Re: [Worship] Electric Guitar

[Fred Kohn <fkohn@columbus.rr.com>]

Melanie King wrote:

> Is there any reason why the bass guitar part could not be played on a
> regular 6-string electric guitar?  We have a young man who reads music and
> plays both the electric and accoustic guitar, and I was wondering if it
> would be more beneficial to have him play chords or to play the bass line.

This all depends on the make-up of the rest of your group. A bass is more
necessary if you have a drum set. The bass line could certainly be played on
the guitar, in fact there is an electric guitar processor which drops the
pitch an octave and puts it in the exact range of a bass.

However I have a couple of cautionary notes. If this young man is a guitarist,
he may eventually resent being "made" into a bassist, even if he says its OK.
Its been my experience that people best shine when they're doing the thing
that God made them for. Its only a very few that were made to regularly play
multiple instruments IMHO. I myself play several instruments, but I was made
to play the piano. All the others are OK for once in a while, but I think I
would resent being placed somewhere for any length of time on the others. Of
course, if its understood that this is all experimental, go for it! Just give
the guy a chance to use his guitar chops once in a while.

On this note, if he ends up playing the bass on guitar, be very cautious of
bringing in other guitarists to play rhythm and leaving him on "bass" without
asking him. Of course I know many fine bassists who started as guitarists and
then because of necessity ended up playing the bass, and then eventually
preferring it. This young man may end up being one of these people. Bottom
line is: constant communication is essential. Of course you know this, but its
so easy to end up in a rut where you just assume everybody is happy with the
status quo because you've been doing it for so long. People's attitudes and
feelings do change over time, and a guy that was perfectly happy a year ago
may not be so happy now. Or a guy who grudgingly agrees to fill in on
something may be really happy with it a year hence.

BTW Melanie thanks for the kind comments you made about me earlier.

--
Fred Kohn(fkohn@columbus.rr.com)
Visit my homepage (Postal and Proud of it!) at:
http://home.columbus.rr.com/angelx3/postal/
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 fortune; for our faculties then undergo a development and display an energy
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 --Ben Franklin


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