Will learning the bass help my guitar playing?

[nnvan]

The people I play with are amazing musicians and play several instruments (not at one time). I was thinking of expanding into the bass guitar. Will this help my guitar playing?

[min7b5]

Learning about bass playing will definitely help your guitar playing, particularly in terms of composition. Actually learning to play the bass to a serious degree is another story. It depends on how much time you have. If you have limited music time, taking away time away from the guitar to play bass probably won’t help your guitar playing so much.

[secondroy]

Yup, took my playing to a new level. It forced me to learn the fretboard and the notes of the cords.

[Cocobolo Joe]

I gotta agree with the other 2 posters. Playing bass makes you think in a new way in terms of harmonies and counterpoint -- and rhythymically as well.

Every time you stretch musically in one area it helps in another IMO.

[CDT]

i took the reverse route..I played bass for 15 years and then switched to acoustic guitar...

it definetly made some things easier and some things harder...

with bass, i really ingrained in my head how to play on, around, with and against the groove of the drummer. and it made my hands very strong..i can do full chord controlled vibrato on my acoustic with no problem..with bass, most of the time, you are 100% directly driving the groove and melody of the song..

the only down side is fingering...and string size and spacing...those darn high unwound "b" and "e" strings were hard to get used to at first

[815C]

Yes!

Next time you listen to the Beatles, concentrate on Paul's bass lines. In my book, he's one of the tastiest bass players around.

Enjoy!