What are some things that you believed when you just started playing bass that you now laugh at?

When I was playing some basses at Sam Ash, I thought the Fender
Jazz and precisions were fake because there were only 20 frets!:bassist:

And I still don't know what GAS is,will you tell me?

GAS = Gear Acquisition Syndrome! If you stay here long enough, you'll catch it, too. Just like [I dare say] everyone else here.

I can't remember much of anything that I thought when I first started out -- it's been too long! Probably, I guess that it would have to be that Peavey was crap gear. Once I got over that, I've owned (literally!!!) a ton of Peavey gear, including PA gear, power amps, bass amps, practice amps, preamps, and basses. And I still own, for that matter. AAMOF, the bass that's closest at hand to me as I type this is a Peavey USA Millennium 5, that I'd put up against just about any general production bass in the US. Not the boutiques like Sado and Lakland USA, of course.

And for the record, the bass that got me started on five-strings years ago -- and I've never looked back -- was a used Peavey Dyna Bass 5 in pearl white.


dcr

i started playing again about 3 years ago after a 20 yrs hiatus. Amazing what I have learned from hanging on this forum. GAS can be lovely or addictive....manage it!!!!

I had no idea what a Modulus was and now I GAS for a Q6 :hyper::hyper:

THE GAS WILL GET YOU!!!! if you on tb believe me

What are some things that you believed when you just started playing bass that you now laugh at?

online tableture.

What are some things that you believed when you just started playing bass that you now laugh at?

Mindless repeating of "commonly held knowledge" by "experts" on internet forums.

I use my own ears and refuse to believe anything that I can't prove with empirical evidence.

I can't think of a whole lot I believed when I first started that I find laughable now.

I used to think that I "need" an expensive bass, and a huge amp. I now know that I just "want" an expensive bass and a huge amp.

online tableture.

That ones true for me as well. I also thought that any purchased transcription book would be totally accurate.

Man, what a difference it makes when you learn to trust your ears.

For the first year i played bass I believed that anything with only one pickup was an inferior bass, hence i bought a thunderbird now what i really want is a P bass......Damn GAS:mad:

I thought if I got a Rickenbacker 4001 that I would sound like Geddy -
So I got one...

Oh, the ignorance of youth...

I used to think that I "need" an expensive bass, and a huge amp. I now know that I just "want" an expensive bass and a huge amp.

Been there, done the amp-part, haven't really figured out the bass part though :p

An old teacher of mine (which was a guitarist in an oldtimer band, and a pretty lousy on as well) once told me that you CAN'T play more than one note at a time on a bass, and I belived him for a while. But hh god, was he astonished when he saw me pulling double stops and chords stanly-clarke-style onstage at the town square after 10 years :D

I used to think that heads and cabs had to be matching

I used to think that you needed a really good bass to be a really good bass player..... now I have one and........well.......I still need more lessons......:smug:

I laugh everytime I remember how often I broke strings on those first years...

I don't know what happened, but I hasn't happened to me in a long long time...

I used to think that I had to get formal lessons to play well. But realized soon enough that self help is best help. Learning on one's own gives you your own style and a sense of satisfaction. And noone can teach you the groove . You need to feel it :)

I believed bass was easier to play than guitar, having been told that by many guitarists during my formative years of playing.

When I first started, my guitarist friend told me the way to play bass was with each finger of the right hand on a different string (index-g, middle-d, etc). Man, I had a hard time starting out.

When I first started, my guitarist friend told me the way to play bass was with each finger of the right hand on a different string (index-g, middle-d, etc). Man, I had a hard time starting out.

I played like that when I first started...

Thumb on the E
Index on the A
Middle on the D
Ring on the G

It's a great way to learn how to play because you incorporate your thumb and ring finger right from the start.

I still play like that sometimes.

When I first started, my guitarist friend told me the way to play bass was with each finger of the right hand on a different string (index-g, middle-d, etc). Man, I had a hard time starting out.

lol

When a friend suggested that I learn bass so we could start a band together, I barely knew what a bass was. He took me to a music store and we were looking at electric guitars, and I thought they were "six string basses."

Yeah, I like to think I've come a ways since then.

I thought that sheet music for bass didn't exist and alll you could get for bass was tablature. It didn't help the book I was using was tab-only.



I now know better.

The first time I went looking for a bass in a music store I thought that the BC Rich Warlock must be the best bass because it looked so cool and at $400 it was expensive too!

