Learning Guitar vs. Learning Bass?

Question

I've always loved guitar and wanted to learn to play but my parents never let me (various excuses: hands too small, wouldn't follow through with it, etc), but recently I've really been thinking about it a lot and I've also taken up an interest in bass.

I was just wondering, if I were to learn both, which would be the better one to learn first? Or do neither give you an advantage in learning the other?

Answer 1

while these instruments have a lot of similarities, they are VERY different in a practical sense. while guitar players are very much in the spotlight, bass players are most important rhythmically and in many situations, hold a piece of music together. kind of like a bridge between the drummer and guitar player(s). it really depends on what is important to you musically, and in the context of musical interaction with others in your group. i am a guitar player if 15 years, but started out playing bass out of necessity(no one else wanted to do it). playing bass gave me a strong rhythmic background and really helped me understand the role of the other musicians I've played with. i would suggest playing bass first for a few reasons. first its pretty basic to learn (with usually only 4 strings). it also helps to develop a strong sense of rhythm. and all technical talk aside, its a lot of fun with not as much preassure to "take the lead".

Answer 2

I disagree- Guitar is the more all-encompassing instrument, so you should concentrate on that first (Unless you're talking about playing classical upright double-bass .. then that is its own course of study) In order to understand what a bass instrument does in an ensemble - you have to understand all of the following - Melody - Scales and modes - Chordal structures and harmony - Counterpoint /Accompaniment - Rhythm - Basic music theory - Reading music / sight reading You also need to learn the basic mechanics of playing. Learning guitar - and I mean classical guitar and jazz guitar - not just pop music - will give you all of those elements and more. Classical Guitar in particular made me a MUCH better bassist, because you have to play a bass line and make it articulate separately from the accompaniment and melody. Learning to play piano first would be ideal because that gives you all of these elements laid out left-to-right. Stringed instruments require more interpretation. Pedagogy (teaching) aside, Learning to play guitar has other benefits - you can always accompany a singer, you can be the life of the party - etc. Nobody wants to sing "Tom Dooley " at a campfire with just an electric bassist on-hand ;-) Guitar-to-bass is an easy transition. Bass-to guitar - not so much. Anyway - if you were my student, if you didn't want to play piano first, I'd start you on guitar. Good luck to you.

Answer 3

the bass guitar uses the same notes as the guitar, just an octave down. I would recommend learning the instrument you have the most use for, but of the two, guitar has the most versatility. If your parents are resisting, you may want to try a different strategy. Tell them you want to learn to play fingerstyle classical guitar and learn notation. This may help to convince them that you are serious. Look into artists like Christopher Parkening, Julian Bream, Edgar Cruz, Michael Chapdelaine, Andres Segovia, and Julio Sagrares. If you want to lean more toward popular music, look into Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits and Lyndsey Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac. They are both fingerstyle players and they play fingerstyle.

Of course the ideal answer would be to play both, but if you have to make a choice, I would recommend the guitar. Look into such websites as:

http://www.eythorsson.com/en/

http://www.delcamp.net/en/index.html
(you have to become a member of this site and post at least three meaningful messages to get at the free music, but once you do, there are over ten thousand pages available)

http://guitardownunder.com/

http://www.gitarrenschule-biebertal.de/notenarchiv/index_en.htm

These site not only contain free guitar music, but they also contain methods, syllabi, all kinds of links and useful information, and in Delcamp's case, an entire community to help you get started. If you prefer tablature, look into a program called powertab pro. It is freeware and prints music out in both notation and tablature form. Hope this helps. Let me know if I can help further.

Answer 4

Guitar will be more difficult to learn to play, unless you're very patient, I would learn bass first. If you're someone that throws in the towel easily, start easy and work your way up. When learning an instrument, early success is important for longevity. (I know, I teach 4th graders to play string instruments, and if they go too long sounding bad, they quit)

Answer 5

Go for guitar first. Once you learn that you can jump straight to bass with such ease. Guitar takes longer to learn but once you have it, thats easy and bass is like nothing.

Answer 6

If you can play guitar you can play bass Learn guitar first

Answer 7

learn to play guitar first. i wanted to play bass too but my parents wanted me to learn guitar before i learn bass. once u learn guitar bass will be extremely easy. thts how it was for me anyways

Answer 8

Yeah, I agree with Ben V. Go with guitar first.

Answer 9

bass is easier to play, the parts are always easier (possibly boring at times) and its got less strings x