Why Guitarists Should Also Play the Bass (Part 1 of 2)

Paul McCartney on Bass

The strings of the four string bass guitar are the same as the lowest four strings on the six string guitar (E - A - D - G - B - E) but the bass is one octave lower. This frequently leads guitarists to "assume" they can play the bass = not necessarily.

Here are some reasons I recommend guitarists learn the bass:

1. Learning proper right hand technique can also be used on the guitar (this way if you lose your pick you don't have to cancel the show) and is quite challenging which has innate value.
2.  Embarking on the endeavor of learning the bass increases the odds you'll begin to listen to bass lines and bass players with greater discernment which will help your overall music IQ.
3.  Studying and writing bass lines can be incorporated into your guitar playing, for example, you may have played A - D - E a million times but never with a walking bass line.
4. Writing creative, interesting bass lines requires a good command of chord and key theory so even if a bassist never plays chords or even double stops the knowledge that informed his bass lines, if analyzed can reverberate back to his guitar playing.

Stay tuned for part 2 of this article soon...

Eric

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