[Roland GR 88]

Couple of things that worked for me were using alternate tunings and a capo. Open tunings allowed me to play guitar like a bass using simple 2 or 3 finger chords and the capo dropped the action for very easy fingering. This really helped as it made it fun to hack around and sound half decent too. My goal has never to become a guitar player but just to play guitar.

 

[KickingBass]

Buy a Marshall Stack, get a pointy end guitar with a whammy bar, assemble a pedal board the size of Texas, turn everything up to 11, then dial in so much distortion that no one can tell what notes you are playing anyway!

Can I do that with an acoustic/electric? The goal is to get to electric solidbody guitars in the future.

 

[KickingBass]

Really good advice so far, thanks guys! This is probably one of the most helpful threads I've started. Those two highest strings do seem like theyre going to be problematic, wonder why they're tuned that way.

 

[viper4000]

Agree with all that's already stated. You may have a tendency to squeeze too hard with your fretting hand. You will need a lighter touch. Much lighter. When learning how to strum chords, you may have a tendency to fall back into the bass player role. Try to resist that and you can create some cool counter point to the rhythm section. When I play guitar, I don't use a capo. So whether I'm on bass or guitar, knowledge of what the key shifts to when a capo is used is very helpful. A lot of what you learn on acoustic will translate to electric. One thing I didn't learn well on guitar is right hand muting. Learn it early and you'll have a great tool in you tool kit.

Good luck OP!

 

[KickingBass]

Agree with all that's already stated. You may have a tendency to squeeze too hard with your fretting hand. You will need a lighter touch. Much lighter. When learning how to strum chords, you may have a tendency to fall back into the bass player role. Try to resist that and you can create some cool counter point to the rhythm section. When I play guitar, I don't use a capo. So whether I'm on bass or guitar, knowledge of what the key shifts to when a capo is used is very helpful. A lot of what you learn on acoustic will translate to electric. One thing I didn't learn well on guitar is right hand muting. Learn it early and you'll have a great tool in you tool kit.

Good luck OP!

Thanks! Interestingly my guitarist told me that I'd probably really have to build up finger strength but idk, I'm pretty sure bass strings take my strength to fret.

 

[lfmn16]

Can I do that with an acoustic/electric? The goal is to get to electric solidbody guitars in the future.

Sure! Loud is loud.

 

[el murdoque]

I also stumbled down that path.
When i was stuck on my improvement as a bassist, buying a guitar felt like the right thing to do.
I had a bandmate give me some pointers (well, one surely knows which way is up, after all a guitar is just a small six string with weird tuning) and off i went.
First i memorized all the standard major chords, then the minors. Then i would pick a few of them and play them in succession. Just to commit them to muscle memory.
Three sets of about ten minutes per day, if possible.

Apart from that i picked a few songs i liked and/or wanted to be able to play. Some of them were a struggle, some came like a breeze.

And it certainly has had the desired effect. Right now, when i'm on the bass and wonder what i could play except for the root, the chord i'd play on guitar right now pops up and i get some suggestions.

 

[Lobster11]

Really good advice so far, thanks guys! This is probably one of the most helpful threads I've started. Those two highest strings do seem like theyre going to be problematic, wonder why they're tuned that way.

You'll quickly learn why those strings are tuned that way: to make it easier to play a lot of common chords. For example, consider the Em7 chord, which contains the notes E (root), G (minor 3rd), B (perfect 5th), and D (flat 7th). If you fret just one note -- the B at the second fret of the A string -- you can strum across all six strings and all of the notes are from the Em7 chord. It would be a lot harder to play this chord if the high b and e strings were tuned like the rest of the strings on a bass.

 

[Mvotre]

tune the guitar in P4ths. So you get (low to high) E A D G (same as bass) and then C and F. Since you can't play yet, everything you learn from bass would be easily played on the guitar, without that jump in the B string.

BUT, it just messes with a lot of barre and beginner chords. Would only recommend that if you know how to build chords.

 

[Lobster11]

Thanks! Interestingly my guitarist told me that I'd probably really have to build up finger strength but idk, I'm pretty sure bass strings take my strength to fret.

Except that when playing chords on a guitar you (1) are fretting multiple notes at the same time, (2) often with your hand and fingers in an awkward position.

 

[viper4000]

tune the guitar in P4ths. So you get (low to high) E A D G (same as bass) and then C and F. Since you can't play yet, everything you learn from bass would be easily played on the guitar, without that jump in the B string.

BUT, it just messes with a lot of barre and beginner chords. Would only recommend that if you know how to build chords.

I wouldn't recommend this. As mentioned in the last line, it messes up the standard way to play open and barre chords. Most beginners start with open chords, so why start out trying to learn the basics in non-standard tuning. It will make things more difficult. Once you learn the nuance of the high B and E strings, you really won't have a problem. I can noodle with the best of 'em of guitar and 6 string bass and this does not pose problems for me.