How many of you are converted (successful) guitarists?

[Jamesemt]

Just reading an earlier thread got me thinking. How many of you were successful guitarists before changing to bass?
There is loads of talk about bassists being frustrated guitarists. Even said it myself years ago
I played guitar exclusively for about 10 years, did a bit of teaching got bored and married, then stopped playing.

Drifted to bass as I wanted to be back in a musical situation but had no desire to pick six strings up again.


Good thing is that I seem to gain quite a bit of respect in the band as I'm a similar level guitarist to the guitarists.
I realised the other week just how imprtant the other band members see the bass, I couldn't make a rehearsal so the band cancelled it...

Oh and I really can't see the appeal in the guitar anymore

Edited December 4, 2008 by Jamesemt

[Golchen]

I just love instruments. I started off as a kid having piano lessons, then drifted into self taught guitar - acoustic, then acoustic with alternate tunings, then all that widdly lead guitar stuff. I picked up a bass and pursued that on and off for many years without really getting that far. Next came the chapman stick, and my latest acquisition is a drum kit!

I've never played in a band, but if I did I think that I would be most into the idea of playing bass. I could never give up all the other stuff though!

[BassMunkee]

I don't see that it's a question of converting.
I don't get where all this ring-fencing comes in.
I'm primarily a bassist but I'll quite happily pick up a guitar and batter away on that (badly) for a bit if that's what needs to be done, or play the keys. My bandmate can play pretty much anything anyway.

There seems to be this kind of self-fulfilling thing about guitarists/bassists...

[machinehead]

Yep, I started off on guitar around 1970. Played guitar for years and took up the bass when the band became bassplayer-less. That was around the late 80s I think.

Much prefer the bass and haven't played guitar in a gigging situation at all now for the last 20 ish years.

Frank.

[neepheid]

I'm a failed guitarist, and I'm trying not to be a failed bassist!

[Adrenochrome]

Yep I was a self-taught guitarist. I never gigged properly though - just parties at University etc.
I've been playing bass for almost 10 years though and playing bass has given me enough confidence to actually fill in on guitar in one of my bands a few years ago. I massively prefer bass!

[Tee]

I started on guitar in 1991 (nostalgic sigh). Played in a good few bands over the years and had great fun. I was very much a guitarist then.

Then i wasn't in a band for about four years, but i had bought a bass for home recording. When i felt the urge to get back on stage, i decided i wanted to play bass. I like laying down grooves and i was always a very riffy and percussive player with good sense of timing (i can't stand sloppy timing). I'd make a solid drummer. Anyway, i also feel bass is semi-lead-like as well, something i also enjoyed on guitar. I'm also the sort of person that listens to ALL instruments in the band when playing, as i appreciate them all. So i think more and more, i just morphed into a bass player, perhaps.

I still play guitar at home though.

[Dr.Dave]

I've always played guitar , but consider it the 'hobby' if you catch my drift. I'm known as a bass player and that's what's always earned the beer tickets.

I played guitar in a band for a while and have done some recording as a guitarist. These days I'm happy to take my lovely dphne blue Strat along to the odd gig with a mates band and happily stand at the back strumming away. I have an old Ovation Legend acoustic too.

I just bought a Fender Blues Junior which has sparked up the interest a bit. I find guitar more fun to play at home , bass is more fun to play with people.

I'm not great at guitar - or maybe I'm just lucky enough to have played with several very good guitarists that I can't hold a candle to.

If my bands folded tomorrow - I'd be keen to start another as a singer guitarist rather than as a bass player - just to do something different .

No way am I a failed guitarist. I played guitar before I tried bass (as I had piano and violin) - bass was the one that captured me and sent my enthusiasm to learn through the roof.

[thisnameistaken]

I started on bass back in... 1989 I think. I also play trombone and I'm a competent drummer, but I've only rarely picked up a guitar and I actually can't play guitar very well at all!

Actually I'm thinking about switching to drums in my current band because we can't find a drummer anywhere.

[fretmeister]

I started on a crappy acoustic at school. PLayed bass in a swing band but played guitar for fun.

PLayed both for about 15 years... then concentrated on bass because it was more fun.

