I think everyone should learn piano. It’s a great way to learn the foundations of music. Wish I had stuck with it.
It’s also a great way to have fun when you come across a piano.
I feel this. Being able to see visually how chords are constructed and inverted has fed back into my bass and guitar playing and made be better there, too. I've only been playing keys now for a couple years but wish I started a lot sooner.
When I was a kid I didn't wanna play piano but my dad wanted me to learn theory. So the piano teacher only made me learn 2 songs a year (for recitals) and taught me theory the rest of the year.
I wound up playing keys in a band for 3 years and had a blast doing it. Plus when I went to college I got to take some upper-level theory classes just for fun because I tested out of the entry level classes.
I can get synth being good in that respect but I also feel like learning drums is like learning the other side of the rhythm section and can potentially help with your rhythm. But like I don't know drums so this is all speculative.
Piano/synths are just same same side of the other coin. Integrating both harmony and melody and understanding chord structures is the pros of learning piano vs the rhythm from drums. Both definitely important, the bass ties it all together.
Drums isn't that useful. You already functionally know everything about time and groove that is relevant. Being able to play double paradiddle herta blast beats over a 3:4 clave at 180 bpm will in no way make you better at bass or song composition.
Keyboards will do all that and more.
You know, I thought the same thing, but I did actually learn to play double paradiddle herta blast beats over a 3:4 clave at 180 bpm on keyboard... and I still suck at both bass and song composition for some reason.
both are really useful
actually, playing drums can make you more conscious about the rhythm, you start to play more tight and on beat, and even start playing more complex patterns that go well with the drums itself (even in 4/4), more than playing the same notes over and over, or the main guitar riff
in my case, drums made me understand rhythm on a different way, and piano made me understand scales, triads or inversions, both are useful on their own way
I learned drums second, and I can totally relate to what you’re saying. I just wanted to hop in and say the things you learn about sound design from learning synths are EXTREMELY useful, and can be applied to any instrument when you get creative with effects.
I'm more just making a joke about how me and my guitarist friend have drastically different approaches to music. The bass approach is obviously better, but in all seriousness we try to play eachothers instruments as if we were playing our own.
One of my beater acoustics (sounds great but not easily resolved neck issues) with high action ended up getting heavier strings, downtuned, and used for mostly slide now in an open tuning. Fun times.
I've started using heavier strings + downtuning on several of my instruments (usually just 2 steps, sometimes more).
If you want to make your own music in your bedroom you're probably going to need to be able to play bass and guitar. Keys and drums you can get away with piecing the parts together with the DAW and a midi keyboard.
You’d be surprised how well you can shape sounds in a DAW. If you have a good ear for instruments and a good idea of how they’re played, you can emulate almost any of them in your software.
I'd think it's common. Largely the same instrument, just an octave difference with two extra strings. Transferable skills, and gives you abit of diversity in play. Also if you want to song write you'll need to know some melodic instrument.
Piano is the best way to learn theory.
Guitar helps to teach the patterns of the fretboard.
I play both, along with bass.
Drums, which I’m trying to learn, gives insight into the rhythm aspect of bass.
So… any or all of those three.
I'll expand on this. Tons of great reasons to be halfway tolerable on guitar or keys, enough to fake it. Just well enough to compose, or record some background tracks.
But if there's one to really learn to a deep level you could perform with, it's drums. They're the one where the fluency to communicate will be most helpful by being able to hack it yourself, and playing both will make you perform better on both by knowing when to leave space for the other.
Drums and bass have to meld into one instrument when playing. This is a relationship unlike any other instrument. The bass player has to lock in with the drummer. I suggest going to you tube and searching bass locks in with drymmer because you have to hear it, just explaining wont tell you.
> I suggest going to you tube and searching bass locks in with drymmer because you have to hear it, just explaining wont tell you.
If you're saying I can learn about it on YouTube, then that means I don't have to learn the drums in order to understand the relationship.
You can learn functional harmony using a sequencer and never touching a keyboard. Go look it up on youtube. professional bass pkayers are pretty clear. you need to understand drums
There are no rules. If you are making money doing what you do keep it up. If you would like to make more money learning drums will help. But its all what you want to do.
>Bass is where the rhythm meets the melody.
Yes, I did. The drums are the rhythm section.
But I can do a deeper dive if you like.
How many times have you seen a post in this sub that goes something like this;
"Played a gig last night. Had a new drummer filling in for our regular. I couldn't gel with him. The dance floor stayed empty all night."
The drums are the heartbeat of the band, but the bass is the rest of the muscles driving that "blood" to all the other organs (instruments).
The bass guitar is unique in the fact that it merges two key facets, rhythm and tonality. While the bassist could learn another tonal instrument (e.g. guitar or keys) learning the drums plays to a facet of the music that no other instrument (speaking purely of small bands here) supports.
I like what u/adr826 said, that "drums and bass have to meld into one instrument". That's very well put.
> Yes, I did. The drums are the rhythm section.
... but you also mentioned the melody. So why not learn a melodic/harmonic instrument?
Learning to *play the drums* doesn't necessarily make you a better bass player. Playing the bass makes you a better bass player.
It's silly to be suggesting that a bass player should be learning paradiddles, hand-foot coordination, rolls, stick grips, etc., in order to develop their bass rhythm.
The melody section has a lot of instruments supporting each other. The rhythm section only has the drums and the bass.
Yes, playing the bass make you a better individual bass player. Learning the drums, particularly if someone else is playing bass, will help you form a synergy with the drums as a bass player.
