As a guitarist thinking of picking up bass...

[MistaMarko]

Then for a little while they had a bass player and it was like the fucking sky opened up and finally let their riffs come through the wall of noise. Why? Cause the bass player (who's no longer with the band unfortunately) had an awesome tone that provided the low frequency groove, but also the *perfect* middle ground of low-mids and mids to sit between the 2 guitar players who were essentially mid/treble city.

You can get away with a scooped sound in the studio if you're into that thing, since everything is in nicely-tempered rooms and all these plugins and editing control these days makes it possible. Live, or at practice? You'll be swallowed by the low-end of the guitars and especially the kick drum. I'm not one for the "high-mids" sound (around 1K), but I'm a firm believer that low-mids act as a "bass sound" but don't carry along the "wash the mix out" side effects, so keep your mids boosted around 500Hz or so. Don't think that because you play "bass" that you need to boost the "bass".

 

[Disco Volante]

I played bass for the last 10 years and moved to guitar about 2 years ago. MaxofMetal pretty much nailed a lot of the instrument on the head already with a very good post.

It is very much a guitar and not a guitar at the same time. I think that with your guitar experience that you'd have much difficulty adjusting your left hand to bass. The right hand is where a lot of the magic happens with fingerstyle and so forth. It will take some grinding and getting used to, and as with guitar you'll have to build up the proper calluses that goes along with the territory. I learned all these techniques before YouTube was around but you could probably find plenty of material on there that explains all the various aspects of what your right hand can do on a bass. (There is a LOT)

Best of all there will be one more person in the world (YOU) who will come to appreciate all that the humble bassist has been doing all this time.

Oh and one more thing. As others have mentioned.. properly EQing a bass guitar is a BITCH. Hopefully you're up to the challenge of finding your place amongst guitars and drums to find out where you'll cut through but not make the mix muddy.

 

[TimSE]

I recently did exactly this myself about a year ago - the only slight difference was i was a advanced lead guitarist (not meaning to sound big headed!)

I play for a few rock / metal proggy bands and acoustic stuff and altho iv always been into crazy heavy death metal i havnt done it in a band for many years.

I joined this band as i knew them and they needed a bassist:
Bloodshot Dawn on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads

Never played bass in a band before. only had a 5string bass. No amp - i used a Boss GT8 pedal board and set up a Direct to PA sound on there and just DI it. Or borrow a bass amp off other bands at gigs.

the thing about Bass is that it is a very similar instrument to guitar (just scaled up and tuned lower) but its roll in a band is VERY different and is not PLAYED like a guitar.

This is something iv become more aware of over the last year.

cus iv never played fast with my fingers i went to using a pick with bass right away and am now making myself get used to playing with fingers cus i prefer it if i could.

Compression and distortion are your friend!

 

[punisher911]

I think too much distortion muddies up your sound and you lose character with notes just blending together from my experience. I use a slight overdrive with no fuzz.

 

[vampiregenocide]

4) Take your time to work with both fingers and pick style playing. There is no "right" or "wrong", but you can give your playing all kinds of dynamics if you learn to treat both methods as equals early on.

Wow! Thanks, Max! That's immensely helpful. The thing about bass being just a bigger, lower tuned guitar vs. being completely different than guitar kind of makes sense and I expect that it will make more sense as time goes on.

As far as fingers/picks, how would you say that..I dunno, differs? I'm having a really hard time thinking of questions for that because I really don't know what I'm talking about. I don't have huge spider fingers like a lot of bassists that I see on YouTube and whatnot so I feel kind of intimidated by trying to learn finger style bass.
What are the main differences between the two styles and how would each fit into different genres of music? Are there specific bands/bassists that might be helpful for me to check out to get a good understanding of each technique?

Again, thanks so much!

With a pick, your sound is going to be sharper and have more attack, great for metal and you'll be able to do fast triplets and whatnot easier. Using your fingers gets a softer, smoother tone with less attack. This is great for grooves, and means you can swap into other techniques easier like tapping, slapping etc. Using a pick is easier, but if you learn with fingers early on you'll be better.

 

[Andromalia]

but the power section is 16 6l6s(cha-ching)

That made me laugh.

