Bass VS Guitar, both great instruments but which one is the best for you? This is a scary decision to make. You wouldn’t wanna put in your blood, sweat, and tears trying to master an instrument without knowing what you’re getting into.
Well, you can relax now, you came to the right place. We spent a nice amount of time gathering the details of each instrument that differentiates from the other. With that, we hope to make this decision as easy as possible for you.
The bass and guitar look very similar, however; they are worlds apart when you take a closer look. In this bass vs guitar article, I will walk you through and thoroughly explain the details of each instrument.
We split this article into 4 parts: Difficulty, Price, Design, and Use. These are the 4 most important things to have in mind when making your decision. Bottom line you should get all the information you need so you can make a decision with lots of confidence.
Bass VS Guitar..... FIGHT!
Bass VS Guitar: Use
Bass
A Bass is a low-note-sounding instrument. Its low notes provide the foundation for every other instrument. Bass also gives thickness to a mix. To non-musicians, the bass isn’t really noticeable but when you take it out of the mix you really see how much of an impact it had. Without it, mixes sound extremely thin and not professional.
If you don’t really care about providing the foundation for a mix and you just wanna jam by yourself, you can do that with the bass as well. It doesn’t only have to be used to provide space for other instruments, it’s also great on its own.
Guitar
The guitar is more of a melodic instrument. The melody is what everyone listens to and remembers. The bass is more low-key while the guitar is usually at the front of the stage more out and about.
Bass VS Guitar: Design
Guitar
- Amount of strings: 6
- Size between strings: 50 mm
- String thickness: 0.046″ – 0.010″
- Length: 40″
- Weight: Electric- 8lbs, Accoustic- 3lbs
Bass
- Amount of strings: 4
- Size between strings: 70-74 mm
- String thickness: 0.045″- 0.105″
- Length: 34″
- Weight: 8.5lbs
Bass VS Guitar: Difficulty
Chords
Guitars are most oftenly played with chords. A chord is when you strum different notes together to make a certain sound. Many people find this a little hard. As a guitar player myself I hated trying to learn a new chord since my fingers aren’t used to this new chord shape. When learning a chord it does take time for your hand to adapt to the shape, it gets easier the more you do it
PIC OF CHORD SHAPE
Bass players rarely play chords so everything mentioned above shouldn’t be an issue for you. There are some cases where pros play chords on a bass but it’s very uncommon.
So, in this aspect, a bass would be easier
String Thickness
The bass is a much deeper-sounding instrument. The reason for that is because of the string thickness. Because of this, it may be harder to press down on the strings.
The guitar is a higher-sounding instrument so its strings aren’t as thick as the strings on the bass. After a certain amount of time the guitar strings will hurt too, but definitely more comfortable than the bass strings.
So, in this aspect, guitar would be easier
Amount of Strings
The guitar, as most people know have 6 strings. As opposed to the bass that has only 4. As a guitar player I know I would feel much more comfortable without having to worry about an extra 2 strings. It can get quite overwhelming.
String Separation
The size of the fretboard for the guitar and the bass are similar in size, however; the guitar needs to fit 6 strings while the bass only needs to fit 4. This leaves a small amount of space between each string on the guitar. So it’s easier to hit the wrong string on the guitar since the strings are closer together.
However, on the bass there is a lot more room in between the strings. Therefore it’s not as easy to hit the wrong string
So in this aspect, the bass would be easier
Plucking
When playing the guitar you can pluck and strum. Once your fingers got used to a chord shape all you have to do a rip your pick across the guitar and you have the sound you want. Some people find it easier to just strum even though they are gonna need to learn chords.
The bass is plucking only! So you don’t really have the freedom of just strumming away. You’re gonna have to pluck with accuracy while strumming you need little to no accuracy.
So, in this aspect guitar would be easier.
Soloing
Soloing is hard. It’s when one person plays a crazy riff in the middle of a song. Bass players are what gives the song its foundation. Its low notes are supposed to give the song its thickness. So you are rarely gonna need to ever solo with your bass.
Guitars are the instruments usually used for soloing. It’s more of a melodic instrument.
So, in this aspect bass would be easier since you don’t have to solo. But if you would love to rock a nice solo and take the challenge then go for it!
Rhythm
Both instruments definitely need rhythm. However one might need more than the other. As we said the bass is what sets the foundation of the songs. Everything else sits on top of those low notes. That’s why a bass player’s rhythm needs to be perfect.
A guitar player also needs a rhythm in the strumming and plucking but it’s not as crucial as it is by the bass.
So, in this aspect, the guitar is a little bit easier.
Learning Opportunities
The guitar is no doubt the favorite while the bass is the underdog in the music world. The guitarists definitely outweigh the bassists. Because of this, there are way more learning opportunities for guitar. There are more teachers to choose from and you have lots of online apps and Youtube videos.
The bass on the other hand doesn’t really have that much attention. That’s why the learning opportunity will be harder and there will be fewer people to reach out to. (a slight pro to this would be, if you were actually to learn the bass you would be more needed since there are fewer like you, there are more guitarists out there.)
So, in this aspect, the guitar is easier.
Bottom Line
At the end of the day, each instrument has its pros and cons. In regards to difficulty, go through each aspect and see which one might give you the most challenging time. However, the music world agrees that bass is slightly easier overall. I still advise you to go through the differences since you might find something that may be harder for you. For example: if learning opportunities are huge in your book then you might still take the guitar over the bass even if it’s slightly harder.
Bass VS Guitar: Price
There isn’t such a huge difference in price between the bass and the guitar. The only difference is that since the guitar is more popular, you might have a better chance of finding better deals and more value.
But from the fact you are reading this seems like you’re a beginner. So you should get entry-level products anyway. In that case, bass guitars might be a little more expensive. Entry-level bass guitars go from around $200-$500 while entry-level guitars can go from $100-$200. This doesn’t mean you can’t find some bass guitars for less than $200. We are saying you can get beginner quality at $200 for a bass and anything below might not be great quality.
At the end of the day, the difference isn’t really so drastic the prices are extremely similar. You shouldn’t rule out bass bc of this slight increase.
Check out an article we have on a certain beginner guitar the Yamaha F335 acoustic guitar
Popular Guitars
On Amazon
On Sweetwater
Conclusion
Here you have it! Our guide on bass vs guitar. Let’s review: These instruments look very similar but they play 2 different and huge roles in a mix. First decide what role you wanna take, do you wanna be the foundation or the melody?
Once you’ve decided see which one would be more difficult for you. After that, you would wanna see what fits with your budget but that shouldn’t matter too much since they’re very similar in price.
These are the aspects that should be going through your mind making the decision. Once you’ve gone through them you should end up with a confident decision in one of the instruments.
If you get the electric versions of these instruments, you might wanna look into amps. Check out our page on best cheap guitar amps.
Hope you enjoyed
