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Used to be a guitar player?

Used to be a guitar player?

  • used to be guitar

    Votes: 61 25.4%

  • started on bass

    Votes: 73 30.4%

  • started on other instrument

    Votes: 50 20.8%

  • still play multiple instruments

    Votes: 113 47.1%
  • Total voters
    240
5

50hz

May 13, 2012
182
1
Kirtland, Ohio
#1
Just wanted to see how many of you used to primarily be a guitar player and have switched to bass and why?

I was a guitar player for 20 years. A couple months ago I sold all my guitars, amps and effects and bought a bass, and have never been happier.

I had increasingly become more and more bored with guitar and found that it had become somewhat stale. Not to mention that i became frustrated with the guitarist ego, mountains of endless gear and the fact that it seems like nowadays EVERYONE plays guitar.

Just curious to see how many out there have switched over and would love to hear your stories!
 
#3
Guitar for 17 years, dabbled a bit with bass and recently picked it up as my main instrument. A friend's band was in need of a bassist, and I got the call!

Found it's easier to get about as a solid bass player rather than a rhythm guitarist who can't solo...
 
#4
I have played guitar since 1977. Bought a bass in '85 for home recording, but never really played it much outside of making quick demos of tunes. Just this last year a co-worker asked of I played bass as his band had lost their bass player. Strangely enough he asked the day after the group I was playing guitar for(and was kinda bored with) collapsed. They played music I liked and they thought I auditioned well for a guy that didn't really play bass. So here I am 9 months later, still playin' bass with them. Yeah, I'm liking it. I am finding it both more relaxed and suiting to my style than guitar, and I am really liking the simpler rig I am using.
 
#6
I played guitar non stop for almost 10 years,tried real hard, was in a couple bands, took jazz guitar lessons from a monster of a player during my college years...I got to the point where i knew i still wanted to play music for the rest of my life, but just was doubting myself a little b/c no bands, gigs, or students. Found an ad one night for an ex buddy guy guitarist looking for a bassist for his band. Maybe i was too stupid/drunk for my own good at the time but i finagled my way into an audition, bought a j bass off my buddy for $250, practiced for days straight til my fingers looked like a gecko's due to blood blisters, and then somehow got the gig. i've never looked back. I'll still play guitar all day sometimes, but i love bass too much to put it down, there's something about it that requires so much more finesse, and i love the fact that you have more of a "job" in most live situations as well, it's a fun challenge. Also, shakin the ****in house with a loud ass rig is a feeling like no other :)
And another thing, I've found that playing bass, mainly learning how to walk, has helped my improv and soloing on guitar like none other. never woulda guessed.
 
#7
I played guitar at age 14 and continued to play it exclusively up until the age of 23. That's when my church asked me if I would take it up since they needed one really bad. I started playing it and realized I loved it. I also realized that I'm wanted by so many people for their projects and gigs, so much more than if I were a guitarist. So glad I switched!
 
#9
Played guitar for a few months before showing up at an audition as the 3rd guitar player (and least experienced) so automagically I was the "bass player" with my other two friends on guitar.

Never looked back but also have kept strumming my acoustic 6 string all these years, learning chords and such.
 
#11
I played guitar seriously from about age 13 to 26 or so. If I say so myself I was pretty good. I gave it up upon starting a family, thinking that was what I was "supposed" to do.

I picked music back up about 18 years later - 4 years ago - going thru a divorce and realizing how much I missed music. I decided I definitely wanted to play in a band again. I decided that there's many more possibilities for a bassist than a just-decent guitarist to make music with a band, and took up bass. One of the best decisions I ever made... I love it. Bass fits me.

Oddly enough though, the band I'm now in does electric gigs, and "acoustic" gigs (with me on electric bass), and I'm picking acoustic guitar back up again (haven't owned one for easily 30 years) for portions of the acoustic gigs. I'm thinking about picking up the mandolin as well for a few songs. I'm first and foremost a bass player now... maybe not a great one, but decent enough, and having a ball getting to play music with good people.
 
#13
skychief said:
Didint have the stones to start this thread. But glad you did. ;) Id wager that more than 60% of the folks here on TB started out as guitar players.... Me being one of them.
Click to expand...

A poll would be interesting. I have always been a bass player exclusively. If I had the means, I would buy a guitar though (only after 2 grand worth of bass gear).
 
#15
capnsandwich said:
I played guitar at age 14 and continued to play it exclusively up until the age of 23. That's when my church asked me if I would take it up since they needed one really bad. I started playing it and realized I loved it. I also realized that I'm wanted by so many people for their projects and gigs, so much more than if I were a guitarist. So glad I switched!
Click to expand...

Actually I'm a "failed guitarist" which is the legend of what most bass players are, but I really didn't start on guitar. I started studying piano. And then like most kids got interested in playing guitar, but I simply could not "get it". Forming those chords with my fingers and making the instrument play clean and loud was just seemingly impossible for me. I gave up and sold the guitar to a friend. And progress on keys was little better. After years of study I still suck on keys. Nobody has EVER paid me money to hear me play keys.

But my dad was a drummer and I wanted to start a band with some guys at school. So I began fooling around on my dad's drums and also bought an upright bass to learn. This will be no surprise to many here, but I swear it was just like the old joke where the kid learns the first few notes on the first three strings and blows off lessons because he has a gig! Yes, BOTH drums and bass were like that.

But the "rest of the story" is that after all those years of bass, drum, percussion, suddenly a couple of years ago I bought a metal resonator guitar and acquired an interest in blues. Learning to play both standard and open tuning bottleneck guitar somehow all that guitar failure of before suddenly was not applying anymore. Adding vocals, song writing and guitar all together, it's been developing nicely. Unfortunately for medical reasons I've had to give up drums and percussion because it's just too physical so that has led me to a much greater emphasis on strings.

So am I a failed guitarist turned bass player or a bass player who has just recently started playing guitar? I don't know. Who cares. It's all fun.
 
#16
Played guitar, drums, trumpet, tuba, flute, and a little keyboard before settling on bass. If I practiced at them more, I could be a pretty good guitarist or drummer, but I'm more into playing bass for some reason, though I do occasional guitar gigs and I do like to get the attention ;)
 
#17
I started on guitar when I was 11 and added bass when I was about 16 due to extreme Bootsy obsession.

I still play both regularly, but it's been a lot more bass than guitar for the past few months, especially since I got my impossible-to-put-down Zon
 
#19
Started on clarinet, then sax, then I realised all the music I listened to was guitar-based, so I got my first acoustic guitar about 17 years ago and my first electric about 15 years ago. I've played guitar in church for probably 16 years but we found ourselves with two guitars and no bassist at a rehearsal about 3 years back. "I'll play bass", I said - and I did. From that point on I was looking for opportunities to fill in on bass and finally bought my own last year, which is when I count myself as really starting to play.

I now play acoustic, electric or bass depending on the need and the availability of other team members - I love the variety.
 

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