guitarists who have switched to bass.

[monquixote]

Buy a bass by all means, but don't sell your guitar to do it.

I've played bass for nearly as long as I've played guitar and I like to think that I treat them as completely different instruments.
Bass for me is 90% about the interplay with the drums which means I don't really find it an interesting instrument to play outside of a band context (or if I do I use a drum machine). I left the band I used to play bass in over a month ago and I haven't had it out of it's case since. Unless you are planning on joining a band or getting some guys to jam with it may not be for you.

As others have mentioned it is a fantastic way of understanding chord theory because once you want to get past just playing the root notes you need to start understanding where the 3rds, 5ths, and 7ths are in the chords.

[erictheweary]

Many years ago I was exclusively a rythm guitarist with very few gigs job offers but as soon as I switched to bass there were bands asking me to join all the time .

I was thinking it would be nice to have a contribution from Herbie on this thread - but he is probably too busy playing bass touring Europe supporting Brad Paisley to bother posting.Pretty sure he didn't get to do that kind of stuff when he was a.n.other metal guitarist.

[Bluenose]

Our current bass player originally played guitar, though i don't think he gigged extensively.
He is a good guitar player, but took his bass playing seriously.
He owns a USA Strat and a very nice Martin accoustic ,but he hardly plays them, because he chooses to focus on his bass playing.
i'm sure he'd also tell you that it's a completely different mindset to 6 string.
He's been playing bass for around five years now , is one of the best i've ever played with, and could now mix it with the best of them.
Absolutely top bloke too.

[Nik Harrison]

Hi Nik, if I recall a few years back you put a number of your musical adventures on hold and took up the offer to play bass in a new band setting and do a bit of touring - very much doing it for real which I found inspirational at the time and got me to look at what I was doing as a guitarist and branch out as a musician by taking singing lessons...maybe its time for me to look at the bass playing adventure too...I've always had a rhythm focus approach as a guitarist so an aspiration for 2013 perhaps... David

Yeah, It was great for a while too (and it's a shame that band didn't want to go out and work a bit harder because some of the songs were fantastic and that band could have a great future, but they just don't seem to want to do the things that they need to do, they just do the things that they want to do! The death of many musical project!), but back to the bass thing! I've always played bass and enjoy what it has to offer but if you play guitar as well you can be "blinded by the similarities" rather than "enlightened by the differences" between the two instruments. It's always worth looking at what a bass has to offer on its own terms rather than compared with anything else. It's a different discipline and outlook which always helps with the bigger picture of being a more proficient "musician". I think every guitarist would benefit from playing bass in a gigging band for a few months!

[DavidRees]

the "enlightened by the differences" is why I would choose to do it. As a guitarist I have some technical facility and grasp of theory and hopefully some inherant musicality which allows me to apply that knowledge and those skills in a way that both myself and others find pleasant to listen to but i would wish to look at this as something new where I could learn to make an entirely different musical contribution where people would want me as a bass player who can add to what they are doing as a creative but that the previously mentioned facility and knowledge might give me a usefull springboard to enter such a new adventure...David

[axisus]

I play both, but only at home. As mentioned before, with guitar you can widdle away to your hearts content all day, but bass is somewhat boring in comparison if you aren't playing in a band with proper interaction.

We should have a 'guitarists playing bass on YouTube' thread!

[thereformant]

I've never played bass in a band but obviously use it a lot when writing. My main barrier is sucky bass tone I think. I suspect its cos i have ancient strings (like 7 years old) and no bass amp though.

[ICBM]

I've never played bass in a band but obviously use it a lot when writing. My main barrier is sucky bass tone I think. I suspect its cos i have ancient strings (like 7 years old) and no bass amp though.

It's not the strings - James Jamerson never changed his, ever .

If you don't have a bass amp you can play through a guitar amp, as long as you keep the volume down - the risk is to the speaker rather than the amp itself, but as long as you're at house volume, it will be fine.

[thereformant]

i just DI into reaper....I can get pretty usable results on guitar this way but my bass just sounds flat and dull, no power, even after various processing.

[timmyo]

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.

He was best man at my wife's first (not to me) wedding
Passed away last year