Bassists Make The Best Guitarists...

[Eight]

After a fairly disasterous practice session with a new band, where the guitarist was a mess (but of course 100% confident he was right), I got my Warlock out of it's bag for the first time in about six years this morning.

Now I was never any good on the guitar. That's important.

A quick glance at the tab sites revealed some tabs for the guitar parts of two of the songs in question. They also looked correct in so far as they match the record more or less. Plug guitar in, play. In time... in the right key. With the right number of bars in each section.

Ain't that f**kin' difficult!!!!

(Disclaimer to avoid sounding like an arrogant prick: 1) my bass playing and knowledge of music is limited, I know I'm not 'all that'. 2) you wouldn't have wanted to record my guitar playing and put it out on a CD, but hey....)

[Dood]

That's because the stereo-typical Bass Player is further up the food chain than the stereo-typical Guitarist.



*lights touch paper, stands back*

[the_skezz]

Yet guitarists seem to make poor bassists...at least the ones I meet Whenever I see a guitarist claiming he can play bass, it ends up as a load of fret-w***ery...sure, they can play fast, but not necessarily well.

(This is only in my experience, anyway, I am aware that there are guitarists who can play bass well).

[Eight]

[quote name='the_skezz' post='809372' date='Apr 17 2010, 01:12 PM'](This is only in my experience, anyway, I am aware that there are guitarists who can play bass well).[/quote]
Right now, I'd settle for a guitarist who can play the guitar.

Not even well... just the same song as everyone else.

[Oscar South]

A good musician makes a good player of any instrument, likewise a bad one a bad player on any.

Only difference is a lot more bad guitar players tend to be arrogant above their station.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

I'm crap on Guitar. But then again 'm not much better on bass.

[robocorpse]

I find the more I play bass, the better I am at guitar when I jump back (been playing both equally long). Its like playing a couple of frames of snooker before a pool match, really sharpens you up and feels a lot easier on the smaller instrument.

[spike]

I've never been able to play the guitar well, the strings are just too thin and close together for me.

[Ancient Mariner]

[quote name='Oscar South' post='809397' date='Apr 17 2010, 01:26 PM']A good musician makes a good player of any instrument, likewise a bad one a bad player on any.[/quote]

This.

But you can get away with being not very good on bass more easily than guitar, plus guitar will naturally tend to attract the extrovert (with all the attendant self confidence & pride). I've played with bass players where I've wondered whether they were in the same key as the rest of us - actually that's been true for keyboard players too, who generally DO tend to be the most musically accurate in a band. Not that I'd consider myself great either, but I know enough to hold a band together musically when I'm on guitar playing simple songs.

It sounds like a security thing. He probably knows he mucked up, but doesn't feel secure enough to admit it. And the deeper he argues against you, the harder it is to go back and apologise.

FWIW I had a friend come over last night who plays bass and keyboards (well). She's buying her first decent guitar amp, and wanted to run through the stuff I had to see what she liked and what she didn't to help selection. She said she plays guitar like a bass player.

[Oscar South]

Lets put our money where our mouths are, might be interesting . Any of you bass players with recordings of you playing guitar post em up, lets see what we're capable of.

Here's me playing a song I wrote with a singer, I'm more of an acoustic player than an electric guitarist:
[url="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/134504/Enniskillen%20Song.mp3"]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/134504/Enniskillen%20Song.mp3[/url]

[northstreet]

[quote name='spike' post='809459' date='Apr 17 2010, 02:42 PM']I've never been able to play the guitar well, the strings are just too thin and close together for me.[/quote]

And there's too many of them as well.

[Eight]

[quote name='Ancient Mariner' post='809480' date='Apr 17 2010, 03:16 PM']It sounds like a security thing. He probably knows he mucked up, but doesn't feel secure enough to admit it.[/quote]
I think there was definitely an element of that. Red face and nervous beads of sweat.

He's a nice guy, and in a way I do feel bad about saying negative things about him. He certainly plays the fancier stuff a lot better than I ever did as a kid on guitar...

But I'm frustrated - and mainly because I don't want to be that guy everyone hates who stands there telling everyone else what to do... especially when they don't want to listen.

I didn't argue much, but came away, re-checked everything and researched the guitar parts to prove (to myself) that I was right and I did an ok job. And I guess that's left me feeling a bit resentful.

