is guitar harder than bass?

Barre chords are much harder on a bass.*

*re-used with permission from me.

Just from banging on the tops of them, I think my Strat is harder than my son's bass. I think his neck is stronger, though. :)

It kind of depends on whether you want to play well or not. It all hinges on how far you want to take it. With one finger on each hand you could play a good bassline. That's not likely to be acceptable on the guitar. So guitar may be a little harder. Still, it takes a lot of musical skill to make that bassline sound good. A guitarist can learn a few chords and make some good music. You wouldn't even have to aim for any particular string! So maybe the guitar is easier. To become good, or excellent, at either is years of work. So maybe they're the same. It's safest just to play both.

EDIT: I want to hear from the yes vote.

I'd voted yes on this one, Paul.

In the physical aspect, bass seems harder - but I play guitar every day, and bass perhaps twice a month. If I played bass every day, I think I'd overcome the issues of reach with no more effort than I did on guitar - although the frets are farther apart on the bass, the neck is also narrower, so I'm sure that part is a matter of technique. They're different beasts, just as a trumpet is different from a tuba, even though the mechanics of each are pretty close, so some folks will be more comfortable on one or the other. As a result, I discounted the physical aspects.

Not everyone can make a decent bassline, and not everyone can play a decent lead guitar melody. They're also different, and have to do more with one's inner voice, I think. Again I marked it off to both personal preference and playing experience - your ears become accustomed to the traditions of your main instrument.

I ended up with two big reasons that guitar is harder than bass: first, guitarists playing at a high level need the ability to think vertically as well as horizontally in their lines - melody chord playing is not something I've seen bass players doing. Although both instruments demand good chord knowledge, application of voicings to the guitar goes well beyond arpeggios.

Second, the minor third between the 2nd and 3rd strings on a guitar makes it asymmetrical... transposition on the fly presents position shifts on the guitar that don't occur on bass. Because of the nature of guitar lines, coping with the string shift is the best way to handle some transpositions.

Having played both since the 70s I'd have to say they both are as hard or as easy as you want to make it. Guitar (I'll have to put this in a rock band situation because bass - electric bass and not upright, is normally not played in a classical/solo style) requires some fast and furious playing at times and physically has more strings to deal with. So given the numbers of notes and numbers of strings, it could be considered 'harder' to play.

Bass, having only four strings (unless you're going ERB) and 'normally' less notes per measure might be considered 'easier' to play. But then it's again how far you want to take it: Buddy Holly on guitar and Jaco Pastorius on bass - which is 'harder'?

I think maybe the question should be, Which is of more value? And in that case again, I believe they're the same.

One thing about bass though that I think helps to equalize their roles: when you're onstage in front of people and the drummer counts off, there's usually no time to scratch your nose for the next 4-8 minutes! I remember envying the guitarist this one particular night when I had a slight cold and we were doing Mental Hopscotch by a band called Missing Persons. I don't know if anyone knows the tune but it's basically up tempo with a really rhythmic, constant bass groove, and my nose started to itch and well, there was nothing I could do about it. If I took my picking fingers off the strings even long enough to scratch the itch, it would stand out like a sore thumb because all of a sudden there'd be a couple of half notes or one whole note sustaining over in the wrong place. The guitar part was pretty tricky but he got to do power chords a lot (whole and half notes) and well, I wished I could do that too. Same thing with Maiden's Trooper: you have to kind of lift your shoulder and try and get your nose with your sleeve!

And since pedals weren't that commonly used for bass back when, even adjusting the bass's volume in mid song was a little 'harder' to do, lol! I'd have to wait for a long note to arrive before I could reach down and do it.

So it still comes down to how hard one wants to make it. I could've just held the longer note where it wasn't on the recording (or keep the riff going by hammering with the fingering hand) and scratched my nose or tweaked a knob, but to me, when the song starts, it's like a train - you don't stop till the next station and that's law :)

Guitars give you blisters on your left hand.
Bass gives you blisters on both hands (Unless your one of those newfangled plectrum bass players). Bass is harder....

But seriously, I agree with Demoetc I'd have to say they both are as hard or as easy as you want to make it
Thats really true of any instrument, Kazoo can be harder than either if you want to make it that way.

Maybe look at it this way, in a band like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, are flea's basslines harder than Frusciante's guitaring?

Peter

I'd say yes. I find having to co-ordinate multiple fingers a real challenge.

But having said that, i learned to play bass first, maybe it depends on the order in which you learn?

Being a bass player, I'm aware that the PC answer is "they are both equally hard", as hard or easy as you make them. And they are.

However, I voted that guitar is harder.

