Decisions, Decisions

[Nicko]

The rhythm guitarist in our band quit so we are auditioning. Fuelled by ale I mentioned to the band that at a push I could pay guitar and we could look for a bass player. I started playing guitar 30 odd years ago, and only took up bass as a way to kill some time when I was working abroad. One I strated playing with them I realised I was a competent bass player and not a very good guitarist.

I've never played guitar in a band, but having played bass in bands for 10 years or so I am much more confident and frankly a much better guitarist than I was. I'm now at the point where I believe I'm quite a good bass player and a competent guitarist. I reckon if play guitar in a band I will get a whole lot better.

I rarely practice bass at home as it seems pointless without a drummer,and generally only learn new songs when I need to. I play the guitar at home much more, although I wouldn't call it practice.

But...I still love playing bass in the band. So I guess the answer would be to start looking for another band and play rhythm with them and continue to play bass with the current band and hope they find someone through the auditions. Does anyone else here play bass in one band and something else in another?

[BigRedX]

I switched form bass to guitar in a previous band, after almost a year of unsuccessfully looking for a suitable replacement for our original guitarist. By that time I had learnt all the guitar parts and was up to the standard required to actually be the band's guitarist. We advertised with separate ads for both a bassist and guitarist and got a great bassist (who was actually a lot better than me) within a couple of weeks.

However when the band split I pretty much went straight back to playing bass as my main instrument.

[Roger2611]

This is a difficult decision, I joined a covers band some years back, initially as bassist but the guys in the band were worried that I had far more experience than they had, so I suggested "why don't I come in on rhythm guitar so we all grow at the same pace" I played guitar with them for 3 years, it massively improved my guitar playing and gave me much greater insight into how the bass and guitar should interact...so all positive then? Well no, I got fed up with the bass player we had refusing to practice and yet making all the mistakes, I got a little fed up with working really hard on guitar and not really enjoying gigs, we finally kicked the bass player out and I went on to bass for about 10 gigs whilst a replacement was brought up to speed, I soon realised just how much I enjoyed playing the bass...to such an extent that as soon as the new bassist was up to speed I left the band!

About a month later the new bassist's work commitments changed and he was forced to leave the band, I gladly rejoined and remained as bassist for the duration of the bands existence.

So yes, playing the guitar live will certainly help you improve as a guitarist but you may find yourself becoming frustrated with it in the end

[Low End Bee]

Do you need 2 guitarists? Try with the one for a bit. You might find the dynamics get better.
Then you can get a synth player with a cape.

[ivansc]

The closer you get to making your living from music, the more likely you are to be working on more than one instrument!

I wound up having to teach myself to pretend to be a singer when I returned to the UK after a decade or so abroad.
And have always been on either guitar or bass, often in two different bands at the same time.

's called paying the rent/mortgage!

[LewisK1975]

One covers band I know around my neck of the woods has a father and son who cover Bass and Guitar duties, and they usually swap half time.

[bazzbass]

well, you could recruit a new guitarist that likes to play some bass, and you could swap instruments during the show, it always looks impressive

[fftc]

[quote name='Low End Bee' timestamp='1488549710' post='3249924']
Then you can get a synth player with a cape.
[/quote]

[chris_b]

I don't know what kind of music you play but here's a big +1 for ditching the rhythm guitarist idea.

Is the other guitarist good enough to take on the sole guitar role? You'll have to play differently but you shouldn't see it as trying to fill a hole in the sound. The dynamics and overall band sound usually improve when you only have 1 guitar.

The last time I played with 2 guitarists the second guy doubled on keys. That made it just about bearable.

[Yank]

I play bass and guitar in two different projects. I've never liked switching during gigs. I like bringing a specific rig for one, where I'll get the desired tone. Switching instruments onto someone elses rig, or carrying two rigs is always less than pleasant.

[Monkey Steve]

another vote for giving it a go without a rhythm guitarist for a couple of practices to see if you can fill out more space with the bass - having been stuck in my last couple of bands with two guitarists I do find it a bit restricting, and it's been noticed by the lead guitarist in common from both bands (a lover of Rush) so that may come to something on the side...

In answer to the OP's question, I have done my time playing guitar in a punk covers band. Bit of an odd one - a drummer that I've been in bands with was playing with them and gave me a ring when their guitarist told them that he'd got a job elsewhere and would have to leave. The call was "you've got a guitar, how hard can it be?" Turns out, not very hard at all. I'd always played and written stuff on guitars, and pick up a guitar to noodle around on at home far more than my bass, but I know my strengths and I'm a good bass player and an average guitarist. In fact my test for auditioning rhythm guitarists for one band was that if they weren't better than me on the guitar then they certainly weren't good enough to join the band.

It's the only band I've ever played guitar in, and I had a great time - I was in fact lead guitarist so my ego grew exponentially. Also, the old guitarist was rubbish so despite me being of the honest opinion that I'm pretty average (especially in comparison to the proper guitarists i play with in other bands) I was always the best musician in the band (other than the excellent drummer - are we counting them as "musicians"?) so my averageness was never a problem. Although I do somewhat echo Roger's comments about seeing how bad the bass player is - it was never a huge problem, and in fairness he massively improved over our time in the band together, but I knew i could do his stuff much better and at times it grated when he got stuck on something and couldn't improve.

But it turns out it's true that most pub crowd aren't really listening that closely to anything other than the lead vocals. I was competent enough though, and once we'd got through the first gig - mainly a test because I'd had to learn a 25+ song set inside a month - I never looked back.

Personally i don't think I would have enjoyed it half as much if I had been "only" the rhythm guitarist - most of my two guitar bands have got two "leads" who split things between then, but the one I was in with a "rhythm only" guitarist, well, I had much more fun on the bass than I think I would have had playing his guitar parts.

If you fancy a go then maybe don't give up the bass until you've tried it at a couple of (perhaps bass-free) rehearsals, or at least don't do anything to leave yourself without a get out if you turn out not to be enjoying it as much as you did on the bass.