Just wondering who got you interested in bass
playing. Doesn't have to be someone famous.

I'm a big Pink Floyd fan, so I'd have to say Roger Waters.

Im a really big Maiden and Motorhead fan...so my awnsers are obvious :D

Ryan Martinie

My father.

Geddy lee, I was 15.

John Taylor. Every track on Rio has a *sweet* bassline!

PaulYeah

For me, it was my dad first, then Stu Cook of CCR then Paul McCartney...

hmm... I see a patern... all three played a rickenbacker at one point...

My dad and a Hawiian restuarant.

In all honesty, everyone was playing guitar. And I was like... "I wanna be different." And one day we were at the muzak store getting my sister her 2nd guitar, and I was like "Hey dad, show me the basses." Christmas of 2000, I got a Squier Bass Pak with a Baltic Blue P-Bass... good piece of wood.

My friend that lives a couple houses down from me was playing bass,and I always though it was awsome...Well,he played this one line and I was just amazed by it. I wanted one since like Spring and I got it Finally in December.

Before i started bass i didnt know much about many basssists. Mainly i idolized Flea. He still is on my list of favorite bassists, but i now know there is a lot more out there, but as far as playing style goes, i semi model myself after him. Kinda dirk lance and flea combined.

Another for Roger Waters! Umma Gumma was my first rock record, and still my favorite to this day. I was hooked!

Larry G.

His group Graham Central Station set the standard for funk for all that came after them, and there were scantily few before him that played any other way. He was somewhat subtle with Sly, but on his own..... legendary.

Can you play Hair? I still haven't gottn that opening lick. And I've been playing for 10+ years.

Before i started bass i didnt know much about many basssists. Mainly i idolized Flea. He still is on my list of favorite bassists, but i now know there is a lot more out there, but as far as playing style goes, i semi model myself after him. Kinda dirk lance and flea combined.

What he said... :D

Alex Katunich (Dirk Lance), formerly of Incubus.

"The Decline of the Western Civlization Part 1" a documentary type of movie on the early LA Punk/Hardcore scene. I figured if these guys were doing it that I could do it too (not much talent or skill but lots of attitude). I had much more to learn before I could appreciate guys like Geddy Lee, Geezer Butler, John Paul Jones, Jack Bruce, Steve Harris, etc.

Dave Larue :bassist:

as a kid, i always saw bassists as boring. they were the ones that just kinda stood there and did nothing.
then i saw gene simmons and it changed everything in the world about bass guitar. not only was he at the front of the stage, his instrument was the loudest of all too!

I always had wanted to play bass. I never knew why. But, I did. For many years, i had a bass sitting in my room, stashed away. Or under the bed. Either given to me, or that I bought. It wasn't untill a year ago, durning a very, very despressing "era" of my life that picked up my bass. I havn't put it down since.

My early influences where *Cough*hoppus*cough*. That was before I "got" into bass. I lurked aruond forums on websites, learned as much as I could and I started to slowly expand my horizons. To anything and everything from AFI, Iron Maiden, Pastorius, Primus, Wooten, ect. As of lately, I've really been getting into some Jaco stuff. Along with a bit of Claypool for some alternate styles. I don't want to confine myself to one 'style' of bass. I want to play it all.

Yup.

Jamie Stewart was probably the turning. I'd been playing guitar for a couple of years before and always admired the likes of JJ Burnel, Steve Severin etc but after hearing Jamie's chorused Stingray on Dreamtime, I just had to go out and buy a bass!

Stuart Zender

McCartney, I got it right the first time! :D

IGOR..... Mr. JJ

boom boom bop ba diggity dang dum dum- and many other lines...

I'll try to go chronologically:

My friend needed a bass player so that would be my first influence.
-Paul Simonon although after reading the Last Gang in Town naybe it was actually Mick Jones's bass lines.
-various reggae bassists
-Mark King
-Alain Caron
-Sting
-Different teachers like Dave Trevas, Mike Farquarson, Lenny Boyd & Dave Young.
Guys I went to college with especially a guy named Chris Gartner who opened my eyes and ears to a whole lot of new music. Thanks Chris!!!
-Jaco, Marcus (We Want Miles), Haslip, Hellborg, Jimmy Johnson, Daryyl Jones

There are many more infleunces and ispirations as the years go on.

Just wondering who got you interested in bass
playing. Doesn't have to be someone famous.

