How hard is it to learn to play bass? Which is easier upright or bass guitar?

Question

I might take lessons next year. I need to know if it will be worth my while. I'd rather play bass guitar, but i dont know if they offer lessons for both at my high school.

Answer 1

I played with a stand-up bassist for years. It's much harder
to learn than electric, because there are no frets on a stand up.
also, harder for the audience to hear, by and large. Did I mention price? Probably a few thousand for a stand-up.
$75 and up for an electric. I highly reccommend you go with
the electric bass. It's easy to learn , there's a demand for you
in the market, and groupies love you, 'coz they can leave the gig sooner with you, than waiting for the drummer.

Answer 2

How To Play Upright Bass

Answer 3

Go for bass guitar. Louder, easier to carry about, hold and play, as the frets tell u where to put ur fingers. Guitar cheaper than upright, but u will have to invest in a bass amp. There are acoustic bass guitars (I use one) but they still need to be plugged in unless ur playing with only a few friends all acoustic. Also, if ur school doesn't offer lessons (though I'd be surprised if they didn't) it's easier to teach urself. Upright needs finger placement and bowing technique, guitar just need plucking and fret knowledge. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

I would suggest you go with the electric for a number of reasons.

1. It's easier to carry around than the upright. Granted you can get some compact uprights, but they are extremely expensive.

2. The electric is easier to learn to play. The upright can be difficult to learn to play as it is fretless. So learning where to put your fingers to get the notes in tune does get some practice, whereas the electric (while it can come as a fretless), does have fret markings, making it easier to see where to put your fingers.

3. Electrics are cheeper. I don't think however they come quite as cheep as the gent suggesting you can pick up one for $75, but you can get some very good cheep options, that look very cool too where as cheep uprights are generally large, and old.

4. You don't need to learn to use a bow with an electric. A common technique on an upright is the use of a bow. It's not something you need to learn to use on an electric, the most you'll have to learn to use there are your fingers and a pick.

6. The electric is a very versitile instrument. It can fit into any number of genre of music. From Metal, to pop, country, rock, jazz you can even play classical pieces on it. However the upright really only fits into a small number of groups, such as jazz, folk, or rock-a-billy. It can be used in pretty much all music genres also, but it's not as common, hardly any of the music you hear today makes use of an upright, it's all electric, so you'll probably be more likely to be able to play in a band situation if you play electric.

7. The final reason I'd go with the electric, is if you start learning it, and decide later you wanna learn to use an upright, it'll be easier. All the techniques you learn on an electric transfer to the upright, and your fingers will know better where to go to produce the notes, so you will be able to play in tune better.

Answer 5

Go with the bass guitar for the reasons above. Learning bass is easier than regular guitar. Since you don' t play chords you normally don't have to worry about more than one string at a time. It helps a lot if you have long fingers, a good ear, and a solid sense of the beat.

I picked bass over guitar many years ago and never regretted it. I taught myself mostly by playing along with songs I liked. One nice thing is that there are a lot more guitarists than bassists, so you will be in demand if you get in bands.

Answer 6

YES!!! Someone who wants to learn bass!!! =D


Electric is the way to go, dude. The frets make it easier to find your way around until you learn to use the dot inlay on the sides of the fretboard (some uprights have it on there too).

My first REAL bass was an Ibanez gsr-200 and I loved it. its got hum-canceler and single-coil pickups and has a nice rich sound to it for only $200. A lot of people start playing and the first thing they do is pick...

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DO NOT PICK RIGHT OFF THE BAT.

Get used to your fingers. Get used to plucking and some of the other techniques involved with it. After you've gotten reasonably comfortable with that, move onto picking, you'll thank me in the long-run, bro! =D

Answer 7

I have played both upright bass and electric bass for years.
Each instrument has its pros and cons. Electric bass may be easier to just pick up and make some noise on. But in the end it boils down to style, I love playing orchestral and jazz music on the upright. but if you are playing funk and rock you have to do it on the electric.
From one bass player to another, try both and see which one fits you better.
Good Luck

Answer 8

These days you can learn how to play guitar over the internet. Check out Mark McKenzie's guitar video lessons here: http://www.jamoramaguitar.com The videos are very easy to follow and to my surprise extremely helpful even for advanced guitar players. For beginners I would have to say this is a gold mine.

I was able to improve my skills in just under 4 weeks and I am an intermediate-to-advanced guitar player; I've been playing guitar for the past 6 years and I was on stage with my band a lot of times.

I live in New York City, I wanted to go to a pro guitar teacher but that would have cost me over $1400 per month. Good thing with this internet, $1400 it's a lot of money for me. Good luck!

Answer 9

It's simple to learn any instrument.

Learning to express yourself on it, that's the key.

Go with the electric bass first, they are usually much cheaper than even a low-quality up right bass. Some good brands to look out for when getting a beginner's bass or starter bass are...

Squire (by Fender)
Ibanez
Rogue
Dean

All of the brands listed above make good low-cost basses that'll be great for learning and practicing.

If you want a place to look for these basses, just check out...

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/bass

And for learning on it, if you want to gain a foothold when you get your bass, try playing the bass along with your favorite songs and try to pick out the bass-line. Do your best to figure it out...

Good luck.

Answer 10

i learned how to play upright bass. it is harder and more along a classical/jazz vein. When i went to school during the caveman era, bass guitar was not offered. I played in lots of orchestra and jazz bands. GOOD LUCK