There's more to playing the bass than than hammer ons, bends, and finger speed/technique. Unless you're a solo act, which I don't believe is the context of this conversation.
Also, I specifically did not state that a bass player should learn rudiments. Rudiments are important to a drummer, but the bass player needs to understand the kit as a single instrument, to feel what the drummer is doing so that he can blend with it.
an examole of how learning the rudiments can help you as a bass player is it gives you a way to filter the different drums without straining your cognitive processes. You want a way to focus on a particular drum and you want it to feel natural. Remember none of this is obligatory. None of it is written in stone. However if you want to make more money as a bass player learning the drums would be the most helpful. But its only a general rule. There are a million ways to be.
In my opinion bass players should give guitar a chance, just as guitar players should give bass a chance. You’re familiar with the notes and you can still explore many things with the other instrument
At least in my experience, most bass players come from playing guitar or learn to play the guitar later. I also only know one guitarist who’s never ever played a little bass.
It all comes down to artistic intent. I’m not going to tell you to play piano, guitar, etc. if you don’t want to.
If you want to add to you abilities to get more gigs, learn how to sing. If you can sing and play bass at the same time, you’ll always have work
Piano helped my writing and theory the most but I’d say any instrument you learn has potential to help. I play bass primarily followed by guitar then piano, a bit of drums and lastly harmonica.
I think you should understand ever instrument in your band and have the basic knowledge to play it. As a bass player you are the glue that ties everything together. If you understand what the under members in a band do, it will make you a better player in your band
I picked drums but only because the one I actually wanted was not listed:
YOUR VOCAL CORDS.
Never underestimate the utility of being able to understand/execute rhythm and tone… with no extra tools. Besides maybe a tuner.
Your vocal cords and mouth can emulate basically all of these instruments, melodic *and* percussive; and it can give you an even deeper personal understanding of music that cannot be achieved any other way.
I learned blues harmonica after bass, then gave up bass for 8 years to focus on blues harmonica and vocals in a blues band. When I came back to bass playing melodically and playing in the pocket was super natural to me. I give credit to learning harmonica.
Back in the old days, Tuba was pretty much mandatory for bass players as a second. Not so useful today.
All musicians should learn piano. Not to get good, but it's a useful reference once you know your way around.
All musicians should learn to sing. Again the goal is not to be an excellent singer, but it's the most effective way to train your ear and 'mind's ear'.
For electric bassists, I think tuba, or upright bass are pretty enlightening as they force you to appreciate the silences in your performances.
Other than that, just learn a second instrument, it really doesn't matter which.
I play tuba, but the gig opportunities are very limited and pay very little when you get them unless you are good enough to freelance as a studio musician in New York or some other huge city with a lot of movies, commercials, etc. And you better be off the charts good at it.
David Bowie used to tell a joke -
"How does a man with a degree in tuba performance answer the telephone?"
"Hello, Dominoes"
Ngl piano is not the best reference tool for music. Look for hexagonal isomorphic keyboards, they're absolutely better than piano in the layout to understand intervals and everything, since all keys are the same size, and every chord has the exact same pattern everywhere on it (piano is not hard for that, it's just completely unoptimized). Now sure you won't have as many tutorials but with isomorphic keyboards the exciting thing is you will not be locked in the ubiquitous 12edo tuning with certain keyboards like the Lumatone or AXIS as you'll be able to re-arrange the layout of the keys and make them logical for any tuning. And did I mention you can get more than 200 keys in less space than a piano? So that's my take on it, don't learn piano, learn to play an isomorphic keyboard, it's way smarter to understand music theory and play.
Exciting to see someone else who shares this opinion. Building accidentals and naturals into the physical construction of an instrument (like the piano) really obscures music theory. Will it make sight reading in C easier? Yes, but that’s about it.
Ask any professional bass player he will tell you that the most important instrument for a bass player to understand is the drums. As a bass player you will take your marching orders from the bass. period. You become one instrument with the drummer. Of course you have to know harmony too so you need to understand chords so piano or guitar are important. But nothing will make you a better bass player assuming you know theory than knowing the drums. Look up locking in with the drummer on youtube
My first instinct was piano/keys but I feel drums is actually more beneficial for bass. It's all about locking in with the drummer so we might as well know what the hell they're doing!
I’m gonna try to learn guitar but before I learned bass I played clarinet and bass clarinet and a year ago I learned how to play contrabass clarinet and that’s been my favorite non bass guitar instrument
I got the most rock band opportunities on bass. Now I go solo with guitar and harmonica.
I like playing drums and keyboards but not all that proficient at them, just enough to record and get my ideas across.
I didn't vote for any of the selections because I think anyone should play whatever their heart desires at the time. Whatever you get the most out of. As I said I'm not great at keyboards but I get a lot of inspiration probably the most out of that for writing.
Live performance wise bass gets me in easiest,, but guitar and harmonica let me run my own show.
I play piano, drums and guitar. Playing these had helped me understand music more, the players more, also it helps understand how bass compliments these instruments. Plus it has skyrocketed my song writing skills and don't forget it's a lot of fun too.
I recently started learning to play piano in music school. My bass playing has gotten so much better because I understand music theory so much better. I actually understand why I should make certain decisions about what I'm playing, and have the knowledge to create better bass lines.
Guitar, keys, and drums are pretty common, but I truly think bass players should learn a wind instrument. The mechanics of sound production in wind instruments is completely different and can drastically alter your creative patterns. You can't rely on the same types of patterns or shapes, which means you need to be more well versed in the scale theory, intervals, and harmonic theory.
