I find it hard to get excited about guitar since switching to Bass - anything I'm missing?

[Dollywitch]

A while back I decided I was struggling on guitar so I looked into picking up another instrument - I ended up landed on Bass and since Feb or March it's been going pretty great for me.

But I still have 3 guitars lying around and a bunch of effects. I like listening to guitar based music, and I really like guitar effects - the idea of playing music that's heavy in delay and modulation, while it's cheesy in of itself now, like goth rock or shoegaze still appeals. A lot of my effects work well on bass, and some really don't. Muddy analog delays for example, are hardly to integrate with bass.

My 3 guitars I have are a Fender Marauder(LPB), Squier VM Jaguar, and a Harley Benton PRS Semihollow I have tuned down to C - actually my favourite guitar to play now though I only play so much stuff tuned to C and it doesn't pair well with my Bass, having to get yet another bass to downtune it is a bit much.

I used to really love my Fender Marauder, it felt like *my* guitar, but now it feels like the least exciting of them. The colour was pretty when I got it, but now it feels kinda meh. The sound of the neck pickup is nice, but I'm not sure I prefer it to the neck pickup in my Squier Jag, and the Triplebucker is a lot less interesting than you might think, though it is good for a meaty chug tone.

With Bass, I find myself very interested by the different sorts of Basses and different sounds they have. At first I would have thought, since it's mostly low frequencies, they sound more similar. But if you're playing "bass forward" music or using it as a slightly more lead instrument, that's not the case. There's definitely a distinction between a Jazz Bass, P-Bass, Mustangs, Stingrays, Gibson style basses, Hofners, and between those categories they can sound pretty wildly different within them.

Obviously this is the case with Electric Guitar to an extent, but I just don't feel it anymore. Basically, no Guitar feels "interesting" to me. I'm drawn to Offsets as they do generally have a vibe I get, so part of me just wants to swap my Marauder for a nice Jazzmaster, but that could be cliché in of itself for the music I want to play.

Are there guitars I'm missing out on? I tried a bunch of Sire guitars the other day, and while they represented more generic guitars(Telecaster, Les Paul, Superstrat) and they all played and sounded better than my current guitars, so I almost considered a swap. But none of them felt dead on - I don't want to go down to a guitar without any trem for example, and the Les Paul was probably my favourite sounding but not having the option for Single coil sounds probably wouldn't be great for the music I play.

So where should I look? The Guild Surfliner Deluxe is pretty cool looking, but it might be at the higher end and not readily available here(the tremless ones are though). Revelation have some interesting guitars, particularly the RJT-60-m-tl. The ATN circuit seems pretty interesting. But again, nowhere has them and the feel is important for me.

Any other suggestions?

[sal paradise]

Squier CV Telecaster.

Trust me.

[Steadyriot.]

I’d take a look at Reverend as you’re straying off the beaten path already with that Marauder and Surfliner. Maybe look at Gretsch too, they can sit between those humbucker and singlecoil tones. Maybe a p90 or filtertron Jet? The G5210t caught my eye the other day.

[Dollywitch]

Never paid much attention to P90s but I've always like the look of this -



If it had a Trem unit(I think SGs look particularly cool with a bigsby) then I'd probably go for it.

The Revelations could be a good option as they seem to use P90s that are much lower in noise(Dummy coils maybe?)

[marqueemoon]

If you enjoy playing bass more why not go with your heart?

[Shadoweclipse13]

If you enjoy playing bass more why not go with your heart?

My thought exactly. If bass is inspiring you right now, don't force yourself to play guitar. Take a break from it, and maybe you'll miss it in a little while. You might be tired of playing guitar right now because you're feeling oversaturated by it and everything that goes along with it. Give it time

[marqueemoon]

If you enjoy playing bass more why not go with your heart?

My thought exactly. If bass is inspiring you right now, don't force yourself to play guitar. Take a break from it, and maybe you'll miss it in a little while. You might be tired of playing guitar right now because you're feeling oversaturated by it and everything that goes along with it. Give it time

Exactly. I love playing bass, and it’s very much its own thing, and not inferior to playing guitar.

Playing different instruments makes you a better musician.

[Jaguar018]

I think it's a really bad idea to buy things in an attempt to respark your interest, especially things like a guitar. Perhaps it depends on your personality and approach to things, but whenever I do stuff like that it always fizzles out.

I mean, maybe there is some cool guitar out there that would get your juices flowing, but I'd just play that bass and get more into it.

[Larsongs]

Bass is a great Instrument. As is playing Guitar.. No reason you can’t play both.. I believe playing Bass can make you a better Guitarist.. And playing Guitar can make you better Bass player..

You’ll probably be in higher demand as a Bass player because everybody plays Guitar..

If you love the Instruments you have enjoy them! Make more Music.

[terminalvertigo]

Bass is a great Instrument. As is playing Guitar.. No reason you can’t play both.. I believe playing Bass can make you a better Guitarist.. And playing Guitar can make you better Bass player..

You’ll probably be in higher demand as a Bass player because everybody plays Guitar..

If you love the Instruments you have enjoy them! Make more Music.

+1

[Fiddy]

I see you're all about the bass, not treble...

[tqi]

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[fuzzjunkie]

If you prefer bass and like effects, there are plenty that can work with the bass even though some guitar effects might not.

Fuzz can sound great on bass. Even better when you can blend in some clean signal.

Compression is a solid option but doesn’t really change the sound drastically.

Synth effects can sound great on bass because they’re voiced to cover a greater range with frequencies down to 40 Hz.

Auto-wah or Phaser effects can give your bass tone a vocal quality.

Flanger has produced classic bass tones but often doesn’t cover the full frequency range. It could be too goth/shoegaze as well.

Ring modulation and octave effects are less common on bass, but could be worth experimenting with.

Time based effects don’t really work as well in an ensemble unless the part the bass is playing is featured. Like a bridge or intro that has limited accompaniment.

[marqueemoon]

If you prefer bass and like effects, there are plenty that can work with the bass even though some guitar effects might not.

Fuzz can sound great on bass. Even better when you can blend in some clean signal.

Compression is a solid option but doesn’t really change the sound drastically.

Synth effects can sound great on bass because they’re voiced to cover a greater range with frequencies down to 40 Hz.

Auto-wah or Phaser effects can give your bass tone a vocal quality.

Flanger has produced classic bass tones but often doesn’t cover the full frequency range. It could be too goth/shoegaze as well.

Ring modulation and octave effects are less common on bass, but could be worth experimenting with.

Time based effects don’t really work as well in an ensemble unless the part the bass is playing is featured. Like a bridge or intro that has limited accompaniment.

I have one of these. I love it. It allows me to invite a little chaos in while still doing my job holding the low end down.

One Control and many other companies make wet/dry blend pedals. That might be a good way for the OP to experiment with effects they already have. The trick with bass is to maintain low end, and the easiest way to do that is to keep some of the unaffected signal.

[Viking Power]

I'll +1 the idea of just leaning in on playing your bass.

I struggle with guitar due to a fretting hand finger injury. I'm way better at bass and own a few very cool basses. Unfortunately, I struggle to be motivated to play bass at least right now. So, I'm giving guitar another go, even started lessons. I envy your love of the bass and desire to play it over guitar.

Bass is a great instrument and if you have the passion for it...go for it and don't even look back!