[EdwardHimself]

[quote name='Eight' post='809250' date='Apr 17 2010, 11:02 AM']After a fairly disasterous practice session with a new band, where the guitarist was a mess (but of course 100% confident he was right), I got my Warlock out of it's bag for the first time in about six years this morning.

Now I was never any good on the guitar. That's important.

A quick glance at the tab sites revealed some tabs for the guitar parts of two of the songs in question. They also looked correct in so far as they match the record more or less. Plug guitar in, play. In time... in the right key. With the right number of bars in each section.

Ain't that f**kin' difficult!!!!

(Disclaimer to avoid sounding like an arrogant prick: 1) my bass playing and knowledge of music is limited, I know I'm not 'all that'. 2) you wouldn't have wanted to record my guitar playing and put it out on a CD, but hey....)[/quote]

Tell me about it. They always seem to play the wrong things, and then you get the ones who not only play the wrong things but instead of just admitting they need help off you to learn the right thing, they pretend they already know the "right" way to play it and were just "putting their own creative spin on it". Yeah right.

[Eight]

[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='809541' date='Apr 17 2010, 04:35 PM']Tell me about it. They always seem to play the wrong things, and then you get the ones who not only play the wrong things but instead of just admitting they need help off you to learn the right thing, they pretend they already know the "right" way to play it and were just "putting their own creative spin on it". Yeah right.[/quote]
Or give you weird excuses why you're wrong - even though you've spent all day listening to the recording (because you didn't want to turn up looking like a tw@t who doesn't know the tune).

My favourite was:

G: Can't do <x>. It's downtuned.

Me: Isn't.

G: Is.

Me: Isn't. But fine whatever. (At which point I'm thinking, "even if you're right (which you're not), you just played the last song a perfect 4th above where you're supposed to be so two semitones wouldn't kill you!!!!")

[The Funk]

[quote name='Oscar South' post='809397' date='Apr 17 2010, 01:26 PM']A good musician makes a good player of any instrument, likewise a bad one a bad player on any.[/quote]

Tangent: I agree with the second part but not the first. I know the likes of Stanley Clarke and Herbie Hancock (heroes of mine) would agree with you but I think there's a reason most musicians are drawn to and then settle on a particular instrument. I don't think it's chance - it has all to do with personality and approach to music.

[bottlebassman]

[quote name='Eight' post='809250' date='Apr 17 2010, 11:02 AM']After a fairly disasterous practice session with a new band, where the guitarist was a mess (but of course 100% confident he was right), I got my Warlock out of it's bag for the first time in about six years this morning.

Now I was never any good on the guitar. That's important.

A quick glance at the tab sites revealed some tabs for the guitar parts of two of the songs in question. They also looked correct in so far as they match the record more or less. Plug guitar in, play. In time... in the right key. With the right number of bars in each section.

Ain't that f**kin' difficult!!!!

(Disclaimer to avoid sounding like an arrogant prick: 1) my bass playing and knowledge of music is limited, I know I'm not 'all that'. 2) you wouldn't have wanted to record my guitar playing and put it out on a CD, but hey....)[/quote]

Interesting! The lead guitarist who has just left the band I am in always used to mess up at the end of the solo on "whisky in the jar". this always led to problems with the timing going into the next section of the song (I think it's because he missed a part off the end of the solo), anyway, just before he quit he said it was me going into the next part too early! We now have a new lead guitar player, and guess what - no problems with timing! Ha! Knew it wasn't me!!!

Edited April 17, 2010 by bottlebassman

[Prime_BASS]

[quote name='bottlebassman' post='809796' date='Apr 17 2010, 08:02 PM']Interesting! The lead guitarist who has just left the band I am in always used to mess up at the end of the solo on "whisky in the jar". this always led to problems with the timing going into the next section of the song (I think it's because he missed a part off the end of the solo), anyway, just before he quit he said it was me going into the next part too early! We now have a new lead guitar player, and guess what - no problems with timing! Ha! Knew it wasn't me!!! [/quote]

You played with a drummer, during this?
I find it impossible to go out of time if the drummer doesn't, and at the end of the day IMO guitarist should have been following you and the drums.

I'm fairly decent guitarist, was tuaght for about 4 years and still self teaching myself, I left tuition at a skill level of grade 4 but I never did any tests, in ways it's made me a better bassist, speed, theory, technique. Being a bassist has made me a better musician.

Bass is better.