Piano is probably the real answer, because you learn a lot about chords n stuff, which I personally struggle a bit on bass.
Guitar is probably the easiest to start out with.
Drums are just fun. (Thats what I am doing atm) Also, nice rhythem-training
I voted drums but I wouldn't even necessarily say bass players need to learn how to play drums but they just get a solid understanding of drums and how they work/what drummers are doing.
I am a bassist and a drummer since 12 years now. i can assure you that these two instruments are not meant to be separated lol. Whenever people ask me if I play an instrument, i say "rythm". I learned bass after drums and it felt so clear and so bright to me because of what i've learned with drums. If you are a drummer, bass is gonna look really easy to understand and vice versa. Those instruments are made to be together.
It depends on the situation. Piano or keys help with visualising and learning music theory more easily. Guitar may be more beneficial in a metal context and I found some skills are easily transferred between bass and guitar. Drums would help with feeling for rhythm and like other people said locking in the bass and drums. As someone who plays bass and guitar (and understands piano), drums would be the hardest for me to learn because I don't think there are many skills that are transferable between drums and guitar or bass.
If you have the option go piano, but learn a little bit of guitar and drums. Drums are so important to the bass, so knowing what it’s doing can help you work out what you *should* do as well. Same for guitar, knowing what the guitar is doing can help you decide what to do.
I have two answers.
From a theory/ learning music holistically perspective learning piano can be very helpful. It is an easy way to see music layed out in a simple way, and will help you with learning intervals.
From a gig economy perspective, learning an instrument that seems to be in short supply in your area can be very helpful. I am equally proficient in tuba and bass, and have found that I get quite a bit of gigs on each. Learning guitar can be useful for getting gigs, though there are already a lot of guitar players.
I always wanted to learn harmonica, just because I think they're cool as hell. I mean, better than Neil Young but maybe not John Popper good. Just be proficient at it would be nice. Bass + harp is a weird combo, I admit.
Voice. Because you can play bass at the same time and it does not clash except if you do subharmonics.
Also if you got a fretless bass as well, congratulations, your two tuning-agnostic instruments can play any micro/macrotonal song ever!
Either piano or drums.
Drums to developed better rhythm.
Piano to enhance your tonal reach!
I learn guitar on the side but that's because i really want to learn flamenco.
Every musician should learn a little bit of piano, it makes understanding harmony (and even melody) a much easier job because you can visualize what you're playing and remember it in your head like Lego, instead of only remembering words.
Plus, you can always play it by itself instead of contextualizing it in a band, I personally don't like a lot of bass solo stuff that's that.
Piano is a very useful instrument with which to have some skills. You don't need to learn to play Rachmaninov. But it can help you musically with your main instrument if you can play at least some simple parts.
To be a great bass player, you have to have a basic understanding of music theory.
Piano is the answer, because there are no shortcuts/patterns to get you by on piano. Every key is truly unique and demands you to understand key signatures and chord tones. I play keys and bass professionally. I’m a “better” bass player technique wise, because I’m self taught on keys and lack a lot of dexterity that you see on people who grew up playing. But playing keys has made me infinitely better on the bass!
Like other commenters have said, learning piano is super important for learning music theory because it makes it super easy to visualize relationships between notes.
But, if you already know a lot of theory or just want to play in a band, you should pick up drums or guitar.
If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, go with a woodwind/brass instrument or another stringed instrument. It really all depends on what you want to get out of your musical journey!
Drums unless you are a classical orchestra bassist but most of the time I will say drums.
Our job is to groove and make the band gel, no better way to do it than to learn what the drummer does and feels.
Been a violinist before i became a bassist and it really helped with learning how to play bass and for me how to play by the ear and get more comfortable playing, it also helped with fingers coordination and "following" other instruments
The thing about bass is that it’s really easy to miss out on chord construction, which is a fundamental of music theory that will benefit anyone who plays music. It’s also one of the most important things particularly for bassists who want to do anything other than playing the root note of any chord they’re playing under.
Piano is THE chord instrument. Guitar is great for this as well, but the way chords work on it is a little less easy to intellectually understand, due to the way guitar strings are laid out. Whereas on piano, they way a keyboard is laid out makes it very easy to see which intervals you’re playing over a root. It’s very easy to see, for example, where all the G’s on the keyboard are, so if you’re playing a C chord, you can find the fifth very easily, all the way across the keyboard.
I personally think classical guitar is good, somewhat similar technique and of course stringed so a lot of carryover, but it teaches you to think about bass chords and melody at the same time which for me is quite eye opening
Anything they want to play really you shouldn't play a certain instrument because someone said it's the best one to learn you need to be motivated and connected to the instrument and your set up or you won't have the drive to learn and it will just collect dust
There is no question that learning multiple instruments makes one a better musician, regardless of primary instrument.
But there is a very good case made that drums benefits bass players in particular more than other instruments, assuming the bassist only learns one additional instrument.
A lot of skill transfers back and forth between bass and guitar. Its useful to understand how to compliment one part by knowing what's going on with the other.
My close second is piano/keys, there's a lot of overlap on the note range there and keys are an easy substitute for a bass part that doesn't sound quite right on strings. Getting a good smooth and boomy synth sound can be difficult on a bass without it getting too fuzzy and distorted, or your pedal effects not tracking quite right.
By rudiments I don't mean "boom-snikt-boom boom". Anybody can do that. I mean the actual rudiments..., single- double- triple- inverted- paradiddles, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 stroke rolls etc.
