Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Afghan Dave on January 11, 2012, 04:26:10 PM

Title: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Afghan Dave on January 11, 2012, 04:26:10 PM
How many other people are a bit "Bi" on this board?

I started on electrics by playing Bass then moved to guitars yet now I find myself playing and appreciating bass more and more the way I used to.

I love my guitars but I feel I might have been living a costly lie... or is this a phase?

 PDT_036



Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Philly Q on January 11, 2012, 04:52:07 PM
I have owned a few basses over the years but never got any further, playing-wise, than I have on guitar.... i.e. not very far at all.  :|

I find bass physically quite hard work, but the benefit is that the guitar feels tiny, and much easier to play, when you go back to it!

Don't have one at the moment, I sold my Precision just before Christmas.
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: gwEm on January 11, 2012, 04:53:43 PM
I have an 80s Hohner Steinberger copy I use for recording. Its a fun instrument, but I suck ;)
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Front Towards Enemy on January 11, 2012, 05:21:48 PM
I play the bass a bit. Nothing fancy though. I fingerpick only and I like to play something relatively slow and groovy in the Muse-like style. :) I have a MIJ'93 4-string SDGR LE by Ibanez.
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: AndyR on January 11, 2012, 06:27:10 PM
Bi's not enough for me :lol:

I started off as a singer, chorister at first, but then around 14 years old I wanted to sing pop/rock stuff.

Obviously, no b@stard was going to accompany me, so I figured I needed to play guitar. I started with acoustic, and that started me writing songs almost immediately.

I switched to electric to play rock/blues. I spent an awful lot of time teaching bass-players bass-lines to my songs, and then when they got any good they wouldn't play the bluddy notes for the harmony I wanted.

Then I ended up with a gig in a church worship band as a bassist for a few years. I thought I'd just sit at the back and keep my head down, but I discovered that bassists are far more important than most of us guitarists are! (don't tell them though, the b@stards :lol:)

Since then, with home recording, I've ended up teaching myself the piano and double-bass.

Piano's the only thing I wouldn't be comfortable playing in a gig situation.

I tried harmonica once, flute, and clarinet for a bit, but I couldn't face the amount of effort it was going to take for what it would give me.

I still want to get a drum-kit one day... :roll:

If anyone asks me though, I'm not a guitarist or a bassist or whatever... I'm a singer-songwriter

Anyway, Dave, I know exactly what you mean about bass - when you get into it as an instrument (rather than "oh we need some bass on this"), it can be a lot more satisfying than the six-string beastie we seem to be sticking so much money into :lol:
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Afghan Dave on January 11, 2012, 06:44:00 PM
...I know exactly what you mean about bass - when you get into it as an instrument (rather than "oh we need some bass on this"), it can be a lot more satisfying than the six-string beastie we seem to be sticking so much money into :lol:

The love that dare not speak its name... it just "feels so good"  :o :P
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: AndyR on January 11, 2012, 06:53:46 PM
:lol:
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Mr. Air on January 11, 2012, 07:36:53 PM
I play a bit of bass, but I really suck at it. I like though but almost everything I do on it is by intuition as I have no theoretical or technical knowledge of the instrument (not that I have much on the guitar either).

I actually started out playing drums, but never stuck around so I'm pretty worthless behind the kit. I guess two quarters would make me semi "bi"  :D
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Frank on January 11, 2012, 08:31:17 PM
I went through a phase ... bought myself a Jazz Bass and a Trace Elliot, pretty good fun making the floor shake with that.
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: MrBump on January 11, 2012, 09:06:14 PM
I love playing bass, but I sold my last one at a car boot sale - it was cheap and nasty.

There's no such thing as "guitar" or "bass" - it's a sliding scale.  You 7 stringers and baritone players are the guitar equivalent of bi-curious.
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Kiichi on January 11, 2012, 09:41:17 PM
Yeah, I play a bit off bass myself aswell. Not good at all, but it really can be fun.
I do not play electric bass though, I got myself an Ibanez accoustic bass. Really a lot of fun and it helps me with songwriting (I like to build from the base to the melody rather often).

