Thomas plays (the) bass guitar
- Thread starter Hotmale
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Hi Hotmale,
I take it you are not refering to a particular bass guitar, but just in general.
Interesting, I said both aloud and they both worked for me.
anyone else?
I take it you are not refering to a particular bass guitar, but just in general.
Interesting, I said both aloud and they both worked for me.
anyone else?
Hi Difficult cuss,
thank you for the answer. Yes, I am referring to bass guitar in general.
You've just answered to your own question
Hi Plix,
Hotmale may have answered it, but then again, he may not.
We could say "do you play bass guitar" or "do you play the bass guitar", I think that both are used in the general form.
Where's panjandrum? I'll wager he has an answer.
Hotmale may have answered it, but then again, he may not.
We could say "do you play bass guitar" or "do you play the bass guitar", I think that both are used in the general form.
Where's panjandrum? I'll wager he has an answer.
I always thought that when you talked in general, you never used the definite article 'the'. However I have heard 'he plays the piano' instead of 'he plays piano' a lot of times. In fact, I remember a song that says: "We sing and we dance when we play the drum...".
Here you are, plenty of opinions on this question:
Play guitar, or play the guitar (piano, violin, trombone, etc)?
It depends a great deal on whether you are speaking AE or BE.
Play guitar, or play the guitar (piano, violin, trombone, etc)?
It depends a great deal on whether you are speaking AE or BE.
I may be wrong, but I associate the construction "play piano" with American English.
In my dialect of BE, if I play a musical instrument, it is play the piano, the violin, the drums, &c.
If I play a game, it is play football, play squash, play baseball, &c.
From the other thread (please do read it before commenting here) you'll see a suggestion that it makes a difference if you include a modifier before guitar - as in this case.
So although I play the guitar (with article), I also happily play bass guitar (no article).
So although I play the guitar (with article), I also happily play bass guitar (no article).
That's a long thread! How about this?
I play the guitar = this is my hobby/profession.
I play guitar in the band = this is my role in the band.
EDIT: I see Panj's point. "I play the bass guitar" sounds a little odd in either case. If we specify the type of guitar we tend to avoid the article.
I play the guitar = this is my hobby/profession.
I play guitar in the band = this is my role in the band.
EDIT: I see Panj's point. "I play the bass guitar" sounds a little odd in either case. If we specify the type of guitar we tend to avoid the article.
It doesn't matter, and doesn't depend on whether you speak AE or BE. Here we say "Bob plays violin" and they do in the UK as well. Example: David Bowie, as Ziggy Stardust: "Ziggy played.... gui...taaa....aaaaar." You see?