Progression to the bass

Cristo · #1 02-16-2006, 04:31 PM

How did you end up as a bass player?

skewh · #2 02-16-2006, 04:36 PM

I originally played violin in the first grade, but didn't keep up with it. In fourth grade I started to play cello, and in sixth grade I switched to bass. Here and there were short affairs with drumsets and guitars, and I use the piano to write, but bass has since been my main instrument, and five and a half years later, I've grown quite good.

BillyB_from_LZ · #3 02-16-2006, 04:40 PM

Bass is cool.... I did take up guitar after I started playing bass so I have fun doing both!

KitCorpse · #4 02-16-2006, 04:44 PM

I started playing the Trumpet in 3rd grade and decided by 8th grade to quit and pick up the bass. I have been playing ever since.

Smallmouth_Bass · #5 02-16-2006, 04:50 PM

Started on classical guitar and when I got to high school switched to bass because there was no guitar in concert band.

CBAnaesthesia · #6 02-16-2006, 05:34 PM

Started on piano in about kindergarten. . . played horn for a year or two in school band. . . started bass in grade 6 and got pretty serious about it in grade 7. . . started guitar a bit this year (grade 9) but i mostly use it for writing. I play both quite a bit though.

Redhotbassist · #7 02-16-2006, 05:34 PM

I started on a cheap classical guitar, for about 3 months before i could afford a cheap bass.

GSRLessard14 · #8 02-16-2006, 05:49 PM

Bass bass bass!

adept_inept · #9 02-16-2006, 05:55 PM

started on clarinet -> saxophone -> bass (playing TUBA parts for band) -> REAL bass (jazz... etc) -> rock/funk band! woooo -> THE FUTURE

agreatheight · #10 02-16-2006, 05:58 PM

first Bass... then Guitar... then Drums... then Piano.

Whee!

BassNoob? · #11 02-16-2006, 05:59 PM

I started playing guitar in kindergarten, switched to piano. I have now been playing piano for exactly 10 years. I started playing Clarinet in 4th grade, and I started playing bass 2 years ago. I still play piano, but I don't practice clarinet outside of school.

BassGod · #12 02-16-2006, 06:00 PM

I chose option number three.

Graeme

Figjam · #13 02-16-2006, 06:04 PM

I played trumpet when i was younger but that had little to do with my choice to play bass so i chose started with bass, stayed with bass.

FaithNoMan · #14 02-16-2006, 06:05 PM

.. I started on guitar, but never really wanted to play guitar... my father talked me into it...it lasted one year, I was fourteen, and never really took guitar seriously..

I play with a pick now, but used my fingers for the first ten years, so I don't want to hear some sh** about being a failed guitarist( I used to be a "fingers only" closed-minded jerk

)

...Oh yeah, I also played Cello in the 4th grade, and French horn for my middle and high-school years...

barthanatos · #15 02-16-2006, 06:12 PM

1. Piano lessons when young that didn't take me anywhere
2. Trombone for one year in 4th grade school band. Yep, we had one.
3. Guitar started about 7th/8th grade. First serious instrument.
4. Bass right after that.
5. Vocals were probably the next thing I got into. Always loved to sing, but about the time I was 20 I moved away from being tone-deaf. Well, started to.
6. Picked piano up, teaching myself from what I learned of music theory from guitar/bass.
7. Drums. Well, I had a kit for a short while in high school, but parents wouldn't really let me practice.

Drums are so hard to get into. First, the money for a decent kit... its harder to learn on a kit that is not "instrument quality". Then, you need the room to put it, and finally, ya gotta be able to practice freely. So if you ever wonder why you can't find a decent drummer... I dunno, buy your kid a decent (aka Pearl Export or better would be great) kit and encourage him. But if you're gonna skimp, please don't do it on the cymbals or the snare. You only need hh/crash/ride anyway.

</rant>

EricF · #16 02-16-2006, 06:16 PM

I started playing the guitar at about 20 years ago and was obsessive about it for 4 or 5 years. After that, playing became an occasional thing as other obsessions took hold of me (cycling, golf, cycling again). November 2004, I re-discovered my love for playing the guitar and started jamming with a friend on occasion and succombing to wild GAS pains. my friend decided he was going to put a band together again and asked me to play bass for him. Hell, I've never played bass, but the thought of expanding my musical knowledge was intriguing - and gave me another excuse for more gear! 6 months into the low side, and I love it! Having 20 years of music knowledge (scales, chord structures, rhythm patterns, etc.) has certainly helped my progression on the bass. Why the hell didn't I do this years ago??!!

philzbass · #17 02-16-2006, 07:09 PM

I started on piano, took lessons as a kid, I wanted to be a drummer but drums cost a bit too much. Got a cheap bass and took lessons for about 2 years. Switched to guitar (sorry) took lessons for another few years. Started singing regularly, never took any lessons though. Since then I've tried to learn as many instruments as I can on my own.

I actually just got back into bass about 3 years ago. I hadn't owned one for like 6 or 7 years. I still played whenever I got the chance, I just didn't own a bass myself.

Right now I'm mostly making recordings on my own and playing everything on them: bass, guitar, drums, piano, keyboard, harmonica, mandolin, violin, percussion, all vocals (lead/background) Pretty much anything I can get my hands on, and make some noise with.

Jack of all trades, Master of none.........

Fuzzbass · #18 02-16-2006, 07:20 PM

When I decided I wanted to play music, I chose bass guitar. That, or it chose me!

Like most of us I've tinkered with guitar, keys, and drums along the way.... if I couldn't be a bassist, I would definitely enjoy being a drummer! But I'm a bassist and that ain't gonna change.

markjazzbassist · #19 02-16-2006, 07:41 PM

i started playing the clarinet in the fifth grade and switched to the saxophone in the 6th grade and have played it ever since. My freshman year in high school my older brother started playing guitar and i was like "yeah man i wanna play guitar too so i can be up front and be cool and rock star like" and my older bro wise beyond his years told me "dude, you should play bass, its a really cool instrument and there aren't that many really talented bass players (around our age and so forth, not speaking professionally) so you good get into a band really easily"

i took my older bros advice and picked up the bass my freshman year, and have been playing for about 7 years now and LOVE IT. The bass is such a cool instrument and its much better being the dude holding down the groove.

Since then i have also picked up some classical guitar, and some drums too. I am the best technically on the Sax (just cause ive been playing it longer) but the bass is the love of my life.

i know its long, but hope you enjoy

AspiringBassMan · #20 02-16-2006, 07:47 PM

i started on guitar, then put it down one day and never picked it up again. then started on bass. i bought my bass about 4 years ago, but i bought a guitar too about 2-3 years ago. i decided that i wanted to experiement with chord progressions and to really hear which chord progressions triggers off which different moods. as far as the guitar is concerned, i'm not really interested in learning lead or doing guitar solos (although i am interested in doing solos on the bass). i just want to become much more familiar with chord progressions and their effect on mood...with a view to songwriting in the next few years.
i play bass because i love the deep sexy sound, i have a reasonable sense of rhythm, and i hate the asymmetry of the guitar that the bass makes up for (by asymmetry, i mean that the bass strings are alwsys a 4th apart whereas on the guitar, they're not. thats another good reason why i don't want to do solos on guitar). also think that the bass is a much more unexplored instrument because its so new(relatively speaking). the bass also has an intangible certain something about it which makes me feel so at home when playing it. the guitar never made me feel that way.