I firmly believe that if you are a bad guitarist you're not going to be much of a bass player, and vice versa. Lets face it,there are bass players out there that are bad bass players. I have always felt the two instruments should not be compared as far as how they should be played because they serve different purposes.In my years of playing I have met many of guitarist who thought they could play bass. Not by my standards! And if i had a dollar for everytime I heard some jackass say playing bass was easy because it "only has four strings" I wouldn't have to go to work everyday! In closing I believe no matter what instrument you play you've got to put time and effort into improving yourself. Do you think Geddy Lee cares if he can't play guitar?

Which is why I can't stand a Bass being called a Bass Guitar...they're different instruments, period!

1. No. Flea is a god on the bass but can pick up a guitar and jam out like no other. I could name a ton of others but in general if your a good bassist you'll be a good guitarist and vice versa. If you suck you'll suck no matter what you play.

2. Yes. But theres not much the bass can do when the guitarist is throwing them nothing but powerchords.


And to Shireen who said his bass teacher told him not to go into solos... A great bassist can hold almost an entire song on his own, like "By The Way" by the chili peppers and many other of their songs.

Most of the people ive jammed with that play guitar are really good and can go places with their music, but if i let them pick up my bass and play something they know on the guitar and theyll emediately say theyre better than me on bass. It makes no sense because they are similar but different in many different ways and you can pick up a bass play a guitar riff on it and say youre a bassist

Try playing with grown-ups Michael.
They don't go round saying 'I'm better than you'.

1) I'd say that most bass players are enlightend drummers. ;)

2) Just like anything in this world there are the good, the bad, and the ugly.

My thoughts on this is if Im the bass player what the f*** does it matter if I can play guitar or not. (which I can enough to write songs and entertain myself). I chose the bass cause thats what I want to do and the bottom end moves me. If your playing bass cuz you cant cut it on guitar then you are only hurting yourself. You will never achieve what your capable of on either because your hearts not in the bass playing. You should be playing what you want to play and if you suck....then put your heart and mind into learning and practicing more on what you love

in responce to a few of the "how can you play good bass if all the guitarist does is play powerchords" argument....listen to some heavy metal people!! Power chords have been a MAJOR part of metal since...uhm...oh..ALWAYS! Yet there has still been some VERY nice basslines that run str8 through them! Power riffs are no excuse for playing bad bass, lack of practice is. If nu-bassists don't want to put in the time it takes to go beyond the "so simple it hurts my brain" style..fine, but thats THEIR fault, not the guitarists i think!

two totally different instruments, but bass players usually can play guitar very good, while guitarrists suck when they pick up the bass...

i agree with almost all of you. i was just wondering about other bass players opinions. i think my bass lines sound bad on guitar and i always dislike(not enough to hate)when guitar players play bass like a guitar and think they are great. i hate when people say 4 is easier because i think you can always advance with any intrument forever. if any of you listen to metal you should hear some of mudvayne. I am not talking about dig either. Behind appearece and paint and what ever there bass player and drummer are great. the guitarist and singer are really good song writers too. But they dont really do anything fancy.

ryan martinie is THE bassist in the whole nu-metal scene. the man knows his instrument like a monkey knows his banana. great role model for all the kids who play bass, but arent into all the technical jazz and other stuff.