I'm going to stir it up a little  with all the Mami lovers around here and suggest something that might ruffle some feathers. Tomomi seems to be somewhat more of a technician when it comes to her instrument. Her ability seems to be the highest of any of the girls and i wonder how things would have been different if back in the beginning, Tomomi would have been assigned to guitar and Mami given a bass. Don't get me wrong I love Scandal as they are, but I not sure Tomomi gets the love she deserves.

Read more of the past forum discussions.  Tomomi gets a lot of love from this crowd, especially her playing.  ):D( 

Seriously if we were to go back to the beginning, I don't think it would have turned out as well because Tomomi wasn't in the right head-space to play guitar.  She has said many times that she wanted to play guitar but there were too many strings.  She thought bass would be easier.  Maybe this is why she got so good on the bass.  But if she played lead guitar, she also may not have sang so many songs.  Losing her voice in all those tunes would be detrimental to Scandal's overall sound.

I've brought up before that I would like to hear Tomomi play a 5 or 6-string bass because she is so proficient a player.  She may open up more sounds and rhythms for the band to groove on.

^ i can assure you Tomomi gets all the love she deserves. And if you feel that way, bassist tend to get pushed in the background bands anyway, so this goes for almost any band and not very surprising.

Its the way Mami plays her guitar, she has a special ..um...tang.. to her playing. If Tomomi was playing lead guitar, we'll be hearing a different kind of sound from her and the band. But Tomomi was/is secondary vocals and the hypeman, so if she is both the lead guitarist and secondary vocals, she will be boosting with popularity.


But for Mami's case, Mami (as far as i know) wasn't much of a hypeman back then, and if she choose bass , she would maaaybbee have less attention as Tomomi had. It was even said during the early career Mami had this dark stoic look on stage. BUT it all depends on how they play their instruments IMO. But of course Mami would gain more popularity as their career goes on.

But if it makes you feel better, Tomomi did play lead guitar on SCANDAL BABY during their SCANDAL MANIA TOUR 2016 when they switched instruments. They posted the clip of the rehearsal, and the performance on instagram. But its now on YOUTUBE.

During rehearsal
During the encore

It is ( slightly ) easier to sing and play bass guitar at the same time so I am really glad Tomomi picked bass so we can hear a lot of her voice

@tonymiller, I'm going to gently push back on it being easier to sing and play bass. Often the bass is playing counterpoint to the melody so both your singing and bass playing are going in "different directions." But, of course, I agree completely that Tomomi handles it very well. She is a fluid, melodic player. Now playing drums and singing ...

@mbowie4321

Well I have played bass guitar since I was 14 and it is just my opinion

@tonymiller Well sir, I certainly respect that!

I only fill in on bass from time to time, so perhaps it's my fingers!

@1:11 when the 2 guitarist in the band realize the bassist is the best guitar player in the band.

@3mania that's an old video I can't remember when the last time I saw that video.....that's a great one

by the way.... in my opinion  I'm sure that we will loose much of Tomomi voice if she play the lead guitar I'm agree with @dondio and @tonymiller

but if it really happened on their earlier career, I still make scandal my favorite one, for me it doesn't matter who will be the bassist or guitarist or the drummer or the vocalist

Tomomi does receive the love she deserves bc of how special she is. She's a genius bass player as for me and many people that I've seen for ex., on Youtube comment section. She's praised a lot bc of her ability to play bass and I think that's what's making her and SCANDAL special. I love all of the members equally and they mean a lot to me and I think the positions they've rn in the group are perfect for each of them and I'll have to kindly disagree with your statement, that Tomomi doesn't get the love she deserve. Each member is special because they have exactly the instrument they're playing in the band and that's what makes them "SCANDAL". Just my opinion   

Tomomi is one of the favorites the way I see it. Second to Mami. That's just my observation though. I admire all four of them the same way btw.