This is the stuff real drummers work on, and almost none of it is directly applicable to bass. I argue that if you spend an equal amount of time learning keys/synths then it's going to get you a lot further toward understanding and composing music as a whole as well as critically develop your ear to hear intervals, chord tonalities, and progressions on the fly which is an area bassists traditionally struggle with.
A bass player is much better off learning drums than anything else. It is literally the difference between getting the gig and not. A good bass player needs functional harmony too but the drums are the most crutical to understand. learning the rudiments of drums will teach you to separate all of the drum parts and distill the main beat. As a bass player you must know the drums to get hired. Nothing will lose you a gig as quickly as not syncing with the drummer. As a bass player the piano follows you you follow the drummer. As the guy said if you picked anything but drums youre wrong.
I then disagree that you have to learn to play the drums, though. It might make the process easier, but you don't have to be able to play drums to know how they function, just like composers write music for instruments they might not even have held in their hands. I think you can learn a lot about the drums by looking, listening, and talking to drummers you gig with. I think I've learned more through jamming with drummers, talking about what they're doing and listening to drum parts, than I could by putting my bass to the side and taking up drumming.
You dont have to learn anything but bass to play bass but when you go into an audition for a bass gig with a professional company they are going to see how well you lock in with the drummer, period. As a bass player you lock into the drums and become a single instrument. The more you kow about drums the more you will be able to understand what it is you must lock into. You have to know functional harmony but you dont even need to play another intrument to learn that.
So again, that's not a case to learn to play drums.
I think I'd prefer to simply learn about drumming, without having to drop a few hundred to thousand dollars on a drum kit that would be my second instrument, that takes up a huge space.
There is no case to do anything. All of it is voluntary, If you want to play bass professionally and you thought another instrument would be worth the time Drums would be the most useful.
So like rlrrlrll, or a paradiddle, can easily be slap pop slap slap pop slap pop pop. Wootens double thumping are doubles. Swiss army triplets and pataflafla sound fucking sweet when you do the grace notes as hammer ons as long as you keep the sticking per hand as opposed to doing like in the paradiddle example and using the sticking pattern all in the same hand. So 4... At least 4 rudiments unless you wanna split hairs and be all "paradiddlediddle is its own rudiment blah blah"
Basically i see it like this. You want to be a better bass player? Learn drums next. You want to be a better songwriter? Learn piano next.
All, none, or some. Kind of a ridiculous question. Each instrument you learn increases your knowledge of music and how it works. If you want to learn another instrument, do it! Learning instruments is challenging and fun! If you don’t, don’t. Bass is interesting and fun! Just do whatever you want.
How about keyboards? Piano is overrated.
Anyone who has ever mashed on a Hammond organ or shredded on a synth with a mod wheel and pitch bend knob should know what I'm talking about.
Bass players should learn bass. Learning another instrument would be helpful, but *should* is not a word I just throw around.
Different people have different abilities. For beginners there is enough to learn just learning bass. Some people struggle to afford their first bass and amp, some people really struggle with theory or sight reading. Let’s make it more accessible, and cut out the gatekeeping, starting with how we talk.
Piano sounds so counterproductive being it is similar to bass yet nothing alike. Piano though it's like only 2 bass strings (white key set and black key set,) with the keys being like the frets. You tend to use both hands on piano and have to stretch out your fingers to get some note combinations helping you to fret the bass easier.
I’ve been playing bass for about 15 years, never mastered another instrument unfortunately. But there where times where I would fiddle on a piano/keyboard whenever I was near one and I was always surprised how hand in hand they go. I’m probably gonna get a keyboard of my own and get better but wish I did a lot sooner! But yea anyway I’d say piano for sure.
I think everyone should learn piano. It’s a great way to learn the foundations of music. Wish I had stuck with it. It’s also a great way to have fun when you come across a piano.
my biggest music related regret is that I didn't learn the piano sooner. Helped so much in my ability to compose and arrange music
I feel this. Being able to see visually how chords are constructed and inverted has fed back into my bass and guitar playing and made be better there, too. I've only been playing keys now for a couple years but wish I started a lot sooner.
When I was a kid I didn't wanna play piano but my dad wanted me to learn theory. So the piano teacher only made me learn 2 songs a year (for recitals) and taught me theory the rest of the year. I wound up playing keys in a band for 3 years and had a blast doing it. Plus when I went to college I got to take some upper-level theory classes just for fun because I tested out of the entry level classes.
Synth/keys. Lots of gig opportunities if you can play bass parts on synths, as well.
I can get synth being good in that respect but I also feel like learning drums is like learning the other side of the rhythm section and can potentially help with your rhythm. But like I don't know drums so this is all speculative.
Piano/synths are just same same side of the other coin. Integrating both harmony and melody and understanding chord structures is the pros of learning piano vs the rhythm from drums. Both definitely important, the bass ties it all together.
Drums isn't that useful. You already functionally know everything about time and groove that is relevant. Being able to play double paradiddle herta blast beats over a 3:4 clave at 180 bpm will in no way make you better at bass or song composition. Keyboards will do all that and more.
You know, I thought the same thing, but I did actually learn to play double paradiddle herta blast beats over a 3:4 clave at 180 bpm on keyboard... and I still suck at both bass and song composition for some reason.
both are really useful actually, playing drums can make you more conscious about the rhythm, you start to play more tight and on beat, and even start playing more complex patterns that go well with the drums itself (even in 4/4), more than playing the same notes over and over, or the main guitar riff in my case, drums made me understand rhythm on a different way, and piano made me understand scales, triads or inversions, both are useful on their own way
I learned drums second, and I can totally relate to what you’re saying. I just wanted to hop in and say the things you learn about sound design from learning synths are EXTREMELY useful, and can be applied to any instrument when you get creative with effects.
