Since most people here seem to be ignorant of what a bass is:
1) It was NOT "based off the guitar", it's an electric adaptation of the double bass which became awkward and increasingly less audible compared to other instruments in the earliest rock/jazz bands.
2) While easier to learn than guitar, it is far far more difficult to master. Anyone can sound cool playing the pentatonic scale and power chords over and over; it takes a great more deal of musical skill and talent to be excellent at bass.
3) On a related note "Anyone who plays guitar can play bass by default" is ridiculous. If you have no sense of rhythm and can't keep a beat, then you can't play bass. Hell, most guitarists I've met can't even play the bass without making the frets buzz their first few times.
4) Bass is a rhythm instrument, with a deeper more mellow sound. Guitar is melodic (or at least mostly used for such). To say bass is inferior to guitar is also stupid.
1) It was NOT "based off the guitar", it's an electric adaptation of the double bass which became awkward and increasingly less audible compared to other instruments in the earliest rock/jazz bands.
2) While easier to learn than guitar, it is far far more difficult to master. Anyone can sound cool playing the pentatonic scale and power chords over and over; it takes a great more deal of musical skill and talent to be excellent at bass.
3) On a related note "Anyone who plays guitar can play bass by default" is ridiculous. If you have no sense of rhythm and can't keep a beat, then you can't play bass. Hell, most guitarists I've met can't even play the bass without making the frets buzz their first few times.
4) Bass is a rhythm instrument, with a deeper more mellow sound. Guitar is melodic (or at least mostly used for such). To say bass is inferior to guitar is also stupid.
1) The advent of the electric bass guitar revolutioned new age music
2) A guitarist can sound "amazing" in just a couple years. I'd like to see anyone learn Victor Wooten's Classical Thump in just a couple of years.
3) "Whoa dude whats wrong with your frets? Why are they buzzing??" - Guitarist who thinks he can play bass
4) Have you ever heard a band with two guitarists and no bassist? It sounds like a fucking transistor radio
2) A guitarist can sound "amazing" in just a couple years. I'd like to see anyone learn Victor Wooten's Classical Thump in just a couple of years.
3) "Whoa dude whats wrong with your frets? Why are they buzzing??" - Guitarist who thinks he can play bass
4) Have you ever heard a band with two guitarists and no bassist? It sounds like a fucking transistor radio
by Solifuga September 20, 2006
Saying that if you can play a Electric guitar means that you can play a bass guitar is like saying that: if you can play a Cello you can play a violin. Which is wrong, yes you should be able to play something, because of the tuning to be a like, but the play style and the place and job in the band / Orchestra is very different almost totally different.
Guitar Vs. Bass
The Guitar is one octave higher than the bass and is therefore easier to mix notes and make chords, because the sound will be much brighter and clearer than the bass. As the bass often just makes a blurry dark sound. Don’t take me wrong, you can mix notes with the bass, you just need to know what you’re doing. (Personally, I mix notes all the time but that’s my play style. Often 5th’s and octaves)
The guitar has also a smaller neck then the electrical bass and its therefore shorter space between each fret. This makes it easier to move your fingers.
Bass guitars.
The most common bass is the 4 string bass, as a beginner you don’t need more strings. But advanced players sometimes got the urge for more:P the most common option then is one or two extra strings. A 5 string bass (usually, not in my case) adds a dark B string. Needed for metal or heavy rock riffs. A 6 string bass adds a low B string and a high C string. I haven’t heard about two lighter or darker strings. You can also get a 12 15 or 18 stringed bass, but it’s really as a 4, 5 or 6 stringed bass that has the same concept as the 12 stringed guitar but only with two extra strings per main string. I don’t really know the tuning of the extra strings only that it’s higher. Probably a 5th or an octave higher.
Another bass type is the fretless bass. The fretless bass don’t have any frets (the thin metal lines that makes you hit the exact note.) its like a contrabass, cello or violin. This gives it a mush smoother sound, and not the solid sound that the frets generates. Its also harder to play, ‘cause you need to place your fingers quite exactly to make the right not, but it’s not hard to learn, you just need to get used to it. This bass type is often used in Jazz music, but I’ve seen it in most music genres. Even a disco riff that “Frank Zappa And The Mother” made.
