should i learn bass and guitar together?

[jaspreet]

hi
6 months ago i bought an acoustic but didnt play much cuz i have small fingers and fat stubby hands. then after attending a concert i somehow wanted to learn bass as it had just 4 strings and fat fingers didnt have much problem. but since my fingers are small i was a bit scared. i bought an amp and bass and started right away. i have been playing bass for 4 months and i can play many songs of tool, rhcp, some 12 bar blues and even slapbass stuff. so obviously small and fat fingers worked for me. but 2 months ago i saw buddy guy live and since that day i fell in love with blues and thats all i listen to now a days and i want to play a 6 string guitar too. now i am a bit confused about this decision. should i learn it or not. will it make things worse or better ? and i think fat short fingers wont be a problem for a 6 string right? will a fender strat be a good guitar for blues? overall am i making a right decision or not? also i started playing harmonica because of blues. i play decent harmonica. so now i will be learning 3 instruments together. someone said i should go for one instrument not 3. but i feel it helps me feel music in different ways. oh and i am 23 years old. i heard that people should start at early age as once you start working it slows everything. i'll be glad if you guys help me out with this confusion.

PS: even if you guys say no i will go for fender strat and learn blues :P (cant help it) unless there is some really awesome reason that you state :P

[Glacies]

I have relatively small hands too and I don't have too much of a problem playing guitar. I can't wrap my thumb around the neck very well, but neither can a lot of very popular players. Youtube some Angus Young interviews and you'll see he essentially developed his style to deal with that type of issue.

Few things, play a lot of different guitars before you settle on one. They have different neck profiles and some will feel more comfortable than others. I personally found strats impossible to play when I started and went with a Les Paul. The point is, you won't be happy playing if you're not comfortable.

And, it doesn't matter if you pick bass or guitar or both. Pick what you are most interested in. You're not going to keep playing if you aren't enjoying yourself. If you are that interested in both, more power to you man.

[marnold]

Hand size is irrelevant. I've got small, dainty hands with no fingertips on three fingers. There will be some guitars that you will find easier to use than others. But otherwise, to blame your hand dimensions is a cop-out.

I too play bass and guitar. They're two great tastes that taste great together.

[jaspreet]

hi
thanks for replying. at the moment i have an acoustic guitar and a bass. i will work on acoustic for 3 months and then decide if i want a les paul or a strat. i find strats more sexy so that was the only reason to go for strat :P but yes before i buy something i'll make sure it is comfortable.

[jaspreet]

hah yes i believe its just practice. when i bought bass i had this thing in my mind that all this money is just getting wasted. but well i didnt stop. practiced for 1-2 hours daily. and now i can do decent slapbass. so overall yes hands dont matter much.

[Eric]

I think a lot of what Glacies said is good advice. Just keep playing - that's the main thing. I personally dislike strats, but nobody is going to keep you from buying one if that's what you've already decided on.

That said, if it was me, I'd learn bass first. Guitar is my first and main love, but bass is more useful, more needed, and teaches you more important things.

Good luck with everything.

[jaspreet]

yes. i didnt say that i dont like bass anymore. i love bass. but i want to learn guitar too. what i have in mind is 45 minutes for bass and 45 for guitar daily. thats the maximum i can give right now. it will be decent amount of time for both i guess

[R_of_G]

From my personal experience, I'd say keep learning both instruments together. I found that stuff I learned on bass only helped me understand guitar that much better and vice versa.

Also, you never know when the whole "dual threat" thing will come in handy. The other night I went to listen to my neighbor's band rehearse. They did a very nice version of "Comfortably Numb" and then were going to do it again to show off for one of the guitar player's kids who just came home as they finished. The bass player wanted to go outside and have a smoke and make a phone call so he handed me his bass and said "here, you know this song." Granted, playing Roger Waters' bass parts isn't exactly the challenge of a lifetime, but I still thought it was cool that while I'm primarily a guitar player I was able to step into that band in another role for a song without screwing them up at all.

As for the hand size thing, I have to concur with Glacies and Marnold. When I first saw Marc Ribot live (from three feet away) what struck me was how tiny his hands were and yet he manages to do things on the guitar I can't even conceptualize let alone replicate. Certain model guitars may be more or less comfortable for you but when you find one you like the size of your hands won't make a difference at all.

[NWBasser]

Obtain a really big bass rig. Preferably >1k watts and a couple 8x10s. Rent if you have to.

Set it up in your house and crank up the volume and bass controls.

Play some hard-slappin' Louis Johnson until pictures are coming off the walls, vision goes blurry, and your goldfish have seizures.

You'll never want to play guitar again....

[deeaa]

I don't think short fingers are any big issue, just find a guitar that feels right. There are big differences in string spacing etc...some are wider spaced which is good for thicker fingers, and maybe you'll want something with a rather thin neck? You just have to test different necks to see what suits you well. Also shorter scale makes wider chords and extending the pinky a little easier. I'd try something like a gibson scale, maybe SG with a thin taper neck, see the difference between rounder radiuses and flatter Tokai copies etc. and compare those with a strat. PRS uses kind of a hybrid scale too.

[jaspreet]

haha true. louis johnson has killer shit.

[jaspreet]

yes even i think so. learning both will help each other. it might be a bit confusing at first while changing from 4string to 6 strings and vice versa, but in the end it will be worth it :D

[jaspreet]

yes. i will check for the string space. and since i am already playing bass , extending pinky isnt much of a problem.. i can easily do chromatic exercises on 1-4 frets and also spider exercises which i saw in a vid by dave la rue. surely i will check many necks before buying one. thankyou :D