Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Great idea Joey

But what about those who swing both ways?

scotty wrote:Great idea Joey

Thanks!

kiramdear wrote:But what about those who swing both ways?

Pick the one that you spend the most time playing/most accomplished at/prefer to play. I can play some guitar, but I wouldn't call myself a guitar player.

That's hard for me because my accomplishments until recently were as a bass player. I'm still a better bassist than guitarist but I want to play guitar after all with my new projects. I'm much more attached to my guitars than my basses, too. I was always kind of like Paul - the guitarist who got stuck on bass duty. One good thing about being a guitarist is that I have fewer of them in the band to deal with. I don't have much couch space, you know.

I'm pretty accomplished at both bass and guitar...

I can play guitar... but only the lowest 4 strings...

I played guitar for four years before spending the last six years on bass.

I prefer bass by a long shot.

I'd like to make some incredibly inaccurate and possibly politically incorrect observations:

Bass players tend to be more affable and less ego-driven than some other members of the band, unless, of course, they are frustrated lead-guitarists trapped in a bass-player's body. To consciously choose to play bass shows remarkable intellectual capacity and a confident personality with a healthy dose of humility. Bass players are the salt of the earth and the source of all things good in modern music.

Lead guitarists tend to be more extreme personalities - though this doen't necessarily mean they are megalomaniacs. They might be extremely creative, bizarrely artistic or just wildly eccentric. They are never grey and bland;

Rhythm guitarists are just happy to be there, even if their amp is turned off!

Quote; "Rhythm guitarists are just happy to be there, even if their amp is turned off!"
That's purdy funnie...

I think it is fair to generalize about a musician's personality vis a vis choice of instrument. Instruments, like people play roles so it seems natural there should be some kinship between the two. I am primarily a bassist but can play guitar - badly. Apparently not not badly enough to keep me from owning a few guitars.

I know we're speaking in generalities and stereotypes but these aren't far off the mark.

Again, I don't necessarily see it as a bad thing.

Each personality is drawn to each instrument for different reasons (both good and bad, in some cases).

I had a lot of dissection of players written down but decided to opt out of sharing because it looked like horse hockey.

Me? I wouldn't even want to touch a guitar let alone play one.

antipodean wrote:I'd like to make some incredibly inaccurate and possibly politically incorrect observations:

Lead guitarists tend to be more extreme personalities - though this doen't necessarily mean they are megalomaniacs. They might be extremely creative, bizarrely artistic or just wildly eccentric. They are never grey and bland

Have we met? You seem to know so much about me..........................

winston wrote:Don't forget a lot of guitar players also play bass.

Completely different animal. I don't know that many good/excellent guitarists that can play a decent bassline. I love my action high, and I just love it when a guitarist asks to play my bass and gets all frustrated and blames my bass set-up for their inability to play it.

Oh, I've also played guitar for 32 years. After two years I got bored and took up bass. Still, guitar is a worthy diversion from real music.

FretlessOnly wrote:

winston wrote:Don't forget a lot of guitar players also play bass.

Completely different animal. I don't know that many good/excellent guitarists that can play a decent bassline. I love my action high, and I just love it when a guitarist asks to play my bass and gets all frustrated and blames my bass set-up for their inability to play it.

Well I am not so sure about that. For example Ron Wood immediately comes to mind. His work with Jeff Beck and Rod Stewart on the Truth album was absolutely brilliant.

I don't know Ron Wood.

By "know" I really meant "know." And I've been playing out since 1980.

But, I agree with what you posted. Ron Wood has done some very tasteful stuff. The Truth album is great, but my turntable has been out of service for five years.