How many guitarists have a bass?

[RobF]

I play bass with a 'garage band' with either Epi EB0 with 30k retrovibe pup,  A chowny short scale semi or a Retrovibe LPJ style. All with flats. The two guitarists are far more experienced than me on treble sticks so I keep them in time on the bass.

Guitars include Yamaha SA2200, PRS SE  Hollowbody 2 piezo, Retrovibe tele with Ironstone pups and Sigma acoustic. Currently building an aluminium telecaster. 

 

[Si600]

On 06/03/2020 at 14:04, EdwardMarlowe said:

I'm interested to hear about why those who are primarily basssists havearange of basses - or not. As primarily a crap guitar player who also enjoys playing bass badly, I find the only bass I really am interested in is a P bass - the traditional, one-pickup job. 

I have a traditional one-pickup job P-Bass, albeit a 5er. It's the bass that I use in the band and when it's home it's my go to. As it lives in the rehearsal room I've got my first 5er at home, an Aria Pro II P-J Bass with EMGs. They sound totally different as you would expect. I've also got a build in planning stages for use in the band as an alternative to the P. There are a few songs where I want something different sounding.

Guitar wise, I'm not sure whether I mentioned them or not, a superstrat HSH, Floyd rose, pointy headstock and a Squier Affinity Tele. Both completely different animals.

[Matt P]

I am one of the Basschat posse that has joined in on this site but i started as a guitarist and only took up bass when i was at uni, i turned up with guitars and amps and joined the christian union and a local church and offered my services, at the same time i met a drummer (still one of my best mates, best man at my wedding and also member of my current band) i also met a guy that introduced himself as a bassist, what he didn't mention was that he was also a fantastic guitarist, we all ended up playing together and on our first appearance in the church band he ended up playing my electric guitar and i played his bass (a lovely mex precison deluxe p-j with the anodized gold scratchplate), everyone assumed that i was a bassist and as they was a shortage of bassists i was asked to play more often, i spent a couple of years borrowing basses so that i could play on a sunday before i got my first bass (actually swapped an acoustic guitar for it)

i have more guitars than basses and the current tally is 5 electric guitars, 3 acoustic guitars and 5 bass guitars, (plus EUB, U-bass, Banjo, ukulele and banjolele)

I try and play as much guitar as i can but Bass always has held a fascination for me, i actually set out to play bass but the local music shop didn't have anything that caught my eye and there was this graeat looking red superstrat hanging there so that's what i bought (and still have)

 

Matt

 

[Jazz Club]

Just playing 20 minutes a day every day for two months will sort out if you can Play or not!!

[Kenderstrat]

I have 3 bases and 33 Guitars, I did play base in a band in the 70's but also played Guitar on a lot of numbers, my jam members swap Guitars, Bases, Keyboards and Drums, we play pretty much anything, well we did before lockdown

[Kiwi]

39 minutes ago, Kenderstrat said:

I have 3 bases and 33 Guitars, I did play base in a band in the 70's but also played Guitar on a lot of numbers, my jam members swap Guitars, Bases, Keyboards and Drums, we play pretty much anything, well we did before lockdown

Any pics of your planks?

[jazzyvee]

I started out playing guitar and now have more basses than guitars but then I do more bass gigs than guitar gigs, probably done about 1/2 dozen guitar gigs in the last 4 years.

 

[ezbass]

4 guitars and 4 basses at chez Ez. Bass is my primary instrument, so they’re the expensive axes.

[c_tecks]

I own 10 electric guitars and one 5 string bass.

I bought the bass to be able to record some bass on my music.

Not really into playing bass that much, perhaps because I just don't find enough time to do it, I'd like to focus on other things.

Still, it's definitely a great instrument if you really dig into its specific techniques such as slapping.

[Dad3353]

1 hour ago, c_tecks said:

...Still, it's definitely a great instrument if you really dig into its specific techniques such as slapping.

[violetelectric]

I recently bought my first bass as a guitarist, been playing my brothers for a year or more and recording tracks with it. Now i've got my own I think bass is even more of beautiful instrument than I did before.

[Richie Rich]

I play for a church and I switch between bass (my main instrument) and acoustic guitar (my backup), I own 3 basses (2 electric and 1 electro-acoustic) and 4 guitars (2 electric, 1 acoustic and 1 electro-acoustic) and a cajon.  I always thought of myself as a bassist but now that I own more guitars than basses and I play more acoustic guitar in church than I play bass, I now simply think of myself as a musician.

There are kids in our church Worship Team that play multiple instruments and put most adults to shame, one plays drums, bass, keyboards and flute.

If you fancy playing something, have a go, give it a try and embrace music as a whole.

[Stub Mandrel]

On 06/03/2020 at 13:04, EdwardMarlowe said:

I'm interested to hear about why those who are primarily basssists havearange of basses - or not. ... Inmy experience, bassists always seemed to be more satisfied with a smaller number of specialised basses than would be the case for guitar players, but I wonder if I'm wrong on that?

Err... I think we should break it to him gently lads.

[EdwardMarlowe]

20 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Err... I think we should break it to him gently lads.

Funnily enough, I'm a guitar player primarily who dabbles with bass - I joined basschat before I signed up here, but I post here far more.  

I have something in the region of a dozen guitars and have probably owned 15 or so altogether over the last 30 years. I've got three basses - a Squier Precision Special (a hybrid with a J neck, P body, and P J pickup arrangement), a Brandoni 62 spec P type Bass, and a rare, early natural finish Westone Thunder IA, all lefty. I have over the years discovered that the only bass that really bites me is a p bass. I'm intending to sell the Squier and the Westone. Eventually I'd like to buy a Fender Player P Bass in tidepool. If ever I got into playing out again, I might be tempted  to save my pennies for a Ric 4003 in midnight blue. 

I'm also going to sell most of my guitars and replace those with another Strat or two (aim at present, a Tidepool Player and a ShiJie in Daphne if I can try before I buy and like it), a Gretsch type and a non-cutaway archtop of some sort, likely a Godin.