If you learn to play the acoustic guitar, do you need to start all over again to learn the bass?
acoustic guitar November 9th, 2009I plan to learn how to play the acoustic guitar but I want to play other guitars, mostly the bass and funk guitar. Do you need to learn all over again? How different, except for structure and sound are guitars?
Not very different at all. The main difference between an acoustic guitar and an electric bass is the way that you strike the strings in the right hand. On an acoustic, you can strum with your fingers, or more commonly with a pick; on the bass, however, you generally pluck the strings upward- no "strum" is involved, usually. The left hand (or hand that’s on the guitar neck, fretting the notes), is acting on the same premises that it always does. It may take some time for your left hand to acclimate to the width and weight of the bass strings, but the techniques between guitars are very similar.
Funk guitar is slightly different: while you still strum and and fret essentially the same way, the chord shapes and rhythms involved can be considerably more complex at first glance. Essentially- they’re just harder, lol. But, to answer your question completely: all guitars are played, really, with the same faculties. You strum strings, you fret notes, and you use a variety of techniques to effect the tone or quality of the sound. Depending on the style you choose, yes, you may have to learn some new techniques (Classical and Flamingo guitar take a considerable amount of finger dexterity, for instance), but most techniques are transferable to other guitars; furthermore, every style you pick up will become easier and easier because of the similarities. You can, for instance, perform "hammer-ons" and "pull-offs" on an acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric bass, mandolin, banjo, lute, etc, lol. Hopefully that answers some of your questions?
November 9th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Not very different at all. The main difference between an acoustic guitar and an electric bass is the way that you strike the strings in the right hand. On an acoustic, you can strum with your fingers, or more commonly with a pick; on the bass, however, you generally pluck the strings upward- no "strum" is involved, usually. The left hand (or hand that’s on the guitar neck, fretting the notes), is acting on the same premises that it always does. It may take some time for your left hand to acclimate to the width and weight of the bass strings, but the techniques between guitars are very similar.
Funk guitar is slightly different: while you still strum and and fret essentially the same way, the chord shapes and rhythms involved can be considerably more complex at first glance. Essentially- they’re just harder, lol. But, to answer your question completely: all guitars are played, really, with the same faculties. You strum strings, you fret notes, and you use a variety of techniques to effect the tone or quality of the sound. Depending on the style you choose, yes, you may have to learn some new techniques (Classical and Flamingo guitar take a considerable amount of finger dexterity, for instance), but most techniques are transferable to other guitars; furthermore, every style you pick up will become easier and easier because of the similarities. You can, for instance, perform "hammer-ons" and "pull-offs" on an acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric bass, mandolin, banjo, lute, etc, lol. Hopefully that answers some of your questions?
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I’m an experienced guitar student and have taught as well.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
No way. It’s all very similar. There are six strings on a guitar going from the top EADGBE. There are about 20 frets, which are the metal bars on the neck of the guitar where you place your non-playing hand. That gives you heaps of notes. Learn some chords or try some easy tab. Tablature is written music without the traditional notation e.g
E-0—————–
B-2—————–
G-2—————–
D-2—————–
A-x——————
E-x——————
That is an A chord. You place your fingers on fret two on the strings DGB and when you strum you only play the bottom four strings DGBE. The X means don’t strum and 0 means open string (you strum without holding your fingers on any frets on that string.)
Bass is similar to guitar but a lot easier to some degree because you play individual notes. Tab is the same. The notes (in standard tuning) are EADG and pretty much the same number or frets too. You just tend to play one string at a time though due to the thickness of the strings and the low frequency of the notes.
I reccomend you play guitar and try funk first within that seeing as it’s a style (you could play it on any guitar acoustic or electric.) Play to songs you like and just play what you feel. If you want to extend yourself and better your knowledge youtube has plenty of music teachers for free (Walt Ribiero is good) or you could get some lessons elsewhere.
Best wishes!
