How has playing other instruments helped your bass playing?

[BillyBass]

Many moons ago I was a Pali scholar.  Pali is the language of the Theravada Buddhist scriptures and is not spoken by anyone living.  I took Sanskrit at university solely to improve my understanding of Pali (a bit like learning Latin to help with Italian studies).

 

Using my experience of language study as a younger man I thought learning to play other instruments would help my bass playing, and it has.  I started learning the guitar, through the Justin Guitar online lessons and started to gain an understanding of chords, of course.  This was the main thing I wanted to learn.  Something else has helped my bass playing though.  I bought a 5 string in the Spring and spent quite a lot of time getting used to it, and swapping back and forth between my 4s and the fiver.  The narrower string spacing of the fiver meant that I would fluff the fretting on occasions.  To overcome this I have started fretting my fiver more like I fret my guitar: with the tops of my fingers not the pads and this has really improved my accuracy, particularly when playing across, say, three strings, as in-root, octave, fifth, root etc.  Perhaps this would be obvious to many people but it wasn't to me; I'm self taught (with help from Scotts bass lessons).

 

Does anyone else have experience of study of/proficiency in another instrument being helpful for their bass skills?

 

 

 

[Nail Soup]

On one hand, other instruments mean I spend much less time on bass.

One the other hand I think it's really beneficial to play a 'harmonic' instrument (i.e plays chords like guitar or keys) alongside 'single note' instruments like bass or violin*. Helps learn about chord progressions, where the minor/major notes are and what they do and so on.

 

* Yes I know you can play chords on Violin and bass.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Nail Soup

[Barking Spiders]

The drum kit is my main instrument and funk & disco are my preferred genres for playing live  so I've tended to play bass in a percussive, groove oriented manner. Also play a slot of slide guitar and bluegrass banjo so i also like to apply slides and  banjo style rolls onto the bass. Sometimes it sounds sh0ite but other times it works!

[odysseus]

I started on classical guitar when I was a kid, I didn't pick up a bass guitar til I was 19. I'd have found bass a lot more difficult if I hadn't played guitar first.

[Nicko]

I was a long time guitarist before switching to bass.  I tend to think of guitar chord shapes on the fretboard of my bass which is helpful in picking out chord tones.  My time playing cornet in a brass band was utterly useless in helping me play bass.

[Ed_S]

Playing violin in a fairly large concert orchestra was helpful in that it got me used to walking out on stage and being part of a big, loud, musical thing where I had a part to play and a lane to stay in. Most of all, though, it trained my ear. Of course getting there involved formal lessons, reading music and knowing just enough theory-words to sound informed, but I really didn't enjoy any of that - I just put up with it because I was told it was necessary. The orchestra had a notional grade 8 entry requirement, but because I hated theory and didn't care about certificates, the only one I ever took was 3. My sight-reading was pretty strong (as it needed to be given the amount of time I didn't spend practicing) but fortunately the piece they put in front of me to audition happened to be one I knew so I just did my usual and played it from memory whilst looking in the general direction of the music stand. I was in, and as long as I made sure my bow was going the same direction as everybody else's and sat on the side of the desk that wasn't expected to turn the pages it was never a problem all the time I was there.

 

Which is a long way to say that formal tuition and playing another instrument was useful, but because it generally trained my ear and provided sufficient experience of being part of a group to show me what was important to me. That let me learn and play bass in a way I'd enjoy rather than resent; no more dots, no more theory, no more lessons.

[paul_5]

Learning to mash the piano helped me immeasurably in learning theory, and playing as part of a drum ensemble for a couple of years helped me really nail playing in time. 
sometimes.

[Franticsmurf]

I was a guitarist before I was a bassist (and for a short time while I was a bassist). I learned on my own, no lessons and no band to play with. I think had I not been able to learn chords and therefore play along to songs on the radio or even write my own, I would have given up. But I was always a very rhythmic, not given to soloing but enjoying playing riffs. So for me playing a different instrument was my way into live music.

 

My original musical interest had been triggered by playing bass guitar at a jam at mate's house (they took pity on my lack of musical skills, hung a bass around my neck and proceeded to play 'Flash' by Queen). 😀

[bass_dinger]

I played a two-manual Kawai organ with a one octave pedal board.

 

The chord book that I had showed not only the fingerings, but the degrees of the chord and the suggested bass notes. 

 

So F minor 7th showed that the 3rd was flattened, that the notes were the same as A flat 6 (but different bass notes). That taught me scales and some music theory. 

 

When I see a chord, I still convert the spelling to a piano keyboard format, and "see" the bass notes and chord tones. 

[Lozz196]

I’m a fairly decent rhythm guitarist, when I was doing this in a band I could hear all the runs and flourishes that the bassist was putting in, most often entirely in the wrong places, either competing with the vocals or lead guitar, or getting lost when up against a drum fill. So I suppose I learned how to both utilise space and to understand when less is more on the bass as a result.

[meterman]

I started as a percussionist (aged 7) then graduated to drum kit, then later took up guitar in my teens so I’d have a compositional instrument. I only bought a bass much later when the bassist in our band quit and we didn’t know any others, and we had studio time booked. So I bought the cheapest bass I could find and got into it that way.

 

Coming from a drums / percussion / guitar background definitely helped me understand where to put the notes, where to leave spaces, and whether certain bass lines worked or not, etc. I eventually got into writing songs on bass, so it’s been a real help for me.

 

Still wouldn’t call myself a bassist though. Nor would anyone else, probably 😂

[Steve Browning]

I started on violin at age 4 but moved to piano at 6 and played until I was about 13/14. The piano is a great background as you learn theory and harmony. I am certain that it helps me as a bass player.

