What comes first the guitar or the bass?

Guitar has been my thing from around 70/71. I've always respected bass and even recruited a few friends to become bass players in the early days. Borrowing my brother's Kalamazoo bass I would figure out parts and teach them to the guys. One friend actually became a pretty decent bassist until a lawnmower mishap. When my primary focus became songwriting and recording I got a bass and always started assembling tracks with drums and bass, focusing on locking in with the kick.

I never made a switch to bass but always thought it would be a fun challenge.

First guitar about 1966 or 67.

Switched to bass about 6 or 7 years ago because playing it (finger-style) causes me much less arthritis pain.

Initially thought I was "settling", but no longer: am thoroughly enjoying my attempts to become a decent bass player.

Still noodle on the guitar, but bass is far and away my main focus. Don't use a flat pick on either because gripping one for any length of time makes my thumb ache like a bugger.

I started out on bass in the early 70's. I tried acoustic slide guitar for a couple of years, but just couldn't advance, so it's been all bass ever since.

I play both - had I known the Bass VI had existed when I started, I'd have gotten one and nothing else.

Guitar 1st. Always. Play bass sometimes and can get by but I am not a bass player. Drums some by surprise, to me. Onstage and drummer needed a break. Band leader said "play drums". Then he started calling songs I sang. It was mind expanding.

I should add I wanted a real synth (knobs and sliders, not Casiotone) or a bass, but I was given a guitar and amp, tuner (not cheap then) and a Boss HM-2. Same day I bought a 4 track and a blisteringly new and expensive Boss PS-2 Pitch shifter (mostly because it was 2 seconds of delay in the thing).

I spent years NOT sounding ever like a guitar player, not realizing quite what a bass could do.

    Bass rules. The only band I auditioned for and didn’t get the job was back in 69 or 70. They required vocals, for me singing was a distraction, my bass lines and vocals are like two totally different things and I was never willing to make the sacrifice to add my voice to the mix. Some guys can pull it off really well, but I still hear the bass line taking a back seat to the vocals.

    Naw it’s all about the bass. I was initially thrown out of the orchestra back in 1962, I was 9 and one of the youngest guy in the orchestra, I was second chair. I couldn’t sight read music but could figure it out and memorize the tunes. The Orchestra leader made an example of me when chastising a student that hadn’t tuned his instrument. He placed a new piece of music on my stand and told me “show them how it’s done.“ Well I tried to figure it out as fast as I could, but I can’t read music, it’s more like decipher it. He actually grabbed the violin and threw it against a wall. It shattered, I started laughing,  it was a nervous thing, not humor. He just got more pissed and said something like what the hell is so funny. The smart ass in me had pretty much developed and I replied with truth, “ well, I guess dad won’t be paying rent on that violin anymore.” It really didn’t improve his attitude when he realized what he had just done.

    A year later he cornered me while between classes, he wanted me back in the orchestra, put me on the cello, I didn’t like it, it was too big and I had to carry it back and forth to school on the school bus. the older jock type guys tormented me daily. I don’t know, I could handle that but something about the young girls giggling at my situation struck a chord. I told the Orchestra guy I didn’t like the cello. He offered me the concert bass, initially I groaned, then he told me I wouldn’t be able to bring it home but I’d have to get my dad to bring it home for breaks and long weekend so I could practice. Perfect. The first time I drew that bow across the E string and felt that vibration and sound come back to be off the walls, I was hooked. I thought “this is how God created the universe”.  I’ve told this story before.

    I’m not a great bassist, I was reminded of this when I spent the week with Victor Wooten, Chuck Rainey(I love this guy) Anthony Wellington, Steve Bailey and Dave Welsh. I had a bit of a problem in one of Anthony’s classes, it was just that I somehow missed what he expected of me. He restated it for me and I ran through the exercise with out a problem. It was however fairly intimidating playing my bass for these guys. Anthony pulled me aside when the class had finished. He told me I was a good bassist, he reminded me that he had heard me play that first day, that his job was to make me a better bassist, and that was exactly what they did.  
 

I was honestly unaware of the electric bass as an instrument before McCartney. I think that he was probably the most influential bass player ever in terms of the number of new players who began with the instrument because of him.

Laker and hushnel, Two really great stories!
Thanks for posting 😊

Frank Zappa nailed it here; most of them were demoted to it in a garage band meeting when they were 13.

“Frank Zappa nailed it here; most of them were demoted to it in a garage band meeting when they were 13.”

I’ve seen that, some grow into the instrument and get it, others don’t.  I have noticed that it’s generally easier to replace a guitarist than a bassist.  I knew the day I pulled the bow across the E string it was my instrument. 

Anyone out there thinking that bass is somehow easier than guitar, ain’t playing the bass right. 

    Yeah, I can agree with that concerning the physical considerations. Acoustic guitar it’s one of the reasons I’m playing more classical now than steel string. I’m even considering selling off my 00-15 and 000-15S for a classical upgrade. So much with the bass is what’s going on between the notes. 

    I‘Ve played the instrument actively for 61 years. I guess I’m just a bit sensitive to the thought that it’s a second tier instrument that one not talented enough to make the cut, can just pick it up and succeed. I am aware that is often the assumption. 

    Consider the piano, it has the guitar range and the bass pedals . The greatest pianist really shine in a large part by the bass line, intertwining with the chords. The note, pattern and percussion aspect of the pedals make sense of the mid and high notes and bonds the piece, the bass dosent just show the bassist to be great but elevates all the instruments in the piece. It’s one of the reasons we are so important to the song. When you strum and E chord the bass makes that chord bolder when the low E is plucked, it helps to define the chord then the bass smooths out the chord and change by walking off the root to the next note emphasizing and preparing the ear for the next cord or holding it back slightly creating a bit of freshness or suspense, adding walks to prepare or surprise the ear for the next chord. All the time this is helping and making sense of the interaction of the guitar, the drums or any other instrument added to the mix. To me it’s almost mystical. If I’m off in an evening everybody sounds bad.  

I found playing the bass more demanding. After a lifetime with guitars, the musical approach with the bass has been some task. Like dealing with an undercurrent that's hard to see but massively felt directing the course, as hushnel has put down above in a great post. I've been at least as stunned by intricate basslines of the cracks in the business as I was with the notorious studio guitar players finesse from age 14. The beauty of it being not necessarily found in elaborate jazz compositions but in simple songs that had that little extra thing going on when I could not say how or why until I followed the bassman. In detail. 😏

I've never owned a bass -- I'm still struggling with the guitars.