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What's your view on this?

#41
I think learning more than one instrument adds depth to your appreciation and perception of Music.

I make a living as a session bassist but chose to play the acoustic guitar in my own band as a songwriter. Then I got a harmonica and added it. Two years back my girl friend gifted me a ukelele and I kept playing it while travelling. Now I can play some banjo, keys, mandolin, mandola too. I can only improvise on guitar and bass though. The rest I can only play enough to sound good in a pre determined context. But a lot of ideas cross over and help you innovate with your primary instrument. It also improved my overall understanding of Music.

One of the main reasons bassists must learn either guitar or piano is cause it is a good way to train the ear and understand harmony.

Cons?
It is expensive and time consuming to keep up.

I also feel a bassist can't benefit as much from being a multi instrumentalist in a live band since bass guitar is integral to the structure and rhythm. A guitarist may play keys or saxophone or guitar/harmonica or banjo/mandolin in the same set of a band on different songs. A bassist can't stop playing too long.

Oh and I was a drummer before I picked up the bass guitar after a basketball injury to my ankle ligament.
 
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#42
I don't think it hurts to play more than one instrument, and it may help. It does give a little extra perspective, to feel how other instruments work, and to possibly gain some further musical understanding. I was lucky to grow up with a piano in the house, and a few other instruments, so I learned some rudimentary keyboard skills, and tried out trumpet and sax (I suck at playing a horn).

I remember seeing Doc Severinsen in an interview, and his comment was that it's important to find the right instrument. Right for you, that is. I don't recall now what other instruments he mentioned trying, but he said that when he found the trumpet, that was it. For some folks it's the piano, for others it's guitar, and for others ... it's bass!
 
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#43
Play as many or as few instruments as you like.
Some stick to one to be able to really focus on it and get very good at it.
On the other hand, playing different instruments helps you as well.

While I wanted guitar lessons, my parents started me on piano lessons and I benefited from that.
I learned musical stuff, theory, etc--and was able to transfer it to guitar.
Was it possible to learn all that stuff playing guitar?
Sure--but it gave me a wider perspective and some of the learning was easier for me.

One of the reasons I was reluctant to start bass lessons (Which were a pre-requisite to the band program the music school I was at had), was I wanted to focus on guitar--but the bass lessons helped my guitar as well--and playing bass still helps my guitar playing & the guitar playing helps my bass playing.

I recently got a mandolin & am learning that (On my own with books, recordings & online help)
I find it crosses over even with the difference between the instruments, as I am resisting treating the mandolin as a little guitar and actually learning it.

So I enjoy playing all three & I would like to get a keyboard & brush up on that.
I have also dabbled on harmonica.

I would love to try other stuff as well--but limitations on time & money (time to play, practice & learn & money to buy or rent gear) keep that at bay.
Still within the last 14 months I've added fretless bass & mandolin & made some time for them without giving up guitar.

As time goes by, I'd love to add lap steel (Electric & /or acoustic (ala Weissenborn)

we'll see how that goes--but I want to keep learning, keep playing & having fun.

But we all get to choose--1 instrument? a couple? a few? Many? None?
 
#46
I've been a dabbler for most of my life, switching from one instrument to another. Recently I stopped and have just focused on bass. I really enjoy it. I spend less time fiddling around with gear and more time playing. I get to focus on technique for bass which is nice. I feel more like I am progressing towards something rather than just fiddling around.
 
#49
It's alright (great actually) to be a bassist, but one should strive first and foremost to be a musician. The communication/conveyance of musical information/feeling/thought is the primary object of a musical soul. There are many tools available to this end. Bass is just one (happens to be my personal favorite one).
 
#50
If you write songs, it helps to have some keyboard ability. Playing bass in general has more rhythm than harmony, so you may want to exercise more on that. Singing helps. But if you're talking about necessity, there is no such thing as absolute necessity..
 
#51
I played drums for about 16 years before switching to bass. Having played drums (and still able to) helps me to really lock in with a drummer.

I think being able to play other instruments can help understand how the bass interacts with them.
 
#52
IMO, the longer you focus on an instrument (bass, guitar, piano,... whatever it is), the more you learn, the better you get, and the more and newer things you discover about it and can do with it. nothing wrong with sticking all your life with one instrument. i consider bassists to be very lucky, we have an instrument that is relatively new (much newer than guitars, pianos, and many others)... we have still much to find out about it, IMO.
 
#53
I find that occasionally dabbling in other instruments helps me improve as a bassist.

I know a little about guitar, drums, banjo, Q-chord, harmonica and singing.
Not enough to call myself a player of any of those things.

But they all taught me something about playing bass.
 
#54
I've been known to play bass, harmonica and one of these:

Electric Kazoo.jpg
 
#59
Exceptional, y'all!

In an attempt to add something to this wealth of wisdom, I'd just venture to say - If you can receive, believe, breathe, you've got rhythm. If you can walk, talk, roll, stroll, think, blink, wink, and drink, you already know music intimately. It's keeping you alive. If you can speak, sing, rhyme, and dance, not only have you got the music in you. You make music. That's life! It's all transferable. That's why music's such a buzz :D All instruments add something more - they variously serve to interpret, reinterpret, mimic, reproduce, express, challenge, and enhance all these things, and more.

So, never miss an opportunity. And play on! Get yourself a triangle and a cowbell - become a multi-instrumentalist like me.



Just keep the flock away from the bagpipes, if you'd be so kind :)
 
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