Learning bass at the same time as guitar: Pros and cons

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Hi everyone,

I’ve been learning guitar and following Justin’s guitar course since the end of June 2023. I’m on Grade 2, Module 10 and consolidating what I have learnt in that module. Progress is steady but slow. I’m not in a big hurry to try and advance as fast as possible. I practice nearly every day about 1 hour - sometimes more, sometimes less. I love the course and I feel that I am making progress. It’s definitely addictive.

However, I have always wanted to play the bass guitar. I (mis)spent my teenage years in the south of England following lots of punk bands around: The stranglers, the Clash, the Jam, Siouxsie and the Banshees and many more. I wanted a bass because I loved the bass sound of JJ Burnell in the Stranglers, and still do. My dad talked me out of it at the time as he didn’t want « that awful noise » emanating from my bedroom!

So as I slowly advance in my guitar learning journey, I still keep thinking about the bass. I chose the guitar over bass because I thought that the guitar is more of a stand alone instrument in the sense that you can learn to play songs and sing along whereas the bass is often the rhythm and backing in a band. I still think I made a good choice.

But now that I am really loving playing the guitar every day, I’m thinking of the pros and cons of starting to learn bass as well. This was my list and I’d love to hear what others think.

Pros:

  • Same notes as strings 3-6 of the guitar - should help to consolidate learning the fretboard
  • Will have to practice a lot of scales
  • Should greatly strengthen my fingers
  • Good exercises in right and left hand dexterity and coordination
  • Good hand/finger stretching exercises
  • Should strongly reinforce timing and keeping the rhythm

Cons:

  • It may adversely affect my guitar learning because I can’t increase my practice time per day so some guitar time will have to be sacrificed. This is what worries me the most
  • I guess scales will involve moving more up and down the neck than with a guitar because there are 4 strings rather than 6. That might make me play the scales wrongly on the guitar by moving up the neck rather than to the 2nd and 1st strings
  • Ideally, I would not like to practice guitar less than 5 days a week and 2 days a week is perhaps not enough to learn the bass
  • GAS: Have to buy more gear (I actually only need the bass as I have a headphone amp that I could use …… but GAS can really play tricks on your mind!!!)
  • it might be too much to learn at once? Perhaps it’s better to get to the intermediate stage and consolidate before starting the bass. That’s still a long way off for me.

I know quite a few of you play the guitar and the bass so I would love to hear other people’s opinions or whether it’s a good or bad idea to try and learn to different instruments at once or perhaps too early in my guitar journey.

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I’m still learning but I had the same issue as you. However, I solved the “moving around the neck” problem by getting a Squier Bass VI. Also from what I can determine, the strings on the Bass VI are not as heavy and are closer together than they would be on a traditional bass. It makes it easier to play. Bass players may scoff at that, but it works for me. Only the right hand may have to change a bit. Also FWIW - I bought a baritone uke for the same reason you might buy a bass. The 4 strings are the same as the high four on a guitar. I found out that many of the chords that use the lowest two strings on the guitar, simply drop those strings from the chord on the uke, only a few need a new chord shape.

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I took up the bass about 4 months ago when I was about 5 years into playing the guitar. It was preceded by a period of planning in my case as well. I haven’t noticed any adverse effects either way, although I tend to play the bass more often than the guitar (probably due to the novelty of it).

I don’t get your fixation on scales. Why do you think it would be more difficult on the bass? Also, some stretching might be needed just like when playing the guitar, but there are ways to make playing comfortable and problem-free. A lot of things taught by Justin can be applied to the bass, but since it’s a standalone instrument, some playing techniques work in a different way. But one thing is the same for sure: fine touch. You shouldn’t hold the bass in a death grip. Of course, the bass guitar can be played with a pick as well, depending on the tone you’re after.

If you are very concerned about hand stretching, you might want to try a short-scale bass (the standard is the 34" or long-scale; short-scale is 30"), although the tone of those instruments might be slightly different.

The course I learn from is this one:

I purchased their beginner course (there are occasional discounts, I’m sure there will be something around Black Friday as well), but the whole website is quite rich in content. The style is a little less spoonfed (in a good sense) than Justin’s, but there are still quite a lot of details (incl. downloadable PDF files for the courses). But the community seems much less active than on here.

The bass I have is a used Epiphone EB-3, a full-scale bass. It was inspired by the Gibson EB-3 (played most famously by Jack Bruce and John Entwistle) which was, funnily enough, a short-scale instrument. At first I also had second thoughts about the string gauge and the scale length, but they didn’t cause me any issues (I was pleasantly surprised by that). I guess this is where a bit more of an experience with the physicality of the guitar can become useful, but it depends on the individual. The only thing I’m not entirely happy with is that my bass is a bit head-heavy (i.e. prone to neck dive) so when I play standing up, I have to place my picking hand slightly differently on the body than when I play guitar. But overall I’m quite happy with it. I’m toying with the idea of having the volume control replaced with an option to coil-splitting similar to my Epiphone Les Paul, but I still need to research if it’s worth it. I’ve just ordered some strings as well so that I can ceremoniously perform the first string change on it (I hope it won’t be more complicated than on the guitar). I still need to buy a dedicated bass amp, though, as I’m currently playing it via my Fender guitar amp. It sounds nice like this too, but still.