Acoustic Basses are also available but good ones costs a lot and still doesn’t work good in a band. (Feedback, Badsound etc.) But as an instrument for use home alone its great, gives a great feeling.
The Bass players Job
Well this is my opinion, some bass players may disagree. The bass is not a solo instrument as the guitar, its not meant to do the same as the solo guitarist. Although bass solos are awesome.
I always listen to the drums and guitars and try to be a link between them. And from that point I try to make song more interesting.
example:
Guitarist plays D C B A
I Play D E B A not every time, but I try to wary it.
The E gives the round a new feeling, which makes the riff more interesting.
or
Instead of playing each note for example four times you can do this.
The next Example I will show in a tab how to read a tab go here
http://mxtabs.net/content.php? (splitted) file=Reading_Guitar_and_Bass_Tabs
G|----------------------------- --------------------------|
D|-----5-7-5----------4-5-4---- ------4------------5-4-2--|
A|5-5------------3-3----------- --2-2----2----0-0---------|
E|----------------------------- --------------------------|
It depends on the genre you’re playing.
at last you can also play with a pick which if you want an even harder sound much more trebled sound. But gives you a more steadier rhythm if you play on note multiple times. Personally, I prefer fingering technique. I feel more free, more “in touch with the sound” :P and pick bass is for wimps :P
Here is a nifty little video with stu Hamm a Great Bass player.
http://video.google.com/videoplay? (splitted) docid=1158095372160188114&q=ba (splitted) ss+playable%3Atrue
I'm glad for any questions so feel free to Mail me. Basshoe@gmail or enkulinist@hotmail.com
Btw I had to split the links to post it, you'll figure it out
Guitar Vs. Bass
The Guitar is one octave higher than the bass and is therefore easier to mix notes and make chords, because the sound will be much brighter and clearer than the bass. As the bass often just makes a blurry dark sound. Don’t take me wrong, you can mix notes with the bass, you just need to know what you’re doing. (Personally, I mix notes all the time but that’s my play style. Often 5th’s and octaves)
The guitar has also a smaller neck then the electrical bass and its therefore shorter space between each fret. This makes it easier to move your fingers.
Bass guitars.
The most common bass is the 4 string bass, as a beginner you don’t need more strings. But advanced players sometimes got the urge for more:P the most common option then is one or two extra strings. A 5 string bass (usually, not in my case) adds a dark B string. Needed for metal or heavy rock riffs. A 6 string bass adds a low B string and a high C string. I haven’t heard about two lighter or darker strings. You can also get a 12 15 or 18 stringed bass, but it’s really as a 4, 5 or 6 stringed bass that has the same concept as the 12 stringed guitar but only with two extra strings per main string. I don’t really know the tuning of the extra strings only that it’s higher. Probably a 5th or an octave higher.
Another bass type is the fretless bass. The fretless bass don’t have any frets (the thin metal lines that makes you hit the exact note.) its like a contrabass, cello or violin. This gives it a mush smoother sound, and not the solid sound that the frets generates. Its also harder to play, ‘cause you need to place your fingers quite exactly to make the right not, but it’s not hard to learn, you just need to get used to it. This bass type is often used in Jazz music, but I’ve seen it in most music genres. Even a disco riff that “Frank Zappa And The Mother” made.
Acoustic Basses are also available but good ones costs a lot and still doesn’t work good in a band. (Feedback, Badsound etc.) But as an instrument for use home alone its great, gives a great feeling.
The Bass players Job
Well this is my opinion, some bass players may disagree. The bass is not a solo instrument as the guitar, its not meant to do the same as the solo guitarist. Although bass solos are awesome.
I always listen to the drums and guitars and try to be a link between them. And from that point I try to make song more interesting.
example:
Guitarist plays D C B A
I Play D E B A not every time, but I try to wary it.
The E gives the round a new feeling, which makes the riff more interesting.
or
Instead of playing each note for example four times you can do this.