- There's something rewarding about playing bass.

Yup. You're the one with the largest and longest.

 

[welsh_7stinger]

i myself play bass nd guitar (guitar for just ove 2.5 yrs, bass a 0.5 yrs) i use to practice on my dads friends bass (my dad looked after it) nd i luved paying it. so i got my own (6 string bass) i play simlar music but also deathmetal, nd i personly got the switch from guitar to bass easly. tip look at bass likw a completly diffrent instrument almost. thats what i did/do. but thats just me. nd tbh theres no right or wrong way to play bass. i play with both pick nd fingers. but dont think u cnt paly fast music wit fingers.i can play 16ths wit 2 fingers (not blowing my own horn). but over all teh transition from guitar to bass isnt dat difficult imo. hope i help even if it was not noticable lol.

 

[MistaMarko]

That made me laugh.


Yup. You're the one with the largest and longest.

 

[giantchris]

I'd say a couple things might not wholly apply because of the music you are playing -

#1 - less is more - MOST of the time its better to keep youre playing simple to not muddy up the sound and make strange harmonies

#2 - TIME - WHERE you place notes is actually more important than what notes you play on bass. Bass bridges rhythm and harmony sometimes you want to accentuate one more than the other play accordingly.

#3 - As someone else said Mids are you friend! Mids are what allows you to cut through (mostly low mids) the rest of the frequencies are what shapes your tone.

#4 - Too much bass ruins the mix! If you EQ your bass frequencies too high you bleed into the bass drum and make it sound like crap. You're playing metal the bass drum is what everyone keeps off of (usually).

#5 - Learn both fingerstyle and pick - Its better to be more versatile you might find you like one or the other better but some songs call for one more than the other.

#6 - If playing fingerstyle you get a stronger fundamental and more string vibration the lighter you hit the strings. This gives you deeper tone.

and finally #7 - Just because you can slap doesn't mean you should Self explanatory that one lol

 

[LLink2411]

I put flatwound strings and foam bridge mutes on my basses, and play with a pick through a pushed-to-the-limit 900W hybrid MESA amp. This gives me a cannon-like "Jamerson on steroids" tone. Think 60's Fender Bass through a 70's Ampeg or Sunn amp with the clarity of an 80's Trace Elliot amp.

You want this tone. Do not question why.


Also, make sure to use it sparingly as it is illegal in 17 states for causing numerous Bass-related fatalities.



And if you want a good, clean, transparent Bass overdrive, look at the Fulltone OCD pedal. It gives that nice tube tone without adding the silly synthy-ness of a fuzz box, and on top of that it does not suck any Bass freq. from your signal!

 

[progmetaldan]

I've just recently taken up bass after about 9 years on guitar as well, and I have to say its in some ways rekindled my passion for music. I found it similar enough to guitar that it wasn't like starting entirely from scratch, but different to be a new and challenging venture. And I reckon there's more 'cool' stuff you can play in a wider variety of genres on bass and I'm just loving it! Really sick bass players stand out more than guitarists I reckon, I'm really getting into guys like Gary Willis, Jonas Hellborg, Marcus Miller etc. its a whole new world and opens up my listening experience, no longer worrying about whether a recording has a guitarist on it, but instead listening for what the bass is doing and trying to recreate it...

 

[Dethfield]

I basically did the same thing you are doing a few weeks ago. Band was looking for a drummer and a bassist, but no luck for months. I recently bought a 6 string bass for my own use, and decided to switch to bass in the band, the idea being it would be much easier to find another guitarist than a bassist. So far its been really fun.

All of the info here is pretty good. I would suggest a few things:

- Really try and work on your fingerstyle. practice using it on songs normally played with a pick, and work towards increasing your speed. One test i find is good is to practice "The Trooper" by Iron Maiden. If you can make through that song without tiring out your right hand and grabbing a pick, you are doin great.