I'm a big Pink Floyd fan, so I'd have to say Roger Waters.

well, i got tired of computer gaming, i decided to try something new.
thats why I got into the world of bass! :) :D and I don't regret nothing at all :bassist:

At first, it was John McVie of Fleetwood Mac. I noticed he always stood in the back, didn't sing backup, and seemed to be "hardly" noticed. I don't know why that turned me onto bass, but it did. Got my first bass that Xmas, a 4-string Charvel Concert Series.

Before i started bass i didnt know much about many basssists. Mainly i idolized Flea. He still is on my list of favorite bassists, but i now know there is a lot more out there, but as far as playing style goes, i semi model myself after him. Kinda dirk lance and flea combined.
In all honesty, everyone was playing guitar. And I was like... "I wanna be different."
Bit of both of those. Where I am, I only had access to mainstream music, so my musical education wasn't great. I got most of my classic rock background (Led Zep, Lynyrd Skynyrd) through my parents, then I discovered Metallica, and when listening to My Friend Of Misery I just thought "my God!" So I suppose Flea and Newsted were my earlier inspirations.
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Stuart Zender was and still is the biggest inspiration for me to play bass.

Bill Dickens is a recent influence. His DVD instructional is very mind blowing. Gives me a new outlook. I still feel the itch from Jaco, Les Claypool, Jack Bruce, Billy Sheehan, Michael Manring and Steve Harris.
I feel influenced by a lot of guitar players. Lately it has been Michael Schenker and Wes Montgomery.

All the surf groups when I started playing (13 years old, yeah, I know it was a loooong time ago :o ). Then it was Bob Bogle of the Ventures....then it was Paul McCartney/James Jamerson/Larry Graham/Rocco Prestia.....then it was Marcus Miller/Victor Wooten, etc. Aren't there a lot of great players???

Nikki Sixx was the man, he still is, coolest rock star ever in my opinion, and the main reason I started playing :bassist:

Well, being brought up on disco...yes late 80's early 90's..id have to say mainly Bernard Edwards....you just have to listen to Le Freak or He's The Greatest Dancer and you're in heaven :p .....but also being brought up on the chili peppers flea had a say in my tone....but what pushed me over the edge to buy my first bass was the film clip to Tommy The Cat....just watching les play was inspiration......But mainly Bernard Edwards...i dont know why people dont find him very inspirational or why he doesn't have the recognition he deserves

Heath

(1) Stuart Zender (Jamiroquai')
(2) Gary "Mani" Manfield (The Stone Roses)
(3) Andrew Levy (Brand New Heavies)

Jamiroquai and The Stone Roses were the two bands that I was heavily into when I first really got into music (about 95/96). 'Cosmic Girl' and 'Fools' Gold' were the first songs that drew me into paying attention to the basslines.

Around this time, I saw the Brand New Heavies playing live on TV - they had just released the 'Shelter' album. I just they looked great and the bass was upfront on the mix.

I've got to admit that I haven't listened to any of the above three bands in a long time now. Maybe it's time to revisit them!

Tony Levin.

Jack Bruce, Tim Bogart, Larry Graham, Felix Pappalardi,Stanley Clarke, Jaco, Rocco, Jamerson, Rainey, etc., etc..

Sam Rivers and Snoop Dogg

Flea was the bassist who made me sit up and take notice, but after listening his grooves I started listening to Bootsy Collins and Jaco too. Also, I always subconsciously dug Aston Barret from the Wailers. I think John Paul Jones had an influence as well.

Duncan Coutts of Our Lady Peace. I was watching Much Music, for some reason, and the song 'Naveed' came on. I sat there and watched in aw! The bassline killed me.
But I have to say, My heart was broken when I found out that Duncan didn't even wright that song or was in the band at the time.

The first bassist I ever really noticed was Marshall Jones from the Ohio Players. I remember hearing the intro to Skintight on the radio one night and I was hooked. Later I loved the keyboard bas on Herbie Hancocks Chameleon, and I was freaked out by Larry Graham's distortion on the Jam.

The bassist who probably is my single greatest influence to this day is Stanley Clarke. He really showed me that the bass guitar could be a virtuoso instrument. In terms of my everyday style, Bernard Edwards, Anthony Jackson, Marcus Miller, and Will Lee really showed me how to play in the groove.

Finally, although I mainly play funk and r&b, I love grinding trebly bassists like Geddy Lee and Chris Squire.

twiggy ramirez and jason newsted.. now dont like both :) i dont know why i inspired from them

In all honesty, everyone was playing guitar. And I was like... "I wanna be different." And one day we were at the muzak store getting my sister her 2nd guitar, and I was like "Hey dad, show me the basses." Christmas of 2000, I got a Squier Bass Pak with a Baltic Blue P-Bass... good piece of wood.

