Contemplating picking up guitar or bass...

[Pastorius]

Spiral Architect have a friggin' amazing bassist.

He has some Norwegian name, like Jars Blorgssssenenensen or something.

 

[Barking Pumpkin]

Lars K. Nordberg

 

[Pastorius]

Lars K. Nordberg

Exactly what I said.

 

[!Aviso!]

Bass is a more demanding instrument. Guitar is easy to play.

Bassist make decent guitarists, guitarists make shitty bassists.

Playing the bass means you will have to know more about music than anyone else in the band, you will have to be a better musician than anyone else in the band, and you will never get any credit for your contributions to the band.

Playing the bass will make you a better musician because of what it demands of you. Playing the guitar will get you laid faster, though.

My recommendation is this --> learn how to play the bass, primarily, but also teach yourself barre chords and strum around with a cheap acoustic guitar. Best of both worlds.

 

[Barking Pumpkin]

Bass is a more demanding instrument. Guitar is easy to play.

Bassist make decent guitarists, guitarists make shitty bassists.

Playing the bass means you will have to know more about music than anyone else in the band, you will have to be a better musician than anyone else in the band, and you will never get any credit for your contributions to the band.

Playing the bass will make you a better musician because of what it demands of you. Playing the guitar will get you laid faster, though.

My recommendation is this --> learn how to play the bass, primarily, but also teach yourself barre chords and strum around with a cheap acoustic guitar. Best of both worlds.

Ummm......

 

[Pastorius]

Bass is a more demanding instrument. Guitar is easy to play.

Bassist make decent guitarists, guitarists make shitty bassists.

Playing the bass means you will have to know more about music than anyone else in the band, you will have to be a better musician than anyone else in the band, and you will never get any credit for your contributions to the band.

Playing the bass will make you a better musician because of what it demands of you. Playing the guitar will get you laid faster, though.

My recommendation is this --> learn how to play the bass, primarily, but also teach yourself barre chords and strum around with a cheap acoustic guitar. Best of both worlds.

As a bass player, I can tell you all to disregard what this man/woman just said.

Bass is wicked easy.

 

[Thraxz]

From the little I do with a bass, it seems infinitely easier than the guitar.

 

[Progbass]

From the little I do with a bass, it seems infinitely easier than the guitar.

It also seems that common opinion is that bass is easier than guitar. I think it goes like this: Bass might be easier if you play basic rock/pop lines, but when you are playing in a fusion jazz band or technical metal/prog band and just any fast metal, I think it will become harder to master than guitar. And afterall bass has thicker strings, wider string spacing and when you are playing with your fingers, it's harder to sweep and play fast runs than with pick. Well that's enough for now, lol.

 

[The Stormbringer]

From the little I do with a bass, it seems infinitely easier than the guitar.

A lot of people say that while playing the guitar becomes easier as you go, playing the bass becomes harder. You might just have found that out yourself.

 

[!Aviso!]

Yeah, whoops. I should have prefaced my comment with "if you're interested in playing either instrument WELL, then consider the following..."

 

[Pastorius]

Here's a wacky idea - both bass and guitar are as hard as each other.

I mean, come on, how big a hurdle is "thicker strings" or "bigger string spacing" when you really get down to it?

I find the small string spacing of a guitar HARD rather than easy. Bigger frets? A good player will find a way around not being able to make 6 fret stretches.