The next Example I will show in a tab how to read a tab go here
http://mxtabs.net/content.php? (splitted) file=Reading_Guitar_and_Bass_Tabs
G|----------------------------- --------------------------|
D|-----5-7-5----------4-5-4---- ------4------------5-4-2--|
A|5-5------------3-3----------- --2-2----2----0-0---------|
E|----------------------------- --------------------------|
It depends on the genre you’re playing.
at last you can also play with a pick which if you want an even harder sound much more trebled sound. But gives you a more steadier rhythm if you play on note multiple times. Personally, I prefer fingering technique. I feel more free, more “in touch with the sound” :P and pick bass is for wimps :P
Here is a nifty little video with stu Hamm a Great Bass player.
http://video.google.com/videoplay? (splitted) docid=1158095372160188114&q=ba (splitted) ss+playable%3Atrue
I'm glad for any questions so feel free to Mail me. Basshoe@gmail or enkulinist@hotmail.com
Btw I had to split the links to post it, you'll figure it out
Bass guitar players are not Dull people, some of them just stands in the shadow of the solo guitar.
guitar players tend to belive that their Jimi Hendrix just because they can the Nothing Else Matters solo. lol, noobs
Turn up the Bass
guitar players tend to belive that their Jimi Hendrix just because they can the Nothing Else Matters solo. lol, noobs
Turn up the Bass
by Eskil May 2, 2006
known as the electric bass, far superior to the regular guitar. Yet i play a fretless, which is even far superior to the fretted bass!
you play bass, you're "kooler" than the guitar player, i play fretless bass, im even "kooler" than you!
by frizzlefry August 5, 2005
A combination of an upright (or double) bass and an electric guitar. Similar to percussion, the bass guitar is used in almost every type of music in common circulation (the exception being, of course, percussion ensembles). Tuned one octave lower than an average electric guitar, the bass guitar is very easy to pick up and attain instant results, but very hard to master. Prominent styles on the bass guitar include slapping, tapping, and plucking.
by Scott P. Tipton October 2, 2007
Alex: "I play Guitar, I am very good"
Mike: "I know you are, I play bass guitar, I am very good, but very lazy"
Alex: "Duh, the lazy man's guitar"
Greg: "I play drums"
Alex: "LETS START A BAND"
*everyone*: "YEAH"
Mike: "I know you are, I play bass guitar, I am very good, but very lazy"
Alex: "Duh, the lazy man's guitar"
Greg: "I play drums"
Alex: "LETS START A BAND"
*everyone*: "YEAH"
by Miklus May 16, 2006
a guitar with four strings that is easier to play than a regular guitar and makes a low, muffled sound. Great sound and the strings are harder to play due to their size, but due to most bands use of only 1 string at a time, the bass is both overlooked and superbly easy to play.
by andrew Dolan October 1, 2005
A 4-stringed bass guitar is easier to learn than the standard six-string electrc guitar.
A Bass guitar tends to be funky and more rythmical than the electric.
A Bass guitar tends to be funky and more rythmical than the electric.
Bass guitarists tend to be dull dull dull dull people. No offence but it is true.
Electric Guitarists tend to be wilder, and generally better looking people (I play guitar and look like a monkey's uncle -.- but who cares).
Drummers tend to be the wildest and least seen!
Singers tend to be able to sing (most of the time) and are the best looking.
In order the groupie listing is as follows.
Singer/lead guitarist- Best groupies, first choice.
Drummer/rhythm guitarist- Good groupies, second choice.
Bass guitarist-Pick of the litter.
Electric Guitarists tend to be wilder, and generally better looking people (I play guitar and look like a monkey's uncle -.- but who cares).
Drummers tend to be the wildest and least seen!
Singers tend to be able to sing (most of the time) and are the best looking.
In order the groupie listing is as follows.
Singer/lead guitarist- Best groupies, first choice.
Drummer/rhythm guitarist- Good groupies, second choice.
Bass guitarist-Pick of the litter.
by sleepygamer March 5, 2006