Playing Bass Guitar--Easy?

[bluesaxgirl]

I played cello and bass in orchestra for one year. I would like to pick up a similiar sounding instrument again--the bass guitar. Do they have the same fingerings? Please say you don't do chords like an acoustic...8-)

[tjontheroad]

Bass guitar is tuned to E-A-D-G low to high. Most players are doing single note lines. Chords on bass are a more advanced trick. Try this bass forum http://www.talkbass.com/ for some great tips. You'll find me there using the same handle.

Good Luck

[BassManJim]

Try this bass forum http://www.talkbass.com/ for some great tips. You'll find me there using the same handle.

Good Luck

Ditto 8-)

Bass Guitar is one of those instruments that is fairly easy to play - but difficult to play really well.

However, if you have played Upright Bass before, the tuning for BG is the same, so it should be somewhat familiar. Learn the basic "closed position" scale fingerings, and you can play scales around the cycle just by moving the root.

Also there seem to be more gigging oportunities for bass players. On the minus side you have develop relationships with drummers :cry: but on the plus side you still get to despise guitarists :D

Have fun

..................Jim

[bluesaxgirl]

I like the still despising guitarists part...

[tjontheroad]

I like the still despising guitarists part...

Hey!!! I resemble that remark. :shock: ;)

[saxymanzach]

Ditto 8-)

Also there seem to be more gigging oportunities for bass players.

Now that's the the part that I like!

Time to buy a bass!

[bluesaxgirl]

Hey!!! I resemble that remark. :shock: ;)

sorry:white:

[woodsgirl]

I took up bass guitar about a year ago, and finally got kindof serious this last few months. I play guitar, so I figured it would be easy..............well, I am a chord playin' rhythm player, so playing the single note bass line was different and I now am working more on lead guitar, which is more similar to bass than I thought it would be. My approach is this: there hardly ever seems to be a bass player around, and even people who COULD play, don't want to because it is low profile. HOwever, the bass player is actually in control!! lol! I try to keep my bass lines simple, and that works out well. I get invited to more events this way and there is no competing with egomaniacal guitar players.......so, as above, it would be hard to be really good, but you can keep it basic and do a nice job, easily, with your background. It is a lot of fun. Another thing, it is a lot harder to sing and play bass than play guitar and sing----for me, anyway.

ALso, girl bassists are a novelty! Besides being the only lady musician at most jams, you can also be "the" lady bass player, which raises some eyebrows!!! I find it to be a lot of fun!

[woodsgirl]

I work it this way. If there is no bass player, I play bass. If there is a real bass player and it is a rocking jam or blues or jazz, and they aren't all that good, I play sax. If they are really good, I play flute, which I am better at! If none of the above, I sing!

[bluesaxgirl]

I work it this way. If there is no bass player, I play bass. If there is a real bass player and it is a rocking jam or blues or jazz, and they aren't all that good, I play sax. If they are really good, I play flute, which I am better at! If none of the above, I sing!

well divised plan. :)

[Rockplayer]

Almost a well devised play, unfortunately many bass players (especially in the rock/pop arena) are merely frustrated guitar players - and would drop playing the bass in a second for a chance to play guitar. If you want to go the bass route then put your focus on learning that instrument - and frankly if you want to play and make some money you'll have plenty of opportunity as a good bass player, good guitar players are pretty much a dime a dozen and most often play for beer (not that there's anything wrong with that, I've been doing it for almost 20 years!).

[jacobeid]

On bass I could get away with an easy rock gig and I never really learned how to play. To be a good bass player would be extremely hard though.

[tubbycub]

Ditto 8-)

Also there seem to be more gigging oportunities for bass players. On the minus side you have develop relationships with drummers :cry: but on the plus side you still get to despise guitarists :D

Have fun

..................Jim


What's wrong with drummers?
Guitarists are generally known as Guitards by bassists :D

[BryanM]

I've been playing bass for about 14 months, I did come from the guitar route, though I never played lead guitar. I'm only now inching my way over to the world of saxophone. As a rhythm guitarist, playing bass well enough to mesh with a band came reasonably easy, since I was already paying attention to the drums and working with any other instruments while ignoring the guitarist. As far as tricks to play bass well, try playing tenor sax or trombone parts on bass, the range is similar and the horn phrasing in a different voice can really contrast traditional bass playing. Also just grooving on one or two notes and playing from drum sheets can be cool. I've found that gigs aren't hard at all to come by as a bassist, but they're often medium paying gigs. I get regular calls by a cover/standards band with which I may occasionally have to fake a song on the spot, and can usually pull in an honest day's wages for a night's work, though they play long nights.

[mudrock1000]

Its easy to learn, i mean not when you play the instruments in a treble cleft...it really messes you up...but its easy to play, as that one guy said, but its hard to play good, and groove may i add. You can play the bass good, but if you aren't grooving, then you fail...you epic fail. the bass is different then a saxophone because you can take out all the horns and saxes, and possibly the electric guitar, and you can still jam with whats left. See, the most important part of a band is drums (duh) then the bass, unless their are extra special circumstances. So basically if you screw up, then the rest of the band will fall apart. I gave up bass, and now i play the guitar. However, if you can play a bass in a band, then i guarantee that you have already become better at every other instrument you play ;)