Bass or Guitar?

[visog]

Depends how intelligent you are...

[Baxlin]

Like others have said, try for both.  I was in my 50s before I bought a bass guitar, and now, in my 'music corner' I now also have an electronic drum kit, (drum kit was my first instrument, in the 1960s) strat-style guitar, and a budget 'home use' bass.  A keyboard amp to play each through, and a set of headphones completes the set up.  But then I am retired, so have the time.

Now for a slight tangent...

I was asked by our minister, "do you play guitar as well as bass, Malcolm?”

Like an idiot, trying to be funny, I replied that I played guitar better than I played bass.

"That can’t be very difficult, can it!"  was what I walked straight into....😁

Edited March 4, 2020 by Baxlin

[burno70]

If you do decide to spend more time on the guitar I'd highly recommend you do pick up you bass regularly to keep the skills you have. You'll lose them otherwise.

[Reggaebass]

I started playing guitar mainly for ear training myself on chords and playing modes and scales  over them , but I felt that I was missing out on my bass playing too much so I gave it up, it’s bass only for me 🙂

[mikel]

I do both, and drums. I have an old Squier Tele and its great for noodling and singing along. Drumming and bass playing help with the understanding of each instrument and how the components of the rhythm fit.

[leftybassman392]

I notice nobody's mentioned Banjo.

That's ok though. No offence taken.

 

[Skybone]

1 hour ago, burno70 said:

If you do decide to spend more time on the guitar I'd highly recommend you do pick up you bass regularly to keep the skills you have. You'll lose them otherwise.

This.

I remember doing some recording when I was mainly playing guitar. When it came to recording the bass, I was never happy with any of the takes I did.

It was after reviewing the umpteenth take that I realised I was playing bass like a guitarist.  

[Stub Mandrel]

Both, although the better I get at bass the more I realise how bad my guitar playing is.

[Hobbayne]

I am a reasonably adept guitarist and bassist.

I joined a band as a guitarist  a few years back, but missed the bass, so went back to it.

The thing I enjoyed most about guitar, was the way major and minor chords worked together.

You can hear the way the bass complements them.

Edited March 4, 2020 by Hobbayne

[Nicko]

I've been playing guitar for 40 years but I'm pretty average at it and got into playing bass by accident.  I'm a good bass player in a band situation but to be honest I rarely pick it up and play it for pleasure at home (I'll learn stuff for the band but that's about it), whereas I'll happily play the guitar for the fun of it (I haven't been in a band playing guitar but have done open mic nights).  Playing bass in a band has improved my guitar playing, and my theory knowledge gained from learning guitar has helped my bass playing.  I don't have to learn chord tomes because I know how to play the chords and normally a few inversions so can always "see" the relevant bass notes on my fretboard.

[dave moffat]

I play bass and baritone Uke, reckon I've only got 4 fingers so that's plenty of strings for me to cope with. I do follow guitar video lessons but mentally adapt them to suit, what I learn for one helps the other, especially the theory stuff. I do lean towards bass though.

[Maude]

How has nobody suggested getting a bass vi yet? 

Get a bass vi. 🙂

[CamdenRob]

Don’t bother with bass if you’re good enough to play the guitar 👍 

[upside downer]

55 minutes ago, CamdenRob said:

Don’t bother with bass if you’re good enough to play the guitar 👍 

Begone, dissenter! 🤨

[Kiwi]

I decided to teach myself guitar about 10 years ago and haven't looked back.  I'm still crap though.  

BTW: All of you guitarists...www.guitarchat.co.uk needs your wit, talent and unique brand of BS.  Don't be neglecting your sister forum now.

[Stub Mandrel]

Six reasons to play guitar instead of bass:

1. Lack of any sense of rhythm.
2. Tab too complicated, prefers things like ' G - C -D'.
3. Weak character, lacking moral fibre.
4. Small hands.
5. Thinks 'advanced musical knowledge' is memorising the blues scale.
6. Small willy.

Edited March 23, 2020 by Stub Mandrel

[PaulWarning]

12 hours ago, Kiwi said:

I decided to teach myself guitar about 10 years ago and haven't looked back.  I'm still crap though.  

BTW: All of you guitarists...www.guitarchat.co.uk needs your wit, talent and unique brand of BS.  Don't be neglecting your sister forum now.

just tried to sign in using my basschat password, says I'm using the wrong one, I'm not, I don't think

[PaulWarning]

1 hour ago, PaulWarning said:

just tried to sign in using my basschat password, says I'm using the wrong one, I'm not, I don't think

well that was interesting, I just signed in with a password I changed on Basschat about 6 months ago

[stewblack]

It comes down to cool. 

[Hobbayne]

On 23/03/2020 at 15:44, Stub Mandrel said:

Six reasons to play guitar instead of bass:

1. Lack of any sense of rhythm.
2. Tab too complicated, prefers things like ' G - C -D'.
3. Weak character, lacking moral fibre.
4. Small hands.
5. Thinks 'advanced musical knowledge' is memorising the blues scale.
6. Small willy.

Oh well, One out six aint bad. 😁

[Newfoundfreedom]

On 03/03/2020 at 23:21, PaulWarning said:

I find Bass on it's own is fairly boring, great in a band, but I play acoustic guitar when I want to just play and sing on my own

Same here.

Also I always use acoustic guitar for writing and working out songs. 

Partly because I find playing bass and singing simultaneously pretty much impossible. 😂

[Monkey Steve]

I see myself as a bass player, but I currently own more guitars than basses, and I have played guitar in bands before.  Having some ability on the guitar can help with understanding the role of the bass and writing bass lines, and it definitely helps with writing songs as a whole.

I'm definitely a better bass player than I am a guitarist (my test for auditioning guitarists is that if they are no better than I am then they're not good enough to be in my band), but I do find that guitars are better as solo instruments, whereas bass is usually better in a band context (YMMV)