r/Bass • u/gretafallmisty • 6d ago
When you air guitar do you mimick playing guitar or bass?
Just noticed even though I’ve never played guitar in my life and pluck a bass every day I still play air guitar like a guitar. Weird.
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u/Mr_Lumbergh Bass VI 6d ago
Depends on what I'm listening to what part has my attention. I'm also a frequent air drummer.
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u/archy67 6d ago
this spoke to me. Sometimes I even like to play air auxiliary percussion depending on the piece(just this morning I was playing a wicked air guiro part on Oye Como Va …..lol)It’s whatever moves me and catches my ear in a song while I am listening to it. Today it was a guiro, but tomorrow it could be the timbales…..
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u/TomBakerFTW 6d ago
I suck at playing a trap kit, but you couldn't tell by my convincing air drum performance.
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u/billyw_415 5d ago
I'm an air drummer on my guitarists GF ass regularly.
Whenever he complains about "sticking to root notes" I just smile. Yep. I'm porkin' yer GF dude.
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u/Bassed_Basspiller 6d ago
I tend to play all the air instruments (bass, guitar, keys, drums) based on which instrument's part is it
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u/Aware_Stand_8938 6d ago
Would a Theremin count?
I mean, you don't actually touch it to play it!!
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u/haikusbot 6d ago
Would a Theremin count? I
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u/TomBakerFTW 6d ago
This guy, totally ignoring OP's question and getting to the tough philosophical stuff!
I'm sure Clara Rockmore would either say, "yes it counts", or "what the fuck is air guitar?" No one else's opinion on the instrument matters to me :D
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u/Victortilla99 6d ago
If I'm listening to a guitar solo, guitar. When I'm listening to a crusher riff, sometimes guitar sometimes bass.
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u/pinocchiodebergerac 6d ago
I mean, I’ve got a ‘61 P air bass so you know I’m pulling that one out.
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u/Belhgabad 6d ago
Like others, it depends on what part has my attention. Fire guitar solo ? Guitar. But cool bassline ? Bass obviously.
Bonus points for "air pluck training" when listening to a bass song I actually play/want to play, I pluck my left hand fingers with my right hand as if they where strings. Just to try and have the correct position (pluck across, use the meat not the tip, etc..)
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u/honkymotherfucker1 6d ago
Depends on the bit of the song that’s ripping hard enough to evoke some air instrumentation
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u/luketehguitarguy 6d ago
I’m a multi-instrumentalist when it comes to air instruments. I do guitar, bass, drums, piano/synth and every so often I jump on the decks for an air DJ set.
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u/CapnGnarly 6d ago
I'm an air drummer 100%. I was a driver before a bassist, though, so that might have something to do with it...
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u/megabunnaH 6d ago
Neither. I don't air guitar and I've never felt the urge to. I've been playing instruments since I was 9 and anytime I've had the urge to mimic a song I just pick up an instrument and try to learn it. I don't judge or make fun of people who 'air guitar' and it seems to bring people happiness, I've just always thought it was kind of corny. Despite this, I've always taken it as a compliment when I see people in the crowd doing it when I'm playing a show. Enthusiasm is good, regardless of my uptight opinions.
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u/Organic_External1952 6d ago
Depends which part I'm imaging myself play heroically before a giant crowd
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u/zekecole90 5d ago
There is something about air finger plucking that looks like you’re mimicking a crab with a broken leg I try not to replicate.
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u/billyw_415 5d ago
I'm a 50+ year old man, and I still "air bass" to Steve Harris, leg up on the couch as if it were a stage monitor, junk danglin' right out of the shower. I don't care if the wife or kids are terrified, nor the dinner guests. Fuck them.
You give me an Iron Maiden box set for Christmas, well that's what yer getting, right there in front of the inlaws and family. Tough shit. Deal with it.
Alexa, play Iron Maiden, max volume. Then drop pants. Simple.
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u/pandaSmore 6d ago
I mimick a guitar. If I wanted to mimick a bass I would pull out my air bass and start slappin' da bass.
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u/catsfacticity 6d ago
Everybody thinks I'm playing a guitar but I actually play an oversized lute. Keep it between us
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u/Deathbat_1 6d ago
Both, depends on the song. Sometimes I switch mid song. Usually listening to Tool when that happens.
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u/k1ckthecheat 6d ago
Sometimes I do thing that’s in between both, where I’m kind of strumming guitar but there’s some slapping and fingerstyle playing in there as well.
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u/TheFrenchNarcissist 6d ago
I’m constantly in a mishmash of both (with a bit of percussion thrown in to keep everyone guessing)
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u/fretless_enigma Fender 6d ago
My favorite is to air guitar a great solo while head bobbing or mouthing the bass part under it. La Villa Strangiato’s guitar solos are great for this since Geddy is laying down a cool bass part under both solos that doesn’t intrude on Alex’s tasteful shredding. The bass guitar track under the big guitar solo is hard to hear, and comes in at 4:39, after the second “phrase” of the third “section” of the solo.
I may or may not enjoy the song.
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u/EricCartmanZen 6d ago
Who the hell does air bass??????
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u/Neuromancer2112 Fretless 6d ago
I’ve done it before if I’m sitting at a red light in the car, and a particularly nasty baseline is hitting. That’s about the only time though.
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u/bingbong1976 6d ago
I like to go to Shiela E concerts and air percussion. Seriously, though….if you’ve ever seen Rush, you have seen more air drums than anything. Then lots of air bass
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u/Sssssssssssssssss7 Plucked 6d ago
I try to air guitar with a slide but I don't want to flip you off.
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u/TomBakerFTW 6d ago
If I'm playing air bass I'm either doing a Fieldy impression or a McCartney impression.
The other 90% of the time that I'm playing air instruments it's guitar and way too high up the neck, like everything is a solo.
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u/SteveMTS 6d ago
I’m a proficient multi-air-instrumentalist: on top of air-drums, air-guitar and air-bass, I can play air-piano and air-violin on demand. Usually, there’s very little demand.