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Lead guitarist had a crack at bass!


thebrig
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[quote name='thumperbob 2002' post='1148116' date='Mar 3 2011, 10:31 AM']Funny I used to be a guitarist but went onto bass because of course it was easier, with it only having four strings. ( here it comes.......)[/quote]


You beat me to it Bob!!!

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Is it just me? I think (know?) its harder to play guitar and easier to play the bass. Now obviously the hardest bass parts are harder than the easiest guitar parts but, overall, the bass is easier. Its fundamentally one note at a time not several. Got to be easier. I have four guitars and one electric bass and one double. I can play the basses, I can make a credible go of gutiar parts but, of the two, the bass is by far the easier instrument to play, not just because I have played the bass more but because it [i]is[/i] easier.

And less strings (normally)

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[quote name='Bilbo' post='1149488' date='Mar 4 2011, 02:28 PM']Is it just me? I think (know?) its harder to play guitar and easier to play the bass. Now obviously the hardest bass parts are harder than the easiest guitar parts but, overall, the bass is easier. Its fundamentally one note at a time not several. Got to be easier. I have four guitars and one electric bass and one double. I can play the basses, I can make a credible go of gutiar parts but, of the two, the bass is by far the easier instrument to play, not just because I have played the bass more but because it [i]is[/i] easier.

And less strings (normally)[/quote]

By that logic, does John Williams (classical guitarist) have a harder job than Yehudi Menuhin? Or is it a pitch issue - Rostropovich gets it easier than Menuhin?

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[quote name='spinynorman' post='1149510' date='Mar 4 2011, 02:48 PM']By that logic, does John Williams (classical guitarist) have a harder job than Yehudi Menuhin? Or is it a pitch issue - Rostropovich gets it easier than Menuhin?[/quote]

Yup.

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  • 5 months later...

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1149488' date='Mar 4 2011, 03:28 PM']Is it just me? I think (know?) its harder to play guitar and easier to play the bass. Now obviously the hardest bass parts are harder than the easiest guitar parts but, overall, the bass is easier. Its fundamentally one note at a time not several. Got to be easier. I have four guitars and one electric bass and one double. I can play the basses, I can make a credible go of gutiar parts but, of the two, the bass is by far the easier instrument to play, not just because I have played the bass more but because it [i]is[/i] easier.

And less strings (normally)[/quote]

Ehh?? No! I see guitar and bass as related in as much as they're from the same family of instruments but that's where a lot of the similarities end. They're different instruments and require different levels of understanding and skill. I play both but approach each one very differently.

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[quote name='pietruszka' post='1148283' date='Mar 3 2011, 01:44 PM']Is it me, or has any one else noticed how much guitarists are getting slated here lately? I personally don't mind, theres alot of crap out there and some of them need to be knocked down a peg or two. I also wonder if we're getting the same treatment on a guitarists forum. I'd like to read that![/quote]

Oh aye, I have no doubt. Thinking of my own guitarist, he's accused me over-thinking everything; of being too technical; of playing too many notes (particularly if it's a tune I've written, where he has tried to copy my fills exactly and wondered why I'm w***ing around); of being some highbrow snobbish twat.

I'm sure on the drummer forums they grunt at each other and share rude cave paintings of why their band mates are totally and utterly wrong :)

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Strangely enough last week I went to see a band I have seen a few times. They had a dep on bass. Something didn't gel. he was overplaying and the songs lacked any grove or underpinning.

My friend commented on how good he was; playing loads of stuff and not just sticking to the "normal" bass parts. Then he told me he usually plays guitar.

Usually the crowd stays late and demands several encores but when they finished playing that night everyone just sat down or left.

People may not think anything is wrong or, even if they do, be able to put their finger on what is wrong at a concious level but you need understands what the role of the instrument is to make it work.

Something similar happend at a gig a few months back. In the first set the bass player was all over the place. At half time the guitarist and bass player swapped. The "guitarist" who played bass in the second set was a much better bass player and the "bass player" who played guitar in the second set was a much better guitarist.

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Guest bassman7755

[quote name='Lozz196' post='1148389' date='Mar 3 2011, 03:09 PM']+ 1 to that.

In my couple of spells as a lead guitarist, my solos have been rather uninteresting, as they have been in perfect time with the bass & drums, with no "crossover" melodies.

We all do an important job in our bands, but I think bassists get lumbered as the least talented, from a position of not really understanding the instrument, not from actually having played it. I`ve total respect for lead guitarists who create fantastic melodies that crossover the straightforward melody of the song.[/quote]

Ive played bass and guitar in bands. Generally as a bass player you have less homework to do to learn a song than the guitarist especially if there are solos involved but playing bass requires more concentration on the day as you have to nail every single note. Being creative on the bass is also much harder because your working with more constraints.

