this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2025
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Hi, I am hobbyist musician. I play keyboards and I know bit of music theory. I am thinking about playing bass guitar.

My question is do I have to learn to play regular guitar (6 strings) or can I jump straight into the bass guitar (4 strings)

TIA

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[–] Skua@kbin.earth 9 points 1 month ago

There are transferrable skills between the two but they aren't the same instrument. There's no need to learn one before the other

While you can play a guitar like a bass or vice versa, it normally just sounds kinda bad. The chords that work on a guitar are often muddy on a bass, whereas a lot of bass parts would be quite dull on a guitar because the guitar lacks the thickness of sound to carry monophonic parts as well

Besides the choices of notes, the mechanics of playing can be a bit different too. The left hand skills are basically the same for each, although bass requires larger movements so there's a little adjustment needed. If you're playing with a pick then the right hand is largely the same, but the common fingerpicking techniques on the two are quite different. If you like your funk then you might be taking a look at slap bass, which can work on guitar if done delicately but would be quite unusual