Bass players that switched to guitar

[EddieMullet]

In response to the thread on guitar players who switched to bass are there any bassists who switched to guitar?

A couple years ago our guitar player split and in our search for a new one came across none, but did find 3 bass players who wanted to play with us none of which had any guitar playing ability at all.

I had dabbled in guitar and had a cheap Epiphone SG and a 50 watt Marshall combo, but never really did much with it.

So I was moved to the guitar player spot and the first year I struggled big time, after going on 3 years am I finally comfortable with it, but it was a very difficult transition and I still find it difficult at times.

I had played bass for nearly 20 years before this.

[Lumpy]

Talk about taking one for the team... good man.

[Hemisaurus]

It's easier to make the guitar succumb to your will, than to learn those stupid chords.

[jibberish]

heh i have to make a little video of all the chords from hell that you never want to play ALL used in one song just to traumatize you more.

. ok very 1st chord. picture this.. fret#: 4-1-3-2 (E,B,G,D strings respectively)<-lucky us, A and E arent played

?maybe  c7 +5 (raised 5th however you indicate that ?aug5?..i'm slipping worse than usual on this)

edit: eddie, i bet you can just crush barre chords all day long in your sleep with the bass grip playing on that delicate little thing, like a toy.

[Isabellacat]

Jimmy Page played bass in the Yardbirds before switching to lead guitar(but I think he always played guitar tho).

[BrianDamage]

I started off on bass because I was obsessed with Geezer and Lemmy. I always had access to guitars because my dad played so I would screw around on his and picked up chords from watching my guitar playing friends. After playing in bands for a couple of years I started to get better at guitar than most of the dudes I jammed with so when the guitarist quit in one of my bands it was going to be easier to find a bassist than a decent guitarist so I just switched and have been playing guitar since.

[SpaceTrucker]

Been playing both guitar and bass for the same amount of time. I think I'm just as good on both. Really I have no way to find out. Probably better on guitar cause Me and my twin brother used to jam out together on acoustics for the better part of 2 years. I'm less of a "Knowing a few complicated songs" and more of a "Can improvise my way thru mountains of simple songs" I recently quit smoking pot so I think I will be able to remember more. that was my majour pitfall. as quick as I learned things I forgot them.

[moose23]

Tried learning guitar before I picked up the bass, about 17 years ago) and it's only recently that I'm getting a handle on it, still pretty crap on guitar but it's handy for writing so you can hear how things sound on guitar when I write riffs on bass.

[GodShifter]

I'm a terrible guitarist. After playing bass for over 30 years and it being the instrument I learned to play first, I find the guitar's strings to be too close together and I'm awkward in my fingerings on the frets with the guitar. Forget about "soloing". It sounds like an undefined, sick beast.  Playing with a pick, too, was a problem for me.

Far as playing with a pick (as a bass player):

I do agree that if you play bass and learned to play with your fingers (like me), it's probably a good thing to incorporate some use of a pick into your playing, even if you're just practicing with it. We'd play a few tunes that really needed a pick to sound right (like for instance Joe Jackson via Anthrax's version of "Got The Time") and it just sounded kind of crappy because my pick playing was so weak.

[GodShifter]

All add that when I do play guitar, I don't use a pick very much. Often, I'll just use my fingernail as a pick. It seems to work better for me.

[SpaceTrucker]

^I tend to fingerpick on guitar.

I have to really scour my house to find a pick.