- When getting and amp, you might want to actually considering have a Direct-to-PA setup. Its kind of a long running debate in the world of bass, but i found i could get a nice tone running into a PA system and using the 3 band EQ on my bass. It still nice to buy your own PA, but that in itself is a good thing to have as it can be used for multiple purposes. Also when you play gigs, its much easier to only have to bring your bass and a pedalboard, and not have to lug 100 lbs of gear around. Many bassplayers outright refuse to plug direct into a PA, but i think its something every bassist should at least give a good try with.

 

[ZEBOV]

Seeing the kind of bands you like, if you use speakers with ceramic magnets, you'll need 5 times the power the guitars are putting out. Every metal band I have been in, they liked playing as loud as they possibly can, and I could barely hear myself with a guitarist with a 150 watt amp and another guitarist with a 50 watt amp (not to mention the drummer), and it's hard to get band mates with big egos to turn theirselves down.
Yes, mids are very much your friend. Before I knew better about EQ, I tried out for a band with the guitarists playing through 20 watt solid state amps. My 5 band EQ was full on for just bass and treble (50 Hz and 10 kHz), and I couldn't hear myself unless I was pounding out 500 watts while standing right next to my cabs. If I was the only one playing, I could hear everything rattling in the garage because of the decibels I was putting out. Decibels meant nothing in that case. I didn't make it into that band. Oh well, they lasted for only a few more months anyways.

 

[LLink2411]

Also, remember that it is a lot easier to increase your volume by adding another cab than by buying a more powerful amp.


Also, hardcore audiophiles say you shouldn't mix speaker sizes, because it causes the output from the speakers to clash with and slightly mute each other's frequencies. But if you bi-amp your setup (I hear that if you can slave out your signal to an independent power amp, you won't need to buy a second amp to do this... I'm not entirely sure how that works, I would like to though) and change the eq slightly on the second amp, you won't need to worry about such silliness.

Personally I would just run a 4x10 and 1x15 into the same amp and not lose a wink of sleep over it, but some people are really adamant about this stuff. Nothing beats a 4x12 though.

 

[josh pelican]

Personally I would just run a 4x10 and 1x15 into the same amp and not lose a wink of sleep over it, but some people are really adamant about this stuff. Nothing beats a 4x12 though.

My ideal rig is a 610 with a matching 215.

... and maybe some 18s.

 

[btfsam]

id say go for it! don't put down the guitar, just pick up the bass! honestly bass is really fun to play and I think from having experience on guitar you could pick it up quite easily and find a technique that works for you.

but I would never JUST be a bass player because there's no other position available and then just dumb down all the basslines and make the bass playing really mediocre. try it! if you're having fun and making up cool stuff then find some other people to play with

good luck

 

[iron blast]

Do it! I used to be a rythem guitarist for my band and started playing bass because we couldnt find a decent bassist and I fell in love. I would suggest getting at least a 5-string with a 35 scale if play death metal that low b is excellent even if you are just shortening scales.

 

[progmetaldan]

Has anyone who is going from guitar to bass and back again retuned a 6 string bass like a baritone guitar? I was just thinking from the point of view of being able to keep the scale shapes and patterns the same. Or is the normal 6 string tuning actually more useful anyway? I've only got a 4 string bass atm, but I was just pondering this randomly and thought I'd see if anyone has tried it?

 

[Varcolac]

Has anyone who is going from guitar to bass and back again retuned a 6 string bass like a baritone guitar? I was just thinking from the point of view of being able to keep the scale shapes and patterns the same. Or is the normal 6 string tuning actually more useful anyway? I've only got a 4 string bass atm, but I was just pondering this randomly and thought I'd see if anyone has tried it?

I play 7 string guitar and 5 string bass. I've never even considered that. Bass is tuned in straight fourths and that gives you the easiest access from whatever note you're fretting to the third, fifth and seventh, which if you're doing anything more than just playing the root note you should be highlighting. Guitar has that silly major third in the tuning to make chords easier, and barre chords on a bass don't exactly sound nice. Fourths all over means that your major/minor/whatever shapes are exactly the same all over the neck. It's foolproof: even I can play bass.

But then I see them as two distinct instruments. Tuning a bass like a guitar makes as little sense to me as tuning my violin in fourths so I can use shapes from my bass.

 

[chucknorrishred]

bass is just as awesome as guitar, start playing now....