[Shockwave]

I started playing guitar at 17, Bought a bass when i was 18, However i wouldnt say failed guitarist, I used to play a in a semi famous melodic death metal band. Pretty technical stuff.

I have always approached bass playing not as a bigger guitar with less strings, but as a bass. A couple of years ago i sold all my guitars to play an instrument i preferred playing and not because i was better or worse at it then the other instrument.

Edited December 4, 2008 by Shockwave

[niceguyhomer]

I did my first gig in 1967 on guitar and played in many bands through until 1977 when I got married and stopped playing. I started again in 1995 when the kids had grown a bit and played with the very busy Hugh Jarre Soul Band for about 10 years. The band split up and the other guitarist joined a glam tribute band. They were good but weren't getting the volume of work they wanted so they decided to have a rock band 'offshoot' to get more work. We were out one night watching another band when my mate said it was a pity I didn't play bass cos they were looking for one and I said I'd learn if he was serious.

He was, so I sold a Telecaster and bought an American P and a Trace combo on the proceeds and that was it, I've been playing bass for three and a half years now - hardly touched a guitar since.

I'm really enjoying bass especially as I've now got about 300 gigs under my belt and know what I want in terms of gear / sound etc.

[IncX]

i started playing guitar in '94 ... and became decent enough to have very few gigs as a rhythm guitarist for metal bands... my right hand was decent but my left hand was just terrible.

moved to a different city in '97 and lost the interest for music... kept the guitar and occassionally strummed them or just jammed on E5 chord with some friends... after '99, i stopped playing altogether (still kept the little gear i had though)

in late 2006, i decided to go back to playing music and discovered my guitar playing was almost back to zero... so i learned theories and did drills and such.

i tried forming a band with my cousins and since nobody wanted to play bass... i ended up picking it because im the best guitarist among them, so it was natural for me to adopt to bass.

pretty soon i got so interested with bass playing... after buying some entry level basses, i sold my '95 Washburn Dimebag Darrell signature and bought a Warwick Darklord... and thats it... i have no interest in guitars whatsoever, except for keeping them in the house in case ill be jamming with some guys (i also have a drum kit that i sort of semi-spent for)

[MacDaddy]

Started off on classical guitar. I found the classical technique transfers better to Bass than electric guitar.
I've been in bands where the guitarist couldn't play the stuff I wrote (which I never thought was that difficult).

[SteveO]

Like many here I consider myself a musician rather than a bassist. Started music in the brass band scene on cornet in '80, learnt to play classical guitar, then trombone with soul / Jazz bands, electric guitar, bass and finaly piano. I'm planning on learning banjo next then violin. In my experience once you have an understanding of music the hardest thing is learning what you have to do to get the noises, what to pluck, which key to hit etc, which in comparison is a piece of piss.

I'd say that any polyphonic instrument is better to play solo (alone) or just at home for pleasure, my choices are piano and classical guitar. Bass comes under the heading of instruments that are more fun to play with other people. TBH it's at the top of that list although playing Jazz is more rewarding on the bone than the bass (sorry Bilbo)

[lemmywinks]

I took up classical guitar as a fun hobby, really enjoyed it but am not consistent enough to play it live. Too much intricate work for my clumsy fat fingers!
So i guess you could say i'm a competent bass player turned failed guitarist!

[Bassassin]

I started out playing bass & it's always been my first instrument, but I got very interested in songwriting & home recording which means I have spent a lot of time playing guitar, and am fairly competent, in that I can play anything I think up.

I'm the main composer & co-songwriter (with the vocalist) in my current band which means we record full demos which are given to the other guys to learn/interpret. Fortunately our guitarist is a very gifted & individual player but has no interest in writing - so I don't get any grief about that!

Guitar's very much my main instrument for writing - I have seldom been fully satisfied with anything that started out as a bass part. Adding a guitar part always seems to sound forced & contrived, whereas it never does when I write a bass line to an existing guitar part.

Never played it live (apart from one band in the 80s where we would swap instruments for one song - [i]bad[/i] idea!) and have no wish to - unless I really want to be a failed guitarist!

Jon.