Also I've been surprised at how often I've ended up being the most knowledgeable person in the band with respect to music theory and have occasionally had to diplomatically explain that they are playing the wrong chords or have the timing wrong in certain bits of songs.

Edited by bassman7755
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Many, many years ago a guitarist friend of mine (naturally gifted guitarist too, bloody brilliant at it) picked up my bass and played it for about five minutes. I always had the feeling that he thought that Bass was easier than guitar but he'd always had the sense to keep it to himself. Anyway, after five minutes he handed it back with the phrase "Fookin' 'ell, it's 'ard innit?!". He meant that it was physically more taxing and his hand was knackered. I'm absolutely sure that that five minutes completely changed his view of the Bass.

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[quote name='Bilbo' post='1149488' date='Mar 4 2011, 04:28 PM']Is it just me? I think (know?) its harder to play guitar and easier to play the bass. Now obviously the hardest bass parts are harder than the easiest guitar parts but, overall, the bass is easier. Its fundamentally one note at a time not several. Got to be easier. I have four guitars and one electric bass and one double. I can play the basses, I can make a credible go of gutiar parts but, of the two, the bass is by far the easier instrument to play, not just because I have played the bass more but because it [i]is[/i] easier.

And less strings (normally)[/quote]
I can't quite tell if you're being sarcastic here Bilbo, but I agree wholeheartedly anyway. I play guitar to a (IMHO) fairly good standard, but Bass is far far easier.
As an example, we have 10 new songs in the setlist this summer. The guitarist has been working away for months learning all the solos etc. I spent about 2 hours in total learning the handful of riffs and then just listening to the tunes to get familiar with them. We'll thrash it out tomorrow night at rehearsal, but I can guarantee that I've put in much less work than he has.

Improvising on bass on the other hand is much much harder. Playing around with the timing, a few to many "unusual" note choices, gaps of more than a bar long, these things make you sound interesting... when you're playing guitar. Do that on a bass and you will get laughed at (or at least make people cringe inwardly) of course this doesn't quite apply to an improvised bass solo when you (presumably) have someone else holding the groove together. Anyway, I'm starting to ramble. The point is this...


BASS IS EASIER - Get over it!

:)


Edit: I dunno about everyone else, but I often stop for a rest... I'm going to be playing this fairly simple pattern for the next 30 seconds over a few chord changes... hmmm, she's quite nice... give her a smile... who's that she's dancing with... she's quite pretty too... oh, wait a bit is that the chorus coming up... no there's another verse...
I would guess that the 'rests' that your guitarists are referring to are when they just strum a few chords for a verse or two and give their brains a bit of a breather.

Edited by SteveO
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I think everyone should at least have a basic knowlede / experience of any other instrument in the band, if possible. Nothing beats a little swap around now and then, good for creativity & mutual understanding. I don't understand why people are so shy to try other instruments, or look down to any of them. EVERY instrument is hard, and easy - just like every language. I am here to make music not complaints.

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One of the greatest moments I've ever had in a jam.
Keyboardist: I can replace you with my left hand
Me: Well so what? I can replace you with my right hand (At this point I start tapping out a piano adaptation)
Keyboardist: Touche...

I don't think a lot of people realise how versatile bass is.

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[quote name='gapiro' post='1340445' date='Aug 15 2011, 11:07 AM']easier to learn, harder to master![/quote]

hmmm, guitar is pretty hard to master?!?

I think in general, in terms of traditional music, bass lines are more simple to play than guitar parts - which is quite different to saying "guitar is harder than bass" because clearly it depends on what you're trying to do with it. I've been doing a lot of finger picking type stuff on my basses recently, which I find much harder to do than on guitar because the neck and strings are so fat!

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[quote name='chris_b' post='1340419' date='Aug 15 2011, 11:49 AM']If bass is easy then you’re either a genius or you’re not doing it right![/quote]

yup on both counts :)

seriously though, once you can do the two handed tapping, sweep picking, fast runs etc etc on a guitar then the only difference in doing it on a bass is the slightly more physical demands of playing that instrument. The point is - and this is why bass is an easier instrument - that in the vast majority of situations you don't [u]need[/u] to do any of that 'hard' stuff. The only thing hard about learning the bass (as opposed to the guitar) is to treat it as a rhythm instrument, and spend your energies on developing a good sense of timing rather than concentrating on playing expressively. Thats not to say of course that you can't be expressive on a bass or that you can't grove on a guitar. Generally thats why guitar players that play bass sound sloppy - they just haven't needed to focus any of their training on rhythm other than at a rudimentary level. I would say that bass players [i]are[/i] aware of the different roles of instruments in the band and when given a guitar usually doesn't try to play it like a bass... which brings us back to the OP :)

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