 

I played church organ for a few years and Bach used bass brilliantly. All helps.

[lowdown]

I started on Bass Guitar in the late 60's when I was twelve. At sixteen, my parents got me a Double Bass and hooked me up with a Bass tutor -  A chap called Joe Mudele.

He was quite a well known Jazz player at the time, he also played in a few TV Orchestras and on regular studio sessions. He was a pretty serious musician, so I took onboard his advice when he convinced me to take up Piano.

Leaning theory and the sight reading side of things from Piano lessons set me up for touring and theatre work on Bass and a career as a musician.

Joe encouraged me to learn the show tunes (standards) on the Piano which was a great help with my ear training. So yeah, leaning Piano really helped me as a Bassist in a few different ways.

 

 

 

 

 

[meterman]

I often wish I had taken up bass first, before any other instruments. And studied at college etc. 
 

I’m always in awe of proper bassists. If I hear an XTC record or a Blockheads tune comes on the radio, I’m always focused in on the bass line. Same with Motown or Stax or disco or certain punk records. 
 

Coming to bass last is something I do regret.

[zbd1960]

My main instrument is cello. I've been able to read bass and treble clef notation since I was about 10 or 11. Being a cellist I got used to listening out for the bass line. I did music O Level as an optional subject at school. I didn't do much until my mid 30s when I started singing lessons and ended up singing baritone (upper bass) in various choirs. Cello means I have to read bass, tenor and treble clefs. I then started learning to play the viola da gamba (viol) which is a renaissance/baroque instrument. For bass, you need bass and alto clef, and the tenor uses alto clef and treble. In 2011 I started to learn alto sax and bought a cello and picked it up after a 35 year gap. I put myself through grade 6 theory.

 

So, when I picked up bass not so long ago, I could already read bass clef fluently and I've got more than enough music theory...   

[machinehead]

I learned to play guitar from the age of around 10.  I was taught the "proper" way by reading music.  I think this was a really valuable experience since I have a knowledge of music theory and... I can read the guitarist's fingers in a jam.  .  Not just chords but the positions they are playing in solos.

I moved over to bass guitar at about the age of 35? and enjoy it far more than guitar.

Frank.

[chris_b]

I know that over the years not playing double bass has lost me some opportunities and not singing has lost me many, many more.

 

I think playing piano from the start would have helped me be a better all-round musician.

[Downunderwonder]

Studying violin all through highschool stood ne in good stead for taking up playing double bass a quarter century later in a jazz band. I only got in by semi capably 'reading' the score when there where two other bass players there who could not read anything at all and needn't have bothered showing up. Half the time I had no idea what notes I was using but being familiar with the fly excrement conventions meant I could follow along.with something approximating the actual lines.

[Newfoundfreedom]

Learning to play the recorder in primary school has had a profound effect on my life. I can't even list the amount of times I've found it an invaluable skill. 

[Leonard Smalls]

My mum's a piano teacher... So that's how I started - got as far as grade 7 and gave up at around 18.

Then I taught myself bass (and guitar to a lesser extent) - piano basically gave me a good background in theory, though I found that the grade learning system completely stifled any sort of creativity. Still don't want to play anyone else's music unless I've seriously messed about with it, and very rarely read music either!

[MacDaddy]

23 hours ago, odysseus said:

I started on classical guitar when I was a kid, I didn't pick up a bass guitar til I was 19. I'd have found bass a lot more difficult if I hadn't played guitar first.

 

Similar to me, my bass playing comes from classical guitar technique.

[BigRedX]

I started off on the guitar and had been playing for 6-7 years before I bought my first bass.

 

There was also a slightly out of tune piano (it was wooden-framed and would never hold the tuning for long) in our house that I try to play from time to time.

 

In my first band we didn't have a lot in the way of conventional "rock band" instruments and equipment, so anything capable of making a musical noise was pressed into service.

 

AsI have said in many other threads on here I consider myself to be a composer first and foremost and for me being able to play musical instruments is a means to that end rather than an end in itself.

[Downunderwonder]

14 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

anything capable of making a musical noise was pressed into service

That was my first band in high school. My parents were the convenors. Dad was non musical but the prime mover and had some 'juice' within the school. Mum played piano but not much confidence in Musical Direction.

 

Brass Banding was the big thing in town and they managed to get the school Band Director to come along and give us some directing. She took one look at us and said 'my, that's a motley lot'. Thus was christened 'Motley' thanks to Dad's wicked sense of humour.

 

The BBMD never showed again but we got my bro's teacher's husband, who was another brass band guy, to give us some pointers in the following year. Somehow we made the finals of the national school chamber music comp playing jazz and got to play the big house in Wellington all expenses paid. Still my biggest ever indoor gig! Cheers Westpac Banking Corporation.

[bass_dinger]

2 hours ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

Learning to play the recorder in primary school has had a profound effect on my life. I can't even list the amount of times I've found it an invaluable skill. 

I am reminded of the quote about Leppo, the fifth member of the Rutles: "His influence [on the Rutles] was so immeasurable that no one has ever bothered to measure it."

So too with the recorder, on @Newfoundfreedom's musical life.

 

[MichaelDean]

I feel like studying music theory accompanied with some keyboard/piano skills was really invaluable for me. I managed to scrape by and get my Grade 5 theory with literally the pass mark. I never really got my head around my hands doing different things for different notes on keys though. At least with bass, your hands are working together. But just being able to pick out intervals through ear training is really useful for playing with other people or working stuff out on your own.