Will learning to play guitar help my bass playing??

[Farseer]

I have been playing the bass for about 1 year now. I have been taking lessons since I've started.
My son who is 14 has been playing guitar and taking lessons now for 8 years. I was considering taking guitar lessons as well and was wondering if any of you have or do take guitar and bass lessons simultaneously? I feel this will help me with chord harmonics....and???

 

[Cap'n Redbeard]

It certainly helped me. I didn't take lessons but learning some chords and songs on guitar helped me better understand song structure and the roles of melody and accompaniment. Plus it's fun.

 

[elgecko]

Maybe.

The thing with guitar is that it's very chord shape-oriented. I'm not convinced that that's the best way to instill what's happening harmonically. With piano/keyboard, you can't simply move a chord shape around. You have to form the chord based on the tonic. I feel that's a far more effective way to get an understanding of chords and harmony.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

I would suggest piano over guitar.

 

[lz4005]

Learning other instruments will make you a better musician, and being a better musician will make you a better bass player.

 

[Lee Moses]

I agree with the comments about piano above guitar--it will force you to learn harmonically without leaning on "fretboard boxes" as a crutch. I spent a few years in my late teens-early 20's learning piano, and it contributed to me having a harmonic understanding at least on par with pretty much all the players I played with in those days.

But learning guitar can help. If you know what a G chord looks like, or what an A minor chord looks like, you will be better able to pick up visual cues from guitarists. And it will expand your thinking on the bass.

That said, how much practice time per day do you have? If you're not getting at least 1 hour per day on bass, IMO you are best served spending that time learning and mastering your own instrument rather than spreading yourself out too thin. "Jack of all trades, master of none."

 

[elgecko]

...If you know what a G chord looks like, or what an A minor chord looks like, you will be better able to pick up visual cues from guitarists...

Good point!

 

[Farseer]

I agree with the comments about piano above guitar--it will force you to learn harmonically without leaning on "fretboard boxes" as a crutch. I spent a few years in my late teens-early 20's learning piano, and it contributed to me having a better harmonic understanding than pretty much all the players I played with in those days.

But learning guitar can help. If you know what a G chord looks like, or what an A minor chord looks like, you will be better able to pick up visual cues from guitarists. And it will expand your thinking on the bass.

That said, how much practice time per day do you have? If you're not getting at least 1 hour per day on bass, IMO you are best served spending that time learning and mastering your own instrument rather than spreading yourself out too thin. "Jack of all trades, master of none."

Good point. I do practice about 1 hour a day. More on weekends. I thought about that: "Jack of all trades, master of none"

 

[SurferJoe46]

If guitar lessons are heavy on musical theory, then I say go for it.

I know that with theory, and guitar and bass playing, you can really open up some nice arpeggios and thread your way all over the neck.

I've got a student who is ---- for all sakes, deaf. All he can hear is the instrument he is playing. He gets no clues from the other players since he cannot hear them

He's been thrown out by several teachers as he is 'unlearnable' and 'unteachable', but I took a back door approach and taught him theory first and he's plugging that in to his chording and he can now play a pretty decent guitar.

This where other 'professional' music teachers in professional schools all failed him for over thirty years.

He has nodes, modes and chords all prelearned and he's happy playing music as a solo person w/guitar. All he had to do was get decent finger positions and strumming.

Right now he can pretty well 'snap in' on a chord and he has a great sense of rhythm and we're working on strumming and string picking. He's happy and so am I.

Yeah - guitar heavy with theory is the way I look at upping your game on bass.

 

[MalcolmAmos]

All stringed instruments fold into each other, however, all are played differently. The more instruments you know how to play increases your understanding of music and you bring more value to the table.

Being aware of chords and the notes within would be very helpful. However this can be obtained by Googling - harmony. One year in I'd stick with bass. Your Son could give you enough to strum some simple I-IV-V7-I chord progressions on his guitar so you can see if this is something you would like to get into. But, .........

Why not your Son on guitar and you on bass. If one of you sing the lyrics you'll have melody, rhythm and harmony covered and this could end up being a pretty good two piece band. That will be fun.

 

[Bassist4Eris]

I started on guitar for a year before switching to bass. I'm convinced that it gave me a better foundation in harmony than I could have gotten with bass alone. As others said, piano would certainly be a good choice too.

 

[lfmn16]

There are lots of threads on this subject. My opinion is that, especially one year in, you will make more progress spending your time learning to play the bass than splitting time between bass and guitar. The note names may be the same but the thought process is totally different.

 

[SurferJoe46]

The names of the notes may be the same, but the guitar staff is not the bass staff.

There is the G clef and then there's the C clef, so be careful making a statement that the notes are the same.

 

[Lee Moses]

The names of the notes may be the same, but the guitar staff is not the bass staff.

There is the G clef and then there's the C clef, so be careful making a statement that the notes are the same.

I'm pretty sure he meant on the fretboard, not on the music staff.

And bass usually uses F (bass) clef, not the C (soprano/alto/tenor) clef.

 

[pearl]

Yes, learn to play the guitar. And the piano.

I started on guitar for a year before switching to bass. I'm convinced that it gave me a better foundation in harmony than I could have gotten with bass alone. As others said, piano would certainly be a good choice too.

I agree.

Being able to visually recognize a chord being played by a rhythm guitar player and then being able to play the root (on the bass) of that chord can be helpful for those moments when one gets lost.

When I wanted to work out a good walking bass line for Fly Me To The Moon (in C), I learned to play the melody (pick it) and also play the chords first. From there, I worked on a walking bass line which followed the chords and hit what I felt were important melody notes.

 

[Lownote38]

I learned guitar on my own, and learned piano in music school (although bass was my primary instrument). Piano is great for understanding music theory concepts, and writing music as well. Learning how to play a lot of chords on a guitar helps me as a bass player in one way. If I'm sitting in with someone, and I can't hear the guitar player, I can look at their hands and figure out what key we're in, and what chords are happening.

 

[Frenchy-Lefty]

It helped a lot, actually both ways, I am a better bass player because i understand well the relationship with the chords and a better guitar player because my rythm is tight and precise.

Besides, I have never been able to show up at a camp fire with a bass

 

[mambo4]

learning to hear chord changes will help you play bass better.
learning guitar can help you hear chord changes.

 

[ThePresident777]

It will not hurt you to learn to read the treble clef, or any other clef, and transpose it's music onto your bass, or any other instrument. It will probably help you appreciate all the instruments you play in the process for one reason or another, as well as curse them all for various reasons too. You could become an arranger, composer, producer, or instrument maker in the process. It will also help you understand the differences between various teachers and teaching methods, the good and the bad. It will help you understand and bond with your children too. Looks like a lot of win to me.

 

[Farseer]

I took the advise of sticking with bass and stuck to my weekly lessons. I quit lessons after 2 1/2 years. I still practice 1 hour a day minimum. Its been 3 years and I am now in 2 bands, one with my son. One of my bands is on hiatus and the other I can't find a decent drummer so I decided to trade my P bass for a Strat. I started taking guitar lessons last week.