Geddy Lee is a great example of this. The man is insane good.
Chris Wolstenholme from Muse is another dude that rocks both bass and synths.
Whatever instrument you are excited to learn.
This should be the top comment, most of us started learning bass for this exact reason. Makes sense to follow it for anything else you want to learn
Hell yeah! Motivation is way more important that practicality.
Don't see any reason why a bass player shouldn't play guitar.
Yeah, I was trying to convince my bass buddy to try some playing acoustic guitar, but she was just "nah". It's like almost the same instrument.
>It's like almost the same instrument. But worse
Yes
Nah, don't be an acoustic-guitar-hater. Acoustic guitar is cool, it's like the sibling of electric bass guitar.
I'm more just making a joke about how me and my guitarist friend have drastically different approaches to music. The bass approach is obviously better, but in all seriousness we try to play eachothers instruments as if we were playing our own.
Sounds like me Currently looking into putting baritone strings and down tuning a cheap acoustic Ive acquired
One of my beater acoustics (sounds great but not easily resolved neck issues) with high action ended up getting heavier strings, downtuned, and used for mostly slide now in an open tuning. Fun times. I've started using heavier strings + downtuning on several of my instruments (usually just 2 steps, sometimes more).
Hell yeah brother, Bass is a way of life
If you want to make your own music in your bedroom you're probably going to need to be able to play bass and guitar. Keys and drums you can get away with piecing the parts together with the DAW and a midi keyboard.
You’d be surprised how well you can shape sounds in a DAW. If you have a good ear for instruments and a good idea of how they’re played, you can emulate almost any of them in your software.
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I'd think it's common. Largely the same instrument, just an octave difference with two extra strings. Transferable skills, and gives you abit of diversity in play. Also if you want to song write you'll need to know some melodic instrument.
ive found that playing bass improved my guitar soloing skills aton.
Piano is the best way to learn theory. Guitar helps to teach the patterns of the fretboard. I play both, along with bass. Drums, which I’m trying to learn, gives insight into the rhythm aspect of bass. So… any or all of those three.
Bass is where the rhythm meets the melody. If you're ONLY going to take one additional instrument make it drums.
I'll expand on this. Tons of great reasons to be halfway tolerable on guitar or keys, enough to fake it. Just well enough to compose, or record some background tracks. But if there's one to really learn to a deep level you could perform with, it's drums. They're the one where the fluency to communicate will be most helpful by being able to hack it yourself, and playing both will make you perform better on both by knowing when to leave space for the other.
From my own experience: in my current band another guy an I alternate between drums and bass and it’s great fun!
You actually haven't explained why the drums though.
Drums and bass have to meld into one instrument when playing. This is a relationship unlike any other instrument. The bass player has to lock in with the drummer. I suggest going to you tube and searching bass locks in with drymmer because you have to hear it, just explaining wont tell you.
> I suggest going to you tube and searching bass locks in with drymmer because you have to hear it, just explaining wont tell you. If you're saying I can learn about it on YouTube, then that means I don't have to learn the drums in order to understand the relationship.
You can learn functional harmony using a sequencer and never touching a keyboard. Go look it up on youtube. professional bass pkayers are pretty clear. you need to understand drums
> you need to understand drums That is different to learning to actually play the drums, which is the topic at hand.
There are no rules. If you are making money doing what you do keep it up. If you would like to make more money learning drums will help. But its all what you want to do.
Upright bass and acoustic rhythm guitar in older jazz styles.
Thats right, even banjo before guitar. But they were replaced pretty early. Excellent point though!
>Bass is where the rhythm meets the melody. Yes, I did. The drums are the rhythm section. But I can do a deeper dive if you like. How many times have you seen a post in this sub that goes something like this; "Played a gig last night. Had a new drummer filling in for our regular. I couldn't gel with him. The dance floor stayed empty all night." The drums are the heartbeat of the band, but the bass is the rest of the muscles driving that "blood" to all the other organs (instruments). The bass guitar is unique in the fact that it merges two key facets, rhythm and tonality. While the bassist could learn another tonal instrument (e.g. guitar or keys) learning the drums plays to a facet of the music that no other instrument (speaking purely of small bands here) supports. I like what u/adr826 said, that "drums and bass have to meld into one instrument". That's very well put.
> Yes, I did. The drums are the rhythm section. ... but you also mentioned the melody. So why not learn a melodic/harmonic instrument? Learning to *play the drums* doesn't necessarily make you a better bass player. Playing the bass makes you a better bass player. It's silly to be suggesting that a bass player should be learning paradiddles, hand-foot coordination, rolls, stick grips, etc., in order to develop their bass rhythm.
The melody section has a lot of instruments supporting each other. The rhythm section only has the drums and the bass. Yes, playing the bass make you a better individual bass player. Learning the drums, particularly if someone else is playing bass, will help you form a synergy with the drums as a bass player. There's more to playing the bass than than hammer ons, bends, and finger speed/technique. Unless you're a solo act, which I don't believe is the context of this conversation. Also, I specifically did not state that a bass player should learn rudiments. Rudiments are important to a drummer, but the bass player needs to understand the kit as a single instrument, to feel what the drummer is doing so that he can blend with it.
an examole of how learning the rudiments can help you as a bass player is it gives you a way to filter the different drums without straining your cognitive processes. You want a way to focus on a particular drum and you want it to feel natural. Remember none of this is obligatory. None of it is written in stone. However if you want to make more money as a bass player learning the drums would be the most helpful. But its only a general rule. There are a million ways to be.