Also there is nothing like slapping a nice warm bottom.
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: MDV on January 11, 2012, 10:02:36 PM
Only when I have to be (recording)
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Sifu Ben on January 11, 2012, 11:12:44 PM
I experimented as a teenager.........
(not really, I just wanted to say that!  :lol: )
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: HTH AMPS on January 12, 2012, 12:10:07 AM
I do like to play bass every now and again, though never done it in a band yet - thats the next step, just for the craik.  Would be nice to sit back and just lock in the groove.  Trouble is, being a guitarist I'd end up being uber-critical of whoever was playing guitar  :(

Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Thrull on January 12, 2012, 12:18:00 AM
I am, I started out playing bass, switched to mainly guitar about 6 years ago. Truth is I 'm a much better bass player though haha. I still play bass quite a lot though, enough to start making this

(http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m54/Necrite_ist_Krieg/tn.jpg)

started out as these two

(http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m54/Necrite_ist_Krieg/2011-03-03151845.jpg)
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: viking on January 12, 2012, 12:56:51 AM
Oh yeah.... :)! I just LOVE the bass,always did...My first electric guitar was a Hofner Bass i bought for the amp (my god,it was a Dynacord head with a Echolette 2x12 :))!But it's a problem for me as i started learning the classical guitar first and you really need solid nails to play classical.Even with the electric guitar,i had to change my technique and start using a pick,like most,because steel strings were bad for my nails !So,i do the same with bass but it's a shame because i really do prefer the fingers,not only to slam it but there are nice sophisticated techniques that require to use the fingers.. :( Anyways,there are so many different guitar types & styles to explore already.. 8)
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: nfe on January 12, 2012, 06:27:23 AM
I play bass live in one band and on recordings for another three.
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Transcend on January 12, 2012, 06:37:32 AM
I started out on drums but back then nobody wanted a drummer back then....everyone wanted guitarists

so i took up guitar and now everyone wants a drummer but i dont have enough space for a kit and ive put too much damned money into guitar.

I also play bass very grudgingly when i have to on recordings
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Roobubba on January 12, 2012, 01:18:09 PM
Bi-curious here... I've borrowed our bassist's spare ibanez 5-string which I'm using for recording. Actually seem to be enjoying the bass a bit more than the guitar these days, though I'm not really a proper guitarist anyway.

Roo
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: PhilKing on January 12, 2012, 02:18:33 PM
I've played both bass & guitar in bands through the years.  I enjoy both and don't mind switching.  I have 4 & 5 string basses, which also adds a different slant to bass playing.  I tend to play bass with my fingers and guitar with a pick, though I have been playing more guitar with my fingers recently (I've always played acoustic with both fingers and pick).   I have an interesting twin neck on the way too - bass & 12 string.  I also play keyboard badly!
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Philly Q on January 12, 2012, 02:30:12 PM
I have an interesting twin neck on the way too - bass & 12 string.  

Mike Rutherford!  :D
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Ian Price on January 12, 2012, 02:33:18 PM
Bi's not enough for me :lol:

I started off as a singer, chorister at first, but then around 14 years old I wanted to sing pop/rock stuff.

Obviously, no b@stard was going to accompany me, so I figured I needed to play guitar. I started with acoustic, and that started me writing songs almost immediately.

I switched to electric to play rock/blues. I spent an awful lot of time teaching bass-players bass-lines to my songs, and then when they got any good they wouldn't play the bluddy notes for the harmony I wanted.

Then I ended up with a gig in a church worship band as a bassist for a few years. I thought I'd just sit at the back and keep my head down, but I discovered that bassists are far more important than most of us guitarists are! (don't tell them though, the b@stards :lol:)

Since then, with home recording, I've ended up teaching myself the piano and double-bass.

Piano's the only thing I wouldn't be comfortable playing in a gig situation.

I tried harmonica once, flute, and clarinet for a bit, but I couldn't face the amount of effort it was going to take for what it would give me.

I still want to get a drum-kit one day... :roll:

If anyone asks me though, I'm not a guitarist or a bassist or whatever... I'm a singer-songwriter

Anyway, Dave, I know exactly what you mean about bass - when you get into it as an instrument (rather than "oh we need some bass on this"), it can be a lot more satisfying than the six-string beastie we seem to be sticking so much money into :lol:

So what you're saying is that you are pretty much the BKP forum answer to Prince. Right?  :D
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Philly Q on January 12, 2012, 02:42:05 PM
Bi's not enough for me :lol:

I started off as a singer, chorister at first, but then around 14 years old I wanted to sing pop/rock stuff.

