Bass vs Guitar

[Hobbayne]

[quote name='geoffbyrne' timestamp='1364768137' post='2030769']
OK, try playing rhythm guitar without a sense of rhythm.......

G.
[/quote]

I played bass in a band where the rhythm guitar had no rhythm, but as its his band he insisted on playing it. He also cannot tune it or play anything but basic chords.

[Musicman20]

Funnier still is to ask the guitarist to play a 5 string bass.

I play a bit of guitar and I enjoy it, but it feels a little 'toy-like' compared to bass.

[steve-bbb]

[quote name='Pete Academy' timestamp='1364756199' post='2030513']
Working in a n music store, I get asked this all the time...is bass easier to pick up than guitar? Recently, I showed someone a relatively easy bass part ro a song, but she struggled with string changes.

So, what do you think?
[/quote]

working in a music store dont you give them the answer they want to hear that will clinch the sale?!

[Lowender]

[quote name='martin8708' timestamp='1364764709' post='2030714']
Compared to say, piano or violin , guitar and bass are pretty easy to start of with .
As you get better , the instruments require different mind-frames or attitudes , but I think the guitar would be the more difficult to master from a technical point of view , but the bass player is more aware of the band/ song as a whole , so would require a different set of skills.
[/quote]

Actually piano doesn't require as much of a touch to get a sound and the notes are linear, making it easier in some ways . But again, this is all moot after a few months.

[gafbass02]

I've always said its easier to learn, but harder to play well.

[Pete Academy]

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1364819017' post='2031197']


working in a music store dont you give them the answer they want to hear that will clinch the sale?!
[/quote]

I'm an honest salesman.

[martin8708]

[quote name='Lowender' timestamp='1364819432' post='2031205']


Actually piano doesn't require as much of a touch to get a sound and the notes are linear, making it easier in some ways . But again, this is all moot after a few months.
[/quote]

Being able to play separate bass lines with one hand and separate melody lines with the other on piano is probably more complex than playing bass / guitar .
Like - wise , watching a good drummer using both arms + legs to create a rhythm is a skill that we seem to take for granted , I think we have it pretty easy as bassists or guitarists .

[xilddx]

[quote name='Pete Academy' timestamp='1364756199' post='2030513']
Working in a n music store, I get asked this all the time...is bass easier to pick up than guitar? Recently, I showed someone a relatively easy bass part ro a song, but she struggled with string changes.

So, what do you think?
[/quote]
Without question, bass is easier to pick up than guitar. The variety of mechanical techniques required to operate a guitar is much more complex than a bass.

[achknalligewelt]

I do both, and they are just totally different disciplines. As people have said, the guitar is cheaper, much more common and you can play it by yourself, so it's the one that many people pick up first (I certainly did). the first chords you learn hurt the hands, and when you see then for the first time, chord diagrams and tab look like algebra, and standard notation may as well be from Mars. The first steps are challenging. But in the long term, it also encourages laziness, by which I mean that a distorted electric guitar can cover up a multitude of technical sins. An acoustic guitar is less forgiving, but even so, you can still disguise a lot of bad practice if you hit it hard enough. Style is always a very perosnal matter, and the greatest players all have their own sound, but still, a bum not is a bum note and any live guitar track is just full of them if you listen closely.

The bass, on the other hand, looks easy. one note, bang out some 8ths and you're away. You can be gigging in a fortnight. But it is the least forgiving of instruments - one note at a time, locking the drums and guitars together. You only get the one note, so if you get it wrong everyone will look at you. The more you want to do, and who doesn't want to shine a little bit, the more exposed you are. Its simplicity of operation belies the total uniqueness of its role in a band, and if you f*** it up, you ruin it for everyone.

I much prefer the bass.

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='geoffbyrne' timestamp='1364768137' post='2030769']
OK, try playing [s]rhythm guitar[/s] music of any kind without a sense of rhythm.......

G.
[/quote]

Fixed it for you, if you have no sense of rhythm, you are in the wrong game, go running or something instead