I got the same pack, for the same reason. I decided I wasn't gonna follow everyone else, and that I would be different, and so far it has worked out for me(love that low end sound!)... but I would say my biggest influences are Mike Dirnt, Cliff Burton, Flea, Jason Newstead and Matt Freeman.

John Patitucci
Michael Hedges
Michael Manring
David LaBruyere (Current Inspiration)
Stefan Lessard (Current Inspiration)

My first contact with a bass was when my friend joined a high school band and bought a cheap jazz copy. I was so thrilled! I told my mother that I would like to start playing something too and she said she wouldn't give me the money to buy an instrument. So i saved every peny I got for about 2 years and a half and got my friends bass... My main inspiration was Dee Dee Ramone back then... but when i listened to Jaco everything opened up for me :smug:

My first intro to bass was at church-bass solo-love at first note.
Tai Anderson-Third Day-live version of Consuming Fire-the bass slams out at this one part and it is awesome!
Mike Herrera-MxPx-Chick Magnet- Love the intro
Tim Foreman-Switchfoot- My favorite bassist, he is great.

I started off playing punky sorta stuff, so Matt Freeman was one of my first inspirations. Fat Mike and Matt Wong were also big on my list.
Then, as I evolved, I started listening to some Claypool. No one had ever electrified me so much. I thought some of his techniques were fascinating (after figuring them out I now realize that many of his licks aren't incredibly hard). But, the main reason I was so absorbed by him was for his taste in rhythm. Herb and him were an incredible duo if you ask me. 'Tradition is still my #1 song to date.
Now my influences come from an incredible range of people, and only a fraction of them are bass players.
I should prolly mention that no person inspired me to go buy a bass. I was one of those 'Hey, we hear your dad has an old bass, and we need a bass player, so ask him for it and we can start a band' guys. ;)

Flea---- Chilli Pepper

i left this out before....my current inpirations for playing/composing are:

George Bensen
Joe Satriani
Eric Johnson
SRV (Always)
Bootsy
Louis Armstrong
Celebrity Deathmatch :p
Chic
Charles Mingus
Cosmo Kramer :p
Frank Sinatra
Bourbon :eek: :hyper:

Cheers Heath

Damn, I can't believe someone beat me to saying John Taylor! Can't believe I was only like 5 when they made it, but I still liked them when I was a kid. Probobly has something to do having older girl relatives that would only listen to Duran Duran back then, so it left an impression on me. After JT, I would have to say Stu Zender pushed me to become better and funkier.

I had basically been playing every instrument I could,when I realised that I had to focus on one. It ended up with two: Flute and Bass guitar. So I cover the whole range:D Why? Flute was an obvious choice, because that's what I'm best at. Bass wasn't that obvious, because I was way better on guitar. But there were so many good guitarists around, and only a few bassist, so I thought the odds of getting jobs were better on bass. Same goes with piano and drums.

Who inspired me? I haven't played for so long, so I guess the same still counts today.
-Jaco, I am fascinated of both his playing, his extreme talent and offcourse the person Jaco.
-Flea
-Marcus Miller
-My teachers

My father, I also studied under him.

I started playing the trombone at age 11, my teacher was a musician from the police academy orchestra. But after a couple of years I gave up, I felt too restricted and bored. Then I heard the Toulouse Street album of the Doobie Brothers and Tiran Porter's basslines got my attention. But the bass player who really inspired me was Guus Willemse of the Dutch fusion band Solution, I saw one of their gigs when I was 17. Guus had a broken leg at the time and was seated during the entire concert with his right leg in plaster, but boy did he play. After the concert I said to myself: "wow, I wanna play like this dude", and really started practising. I now play fretless which almost brings me back to the trombone I started out with.

Steven

Geddy Lee....I was 13 (1983)and learned every RUSH song. He was my idol.

Flea i wus 14, watched one of there live sets, and wus absolutely stunned. thats when i pushed my bass level higher, and then got into Victor wooten, les claypool, mark king, jaco pastoriues, etc

Well actually I first bought a 6 string but Frustration of 100's of axe slingers around I changed quickly to Bass but after I picked up the bass I found inspiration from several but Being a Bigtime Who fan even before I played I have to Give the Ox My main inspiration followed by Geddy...Chris Squire.... Their sound is un beatable in my opinion...Gene Simmons Even Cliff Williams of AC DC Now thats one solid in the pocket Bassist nuthin fancy just solid!!!!Sometimes thats the best bassist!! :bassist: