I'm 39 years old and a novice at both Guitar and Bass. I have a passion for both instruments for their individual reasons. I feel that trying to learn both at the same time is slowing down progress a great deal. Obviously, at 39, I'm not looking to land a record deal or tour the country. Just looking to jam out with buddies to old rock tunes and stuff, possibly play parties and stuff like that. However, I do have a true desire to push myself to be the best I can be. I'd be pretty happy "thumping" around, but I'm sure I'll be going further than that. Question is, many of my guitar playing friends say "learn guitar first, then you can switch to bass." Problem is, I don't want to spend the next 4-5 years learning all this guitar stuff that may not do anything for me with the bass. I'm not crazy, I know the bass is just as hard, if not harder than guitar, (depending on what you want to play.) But I feel that I could build a "repetoire of songs" quicker with the bass, which will inspire me to keep playing, as for guitar, I just keep putting it down, it's so much harder to learn songs. Bottom line is.... got to learn "beaucoup" songs to play with others, I'm old and a late starter(got to have an easier way). Starting to learn songs will inspire me to keep going...... without insulting any bassists, am I on track, confused, or what ? any advice would be great.