guitarists who have switched to bass.

[racefaceec90]

are you glad you did,and what made you change instruments?

am currently thinking about part ex my guitar/amps towards a squier cv jazz bass.as anyone who read my previous post about "thinking of quitting guitar" i feel that the bass may be better suited to me.

how did you find the change? if you also swapped instruments.

p.s am not actually fully decided,just weighing up the options tbh.

[guitarfishbay]

You may have to relearn how you approach everything. In general bass is a support instrument, and guitar is often more of a lead instrument (but not exclusively).

I also play bass, but recently have given up on practicing bass specifically as I find it very hard to stop 'being a gutiarist'. I think you can usually tell when a guitarist plays bass, and it is not necessarily just due to the use of a pick as that is how many guitarists approach bass (some bass players are very much fingers only players, but in reality both work just both have different tones).

The way the bass guitar locks in with the drum beat is very important in many styles, so what I would recommend is checking out your favourite songs for bass guitar, and just playing along with the bass parts on your electric first to see if you can get in to the groove.

I tried on/off for several years but I never felt like I really 'got it' in terms of writing good bass lines, though I would argue I am a decent guitarist. I now no longer own any bass amps but do still keep a bass for tracking scratch ideas underneath my guitar tracks when writing, but I never play it otherwise and 'real bassists' always end up improving the parts anyway unless the song needed something simple first. However I know many people who are the exact opposite of me, who never really 'got' guitar but after some time with a bass they found everything more natural.

I will say this though - if you are a half decent bassist with an amp and can travel there will be a lot of bands who want you. There are loads of guitarists already everywhere, but finding a good bassist can be difficult!

[hotpickups]

Totally agree with you. I've been looking, until recently, for a bassist and you know when you've found a good one. You definitely know when you haven't

You may have to relearn how you approach everything. In general bass is a support instrument, and guitar is often more of a lead instrument (but not exclusively).

I also play bass, but recently have given up on practicing bass specifically as I find it very hard to stop 'being a gutiarist'. I think you can usually tell when a guitarist plays bass, and it is not necessarily just due to the use of a pick as that is how many guitarists approach bass (some bass players are very much fingers only players, but in reality both work just both have different tones).

The way the bass guitar locks in with the drum beat is very important in many styles, so what I would recommend is checking out your favourite songs for bass guitar, and just playing along with the bass parts on your electric first to see if you can get in to the groove.

I tried on/off for several years but I never felt like I really 'got it' in terms of writing good bass lines, though I would argue I am a decent guitarist. I now no longer own any bass amps but do still keep a bass for tracking scratch ideas underneath my guitar tracks when writing, but I never play it otherwise and 'real bassists' always end up improving the parts anyway unless the song needed something simple first. However I know many people who are the exact opposite of me, who never really 'got' guitar but after some time with a bass they found everything more natural.

I will say this though - if you are a half decent bassist with an amp and can travel there will be a lot of bands who want you. There are loads of guitarists already everywhere, but finding a good bassist can be difficult!

[ESBlonde]

One of my favorite guitarist turned bass player was King Crimson/Bad Company player Boz Burrell.

If you play bass like that, I'll give ya a gig.

[Sporky_McGuffin]

I'm finding bass a lot more fun than guitar recently - mostly, I think, because of that lovely connection with the drums and the feeling of being in charge of the track more as a result. I'm inclined to think that, after drums, bass is the second most important instrument in most popular beat combos.

[guitarfishbay]

I say this all the time on other forums but it isn't a popular opinion -

The sound and performance of the bass and drums is more important than the guitars in a lot of genres, and I think this as a gutarist. You can get away with pretty naff guitar sounds so long as the bass is nice and full and the drums sound good for the genre.

In real terms this is a tight performance but with a slightly naff guitar tone, but it still sounds good (IMO) because the bass and drums sound good for the genre (and of course the playing is very good as usual for Ola).

[frankus]

Currently having bass lessons and dropped all interaction with the guitar.

Bass has a different set of rules - I find it amazing that playing guitar I can play for hours and not really feel it but bass will tire me after 20 minutes.

I've got a CV Jazz bass and they're awesome - my teacher was impressed with the sounds it made.

[ESBlonde]

I walked past a crack converters this last Saturday morning and just popped in (like ya do every couple of years). They had a yamaha bass with rusty strings for £39.99 and I had a moment of 'Yea do it'. But then put it back on the rack. Should have done it really but hey ho.

[ESchap]

I walked past a crack converters this last Saturday morning and just popped in (like ya do every couple of years). They had a yamaha bass with rusty strings for £39.99 and I had a moment of 'Yea do it'. But then put it back on the rack. Should have done it really but hey ho.

Buying a decent set of strings would have nearly doubled the price!

[ESBlonde]

Buying a decent set of strings would have nearly doubled the price!

Yea I know, but the amount I would abuse it new strings would last 5 years.