Technically yes, playing electric guitar through a bass amp can be done, nothing will break, no one will get hurt.
Any guitar or bass amp is "compatible" with either basses or guitars because both instruments use cables with 1/4" plugs. There's nothing preventing you from plugging a bass into a guitar amp and vice versa. Usually, an amplifier is designed with features for either a bass or a guitar, not both.
Yes, bass players do play chords. And yes and no, it's easy for someone who can play guitar to play bass. But being able to play bass does not mean knowing how to play bass. The most popular basses have only four strings whereas regular guitars use five or all six strings to play a chord.
The truth is you can connect a bass into any guitar amp and it will function perfectly fine at low volumes. Granted it will not give you the desired smooth and low-end sound of a bass which is obvious as you cannot expect a good sound from an amp matched with an instrument it was not designed for.
A 100 - 150 watt bass amp is the bare minimum to use for rehearsals and small gigs; 300 watts is better since it allows the amp to push out the same or louder volume with less effort or strain. A louder amp doesn't have to work as hard, which means less chance of overheating, blowing a fuse or damaging a speaker.
A bass guitar by itself doesn't make any sound. You need to get a bass amp to fill the room (or stage) with some good vibrations. Amp power is measured in Watts. If you are just looking to practice at home and build up your skills for a while, you can make do with a small and inexpensive amp, around 100 Watts.
A 100 - 150 watt bass amp is the bare minimum to use for rehearsals and small gigs; 300 watts is better since it allows the amp to push out the same or louder volume with less effort or strain. A louder amp doesn't have to work as hard, which means less chance of overheating, blowing a fuse or damaging a speaker.
Set your price range.
A new bass guitar can cost anywhere from $200 to $5000 depending on the brand, quality, and finish. Used basses tend to range from $100 to $1500 and are often just as good, although pricing and selection will vary from one locale to another.No, modern bass amp speaker cabs have small HF horns, as well. But even with the HF horn/tweeter, these cabs still don't make for good acoustic guitar amps - the speaker cones have too much mass and stiffness to make for a good guitar cab, either acoustic or electric.
To get started, you'll need the following bass guitar accessories:
- Amps. An amplifier is necessary for an electric bass guitar.
- Instrument cable. The instrument cable is used to connect your bass guitar to your amp.
- Headphones.
- Tuner.
- Guitar picks.
- Straps.
- Extra strings.
- Instrument case.
It's not really a question of “easier” because it's a matter of difficulty curve. Bass is easier to begin than guitar. However, becoming a good bass player is harder. The strings are thicker and the strings and frets are farther apart, which makes it harder to rapidly switch between notes.
This means that you need to develop a strong sense of rhythm to play the bass guitar. Other than that, it can be much easier to play than a regular guitar. You might find that the bass guitar is harder to play physically since it is larger and includes thick strings. However, learning it is quite easy.
The bass guitar is a transposing instrument, as it is notated in bass clef an octave higher than it sounds, to reduce the need for ledger lines in music written for the instrument, and simplify reading.
If you're coming from guitar, learning bass guitar is easy in some ways and challenging in others. Again, if you're used to playing lots of notes and chords as a guitar player - lead or rhythm - getting used to playing single notes and putting more energy into those single notes is likely to take some getting used to.
There are often loads of guitarists but very few who make the transition over to bass. Bass is probably the easiest band instrument to pick up but one of the most difficult to play tastefully and musically. The best place to start is to just play the root note of the chord exactly in time with your drummer's kick drum.
Rhythm guitar is arguably the most important aspect of guitar playing, and it's also one of the most challenging skills to develop. The discouragement many players feel when working on rhythms forces too many of them to oversimplify the nuances, and this can reduce a performance from exceptional to fine.
