Peace to all you bass folk

[bonzxylophone]

My friend is letting me borrow his pretty nice bass guitar. I never thought playing bass lines that sound so "simple" could be so hard to play. My index and middle finger are sore and so it my right forearm from the extra force I have to put into the strings and try to be precise and on time, and my left hand's fingers are all covered in tape due to the abuse these heavy bass strings put on my fingers. I can't wait to buy my own bass though, bass to me now is all about tone, most people don't play crazy high speed things on a bass (that's what a guitar is for) but the tone they portray is very important. Bass rocks, I love it, I believe playing it is going to improve my future song writing.

agh these fingers hurt. anyhow yeah, I'm must more appreciative of those good bass players out there, the good ones aren't just some tail of a good band, they're the air that fills the empty lungs of the band creature.

 

[ez_willis]

My index and middle finger are sore and so it my right forearm from the extra force I have to put into the strings and try to be precise and on time, and my left hand's fingers are all covered in tape due to the abuse these heavy bass strings put on my fingers.

I would love to see a picture of that.

Learning bass will help you with your songwriting, as well as with your musical ability in general. It will help you understand the importance of timing better, it helps with writing melodies around other parts, and the notes that compliment guitar chords and vocal parts. After a few months of abuse, you won't even notice the pain anymore.

 

[Rokket]

Bass was my first love, guitar second....

I can play bass far better than I can any guitar. But ez_willis is right, learning can help you improve your songwriting. You will understand more about groove, and the strength in a good beat.

Welcome to my world!

 

[acidrock]

I'm a guitar player who loves playing bass!Although I'm not very good at it.
When I started playing bass I learned that sometimes it's harder to play one note than a bunch.

 

[bongolation]

Uh...what was the question?

 

[Halion]

<- bassman right here. A tip: if you turn your amp up further, and attack your strings softer (alot softer), you can still get a very nice sound without the self-torture. You don't need to attack some guitar players need. Jaco Pastorius, on of the worlds most renowned bassplayer played very softly, with his strings very close on the fretboard, and still got a killer tone.