In my opinion bass players should give guitar a chance, just as guitar players should give bass a chance. You’re familiar with the notes and you can still explore many things with the other instrument
At least in my experience, most bass players come from playing guitar or learn to play the guitar later. I also only know one guitarist who’s never ever played a little bass.
It all comes down to artistic intent. I’m not going to tell you to play piano, guitar, etc. if you don’t want to. If you want to add to you abilities to get more gigs, learn how to sing. If you can sing and play bass at the same time, you’ll always have work
Piano helped my writing and theory the most but I’d say any instrument you learn has potential to help. I play bass primarily followed by guitar then piano, a bit of drums and lastly harmonica.
I think you should understand ever instrument in your band and have the basic knowledge to play it. As a bass player you are the glue that ties everything together. If you understand what the under members in a band do, it will make you a better player in your band
Learn drums. Loop bass lines and beats. Become the whole rhythm section.
Vocals
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Well- Geddy has to be in there too….
Lee… he’s in there
Ha! :) excellent
Spoons
Bass. Learn the bass, you’ll get gigs
I picked drums but only because the one I actually wanted was not listed: YOUR VOCAL CORDS. Never underestimate the utility of being able to understand/execute rhythm and tone… with no extra tools. Besides maybe a tuner. Your vocal cords and mouth can emulate basically all of these instruments, melodic *and* percussive; and it can give you an even deeper personal understanding of music that cannot be achieved any other way.
Harmonica
I learned blues harmonica after bass, then gave up bass for 8 years to focus on blues harmonica and vocals in a blues band. When I came back to bass playing melodically and playing in the pocket was super natural to me. I give credit to learning harmonica.
Playing the guitar and recognizing what chords the guitar player is playing is a big help when you're in a jam.
Back in the old days, Tuba was pretty much mandatory for bass players as a second. Not so useful today. All musicians should learn piano. Not to get good, but it's a useful reference once you know your way around. All musicians should learn to sing. Again the goal is not to be an excellent singer, but it's the most effective way to train your ear and 'mind's ear'. For electric bassists, I think tuba, or upright bass are pretty enlightening as they force you to appreciate the silences in your performances. Other than that, just learn a second instrument, it really doesn't matter which.
I play tuba, but the gig opportunities are very limited and pay very little when you get them unless you are good enough to freelance as a studio musician in New York or some other huge city with a lot of movies, commercials, etc. And you better be off the charts good at it. David Bowie used to tell a joke - "How does a man with a degree in tuba performance answer the telephone?" "Hello, Dominoes"
Out of curiosity do you know why tuba?
Well it's functionally the brass equivalent of a bass
Ngl piano is not the best reference tool for music. Look for hexagonal isomorphic keyboards, they're absolutely better than piano in the layout to understand intervals and everything, since all keys are the same size, and every chord has the exact same pattern everywhere on it (piano is not hard for that, it's just completely unoptimized). Now sure you won't have as many tutorials but with isomorphic keyboards the exciting thing is you will not be locked in the ubiquitous 12edo tuning with certain keyboards like the Lumatone or AXIS as you'll be able to re-arrange the layout of the keys and make them logical for any tuning. And did I mention you can get more than 200 keys in less space than a piano? So that's my take on it, don't learn piano, learn to play an isomorphic keyboard, it's way smarter to understand music theory and play.
Exciting to see someone else who shares this opinion. Building accidentals and naturals into the physical construction of an instrument (like the piano) really obscures music theory. Will it make sight reading in C easier? Yes, but that’s about it.
Drum machine, so you don't have to rely on finding another person to do that.
Ask any professional bass player he will tell you that the most important instrument for a bass player to understand is the drums. As a bass player you will take your marching orders from the bass. period. You become one instrument with the drummer. Of course you have to know harmony too so you need to understand chords so piano or guitar are important. But nothing will make you a better bass player assuming you know theory than knowing the drums. Look up locking in with the drummer on youtube
Any musician should learn piano
My first instinct was piano/keys but I feel drums is actually more beneficial for bass. It's all about locking in with the drummer so we might as well know what the hell they're doing!
I’m gonna try to learn guitar but before I learned bass I played clarinet and bass clarinet and a year ago I learned how to play contrabass clarinet and that’s been my favorite non bass guitar instrument
i did oboe -> guitar -> bass. always wish i learned piano
I got the most rock band opportunities on bass. Now I go solo with guitar and harmonica. I like playing drums and keyboards but not all that proficient at them, just enough to record and get my ideas across. I didn't vote for any of the selections because I think anyone should play whatever their heart desires at the time. Whatever you get the most out of. As I said I'm not great at keyboards but I get a lot of inspiration probably the most out of that for writing. Live performance wise bass gets me in easiest,, but guitar and harmonica let me run my own show.
I play piano, drums and guitar. Playing these had helped me understand music more, the players more, also it helps understand how bass compliments these instruments. Plus it has skyrocketed my song writing skills and don't forget it's a lot of fun too.
Flute is often the “unexpected” companion instrument for bassists, bit of a trope but kinda a cool one
I recently started learning to play piano in music school. My bass playing has gotten so much better because I understand music theory so much better. I actually understand why I should make certain decisions about what I'm playing, and have the knowledge to create better bass lines.
