OT: Thinking about guitar

[SteveC]

My wife has a Taylor 412ce - like you say, expensive, but worth it. It puts my Ovation to shame in ease of playing. I haven't done much lately with either bass or guitar - needed more time on keys; but I don't regret any of the time I've spent on any of the instruments - still so much more to learn. A different type of instrument leads a person to play in a different manner, and some of the learning spills over to the other instruments.

 

From what I was able to play locally, there is no comparison in playability. Taylor owns it for me over everything. Yeah, expensive, some say overpriced, but it feels good and sounds great so...

 

I'm hoping that working on guitar will open up something lost, forgotten or new on bass. Not only do I want to get decent on guitar, but I'm hoping for the "spillover" you mention as well on bass.

 

Still need to buy a bass. I'm thinking the Geddy Lee that I am using (I believe it will be sold to me but the owner is waffling) is really nice. I have talked myself out of it before with the usual it's too this or that for this or that gig, but I like the sound and feel so I think I need to just play it and deal with the rest. A little experimenting with right hand placement and maybe a little EQ'ing should help it fit in on most gigs I would think.

[Eric VB]

Steve, it sounds like you are enjoying your new guitar. I enjoy playing mine as well.

 

Remember, you only need to learn 3 chords to start writing songs! Enjoy!

 

Sharing music with the fam sounds like a great way to "two birds/one stone" your two loves.

 

There's always the possibility you could get to the point where you sang while playing. (You may need this for your songwriting, anyway.)

 

Either way you (and the family) could start with open mics and when you build up your repertoire: solo (or not) acoustic shows.

 

Playing guitar makes some activities easier.

[Mark Schmieder]

I "learned" guitar before bass, but consider myself incompetent on the instrument because most people care about lead guitar and that's the one thing I never studied (I studied classical guitar, jazz guitar, folk guitar, and a bit of rhythm guitar).

 

I am trying to pick it up seriously, finally, as I have three close friends who come over several times a week and whom I get to watch closely and try to learn from. But the biggest challenge for me is how to properly use a plectrum; it isn't the same as on the bass guitar. Until I master fast/smooth picking, I will continue to feel that I am an utter incompetent.

 

Having said that, my advanced stage of bass playing has improved my ability to hear the nuances of what each little change in posture, picking force, fingering position and strength, etc., does to the sound. But what I really want to learn how to do is those chicken pickin' lines, which I think involve palm muting.

 

At any rate, learning rhythm guitar first is probably a good move, and may relate (in some ways) more closely to how the guitar and bass play together than focusing first on lead. Also, by learning your chord theory first, you'll have mental images in your head as you start trying out lead solos later on.

[b5pilot]

Kudos on the Taylor! I've played a few and found them very nice playing and sounding.

 

I used to have a Guild D-35 that I had hot dots installed into. That was also a great acoustic. I'm still kicking myself for being stupid enough to trade it away.

[Mark Schmieder]

I recently compared my Taylor Auditorium vs. a Guild D35 like the one I once owned and against the highest end Gibson Songwriter acoustics, and came away feeling the Taylor had the most depth and expression as well as the most natural woody warmth in the tone.

[SteveC]

I am liking the Taylor. A great purchase. I have learned a few "3 chord" tunes and a couple things my daughter likes. I need to learn the bridge to "Tears In Heaven" but I have the rest down pretty good. It's hard.

[Chad Thorne]

Some don't like to acknowledge it, but the "electric bass" is really an "electric bass guitar" (if you don't believe me, ask Leo fender). So moving to a 6-string is not such a big jump. And IME, the more instruments you play even a little bit of helps your playing and your musicality on all of them.

 

The first thing you'll need to learn is the intro to EVH's "Eruption..."

[SteveC]

The first thing you'll need to learn is the intro to EVH's "Eruption..."

 

Don't think that will work too well on an acoustic...I'm enjoying the change/challenge, though.

[jeremy c]

Learn Angie by Bert Jansch?

 

[video:youtube]

[SteveC]

Learn Angie by Bert Jansch?

 

[video:youtube]

 

I'm having a hard enough time with Tears in Heaven.

[plangentmusic]

I think it's a must. I found early on that most any decent lead guitar player could play better solos on a bass than most bass players. Why? Because it's what they do! Also, for songwriting purposes a bass is simply too limiting. I won;t mention any names but some well respected bassists have solo albums that are just bass riffs and it's kinda lame.

 

I don't even know any songs on guitar and couldn't play a wedding gig -- I use it for my own purposes, recording and artistic expression. Thesecond link below gives some examples

[Mark Schmieder]

Um, I have to strongly disagree with that statement.

 

What I HAVE noticed, however, is that guitarists often are better/faster/smoother pickers on bass than bassists are (if the bassist is primarily a finger picker). Not the same thing though.

 

I had to suffer countless guitarists with superiority complexes when I lived in the Boston area. They looked down on bassists as inferior and stupid since the bass "only has four strings", and wrote bass parts for the bassists in almost every band I was in or approached. Too bad the parts sucked, as they were effectively octave-transposed guitar parts. Most guitarists haven't a clue about the role of the bass in a band.

[plangentmusic]

Um, I have to strongly disagree with that statement.

 

What I HAVE noticed, however, is that guitarists often are better/faster/smoother pickers on bass than bassists are (if the bassist is primarily a finger picker). Not the same thing though.

 

I had to suffer countless guitarists with superiority complexes when I lived in the Boston area. They looked down on bassists as inferior and stupid since the bass "only has four strings", and wrote bass parts for the bassists in almost every band I was in or approached. Too bad the parts sucked, as they were effectively octave-transposed guitar parts. Most guitarists haven't a clue about the role of the bass in a band.

 

That's a separate issue. Guitarists who are serious musicians (not rock and roll guitar owners) know that bass is also about voice leading and groove and proper counterpoint and melodic movement and ideas and not just mirroring the guitar with one note. if that's what they think they probably play pretty simple music. But skilled guitar soloists, even if they can't "play traditional bass" tend to have better solo chops than a lot of bass players. That doesn't make them better at playing the bass. Just that one aspect. Point being -- learn some guitar soloing and you'll be a better bass soloist.

[Mark Schmieder]

It's hard for me to know as it's a general statement that applies across the board. I was a woodwind soloist (and piano soloist) WAY before picking up the bass, even considering that I never really tackled guitar solos until recently.

 

So I think the better statement is that learning another instrument and how it functions as a solo instrument brings insight into how to solo on an instrument such as bass that is normally in a primarily supportive role.

 

The irony is that my soloing skills have improved 1000% in the past two years since getting back into jazz, almost primarily due to my dropping all other instruments during this period of hyper-focus. So I am now going the other direction and taking my new-found sense of soloing back to guitar and woodwinds. :-)