whats the difference between playing a bass and playing a guitar??

Question

ok, besides the sound... but how are they differnt? i thought that the strings are just thicker... but if you can play the guitar does that mean you can play the bass? im confused!!! whats the difference????????

p.s im talking about the bass *guitar*

Answer 1

It's not a dumb question...

A bass guitar is really a regular guitar with the two highest toned strings removed, which is the B and the E strings. (on the guitar, it's the two lowest strings.) And of course, to aid in making the tone lower, thicker strings are used.

You have to know a little about the dynamics of modern music to understand the differences between the two (or three if you consider lead, rhythm, and bass)

Since I can't seem to find a way to explain one without touching upon them all, I'll start with the drummer.

The drummer is the one who sets the pace. He creates the beat, which puts forth the tempo that everyone follows. In effect, it's the drummer that keeps everyone else in time.

And now that you have a beat, you have to have a melody. That's the familiar part of the song that you hum to. In a four piece band, lead, rhythm, and bass guitars, and drums, it's the rhythm guitarist that plays the melody using chords. And by how he strums the chords, he also creates a sort of rhythm. There are many different techniques that the rhythm guitarist can use as he either works with, or works against the beat of the drummer, but between the two of them, they form the rhythm section of the band.

But that sound would be pretty boring is it were constantly just the rhythm guitarist and the drummer, so from here you can add the lead guitarist.

The lead guitarist's job is to "flavour" the music with little fills here and there, and the famous guitar solo that provides the instrumental break in the middle of the song.

In musician's lingo, the music needs a "bottom." This is a musical bass line. Making a distinction between "musical" and that of the drummer who can only provide 4 or 5 notes (the number of drums he has) and is mostly there to provide the beat. You can't really play a song or create a melody with the drums very easily.

And this musical "bottom" is provided by the bass player, and he provides many things to the music. What he plays is called a bass line, repeated over and over. The bass player adds fullness to the music by providing the lower range notes. he also adds to the beat, which makes the rhythm and the beat more interesting to the ear. And he also accentuates the beat, making it more obvious in the music.

When you "dance to the music," sometimes you are dancing to the beat laid down by the drumer, and sometimes you are dancing to the bass line, and sometimes it's a combination of the two.

With the bass player playing a bass line, usually it's not as intricate as things the lead or rhythm guitarist is doing, but he's just as important in creating the whole sound.

Now to answer you other questions, they are all guitars, and if the players are proficient in playing the guitar, each of them should be interchangeable. A bass guitarist should be able to play lead and rhythm guitars, and so on.

But typically the bass lines are the easiest to play, so therefore learning to play the bass is the easiest. But there are many ways of interpreting a bass line, and to play the bass well, you want to have the ability to interpret bass lines many different ways. And to do that, you have to be as proficient and as skilled as the other two guitarists in the band.

In effect, they are all guitars but the techniques involved in playing them are different. The lead guitar does all the fancy stuff, the rhythm guitar does all the chords and strumming, and the bass guitar plays the bass lines.

And yes, if you can play bass, you should also be able to play rhythm and lead --at least the good ones can, anyway.

Answer 2

A bass guitar and a guitar are two seperate things. Just like how you can have an acoustic guitar and an electric one, you can have a bass (meaning the type you use in orchestras) or you can have a bass guitar (another way to say an electric bass). The bass differs from the guitar (speaking in the electric sense) in the fact that the strings are made out of metal. Being able to play the guitar does not mean you can play the bass. I learned to play the guitar first and switching to bass was a little different. Guitar music (tablature) is written on the treble clef, bass tabs are written on the bass clef, so you have to shift the way you read the music to fit the instrument. As for physical playing, there is no way for me to put in words how different playing the two instruments can be. Each instrument, guitar and bass, has it's own set of rules to follow.

Answer 3

All good answers.. Bass guitars come in acoustic too! Some have 4, 5, and even 6 strings. Check out guys like Vic Wooten(think thats how you spell it). Basically the bass and drums hold the bottom end. Lot's of people think.. Guitar is too hard so I'll play bass, "it only has 4 strings". but actually a bass is very important. Timing is very important. Bass players usually only read bass clef and guitarists are reading from the treble clef. You can actually chord on a bass too.

Answer 4

To add to the first poster's answer, they do make acoustic basses.

The standard bass has 4 strings (E, A, D, G), the guitar has 6 (E, A, D, G, B, E), and bass strings are lower. Playing guitar will definitely make playing bass easier, and if you just play bass, it's easy to learn guitar.

They also make 12-string guitars, and basses with more than four strings. It just gives you a better range of things you can do when you're playing.

Answer 5

The bass and the guitar are very similar. A standard guitar has6 strings which are usually tuned to E,A,D,G,B,E. The player uses his or her fingers on to press the strings down on the frets to change which notes are being played.

In a bass, there are 4 strings which are tuned to E, A, D, G (the first 4 notes of a regular guitar). The strings are alot thicker because they are producing lower notes.

One other thing to note is that with a regular guitar, chords are often played and a bass the notes are usually played individually.

Answer 6

The Bass plays primarily the lows in a song and the guitar plays the highs.

All notes are variable, but in music in order for the tune to flow properly it must have lows...this is why in a group there is the Bass singer that can sing real low, Alto Tenor, barritone and Suprano.

I've been a diversive musician to play lead from the nut to the bridge. Some musicians don't do that becasue the Bass picks up the low and so does the drums.

Answer 7

the bass has only 4 strings,and usually plays a beat to the music . a regular guitar can have 6 or 12 strings & plays lead,or rythem. there is a large stand up bass also usually used in Bluegrass&blues type music.

Answer 8

The bass has two less strings than the guitar( a regular six-string). The only thing you have to get used to is playing only on four strings.

Answer 9

There's less strings on a bass. If you can play one well, then the other will most likely come naturally. It depends on who you are and how well you are able to play the other one. Most people who pay the guitar can play bass too.

Answer 10

On the bass, you only play one note at a time. On a guitar you sometimes have to play multiple notes and the bass is really low.