My taste in basses has changed just a tad since then :ninja:

I thought if I got a Rickenbacker 4001 that I would sound like Geddy -
So I got one...

Oh, the ignorance of youth...


:D HAHAHAHAHAHA....this is too good!!!

Well, before I started playing bass, I heard an Iron Maiden song, heard Steve Harris' klanky bass tone, but I had no idea what it was. I thought at first it must be some kind of ride cymbal, or something.

Then somebody told me it was the bass making that noise, and I knew I wanted to play the bass! So I went out and bought....a jackson! (Looks cool, sounds nothing what I want my bass to sound like)

I used to think that...

...P-basses had two pickups.

...basswood was meant to be used for basses. (better on guitars, or in its prettiful natural tree form)

...that bass gear would be cheaper (boy did I get over that fast.)

...learning bass would improve my social life. :rollno:

...Luthite was a wood, and agathis was plastic. (Other way round.)

...pickguards are evil. (Only when they're not properly shielded.)

online tableture.

Never understood the point of tabs. All it tells you is where to put your fingers, and it's just damn confusing to read.:spit:

I used to think that I "need" an expensive bass, and a huge amp. I now know that I just "want" an expensive bass and a huge amp.

+1
If the time comes when you "need" a huge amp, the "expensive" part is a moot point. ;)

No joke:

I was messing around my bass about a year ago, and I wanted to be like Tom Morello-- you know, know every possible way to play my instrument to make funky sounds.

So, I kept messing around with it, and noticed if I didn't fret the 12th fret, it made a bell sound.

So, for a few months, I though I invented harmonics.

I also thought I invented playing in different positions (near the neck vs. near the bridge)

the only thing i can remember (or will admit to :)) is that i couldn't believe how thick the strings were. i thought that i'd NEVER be able to pluck those things!

When I first started I figured if you had two outputs on your amp, you could run two cabinets...Expensive first lesson. I also thought that fender bassman amps must be the best "cause they said "bassman" and were made by Fender

When I first started I figured if you had two outputs on your amp, you could run two cabinets...Expensive first lesson. I also thought that fender bassman amps must be the best "cause they said "bassman" and were made by Fender

heh, i used to think that if an amp had two imputs then you'd be able to plug two instruments into and jam away like that.

Not so much a belief but definitely a severe lack of knowledge on my part-
For a long time after I started playing bass I never understood the whole amp/cabinet impedance issue. I just bought amps and cabs randomly and played blissfully. I had heard the term "impedance" but I had no idea what it referred to.
Amazingly enough, I never had any problems at all.

heh... that guitar center tuned and setup their basses.

I was there the other day, and of the 5 basses I picked up and played, 1 had HORRIBLE setup (neck was really badly bowed), 2 had damaged electronics (loose jackplate on one, a volume knob that didn't rotate and jiggled all over on another), and 1 flat out didn't play without horrible noise.

Also i used to believe that when i opened the tone knob completely it gave me a pick sound :D

When I first started I figured if you had two outputs on your amp, you could run two cabinets...Expensive first lesson.

wait I'm confused (sorry never had a rig before, still playing on a practise amp, gonna get a rig soon though). Then if those two outputs aren't for two cabs what are they for?

that just because i thought the bass was sexy, girls would too. most of them don't, but watch out for the ones who do :D

I thought that you had to have a specific fretting finger for each fret.

Like the first fret always used the pointer finger, 2nd fret middle, etc etc, then after four frets I had to play the 5th one with my pointer again. EVERY TIME I HIT THAT FRET! Holy cow how you can make things more complicated then they need to be.

And I was obsessed with getting a Warlock as my first bass because I thought it was so cool. Right now everything but my bass has been upgraded and is pretty high quality gear. How I would hate my life if I DID get a lock. I seriously doubt I would've gotten anywhere near as far as I have it I did have a lock because I would be embarassed to take it anywhere for the past 4 years.

And when I first starting considering playing an instrument in 7th grade I didn't know what the heck a bass was. I asked my drummer friend what instrument I should play to be in a rock band and he said bass, I was like...what's it sound like. And so it began. I never really listened to ANY music except the pop stuff my sisters had on the radio until bass became a part of my life, then it sort of progressed from system of a down, to punk music, to RHCP, to metallica, to the ultimate stage I'm at where everything good becomes a part of me. Mostly Tool heheh. But I've never felt more open and understanding of something as I do of music right now.

