Is it possible to tune an electric guitar to sound like a bass guitar? If so then how?

Answer 1

Well hey, sound is sound. Its just a bunch of waves. Theoretically you can make anything sound like anything else...its just a matter of transforming the waves. The only big difference between a trumpet and a trombone is the shape of the brass (ok, so thats a huge difference). The originating sound from both instruments is the vibration of the lips that essentially sounds the same without the sound modifying properties of the shaped cavities of the brass. With a bass guitar and a regular 6-string the strings are essentially the same, save the difference in masses. Again, theoretically, if we take away the influences if the sounding board/body of the instrument and the influences of the different pickups used for each, no matter how thick the strings are they will still produce a sound wave. The frequency that the string produces as it is plucked is a product of the mass of the string and its tension. A larger string (because of its surface to mass ratio) will by itself produce more sound waves than a tinier string, however they will, as a rule (if made from the same materials), produce the same waveform if they are tuned the same.

Now, since a guitar is made of more than a string, it is worthy to note the smallest differences between any two guitars (no matter if they are bass or not) will produce differing tones. The mass to volume ratio and general resonant frequencies of the materials making up the body of the guitar will produce a variety of higher and lower harmonics, almost like a sound fingerprint. Even the addition or subtraction of additional strings to the instrument will effect the overall harmonic interplay of each string on the instrument.

So if you are asking if it is possible to merely tune a guitar to sound like a bass, then I would ask you what bass you are trying to emulate. More likely than not, the modification of a guitar (while keeping the standard strings) to sound like a bass would require the replacement of the sound board/body with a different material and a different set of pickups (and possibly raising the strings off the fret board more).

Just turning one knob ain't gunna cut it buddy :)

Answer 2

I assume you mean the strings strung as if for a left hander, if so then It is quite easy to do this if you have not played the bass before as you are learning from scratch. I say easy but to play well will take years. However, you will literally have to teach yourself as any tutorials will be for regular stringing. As an example of this on a 6 string guitar, Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten, most famous for the song "Frieght Train" played a right handed strung guitar left handed and had to "reinvent" chord structures and develop an ingeniuos finger picking method. So, yes. As for the cheap electric guitar, shy away from Ebay but google "entry level electric guitars" you should find a complete kit (guitar, bag, amp, leads, picks and tutorial for under a hundred pounds.

Answer 3

Technically yes, but you won't get as deep and resonant sound as you would from bass. You would need very heavy strings to do so. Your best bet would to use a pedal that sounds like a bass.

Answer 4

not really - bass strings are of a different quality and compounds
that give them the DEEEP sounds

like saying - can the trombone play the tuba's part -
they are both brass instruments?

nope

and a guitar has 6 strings - bass has four

Answer 5

nope :( you can tune it down a little, then pitch shift it a bit more in protools, but it's never going to sound like a bass.