Can you play bass with a regular guitar?

[nnvan]

We need to compensate for our bass player who's out of town. How do you play bass-lines on a regular guitar?

[jam]

I do that quite often in our church group. If it's a song that has the piano (not the guitar) as the "main" instrument, I'll often just play the bass end of the chords instead of going full strum. I play attention to how the bass should be walking in a passage and try to play that. For instance, if the section has G - D - Em, I make sure to play the D as D/F# (put the F# in the bass). Having 6 strings doesn't mean that they all have to be played all the time.

Also, to add to the effect, I add a bit more bottom end to the EQ for my channel on the PA.

--jam

[jam]

Oh, and if you happen to have a well-opened 96 410, that helps with the bass. Did I mention that I have one? A 96 410? Ever? Here, anyway? Well, I do, if anyone was wondering.


--jam

[UncleMeat]

Discover a man named Jack Grassel. Jazz man from my end of town, intense bass lines on his guitar while doing everything else.

Learn some old Les Paul songs, work on playing moving bass notes alone with a melody. It's harder than it sounds.