What is the difference between and electric guitar and bass guitar?

Question

If it's obvious sorry.. I'm just wondering before I decide to buy one or the other..

Answer 1

Electric Guitars have 6 strings.  Bass Guitars have 4.  

Bass is the instrument that is responsible for keeping the rhythm and low end of a band, although it can be a lead instrument -such as in the band Primus.  The usual role of the bass is like it is used in the song 'Tempted by the fruit of another' or 'Have you ever seen the rain' or 'take a walk on the wild side' or any P-funk song.  Bass is just as challenging and meaningful in a band as guitar.

Guitar is a songwriting machine.  You can play rhythmic chords and also play lead melodies.  The only thing about electric guitars as your first instrument is you usually play them with a pick.  It's good to learn guitar on an acoustic.  But don't let that stop you from getting the coolest rock and roll instrument ever.  Get a Fender Strat or a Gibson SG.

Answer 2

BIG difference. Bass Guitars produce a very low tone and Guitars are more complex and can go much higher than a bass. A Bass usually has 4 strings while a standard electric guitar usually has six strings. Bass Players do not often use a pick, while electric guitar players almost always do. Electric guitars have a wider range of effects. Bass Players usually play one string per note while a guitar can use all six strings.

Answer 3

It IS acceptable to call it bass guitar.

Okay, I'll try not to sound technical in case you aren't musically adept so here goes:

Main difference is the tone. Bass guitars are bassy and usually the foundation for most songs along with drums. The strings are thicker, the neck is longer. You usually pluck (and slap, and pop, etc) the strings with your fingers but picks can be used (fingers are superior though). Most common variety of bass guitars is the 4 string. But there are 5 and 6 and even 7 string basses.

Bass guitars usually have more pop and boom to them.

Electric guitar are more trebley. The noise they make is usually in front of a bass guitar if that makes sense. Most electric guitars have 6 or 7 strings. Electric guitar is usually played with a pick but it really depends on what style of music you are playing.

Electric guitars have crunch and twang.

As to which one you should buy, it really depends. Do you have any musical experience? If not then I'd lean toward the bass, which will help you learn rhythm and finger placement fairly quickly.

But it really all boils down to appeal. Do you want to be the person who is kind of in the back and slaps away on the bass, or the person leading the band with the guitar?

Try YouTubing "Electric Bass" and "Electric Guitar" and hear the differences for yourself and decide which one appeals to you the most.

Answer 4

Electric Guitar:  6,7 or 12 strings.  Rhythm (chords) and leads being played on this instrument.   Tuning...top to bottom:  6 string: E,A,D,G,B,E,  7 string.. Same... except your top string now is a B. There are 2 B strings on a 7... one octave apart.  12 string:  Same as 6 string, except your top EIGHT strings are one octave apart in pitch, the bottom 4, b and e, are the same in pitch.

  Bass:  Very important instrument in a band.  The drummer and bass player are considered to be the "meat and potatoes" of the band.  Bass players are NOT  interchangable if they are very good, as we are not a dime a dozen like guitar players.  The primary role of the bass player is to keep in time with the drummer and create the rhythm or "groove" of the music.  A lousy drummer and bass player can make an oustanding guitar player sound bad.  But.. an outstanding drummer and bass player can make a mediocre guitar player shine under the right circumstances. Also.. with some bass players along the lines of Stu Hamm.. its there job to play the melody and lead to the music while the rest of the band just hangs in there and accompanies HIM!

Tuning on a Bass:  4 string... E,A,D,G... one octave lower than guitar.

                             5 string    theres a choice in this.... add a low B, thus making the E your second string.. or... what is called a high C, above the G on a bass.

                             6 string:  B,E,A,D,G,C....

  I will not add the tunings for 7,9,11 or even 13 string basses.... very confusing!

   As for one being harder than the other.. thats not necessarily true,  Depends on what level you want to take the instrument to.  Listen to bassist like Stu Hamm, Chris Squire, Victor Wooten, Geddy Lee, Stanley Clarke,..... some of what they play is much harder than what a lot of guitar players do!  

   Bottom Line...pick the instrument you have the most desire to learn.  Something you are forced into playing or have no desire to play will just sit in the corner and collect dust.  An instrument willingly chosen will be something that should give you years of enjoyment (along with some frustration!)  as its that instrument you have the desire to learn!  

Answer 5

An electric guitar is a guitar, tuned and played the same as an acoustic guitar.  Its got 6 strings tuned (from lowest to highest) E A D G B e.  Most often you strum rhythm chords to keep time within the music, but you also might often pick out solos or leads or melodies one note at a time.  Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Eddie Van Halen, and Slash are electric guitar players.

A bass guitar isn't *really* a guitar, its a bass, although its shaped like a guitar and held like a guitar.  Most have 4 strings (although there are some 5 and 6 string basses) tuned the same as an upright (double) bass fiddle - (from lowest to highest) E A D G -- or IOW the same as the 4 lowest strings of a guitar but an octave lower.

Most often you play single-note bass lines, working closely with the drummer to create a rhythm groove for the band.  Paul McCartney (when he was with the Beatles), Sting, Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers, are bass players.  

Answer 6

OMG I have been calling my bass guitar by the wrong name for 20 years and, OH NO I have the wrong strings on it, mine are an octave lower than a normal guitar, I can't believe this, I'm actually throwing my pick away as I write this. You learn something new everyday, not necessarily correct but at least new.

Answer 7

An electric guitar has 6 strings while a bass has only 4 strings. The guitar player puts down the lead tracks for a song while the bass player merely supplies the repetitive background rhythm.

This, the guitar is harder to leard how to play.

In choosing, remember that the bass player is seldom the star performer. The lead performer generally plays the six string guitar. Bass players are sort of seen as slightly sub human and easily interchangeable in most professional bands.

On the other hand the bass is easier to learn how to play and standing in front of an amp stack while playing bass and feeling the beat going through you, while it is killing your hearing, it feels really good.