Bass player by choice, or relegated guitarist?

[Master blaster]

I started on keys then gave up when i was 15. Didn't touch an instrument for 3 years until i was persuaded to join a band as a bass player. Since then i have found that the bass has opened up a world of music which the keys failed to. I figured out how to play the guitar from playing basslines on the guitar, and then expanding them to power chords. I've also learnt to drum after borrowing a kit or 2 over the years. I've gigged on the bass, guitar, drums and as a singer and i found that for me whereas the other instruments were/are fun to play, i enjoy gigging as a bassist a lot more.

[Seb_C]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1354272851' post='1884267']

Sure there are guitarists around well worth of the "guitard" label, but there are people like that playing every instrument including bass. [/quote]

Agreed (and with the rest of your post too!). I had a "Drumtard" in one of my bands - sure he could really play, but a drum solo on EVERY song? Really? It added nothing.

I think of composing and arranging in bands the same way I think of EQ when mixing a song: Sometimes you need to add something, but more often than not you just need to create a little space for what is already there to really shine through.

Anyway, back on topic, I'm a guitarist who sometimes plays bass. I don't think I could concentrate solely on bass, as it doesn't work for me as a solo instrument (while acoustic guitar and piano do, and I'm sorry to say I mostly play on my own!). But I keep playing bass because it's more fun than I ever expected as a guitarist (and I need the practice!).

[RhysP]

Bass was the first instrument that I played and is still the only thing I'm any good at, even though I don't play it very much anymore.

I started playing guitar & keyboards years later when I harboured pretensions towards being a songwriter/serious musician but time has proved me completely incapable of writing anything.

To paraphrase the late, great Coral Browne " I couldn't write "f***" in the dust on a Venetian blind"......

[BASainty]

Started on bass, guitar never interested me as I didnt see it as cool at all, too small and felt a bit to weedy for me. Bass on the other hand was a bit more mysterious , much more physical and by far and away sounded much cooler! So as soon as I picked up my first bass its been love ever since.

[Twigman]

bass by choice - bass holds everything together and is always the instrument I found myself drawn to......have also done a little keys and a lot of programming
bass players seem to not have to be front men and generally seem to be oddly eccentric - I like that


I do own a guitar but can't play it much - the strings seem awfully sharp and close together - I can just about manage the opening line of stairway to heaven (yikes!! LOL) but it really doesn't seem as much fun as bass

I think 'relegated' is the incorrect term...promoted would be more appropriate as the bassist is far more important in a bnad than the guitarist

[paul torch]

[quote name='Twigman' timestamp='1354291548' post='1884563']
I think 'relegated' is the incorrect term...promoted would be more appropriate...
[/quote]

quite right

[BILL POSTERS]

I could just about manage House of the rising Sun and a few Lindisfarne songs, and hadnt really even thougt about playing in bands when somebody I had lent an amp to stuck a Bass in my hands at his bands rehearsal and asked me to have a go. It felt right and I havent bothered much with Guitar since.

Although I think you need to be able to play a little bit, if only so you can recognise a few chord shapes to help work stuff out from youtube videos.

[Doddy]

[quote name='BILL POSTERS' timestamp='1354294475' post='1884602']
Although I think you need to be able to play a little bit, if only so you can recognise a few chord shapes to help work stuff out from youtube videos.
[/quote]
I think ear training will be a greater benefit in that regard.

[Marvin]

I've just bought a guitar and am looking forward to learning how to play. I've always wanted to play.

I don't want to be a 'bass player' or a 'guitarist'. I'd like to be in a postion to just enjoy playing music on either.

[RhysP]

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1354299871' post='1884665']
I don't want to be a 'bass player' or a 'guitarist'. I'd like to be in a postion to just enjoy playing music on either.
[/quote]

Don't be ridiculous: YOU HAVE TO CHOOSE - NOW!!

[Hobbayne]

I also play the linoleum.

[Doddy]

[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1354300419' post='1884668']
I also play the linoleum.
[/quote]

Play[i] on [/i]the linoleum makes more sense

[Stan_da_man]

When I was 13, I decided to learn an instrument - guitar or bass. Anything else (at the time) was out the question. I picked bass because a) I loved that low end rumble when I tried one and it just seemed much cooler! 10 years on I still believe I made the right choice. I started learning guitar when I was 17/18 but I'd still pick bass everytime.

It still makes me laugh as well when you ask a musician what they play and they say 'I'm a songwriter'. If you play an instrument and write your own riffs then you're a songwriter anyway! Redundant term IMO.