I also know so much about gear now thanks to TB. I would like to think how much firther along my gear would be to approachign zenith if I knew what the heck anything was when I bought it. When we were looking for my first amp to be able to stand up to a drummer we simply went to the music place on sale day and tryed out all the more inexpensive amps that still had the recommended '200 watts'. And then I thought punchiness was achieved by boosting lows and highs and basically ignoring the mids. I thought mids just made it sound horrible and hated them. Now that I have a really clear amp, I can say that my sound is mor emids than anything else.

I've learned so much.

I keep blocking the memories from my early days with bass. (And I've only played 3 years and some months.)
I remember that I didn't know anything about anything. How to come up with basslines or what to play. How to learn the fretboard. What to do with chords. Why do you need chord tones and what are they. Pick is bad, fingers are good. Cheap basses are automaticly bad.
But I think I managed all right. My technique is somewhat good and I'm beginning to understand stuff. I only needed an epiphany. The bloody chords and what to do with them. That pretty much opened things for me. Sounds silly but it's true. Of course fretboard shapes helped learning scales and chords and navigating the fretboard.

When I started I thought that slapping/rattling like this- Thumb/Pinky finger knuckle (really fast, but never precise) was an amazing new technique that I was about to pioneer.

What are some things that you believed when you just started playing bass that you now laugh at?



I believed that there were three physical types of guitars: The ones that played the real high sounds were lead guitars, the middle sounds were rhythm guitars, and the low sounds were bass guitars.

For instance, I thought the Fender Telecaster was a rhythm guitar. It could not be used for lead.


I guess the most off the wall thing is that I actually believed I was called by "God" to be a bass player. Talk about pressure!

Before I started playing bass I really didn't like songs that featured busy and flashy bassist. Over the years as my playing technique progressed I unconsciously became more and more of a busy and flashy bassist myself. After a while I finally realised that I actually preferred the way my bands older recordings sounded much better back when I was just starting out and playing simpler parts with more feel and grove, instead of constantly trying to impress everyone with my new found skills...

I wouldn't call this a belief necessarily, but maybe a flaw in my technique. I never took formal lessons so I used to religiously do the exercises in Bass Player Magazine each month. At an early stage of my learning, I studied a lesson that gave a simple, useful trick in maintaining a tight sound with the drummer. It involved playing the root note with the bass drum and the octave above the root with the snare. To this day, I use this method way too often and that lesson probably gave me more bad habits than good.

For the first several months, I assumed that a Fender Jazz bass was only good for playing jazz. :rollno:

For the first several months, I assumed that a Fender Jazz bass was only good for playing jazz. :rollno:

I just came in to type that very thing. I was disappointed when I finally saved up $250 and the only used bass at my local store was a "Jazz" bass. That was 1980 and I still have it and play it regularly, and so does my daughter.

I have a simple one from about the time of me playing for a little under a year..... I THOUGHT I WAS GOOD.

I had never heard of Rush, and when I saw the Geddy Lee Jazz Bass, I assumed that he played jazz.

I used to think picks were the devil and that only guitarists 'pretending to play bass' used picks.

I also used to believe that guitarists, simply because they were guitarists, should write the riffs for songs.

Oh, how silly I was.

I thought I had a sense of time.

I thought jazz was hard (it's harder)

That in order to be funky you had to play slap style. have since left that behind for the fingerstyle, ghost note funkiness. love it.

wait I'm confused (sorry never had a rig before, still playing on a practise amp, gonna get a rig soon though). Then if those two outputs aren't for two cabs what are they for?

I got a sunn cabinet that was 2ohms and another cab that was 4ohms, the amp lasted about 12 minutes...smoke...spark...bad smell...so much for my accoustic 370, that was a fast $250!

For the first several months, I assumed that a Fender Jazz bass was only good for playing jazz. :rollno:

:D Same here LMAO!

I thought learning sheet music was useless.
I thought scales were just for practicing.
I thought The harmonic and natural minor (for guitar) were "arabian " styles of playing (don't ask why).
I used to try to use a tuner acoustically on the bass.
I forgot this one, I used to play with my thumb instead of fingerstyle. (right hand)

I forgot this one, I used to play with my thumb instead of fingerstyle. (right hand)
Ha, ya me too, for the first month I did that.