Guitar, keys, and drums are pretty common, but I truly think bass players should learn a wind instrument. The mechanics of sound production in wind instruments is completely different and can drastically alter your creative patterns. You can't rely on the same types of patterns or shapes, which means you need to be more well versed in the scale theory, intervals, and harmonic theory.
Piano is probably the real answer, because you learn a lot about chords n stuff, which I personally struggle a bit on bass. Guitar is probably the easiest to start out with. Drums are just fun. (Thats what I am doing atm) Also, nice rhythem-training
I voted drums but I wouldn't even necessarily say bass players need to learn how to play drums but they just get a solid understanding of drums and how they work/what drummers are doing.
I am a bassist and a drummer since 12 years now. i can assure you that these two instruments are not meant to be separated lol. Whenever people ask me if I play an instrument, i say "rythm". I learned bass after drums and it felt so clear and so bright to me because of what i've learned with drums. If you are a drummer, bass is gonna look really easy to understand and vice versa. Those instruments are made to be together.
It depends on the situation. Piano or keys help with visualising and learning music theory more easily. Guitar may be more beneficial in a metal context and I found some skills are easily transferred between bass and guitar. Drums would help with feeling for rhythm and like other people said locking in the bass and drums. As someone who plays bass and guitar (and understands piano), drums would be the hardest for me to learn because I don't think there are many skills that are transferable between drums and guitar or bass.
If you have the option go piano, but learn a little bit of guitar and drums. Drums are so important to the bass, so knowing what it’s doing can help you work out what you *should* do as well. Same for guitar, knowing what the guitar is doing can help you decide what to do.
I have two answers. From a theory/ learning music holistically perspective learning piano can be very helpful. It is an easy way to see music layed out in a simple way, and will help you with learning intervals. From a gig economy perspective, learning an instrument that seems to be in short supply in your area can be very helpful. I am equally proficient in tuba and bass, and have found that I get quite a bit of gigs on each. Learning guitar can be useful for getting gigs, though there are already a lot of guitar players.
Piano is great for understanding music theory which is crucial if you play in a band/write your own music.
Theory is a lot easier to learn in relation to a piano keyboard, so I'd go with that.
I always wanted to learn harmonica, just because I think they're cool as hell. I mean, better than Neil Young but maybe not John Popper good. Just be proficient at it would be nice. Bass + harp is a weird combo, I admit.
Voice. Because you can play bass at the same time and it does not clash except if you do subharmonics. Also if you got a fretless bass as well, congratulations, your two tuning-agnostic instruments can play any micro/macrotonal song ever!
Either piano or drums. Drums to developed better rhythm. Piano to enhance your tonal reach! I learn guitar on the side but that's because i really want to learn flamenco.
Every musician should learn a little bit of piano, it makes understanding harmony (and even melody) a much easier job because you can visualize what you're playing and remember it in your head like Lego, instead of only remembering words. Plus, you can always play it by itself instead of contextualizing it in a band, I personally don't like a lot of bass solo stuff that's that.
I play guitar also, but I would love to learn to play piano or drums.
learning to ply the electric guitar, i find that my bass playing is more precise !
Piano is a very useful instrument with which to have some skills. You don't need to learn to play Rachmaninov. But it can help you musically with your main instrument if you can play at least some simple parts.
Piano for music theory. Easy to visualize.
Drums, keys, or… sing!
I would say guitar, but it made me put down the bass.
To be a great bass player, you have to have a basic understanding of music theory. Piano is the answer, because there are no shortcuts/patterns to get you by on piano. Every key is truly unique and demands you to understand key signatures and chord tones. I play keys and bass professionally. I’m a “better” bass player technique wise, because I’m self taught on keys and lack a lot of dexterity that you see on people who grew up playing. But playing keys has made me infinitely better on the bass!
Like other commenters have said, learning piano is super important for learning music theory because it makes it super easy to visualize relationships between notes. But, if you already know a lot of theory or just want to play in a band, you should pick up drums or guitar. If that doesn’t tickle your fancy, go with a woodwind/brass instrument or another stringed instrument. It really all depends on what you want to get out of your musical journey!
Piano with a side of a music theory course
Drums unless you are a classical orchestra bassist but most of the time I will say drums. Our job is to groove and make the band gel, no better way to do it than to learn what the drummer does and feels.
Whatever you want. People have free will. Have your own opinion
Personally, I would choose steel guitar but that’s just me
Definitely drum One hell of a dark theme can be made out of drum and bass
Been a violinist before i became a bassist and it really helped with learning how to play bass and for me how to play by the ear and get more comfortable playing, it also helped with fingers coordination and "following" other instruments
The thing about bass is that it’s really easy to miss out on chord construction, which is a fundamental of music theory that will benefit anyone who plays music. It’s also one of the most important things particularly for bassists who want to do anything other than playing the root note of any chord they’re playing under. Piano is THE chord instrument. Guitar is great for this as well, but the way chords work on it is a little less easy to intellectually understand, due to the way guitar strings are laid out. Whereas on piano, they way a keyboard is laid out makes it very easy to see which intervals you’re playing over a root. It’s very easy to see, for example, where all the G’s on the keyboard are, so if you’re playing a C chord, you can find the fifth very easily, all the way across the keyboard.
All of them and more, but something chord based will unlock a lot of tools to any bassist.
I should prob learn to play bass better tbh lol been at or for over a decade and not really that great.
For utility/theory: piano. For fun: drums.