[gafbass02]

I've been a bass player only totally by choice for twenty years. It's all I ever wanted to do, never had any real interest in anything else.
By cruel fate 18 months ago a few friends and I decided to start a fun band. Odd hands were dealt and I volunteered to try learning the guitar, hence I'm now the guitarist and singer in a band for the first time ever. Its brilliant fun but i spend my whole time wishing I was on bass instead of relegated to guitar and vocals

Edited November 30, 2012 by gafbass02

[mike257]

I guess I experienced the "relegated for sucking at guitar" but we were a bunch of 14 year olds mucking about in school and I'd been playing guitar for about 5 minutes so it barely counts.

Been a bass player ever since, although I sorted out my guitar playing too - mainly for songwriting until I accidentally joined a function band as a lead guitarist early this year!

I very much agree with BRX in that the more you can learn about different instruments, how they work in their own right and with each other, the better a musician you will become. I consider myself a bassist first, but a guitarist too, a half-decent drummer and can play enough keys to get by when I've needed too.

It's all one big learning curve!

Edited November 30, 2012 by mike257

[RockfordStone]

i started out as a singer first off, then decided to take up bass cos all my friends had guitars, i know plenty of people who are relegated bass players tho

[chrismuzz]

I started off on guitar, but I had no idea what a bass was back then. When I found out, and that my uncle was a bassist, as well as my dad, I yearned for one! Eventually my best mate approached me and told me to just get on with it, and play bass in his band. That was nine years ago!

[yepmop]

Bass has been my first and only love.

Just love playin' at the deep end

[paul_5]

I started out as a guitarist, then moved to keyboards and got into Rush that way. As soon as I heard Ged play I knew that was what I wanted to do. I still dabble with loads of different instruments but I always come back to the bass.

I f***ing LOVE it!

[MiltyG565]

Something i discovered yesterday- going from playing bass, to learning finger style guitar.... it isn't right. If anything, it is down right difficult. Hard to get the old head around using your thumb and finger across different strings while playing a chord.

[Crazyeelboy]

I've always been a bassist. I never had much of any desire to become a guitarist.

[KingBollock]

My Dad decided he wanted to manage a band made up of my three brothers and me. He, for some reason, wanted me to play Drums. My thought process went something like this: I sure as sh*t ain't going to do what my Dad says and I don't want a Drum Kit, I want a Radio Controlled Monster Truck! (The Tamiya Lunch Box. I was 12... I still want one). I was a huge Motörhead and Iron Maiden fan, bands with very prominent Bass players. I knew some Guitarists and Drummers and I can't sing for the life of me, so if I took up Bass I'd have a better chance of getting into bands. I explained most of this to my Dad (missing out the bit about not doing what he wants) and he thought it was a good idea and that Christmas I got my first Bass. It was probably the best thing he ever did for me.
The band he wanted never got started. I did start a band with my next youngest brother, who played Guitar and was into similar music to me, but after a year of playing I started playing with proper bands. I'm the only one that ever went on to play in bands and the only one still playing at all.
I do own Guitars and have done for 17 years, but I still tend to play them like a Bass player.

[KingBollock]

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1354320002' post='1884919']
Something i discovered yesterday- going from playing bass, to learning finger style guitar.... it isn't right. If anything, it is down right difficult. Hard to get the old head around using your thumb and finger across different strings while playing a chord.
[/quote]
I started to learn finger style with thumb and two fingers, when I started playing the Banjo. I find it transfers nicely onto the Bass, galloping is ace, especially with finger and thumb picks on. Metallica's Orion is a really good song to learn that style to, on Bass.

[louisthebass]

Failed guitarist here - too ham fisted to play the skinny stringed instrument, so a mate of mine who wanted to start a band said "why don't you learn bass - it's only got 4 strings & can't be that difficult?"

Have never looked back .

[KingBollock]

[quote name='louisthebass' timestamp='1354393730' post='1885592']
Failed guitarist here - too ham fisted to play the skinny stringed instrument, so a mate of mine who wanted to start a band said "why don't you learn bass - it's only got 4 strings & can't be that difficult?"

Have never looked back .
[/quote]
Gah, only four strings! 20 years ago I could play the Violin a little and I think I could have been quite good at it, I seemed to take to it naturally. Unfortunately I got fat and can't do it anymore, I just can't squash my fingers close enough together on the neck. Wish I could afford a Cello.