Obviously, no b@stard was going to accompany me, so I figured I needed to play guitar. I started with acoustic, and that started me writing songs almost immediately.

I switched to electric to play rock/blues. I spent an awful lot of time teaching bass-players bass-lines to my songs, and then when they got any good they wouldn't play the bluddy notes for the harmony I wanted.

Then I ended up with a gig in a church worship band as a bassist for a few years. I thought I'd just sit at the back and keep my head down, but I discovered that bassists are far more important than most of us guitarists are! (don't tell them though, the b@stards :lol:)

Since then, with home recording, I've ended up teaching myself the piano and double-bass.

Piano's the only thing I wouldn't be comfortable playing in a gig situation.

I tried harmonica once, flute, and clarinet for a bit, but I couldn't face the amount of effort it was going to take for what it would give me.

I still want to get a drum-kit one day... :roll:

If anyone asks me though, I'm not a guitarist or a bassist or whatever... I'm a singer-songwriter

Anyway, Dave, I know exactly what you mean about bass - when you get into it as an instrument (rather than "oh we need some bass on this"), it can be a lot more satisfying than the six-string beastie we seem to be sticking so much money into :lol:

So what you're saying is that you are pretty much the BKP forum answer to Prince. Right?  :D

Oh maybe Roy Castle....?  :P
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Ian Price on January 12, 2012, 02:45:08 PM
I'm not really a proper guitarist anyway.

Oh, we all knew that. You need to have played a Tele to be considered a proper guitarist.  :D

Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Elliot on January 12, 2012, 03:37:47 PM
I have a bass (only a Squier) and can play easy things like Money and Come As You Are on it.  But like the guitar I am never going to be any good on it.
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Roobubba on January 12, 2012, 04:15:20 PM
I'm not really a proper guitarist anyway.

Oh, we all knew that. You need to have played a Tele to be considered a proper guitarist raving homosexual.  :D



Fixed ;)
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: 38thBeatle on January 12, 2012, 06:47:59 PM
I would consider myself to be a bassist turned guitarist.  I have been known to show the bass player in my band how to play stuff. I feel far more competent on bass having had a great teacher (Roo's mate).
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: AndyR on January 12, 2012, 08:36:36 PM

So what you're saying is that you are pretty much the BKP forum answer to Prince. Right?  :D

Oh maybe Roy Castle....?  :P

:lol:

Nah, can't get a note out of a trumpet - wasn't that his main instrument? (I can't dance either)
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Afghan Dave on January 12, 2012, 09:59:57 PM

So what you're saying is that you are pretty much the BKP forum answer to Prince. Right?  :D

Oh maybe Roy Castle....?  :P

:lol:

Nah, can't get a note out of a trumpet - wasn't that his main instrument? (I can't dance either)

Didication.. that's what you need.  :lol: :lol:
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Philly Q on January 12, 2012, 11:09:10 PM

So what you're saying is that you are pretty much the BKP forum answer to Prince. Right?  :D

Oh maybe Roy Castle....?  :P

:lol:

Nah, can't get a note out of a trumpet - wasn't that his main instrument? (I can't dance either)

Yeah, but at one point he held the record as "most versatile musician in the world"!  Which must have been right, because Norris McWhirter was there...

(Admittedly, that included a lot of things like washboards and lengths of hose with a funnel at the end....)
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: AndyR on January 12, 2012, 11:41:45 PM
Sounds like you watched (or remember) Record Breakers more than I did :lol:

My image of Roy Castle is always Carry on up the Khyber nowadays - that's the first thing I thought of when I read the post above :lol:
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Philly Q on January 12, 2012, 11:44:40 PM
My image of Roy Castle is always Carry on up the Khyber nowadays - that's the first thing I thought of when I read the post above :lol:

At least it's one of the best Carry Ons!  :D
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: AndyR on January 12, 2012, 11:52:52 PM
Agreed, but we don't watch it very often (same as Cleo), probably because we've seen it so often (we have all of them except the ill-conceived one a decade or so later with all the current right-on comedians of the time). My favourites at the moment are "At your convenience" (which was apparently a flop because they didn't realise their core audience would not dig a pop at trade unions at the time) "Abroad", and "Don't Lose your head".