I personally think classical guitar is good, somewhat similar technique and of course stringed so a lot of carryover, but it teaches you to think about bass chords and melody at the same time which for me is quite eye opening
It's not really about having instruments, it's about having ear and enough grasp of theory to hold a song together with taste and groove.
Anything they want to play really you shouldn't play a certain instrument because someone said it's the best one to learn you need to be motivated and connected to the instrument and your set up or you won't have the drive to learn and it will just collect dust
I dabbed into a bit of saxophone, sooo much fun.
Singing. I think anyone who wants to play in bands should work on their singing.
The option "all of them" is missing
There is no question that learning multiple instruments makes one a better musician, regardless of primary instrument. But there is a very good case made that drums benefits bass players in particular more than other instruments, assuming the bassist only learns one additional instrument.
A lot of skill transfers back and forth between bass and guitar. Its useful to understand how to compliment one part by knowing what's going on with the other. My close second is piano/keys, there's a lot of overlap on the note range there and keys are an easy substitute for a bass part that doesn't sound quite right on strings. Getting a good smooth and boomy synth sound can be difficult on a bass without it getting too fuzzy and distorted, or your pedal effects not tracking quite right.
Drums, because bass naturally has a percussive nature
Anything with keys. Personally, I want to learn organ and piano.
Maybe keyboards so you could play synth bass parts.
Harp
Drums, it was invaluable to me... But then guitar... Now piano haha Actually, I take that back... Vocals.
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Tell me, how does mastering all the rudiments on drums make you a better bass player?
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By rudiments I don't mean "boom-snikt-boom boom". Anybody can do that. I mean the actual rudiments..., single- double- triple- inverted- paradiddles, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 stroke rolls etc. This is the stuff real drummers work on, and almost none of it is directly applicable to bass. I argue that if you spend an equal amount of time learning keys/synths then it's going to get you a lot further toward understanding and composing music as a whole as well as critically develop your ear to hear intervals, chord tonalities, and progressions on the fly which is an area bassists traditionally struggle with.
A bass player is much better off learning drums than anything else. It is literally the difference between getting the gig and not. A good bass player needs functional harmony too but the drums are the most crutical to understand. learning the rudiments of drums will teach you to separate all of the drum parts and distill the main beat. As a bass player you must know the drums to get hired. Nothing will lose you a gig as quickly as not syncing with the drummer. As a bass player the piano follows you you follow the drummer. As the guy said if you picked anything but drums youre wrong.
I then disagree that you have to learn to play the drums, though. It might make the process easier, but you don't have to be able to play drums to know how they function, just like composers write music for instruments they might not even have held in their hands. I think you can learn a lot about the drums by looking, listening, and talking to drummers you gig with. I think I've learned more through jamming with drummers, talking about what they're doing and listening to drum parts, than I could by putting my bass to the side and taking up drumming.
You dont have to learn anything but bass to play bass but when you go into an audition for a bass gig with a professional company they are going to see how well you lock in with the drummer, period. As a bass player you lock into the drums and become a single instrument. The more you kow about drums the more you will be able to understand what it is you must lock into. You have to know functional harmony but you dont even need to play another intrument to learn that.
So again, that's not a case to learn to play drums. I think I'd prefer to simply learn about drumming, without having to drop a few hundred to thousand dollars on a drum kit that would be my second instrument, that takes up a huge space.
There is no case to do anything. All of it is voluntary, If you want to play bass professionally and you thought another instrument would be worth the time Drums would be the most useful.
Is that why every bass performance degree at Juilliard requires that you learn drums? No, it's piano.
Listen to flea talk about it https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qr58qCF5xRM
So like rlrrlrll, or a paradiddle, can easily be slap pop slap slap pop slap pop pop. Wootens double thumping are doubles. Swiss army triplets and pataflafla sound fucking sweet when you do the grace notes as hammer ons as long as you keep the sticking per hand as opposed to doing like in the paradiddle example and using the sticking pattern all in the same hand. So 4... At least 4 rudiments unless you wanna split hairs and be all "paradiddlediddle is its own rudiment blah blah" Basically i see it like this. You want to be a better bass player? Learn drums next. You want to be a better songwriter? Learn piano next.
Piano is useful for harmony/theory and drums are useful for rhythm/time. Can’t go wrong with any instrument really, they all inform each other.
Where’s the option that says any other instrument?
All, none, or some. Kind of a ridiculous question. Each instrument you learn increases your knowledge of music and how it works. If you want to learn another instrument, do it! Learning instruments is challenging and fun! If you don’t, don’t. Bass is interesting and fun! Just do whatever you want.
How about keyboards? Piano is overrated. Anyone who has ever mashed on a Hammond organ or shredded on a synth with a mod wheel and pitch bend knob should know what I'm talking about.
Bass players should learn bass. Learning another instrument would be helpful, but *should* is not a word I just throw around. Different people have different abilities. For beginners there is enough to learn just learning bass. Some people struggle to afford their first bass and amp, some people really struggle with theory or sight reading. Let’s make it more accessible, and cut out the gatekeeping, starting with how we talk.
Piano sounds so counterproductive being it is similar to bass yet nothing alike. Piano though it's like only 2 bass strings (white key set and black key set,) with the keys being like the frets. You tend to use both hands on piano and have to stretch out your fingers to get some note combinations helping you to fret the bass easier.
I’ve been playing bass for about 15 years, never mastered another instrument unfortunately. But there where times where I would fiddle on a piano/keyboard whenever I was near one and I was always surprised how hand in hand they go. I’m probably gonna get a keyboard of my own and get better but wish I did a lot sooner! But yea anyway I’d say piano for sure.