I say if you’re really interested, give it a shot and don’t worry too much. Try to visit some nearby music stores (if you can) and try the instruments that are available, including used ones. Don’t be concerned about what you play as it will likely be more about the feeling of the bass in your hands. Depending on what sort of music you’d like to play, the shop assistant might be able to advise on specific models.

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John Lennon (and sometimes George Harrison) used to play a Fender Bass VI when Paul McCartney was playing keyboards or some other instrument, most often during the sessions for the White Album and Let It Be.

Here’s a demo:

And an article:

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There’s not much wrong with learning the bass as well as the guitar and, as you said, a lot of the knowledge is similar.

I will say, however, that they are distinctly different instruments despite their similarities, and you shouldn’t expect to become good at bass unless you commit time to it, and if that’s time that you would otherwise use for guitar practice, then it’s inevitable your guitar progress will suffer in some way.

On the other hand, by learning bass you will enhance your overall musicianship, which will have a positive impact on your guitar playing longer term.

If you don’t mind just being OK on the bass, you can focus on the guitar still, and just dabble with bass a bit, and this probably won’t eat into your guitar practice much. You may even find, with time, that you prefer bass and end up learning the bass as your primary instrument.

Cheers,

Keith

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Thanks a lot @joszef for the detailed reply. Very interesting about the bass courses and the gear you chose.

Perhaps I didn’t explain myself well. The hand stretching was in my pros list, i.e. it’s probably a positive thing to be having to stretch fingers a lot with the bass as it should help for guitar playing.

Regarding the scales and having to move up and down the neck more than on the guitar: I think you are starting in a different place to me regarding your guitar skills if you have 5 years guitar experience before starting the bass. You probably already know lots of scales on a 6 string guitar and have that ingrained in your memory and muscle memory. So now going up and down the fret board playing scales on your bass probably isn’t going to adversely affect your guitar playing. I’m in a different place to you. 1 year 4 months guitar experience (ie beginner) and module 10 of Justin’s course. That means I know exactly 2 scales. :frowning: So what I meant is that if I would start learning scales on the bass it could confuse me on how new scales I learn should be payed on a 6 string guitar.

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Well now I’ve learnt something new. I never heard of one of a Squier bass VI before.

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In general, bass players don’t tend to stretch in the same way that guitar players do. It’s more common to use micro-shifts so you aren’t stretching your hand across multiple frets.

Well, scales on either bass or guitar are really only of limited value. And with bass you will end up focusing more on arpeggios and chord tones than scales.

As I said, they really are different instruments in lots of ways.

Cheers,

Keith

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I didn’t say I played for 5 years non-stop :smiley: I actually know only patterns 1 of the major scale and the minor pentatonic scale so there you go… I guess they have a lot of mileage in them or I’m just not adventurous enough to learn more shapes. As long as these serve me well, I don’t really need to. At the moment, I’m learning to play the major scale on the bass which is pretty much the same as pattern 1, but playing it with 2 fingers makes it just tricky enough to make me feel like a beginner again. But I’m not in a hurry.

As for stretching, what I noticed was that when I picked up my guitar after having played the bass, it felt so small in comparison. Suddenly, playing a perfect 4th hammer-on was not much of an issue :smiley: Although I think it was more a question of hand positioning than stretching the fingers.

I think the main advantage is that playing another instrument gave me a new perspective on music in general and the guitar in particular. By paying more attention to the bass in a given song, I’m required to focus on the context in which the melody is played, and I think that will be beneficial in the long run, especially when I get to the more advanced topics on harmony in the PMT course.

And who doesn’t love a groovy bassline anyway?

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I also wanted to learn the bass as a teenager but got discouraged from picking it up. It’s only now, decades later, that I have bought my first bass guitar. It was exhilarating to buy my first bass and actually finally play it! What on earth took me so long?

Some thoughts so far, similar to comments already posted above:

  • fretboard knowledge is shared with guitar: the strings have the same names, the intervals are the same, box shapes are the same etc
  • technique is surprisingly different (meaning I had not expected it, I thought it would be more similar), for both hands, and it takes some time to get it right, just like with every guitar technique
  • looking at base lines gives you a different point of view on songs and that enriches your understanding of music in general
  • on a more personal note I am spending more time at the moment to look at why I like a particular song/music and I was surprised to find that it is often the bass and not the guitar part that I find more interesting and am more keen to learn

In the end it’s all about what inspires you to pick up an instrument - more important to pick one than which one (guitar or bass) - either of them will help develop your musicianship

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@MollyT It’s great to hear stories like that. Very motivating.

