For people who have tried bass/lead or know a lot

[Sullen Jester]

Greetings.

A friend of mine is considering taking up either guitar or bass guitar, and I'm trying to get him to acknowledge that they are very different.

He's someone who'd like to play punk, metal a la "Mainstream", and he seems like he's to practice a lot.

Can you recommend what to take? Lead/rythm guitar or Bass guitar?

Thankyou for your time,
Kriss.

 

[Manbient]

Bass Guitar... too many guitarists around anyway, and eventually you can prolly get him to do more cool bass stuff than punk

 

[Isternos]

Bass without a doubt, not enough bass players out there i had to go from rythum guitar to playing bass in my band as we could not find one and now i ma enjoying playing bass a lot more than i ever did playing guitar.

 

[Sullen Jester]

Thankyou for your responses.

Any more are welcomed.

Cheers.

 

[Ivo]

I recommend the lead guitar, it has a lot more possibilities to develope yourself as musician and to vary your ideas (if you have any)

 

[Brutalizer]

I recommend rhythm guitar or bass.
Lead guitar is too hard for beginners!

 

[bleed for me]

start off with rythm guitar and after playing for a while he should then decide whether he wants to do bass or specialise in lead guitar

 

[YaYo]

bass is easier to get a start in.
but doesnt allow for much creativity in terms of song writing.

guitar on the other hand is harder to learn, but has far more options when it comes to expressing yourself.


so i guess if he's a creative/artistic person then guitar is the way to go. This also requires more patience, etc.

 

[yourdeadgroom]

Go with the lead guitar thing, it's better in the long run. A good lead technique takes a while to develope, and it will make them more versatile. Good bass takes ages to develop too, but you can't translate that onto the guitar, whereas a good grounding in guitar will transplant onto the bass. I've always been a guitarist, but in school I played bass in a band, cause there were no bass players, and I was ok. If I had tried to go the other way, I doubt it would have worked. Guitar scales and stuff work just as well on bass, but bass scales/patterns, while ok, aren't as effective on guitar.

 

[Klaha]

Originally posted by YaYoGakk
bass is easier to get a start in.
but doesnt allow for much creativity in terms of song writing.

guitar on the other hand is harder to learn, but has far more options when it comes to expressing yourself.


so i guess if he's a creative/artistic person then guitar is the way to go. This also requires more patience, etc.

I disagree, I play bass and I find it's just as creative an instrument as guitar. Really the only differences are the frequencies they produce (and chords sound awful on a bass ).

Until very recently, bassists have just been in the shadows, playing boring bass lines that the guitarists build on, but now people are realising its a very good instrument to use, and in some of the bands I listen to, they outshine the guitarists.

Enough of my ranting, I guess I am somewhat biased....although on a side note, bass generally doesn't have much of a key role in punk bands....but then again all you need is a guitar and a distortion pedal, add some teen angst to the vocals, and there you go!!! a punk band!

 

[Ivo]

All my respect to the bass players!