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November 9th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
You’ll have a head start def, some good players can pluck the strings and play fast like that, tbh I dont even know the term for it so I just call that style ‘walking’ because you play with the index and the middle finger of the right hand in a continuos motion, that looks sort of like you’re doing an impression of a match stick man walking across the table, I always found that the hardest way to learn to play, its easier to just put the tips of your thumb and forefinger together and sort of the strings with the fingernail, this makes more of a chugging sound whilst the other method sounds smoother, and better imo, which is why its worth learning
Funk bass is a whole new thing altogether, nothing like strumming an acoustic guitar, popping and slapping is the name of the technique and it involves wacking one string with the outside edge of your thumb on the downstroke – which is the ’slap’ – then really quickly sort of catching the other string with your forefinger on the upstroke which is the ‘pop’ , you need to get it so you dont catch it too tight, but just loose enough to let your finger come away from it without catching,
Anyway wont bore you too much with the details, but the bass guitar is very different from an acoustic, and you may find when you get used to playing one it feels wierd and unfamiliar when you play the other….on an acoustic you’ll be playing a lot of chords which are a sequence of strings, different notes that you strum together that harmonise with eachother to make a chord, and the bass you dont play chords, just single strings, which are much thicker, and at first it will tire the muscles in your hands and fingers
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amateur (very) musician of 12 years
November 9th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
not really i only have an acoustic guitar but i go and mess around on bass guitars at local shops and guitar center occasionally
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November 9th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
Bass is more of a rhythmic instrument that usually plays more of a supportive role to the guitar. There are exceptions to this, of course, where the bass almost leads the way & the guitar is relegated to rhythmic strumming.
If you know some guitar, bass isn’t that hard to pick up. Its almost an intuitive instrument. Meaning you can almost right away pluck away melodies by ear. For sure you don’t have to deal with chord shapes like you do with guitar since one doesn’t normally strum a bass. That written, its a good idea to learn how to build chords on the bass. By that I mean instead of struming a guitar so that all the chord’s notes ring simultaneously, if you pluck out the chord’s notes one at a time it’ll make the bassline to a particular song you’re playing a lot more supportive & give it depth than if you just played root, root, root notes.
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bassist
November 9th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
you need to start having bass lessons as well yes but thee isnt too much difference, you must remember that a bass is a bass, and acoustic is an acoustic, they may be similiar in the fact that they are both guitars but they are two different instruments! so remember that when you play!
hope i helped
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091021113514AAWePWU
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November 9th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
Scanning all the excellent answers so far, I just wanted to stress that playing bass is just like playing acoustic, except..the bass doesn’t have the two thinnest strings..the high E and B.
This is a simplified answer, but bass is just the last 4 strings of acoustic guitar…the G-D-A-and low E.
The last 4 strings of bass are the exact tuning of the last 4 strings of your acoustic guitar, so anything you can play on acoustic, can be transferred to bass. So, you’re off to a good start.
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47 years of guitar
November 9th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
only if you want to play funk bass then yes you will have to learn the technique known ass slap, which is completely different from acoustic guitar
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November 9th, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Stan and jo are correct. I learned guitar first and when I was stung by the funk bee I wanted to learn bass. All you have to do is get used to the "spread" between the frets, as well as, the proper plucking and muting techniques.
Notice that bass players don’t play chords hardly as often as guitar players do, so that makes the transition easier.
One last thing, there are less bassists than guitarists, so bass players can get more gigs and be in the band (or bands) of their choosing.
Keep spreading the funk.
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39 yrs. pro
http://www.guitar-for-real.com
November 9th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
I could write an essay like the first guy, but that’s ridiculous.
The thing about different types of guitars is the tension and type of strings. I learned on a classical guitar using medium-tension, nylon strings.
When learning to paly something with a higher/lower tension, your muscles need to learn how strong they need to pick the strings. So the technique is ALL the same, but the strumming/picking is different and CAN ONLY be learned through playing.
Its like learning a new song, you should have it down in about an hour.
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17 years old. 10+ years of experience. i’ve learned 14 songs in one day..memorized completely. "protoge"
November 9th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
I want to slightly object to all the answers out there. You can pick up some really nasty guitar habits and end up playing the bass very badly! That’s what I did.
A bass player – for starters – should follow the drum – the kick drum to be exact. The bass player should play the same thing throughout the song. The bass player should not start playing ‘lead’. The bass player should play at a relatively constant volume. The bass player should transition between sections and not rob the stage from the singer or lead guitar player.
Of course, if you are playing funk or metal funk, these rules don’t apply. Or ever types of jazz.
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