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@MollyT Have you been following a structured bass course? If so, can I ask which one? @joszef above mention Talking bass. Would be nice to hear what people recommend or what people’s experiences are with online bass courses.

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It’s Squier’s authorized copy of the Fender Bass VI.

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I’ve used both Scott’s Bass Lessons and, more recently, BassBuzz. If I was starting out, I would probably start with BassBuzz who has a decent beginner series on Youtube:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLOl84QQMcy_DtLmMRMgQ7OGyhZcrjjbUK&si=cnDZWSrA9A4KtiMm

Josh, who runs BassBuzz, also has a full beginners course “Beginner to Badass” which might be worth checking out if you like his style. I can’t comment on this because I’ve not used it.

I would also try out Scott’s Bass Lessons (SBL). These are paid-for courses, but there’s a free trial, so you can check out whether it’s for you or not. SBL has a strong community and a load of lessons ranging from beginner to advanced, as well as an informal grading system to help guide you through. I will mention I am a member of SBL, but have no other affiliation with them.

Cheers,

Keith

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Thanks a lot, Keith. This is very helpful. I’ve heard a lot about bass buzz And many people recommended it. Some people say that the lessons in the other one you mentioned are a bit verbose with a bit too much unnecessary detail but as you said, if it’s possible to do a free trial, it’s possible to see whether you like the style of lessons or not.

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The SBL lessons are great and they have a good selection of teachers, but some of them do have a tendency to not get to the point IME. At least you have the option to turn up the video speed to get through some of this (I do this with Justin’s videos sometimes too :rofl:).

A lot of the SBL lessons are more traditional with a camera pointing at the teacher giving a lesson as a lecture, very similar to Justin’s style. I find Josh’s videos a bit more polished and punchy as they are highly produced with multiple scenes, including short diversions, snippets of demos, short play-alongs, and a tight script.

I think there’s room for both but, as a beginner wanting to get up to speed quickly with the basics, I would tend toward Josh’s style rather than SBL’s.

I think SBL has value when you want to get more in depth into subjects.

Cheers,

Keith

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Yes. My main reason for signing up for a structured course was to avoid having a second random walk of what to learn - I already do that for guitar driven by what song I want to learn next and what techniques do I need for it - but then I have been playing guitar much longer and I know better what I can and can’t do yet.

I have signed up for the BassBuzz “Beginner to Badass” course that Keith @Majik also mentioned. It’s ok - even though Josh’s energy level in the course is noticeably lower than in his youtube videos. The course is well structured and incrementally builds up. It also comes with “play along with Josh” practise videos for every lesson, so you can really just klick through the course and play along.

But the course is aimed at complete beginners (something I didn’t realise when I signed up) - people who have no musical knowledge and don’t play any instrument at all, so he explains everything from what is quarter note, what is tab, etc, which is a bit tedious to sit through if you know all of those basics. I watched it all just in case he throws in a few nuggets of wisdom I don’t already know (which he does), but I wondered if a bass course targeted at guitar players might have been more appropriate for me.

I only found out after I had already signed up for the Beginner to Badass course that Ryan Madora has a course targeted at guitar players who want to learn bass. She is great, I love her videos. Here is a link to a video where she talks about two points to watch out for, a teaser video for her course: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3-nK6BxXoU

Keith also mentions SBL but that was too much choice for me, too many teachers, too much to process. I might revisit at a later stage when it is clearer to me what I want to play on bass long term, but first I have to get through Josh’s 50 beginner songs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWXgxssar9M

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Thanks a lot @MollyT I had a look at Ryan Madora’s website and videos. Looks interesting.

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@Prof_Thunder I saw you’d said on my intro post that you were thinking about starting bass.

In case you are still wondering about which teacher, I use James Eager of Ebassguitar. Or maybe you will find him marketing as The Bass Lab Plus. He and Justin follow similar styles in that each video is short (5 - 15 mins) and the content is curated as a learning pathway. Check him out on YouTube and decide if you like his style or not. I’ve only seen SBL and Josh on YouTube, so can see the same as you see. James has a community, but my 1st impression is that Justin’s is somewhat more active.

I agree with the others along the lines of multiple instruments improve musicality in all instrument.

Another pro I would add, is that you can start playing bass in a band pretty quickly. E, A and D open strings, you know where C, G and F are from your guitar. Learn to groove on the root notes and you are good to go. I played in a band 6 weeks after picking up the instrument for the 1st time (really just applying piano note knowledge and knowing what the open strings were on a guitar). Getting good at it is a different proposition, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that you can get on really quickly from the start.

If you want anything more, please ask and I’ll help if I can.

Good luck with whatever you decide,

Simon

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Thanks a lot Simon. That’s really helpful. I will have a look at that course.