... this might seem like a monumental thread de-rail... but I feel that discussing Carry On films is, er, carrying on the "snicker, snicker" spirit of Afghan Dave's original post :lol:
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Philly Q on January 13, 2012, 12:27:05 AM
I think my favourites would have to be the aforementioned "...Up The Khyber", "...Cleo", "...Spying", "...Cruising" (just love the bit where Dilys Laye says "Her-cu-lees!" about the physical trainer bloke  :lol: ) and, best of all, "Carry On Screaming!" - I think Harry H. Corbett is brilliant, even though the role was obviously meant for Sid James.

I like nearly all of them really, although the quality tailed off a bit in the '70s, especially the last few films.
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Afghan Dave on January 13, 2012, 01:37:03 AM
Definitely "...Up The Khyber", "...Cleo" for me... both fantastic.  :P
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: AndyR on January 13, 2012, 11:49:23 AM
I feel a bit of a Khyber or Cleo coming on tonight... :D

Although, Screaming is one of Mrs R's favourites... "Frying tonight!!"
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Afghan Dave on January 13, 2012, 12:42:59 PM
Love Khyber...

"Fakir - off!"    Genius :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Roobubba on January 13, 2012, 04:53:50 PM
Yup, that is quite a derailment!
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Afghan Dave on January 13, 2012, 04:56:40 PM
If you stumble into this forum God alone only knows what you would think...  :? :)
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: darkbluemurder on January 13, 2012, 05:00:53 PM
I used to play bass in my first band, and in a later band I sat in for our bass player in a pinch for one gig while he was abroad. But I had to practice the songs for two weeks each day - as Philly mentioned it is physically quite harder than playing guitar.

I also played Dobro for four years in a Bluegrass band.

I started playing violin as a child before picking up the guitar.

I still have a mandolin but to say I play it is a blatant exaggeration - I fight it more or less, and most of the times the mandolin comes out winning ...

Cheers Stephan
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Oli on January 13, 2012, 06:41:45 PM
A few years ago I built myself a bass, and really enjoy picking it up-- strangely I don't really like playing the same things as I do with guitar... I'd quite like to play bass in an R&B style band, which is not hugely.... me :)
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: Philly Q on January 13, 2012, 06:53:53 PM
-- strangely I don't really like playing the same things as I do with guitar... I'd quite like to play bass in an R&B style band, which is not hugely.... me :)

Do you not find that with guitar as well though?

I would love to be able to play jazz and country, even though I don't particularly enjoy listening to either!
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: AndyR on January 13, 2012, 07:00:44 PM
Hey! Some people are trying to get the thread back on track - wot r u doing?! :lol:

Well, Mrs R says "Screaming" would be good, but she wouldn't mind "Khyber" either... not "Cleo" tonight though...

A few years ago I built myself a bass, and really enjoy picking it up-- strangely I don't really like playing the same things as I do with guitar... I'd quite like to play bass in an R&B style band, which is not hugely.... me :)

Same here on bass for me - I use it to get myself away from my usual blues/rock noodlings.

I'd recommend that any guitarist gives bass a go - explore bass-lines from songs you like but have never paid much attention to what the bassist is doing. It's a real eye-opener if you've never tried it. It's even better if you can play bass "for real" in a band, even if it's only a rehearsal/jam, you suddenly find out a whole bunch of what it's about when it's a decent volume and you feel the interraction with the rest of the band.
Title: Re: Bass - Are you Bi-instrumental too..
Post by: AndyR on January 13, 2012, 07:05:43 PM
-- strangely I don't really like playing the same things as I do with guitar... I'd quite like to play bass in an R&B style band, which is not hugely.... me :)

Do you not find that with guitar as well though?

I would love to be able to play jazz and country, even though I don't particularly enjoy listening to either!

I think on the RnB front, it's what the bassist does that makes the music interesting. He/she has the groove and feel and often the melodic counterpoint to the lead line. The guitar/whatever is important, but not that exciting (although it does feel good when you play minimal guitar in a grooving combo - it's just not what most of us widdlers are fiddling with and dreaming of all the time!).