Why? Well, it's a complex story with a lot of hedging, but basically, the guitar is a richer instrument. There are more different things you can do on it. In fact, you can play everything you can play on a bass using a guitar (although it won't sound the same) and thousands of other things besides that you cannot play or even approximate on the bass.

That said, it's harder to make the bass sound unique, make it stand out. You have less tools to work with.

And if how difficult, flashy or complex it is matters to you, perhaps you shouldn't be a bass player. I've heard more bass players ruin songs by overplaying than by underplaying. Come to think of it, that applies to guitarists too.

Different for different people. For example, if you don't have a really solid sense of timing, you might wish to stick to certain styles of guitar playing, cuz playing good bass will be more difficult. Rock-solid timing is necessary for bass, but one can slide with less than perfect for some guitaring.

There are more different things you can do on it. In fact, you can play everything you can play on a bass using a guitar (although it won't sound the same) and thousands of other things besides that you cannot play or even approximate on the bass.

That said, it's harder to make the bass sound unique, make it stand out. You have less tools to work with.

And if how difficult, flashy or complex it is matters to you, perhaps you shouldn't be a bass player. I've heard more bass players ruin songs by overplaying than by underplaying. Come to think of it, that applies to guitarists too.

I don't agree with that. I can't think of any techniques available on the guitar that aren't available on the bass. Plectrum use, fingerpicking (both bass and guitar style), slapping, tapping, sweep picking, bending, harmonics (pinch, natural and artificial), ebows, playing with a drill :shock:, bowing, percussive techniques, whammy bars, behind the nut bends, retuning strings on the fly, pickup switching (on the fly), pick tapping, banjo rolls, and whatever else I'm forgetting are all possible on both. (Actually, I don't think there's room to double thump on a guitar. It works on a baritone uke.) True, basses can be more awkward to play, but that just suggests that bass is harder.

I also don't agree with the second paragraph. You can do everything I mentioned above, and add all the effects you want. I just don't see a difference between the two, in terms of possibilities.

It's true that the bass often has an easier role in the band, but, of course, there are lots of exceptions.

I do agree with the last part, though. I was working on difficult techniques the other day, and getting discoureged. Then I though to myself, "Wait, self. What's the point of this? It's not actually going to make a song better. It's not the kind of thing I'll actually use. And then I was a lot happier.

Well, of COURSE guitar is harder than bass -- your typical guitar has 6 strings to deal with, whereas your typical bass has only four. Now, unless you're a mutant (not that there's anything wrong with that) it's HIGHLY unlikely that you've got 6 fingers on your left hand (or right, if you're a southpaw) to fret about, er, with. :wink:

I've always said that one of my main reasons for picking up the bass (instead of guitar) is that I like the odds better -- 4 strings, 4 fingers.

It's all what you make of it. The bass parts in my band are harder to play than the guitar parts because I make them difficult deliberately. No instrument is harder to play than any other.

OK, playing both, not neccessarily being good at either, I have to say no. Comparing them is almost like saying a tambourine and a banjo are the same thing, except a banjo has strings and a neck.

I play both, and I'm certainly not an incredibly accomplished player, but which is harder depends who's playing. If you got, say, Jack Bruce from Cream, and told him to play guitar, he would have a hard time, but hand him a bass and he'd tear it up.

I personally can't say either. I'm not the one to pull out in front of the badn and start a roaring lead that blows your mind, but to lay out a fantastic rhythm section on guitar is different then that. Some can solo, some can do rhythm, there's to many questions inside this one, you couldn't answer this question straight yes or no.

When I first started bass, not that long ago, I'd play whole notes, or 8th notes, or something simple. Now, I'd say 4 months into playing, I've evolved to riff making for the simplest things because of my guitar playing, which i have been playing for almost two years now.

Sure I wasn't playing in the 70's, i wasn't even born 'til '88, but thats just not a logical question. If you can grasp solos on guitars, guitar is easier, if laying out a catchy, but not over-play, bass riff, or a nice rhythm guitar section which just blends in, you prefer whatever you are best at.

I answered no because I play both, and they have their own difficulties, and their own theory really, you can go just as deep in theory with either instrument, or you can just play like an idiot with two strings open, playing about as dissonant as a harmonica in a hurricane.

I'd have to say bass is harder, especially in metal. In my band i write a large ammount of material on guitar and bass and trying to fit in a good bass line inbetween metal riffs is hard. But each instrument is as hard as you make it. When writing a bass line i get a copy of a scale and use alot of minors for each note to make the song that much heavier, but to do this you gotta be fast like steve haris. You also got to look a people like flea, his bass riffs in cant stop to me are much harder than the solo to cray train enter sandman and battery. To many bassist i know including myself just playing the same thing as the guitar like Jason Newstead in Metallica or somthing simple dosn't cut it, so i obviously voted that bass is harder. In the end its about how much you put into it.