No instrument is harder to play than any other.
I can't say I agree with that. IE: I can become an intermediate recorder player in a few hours whereas it would take years to become an intermediate bagpipes player. Extreme examples but it's true. Bass and guitar are similar instruments so it's more difficult to compare though.
A hoopy frood knows where his towel is....
if this question is simply which is physically harder to play, then in my opinion guitar is without question harder. guitar is considered the prince of all instruments (piano is king :) ) because it can all by itself function as the melody, bass, and rhythm. i say this becasue i am a classically trained player, and i find that you must be more nimble to play guitar i.e. fingerpicking over all 6 strings, the super fast bass like string runs in flamenco guitar, dealing with annoying chords like D sharp natural 9 flat 467 etc, etc. however, they are equally difficult in expression from the player. what seperates a good bass player from a bad one? it comes down to much more than how quickly or accurately they can play a riff, rather it is based on how they express themselves musically. a good musician will sound good on both a guitar and a bass because they know how to express themselves through music.
I've only been playing bass a couple of weeks or so, but whoever said "you get blisters on both hands playing bass" hit the nail bang on the head!
My approach to bass is pretty much the same as my approach to guitar was when I first started....playing along with songs on the stereo.... however I'm finding bass a lot quicker to learn than guitar because I have the advantage of knowing about root notes, I - IV - V progressions and chord formation.....(Thanks to GN of course!!!!!)
The only problem I have really is with my reach.....although I have huge hands, I have a bent pinky which doesn't stretch too well.... but it's like anything else, the more you put into it the more you get out....I'll revisit this post when I've finally broken through the pain barrier!!!!
So for now I'll vote for "guitar".....but I reserve the right to change my mind!!!!
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Absolutely not. It is very, very difficult to be a master on either instrument. Is it harder to play guitar like Pat Metheny than it is to play bass like the dude in Black Sabbath? Absolutely.
Is it harder to play bass like Jaco pastorius than it is to play guitar like Neil Young? Absolutely.
I don care if bass is harder or not but one thing is sure.You can do without guitar in a song but not without bass.There are too few GOOD songs without bass guitar( jus think of daddy cool by boney m , completly on bass guitar) :lol:
