Why Playing Bass Helps My Guitar Playing…

At first, the title of this post might cause you some anger, depending on who you are. If you’re a stereotypical bassist, I bet you’re thinking “Oh, just another guitarist who thinks he can play the bass and has no real knowledge of how to construct basslines- he will probably just try to do a guitar solo on it anyway…” because that’s what guitarists do, right? If you’re a stereotypical guitarist, you most likely have a different view and are saying to yourself: “of course I can play the bass, its just a guitar with less strings- which actually makes it an inferior instrument. Why do you think guitarists always get the solos anyway?!”.

Guitarists- Don’t do Guitar Solos on Bass!

Sadly, this is how many guitarists attempt to “play” the bass- they think that if they just widdle away (with a pick!) on the bass with a few guitar solo licks everyone will worship them and hail them as the next Cliff Burton or Jaco Pastorious…which, to be honest is what some guitarists try to do with the guitar alot of the time…( replace Cliff Burton etc… with Steve Vai etc…).

Firstly, I have to point out that when I say it will help your guitar playing, what I really mean is it will help your guitar technique- you won’t get anything remotely musical from using a pick and transferring your guitar solos on to the bass. Its just not the same instrument.

Strengthen Your Hands

So how can playing the bass improve your guitar playing? Because to play the bass you use the same muscles in your hand, but it uses more strength. If you play the bass it will strengthen your hands and fingers, so that when you go back to playing the guitar it will feel even more effortless! Just think about it, you will be able to play larger stretches and faster lead lines than before, all with almost no effort or tension in your hands! You could play seemingly difficult songs while looking totally calm- and no doubt “wowing” whichever audience you choose!

Lets Forget Elitism

So that’s great, but I can still hear you bassists screaming out “…but guitarists can’t play bass, that’s our job!”. Now, I want you to think about this: its also beneficial for you bassists to learn the guitar. That’s right, you heard me. Why? How can that be the case? See this is where the heart of the problem is, we get so caught up in “I’m a bassist” or “I’m a guitarist”, that we can never fully appreciate what the other instrument is doing. I’m suggesting that we forget this “instrumentalist elitism” that seems to plague many of us, and take the change to learn what exactly the other instruments are doing.

Imagine this: A group of mates decide they’re into all the same styles of music. One of them happens to be a bassist, another a guitarist, and another is a drummer (we’ll talk about vocalists another time…). Now, put yourself in the position of one of the band members (depending on which instrument you play). You’ve been working on your craft for years, practicing for hours, even days at a time- and this is going to be your chance to show that off to the world, your chance at fame. The problem is, everyone has arrived with the same mindset- the guitarist is going for a solo every other bar, the drummer is playing 20 notes in the space of 4 quarter notes with a crazy swing feel, and the bassist is flying up and down every scale and arpeggio he knows- because they all want to show off the best of their ability.

How do you think that band now sounds?

Each person is playing a different thing. Imagine being the listener, what do you hear? Trust me, unless you’re a fan of extreme Jazz- not much! Just a mixture of different noises which probably aren’t even in the same key!

Working Together

Lets be serious about this, bands need to work together, and if the guitarist has no idea what everyone else is doing, he is just likely to widdle over the rest of the band. So this is the other main way that playing the bass will help your guitar playing (or even that guitar playing will help your bass playing!),because you will actually learn what it is that a bassist is supposed to play in a band context- and trust me, it has nothing to do with alternate picking at 200bpm…*shock!*

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April 1, 2010 at 11:00 pm | Guitar Technique and Exercises, Practicing and Practice Routine | 1 comment