Bass. I’m deaf, have the hands of a 10 year old, and play bass professionally. I’m normally a session musician and play with a local blues band.
Seriously, if you want to be able to play something competently in a short period of time, it’s going to be a lot easier to play bass. You can build up more complex licks as you learn, but you can also play an awful lot of songs on one string with two fingers, too.
My equipment: I always spend money on good amps; I have all Ampeg heads (SVT IIpro, SVT IV, and B2R) and cabinets. My favorite bass is a $100 used ibanez EX series. My “good” bass is a Spector Q5string with active EMG pickups. I play the ibanez 10 times to the spector, or any of the others, really. I probably spent $150 on my first full rig, bass included.
I can play guitar too, but I can’t hear well enough to make anything of it. The level of dexterity required to play is a lot higher early on as it is for bass, so although I don’t find it harder to play, I did find it harder to learn how.
I’ll also throw in that I loooooooove a man who can play the bass well.
Ender_Will if your in collage, music will take you down another road, a hard fucking road. Answer to your question would be guitar, because you can play by yourself or with somebody.lol I, myself have PHD in rock N roll and can say stay in collage . Play for fun , by the time you learn, get a band together,then get your band tight you’ll be old man. Good luck!
I will say that if your main intent is to play loud rock and roll, then you should go direct for electric kit. I’d also recommend looking on eBay and in used music stores to avoid undergoing a complete walletectomy.
speaking as a man who can play the bass well (been playing since I was 12), I agree with most of what has been said about the instrument. Let me make one thing clear though: good guitar player does not equal good bass player. You might be able to pick one up and get the very basics out of it, but like any instrument you have to know what to listen for. Guitar players never listen to anything except themselves.
I do play the guitar and drums too, and I can tell you that I love them all. Pick the instrument that you are most interested in! Don’t worry about the money, the girls, the gear or anything else. If you want to be a guitar guy then go for it. Once you learn one instrument well, the others will come more easily.
I went the non-traditional route by starting on bass then moving to guitar. I never thought the transition was tough. I learned all my stuff very quickly. So don’t worry about which one is easier to play.
One thing is for certain, all instruments take time to master, and you better have a shiz-ton of patience. That is why picking your favorite is so importantl. You are going to have to want to play the thing if you are going to stick with it.
Have fun!! find some people that you know who can help. Buy used!!!
I was a senior in high school before I started trying to learn how to play guitar. I bought a crappy cheap electric guitar and a serviceable solid state amp (a Peavey Backstage 20, FWIW) and started trying to teach myself by playing along with records (big vinyl things). Two things happened fairly quickly – I realized I was never going to get much beyond basic power chords on the guitar, and I found myself turning the treble all the way down and the bass all the way up and picking out the root of the chords and “playing bass”.
In college, I had lots of guitar-playing friends, all of whom were much better than I was, so on the few occasions when I joined up with others to create an ad hoc “band”, I usually played bass, since I at least did have a fairly good sense of rhythm and could do the least damage there. Never got around to buying one, though.
After college, I pretty much put my electric in the case and didn’t take it out again for eight or nine years. About four years ago, my son started preschool and got really taken with his music teacher, so I started thinking about playing music as something that we might be able to do together later on. I dug out the electric, and about the same time was given an old 1960s-era Harmony-made Silvertone acoustic in really bad shape (to go with my 1960s-era Harmony-made Silvertone electric in much better shape). So I started playing again, quickly got back to the point where I was playing as well as I ever had, and actually learned a few new things. The bass was still calling my name, though, so I went out and got myself a Danelectro bass and a Fender Bassman 25 amp (the Peavey bit the dust years ago). Of the time I spend playing these days, it’s probably 75% bass, 20% electric, and 5% acoustic.
Which one’s right for you is probably as much a matter of temperament as anything else. If you tend to have a lot of patience with yourself while learning new things and have a reasonable tolerance for seeming not to make much progress for a long time before things begin to click, then picking up guitar might be the right choice. If you tend to need quick wins and obvious improvement in order to maintain your interest, you might be better off with a bass. I’m certainly more toward the easily frustrated/discouraged end of the spectrum myself, which is probably part of the reason I gravitated toward bass; I think I also tend to think about and understand rhythm and bass lines more than harmony and melody. Besides all that, my hands and fingers don’t bend the ways they have to in order to really play guitar.
Just checking back in, letting every one know that I’m still reading this, still undecided.
Since people have mentioned the type of music I’d want to play, I listen to rock, punk and metal, and assume I’d play similar stuff. Also, I want to clarify that I have no grand dreams of playing for 50,000 screaming fans. If I learn something, and if my friends do, and if we ever actually play, I’d consider that more than enough.
From what everyones said, it seems like learning on guitar and then switching to bass is easier than vice versa. However, I think I’d be happier/more suited to playing bass. Rackensack’s description of himself
could just as accurately describe me. When I first start something, I want to see some progress, but after I’ve attained any skill, I’m quite patient learning to get better.
Thanks to everyone who has offered advice and suggestions. Keep 'em coming!
Hey Ender, I started out playing bass (because the guy I was going to start a band with insisted on playing guitar), and later gravitated toward guitar as well. So I recommend going with bass first, or if you can afford it, buy a bass amp (get some decent wattage if you want to hang with a band, though), a decent bass (my first was a Mexican Fender Precision), and a decent guitar (Musician’s Friend currently has Les Paul Jr. Specials for $100) and do both. The tuning is the same, minus the two high strings on the guitar. Being versatile is a big plus. Regardless, a good bassist is always needed by a band, especially if they’re not just a frustrated guitar player. Good luck!