[andrewrx7]

Self tought guitar. Only tried bass when a work mates band needed a bass player. Borrowed one from someone else and gave it go. Took a little while to not play it as a guitar. But 9 years on, and am still with the band and still playing the bass. Still play guitar at home or when writing songs. So, not so much converted, but playing different instruments for different occasions.

[Faithless]

[quote name='Jamesemt' post='345045' date='Dec 4 2008, 09:35 AM']Drifted to bass as I wanted to be back in a musical situation but had no desire to [i]pick six strings up again[/i].[/quote]


Ahhhhh, so you got something against ERB's?



Sorry, that's just my wicked sense of humour..
Could I get my coat now?

[KERMITNT]

only bass


i had a guitar laying at home and didnt touch it for 4 months i dont like the sound wtf??????

i am merried to bass

[skankdelvar]

I play both and I honestly can't remember which one I started with.

It's all a bit confusing really...

[clauster]

I started off wanting to play bass, but my folks made me have guitar lessons for 4 months first. Since then I have always had an accoustic for sing-alongs but only a couple of brief forays into electric six-string.

I just prefer playing bass - when I did land a guitards role in a band I found I was always listening to the bass and thinking "why is he playing my bit?"

[ziggenpuss]

I started on guitar and when I joined a band we struggled to find a bass player. I got 'volunteered' as the least able guitarist and have never looked back.

I've still got an acoustic at home and just bought a cheap ukelele but I consider myself as a bass player first and foremost.

The only slight regret I,ve got is that when I was 'converted' I swapped a 1974 L series Fender strat for an Epiphone semi-acoustic ( no idea what model it was, cherry red burst with one PU and coated flatwounds). Unfortunately it only sounded right when doing Start! or Town Called Mailce. It didn't cut it for Clash type stuff and I couldn't afford a 2nd bass so I then ( I'm weeping at the bitter memory here) swapped the Epiphone for a no-name solid body plank with four strings.

Lesson well and truly learned

[BigRedX]

I started off on guitar in 1973 (evening classes) but my intention even at that early stage was to be a bassist. My first band didn't use bass at all for a lot of our songs (our instrumentation on the whole was fairly unorthodox and we swapped instrumental roles a lot) plus the two tracks which got a proper commercial release only one had any bass on it, and both featured me playing a guitar I made in woodwork during my final year at school. I didn't even own a bass until I bought my Burns Sonic Bass in 1981.

However by the time this band split our instrumental roles were much more defined I was playing mainly bass, and my next band had me playing bass exclusively.

After that in 1983 I joined a synth band originally as a bassist, but within a matter of weeks, the bass was discarded I was playing synths, which I did for most of the rest of the 80s, apart form a short spell as a guitarist in a goth band (I answered the ad as a bass player, and they'd already filled that position, but still needed a guitarist).

For nearly all of the 90s though I played bass in two different bands and only switched back to guitar, after the guitarist in my last band left and after a year of looking we had been unable to replace him with anyone suitable (we got a replacement bassist for me after I switched within a month!)

Since then I've only really played bass. It's the instrument I'm best on and I find it the most fun. Guitar and keyboard playing has been relegated to recording demos only. I wouldn't say that I'll stick to bas as my main instrument now as I never know what opportunity may come along...

[leschirons]

Started as a drummer at 15. (1967) I'm now 56. Continued up until we needed the deposit for a house in 1974. High point, supported Genesis and auditioned for T.Rex. (lucky I didn't get the job, he could've offered me a lift home) Sold kit.

Bought a Kimbara Strat from Freemans catalogue, got hooked on that (Steve Hillage, Jeff Beck, Rory etc)

Bought loads of guitars, Strats, Teles, Jems, Esprits, Les Pauls, Hamers. Tax man sent me a brown envelope. Sold guitars.

1990, mates band needed a bass player. Borrowed a Hohner cricket bat, bought a Peavey combo 300 and that was it.

2008 still playing bass having gone through Hohners, Fenders, Status, Trace T bass, Alembic, Vigier, Trace and David Eden rigs. Now on Markbass rig, Roscoe Beck 5 and just waiting for the new F bass to arrive from Bass Central. Can't stop playing bass, it's a drug. Unfortunately the Bass Centre and Bass Central are my dealers. Cocaine's probably cheaper.

Edited December 4, 2008 by leschirons