bass players: how do guitarists play bass wrong?

[Gone Fission]

As a bass-owning guitarist, I'd like to disappoint y'all less when I pick up the thing. When you run across guitarists who don't get it when they play the bass, what do they get wrong? What do we need to understand about the bass as its own instrument?

[Mudfuzz]

Bass at it's heart is a rhythm instrument. Every thing even when it doesn't seem so has something to do with rhythm and timing. I lot of guitarist like to pick up a bass and play noodly shit that might work for a guitar part but even really busy bass parts or just jamming still follow a rhythmic flow. Really you have to feel the beat and play with it not at it, dig.

Also don't slap, no one want s to hear you do this...
Inless it has a place in THE SONG it is irritating to most people and small animals.

[sevenSHARPnine]

Bass at it's heart is a rhythm instrument. Every thing even when it doesn't seem so has something to do with rhythm and timing. I lot of guitarist like to pick up a bass and play noodly shit that might work for a guitar part but even really busy bass parts of just jamming still follow a rhythmic flow...

Also don't slap, no one want s to hear you do this...
Inless it has a place in THE SONG it is irritating to most people and small animals.

This is huge. The most important part of bass playing is the ability to play tastefully. And I'm not just blowing smoke out my ass, I've been a bassist much longer than I've been a guitarist and I've played bass in far more bands than I've played guitar/drums for. I'd rather have a guy that can lay down a line that flows and drives the song than someone who can play Portrait of Tracy at 500bpm note for note.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for lead-style bass playing. It just has to be tasteful! Not overplaying, but not underplaying. Dig it?

[Achtane]

Yep, I think overplaying with noodly shit sums it up.

Ultra-fast obnoxious slapping is the bass equivalent of ultra-fast obnoxious noodly scale runs.

[Jwar]

Bass is about keeping shit together in a band setting. So you have to remember you're playing a bass and not a guitar. Now there are instances where a bass can lead the band instead of a guitar, which is fucking bad ass IMO. Still they are very different animals. It's like me when I pick up a guitar. I have no fucking clue what I'm doing and end up trying to play it like a damn bass. I just don't have what it takes to play a guitar, I've tried several times and spent thousands of dollars on guitars. At the end of the day though, I'm a bass player and have been for 14 years.

Plus guitar players are WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYY too stupid to play the bass. Ahah!

[SPACERITUAL]

Hahahaha stfu bass is guitar for dummies. 4 STRANG.

[FuzzHugger]

GREAT thread, and only four posts in. ...I'm taking notes.

[EDIT: by the time I posted, not "only four posts in"]

[Jwar]

Hahahaha stfu bass is guitar for dummies. 4 STRANG.

Your mom has 4 strings.

[Gone Fission]

Note to self -- listen to more Eric Avery bass lines.

[bob the r0bot]

what happens when you try to bass like a guitar when there is already a guitarist
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM8sK7Uww38[/youtube]
pay extra attention at 1:40 on

[SPACERITUAL]

Yeah i was going to cite lou barlow as an example of playing bass like guitar to fantastic results. Also jared from big business.

[foomanfat]

what happens when you try to bass like a guitar when there is already a guitarist
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM8sK7Uww38[/youtube]
pay extra attention at 1:40 on

Wow. That was just frustrating to listen to.

[nieh]

Is there really a wrong way to play bass? You pick three notes and play them.

[smile_man]

Fuck all of you. Play it like you want.

[Fuzzy Picklez]

The only thing I take from guitar when I play bass is how hard I hit the strings.