this post was submitted on 26 Sep 2025
18 points (100.0% liked)
guitars
5032 readers
4 users here now
Welcome to /c/guitars! Let's show off our new guitar pics, ask questions about playing, theory, luthier-ship, and more!
Please bring all positive vibes to the community and leave the toxic stuff elsewhere.
Rules:
-
Treat others with respect. ALL others.
-
No spam
-
No self promotion
-
No NSFW
-
No circle jerk posts, there are other places for that silliness, and they are wonderful. Not here.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
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