who was it that caused you to play bass?

[dean owens]

i'm now 31. when i first started paying attention to music i was about 11. i knew i wanted to play an instrument but i didn't know what. so i started listening to everything i could get my hands on. then i saw the "youth gone wild" video (about 22 seconds in) and heard rachel bolan's little bass fill. that settled it... i was playing bass. i always loved his tone and playing.

years went on and i got into groups like metallica (cliff burton & jason newsted) in high school... and then groups like dave matthews (stefan lessard), bela fleck (victor wooten), etc. in college. but recently i've been listening to some old skid row and realizing how much i love rachel's tone. hard to beat a spector into a gallien krueger.

btw, it was also rachel that started my life long love affair with GK and my love for spector basses (specifically white ones). i've always had GK's... one day i'll have a spector.

so who was it for you? do you still like their style and tone? or do you look back at who influenced you to start and wonder what you were thinking?

[jwl]

1977. peter cetera. i saw of picture of him in the local newspaper in a review of a chicago concert. he was playing a black precision. that was it. i decided bass was cool and had to learn how to play.

[ctufankjian]

honestly, it was some the bass player in like a surfer band that played on Good Morning America when I was about 13....I was a little nerdy

[bassman1987]

I was inspired to play bass when I was 13 by Mike Herrera of MxPx, because they were the first band that made me understand the role the bass plays in the band, I remember thinking this would sound like crap without the bass! I loved how Mike didn't just pump out eighth notes on the root like so many other punk players do, and I thought it was sweet that he was a bass-playing frontman too. I don't listen to much of the stuff I did when I was 13 anymore, but I'll still occasionally pull out the old MxPx albums. I do still dig Herrera's mostly-supportive-but-with-cool-melodic-fills style, and I definitely love the scooped-out bright tone he gets from his Stingrays and SVT's.

[Dave328]

Justin Chancellor, about 8 years ago.

[IslandBoy]

Definately Sting - In the EARLY Police era. Back when he really used to play the reggae groove. Live, he was amazing.
When I look at his playing lately, its very obvious he is much more into his singing, than his bass playing .................

[RC51Pilot]

I was like 8 or 9 and heard my brother playing Cygnus X-1 from Rush Farewell to Kings on LP. The opening riff, albeit simple, got me into it and I started to just zone in on the bass. Ever since then, Geddy Lee has been my main influence and idol.

[funkymonk77]

Chi Chengs bass line on " Cherry Waves" by the Deftones. They reviewed th album in BASSPLAYER and talked about every song but that one, incredible bass line

[dakpluto]

Mine is a wierd one.

Harry Goodman. A fairly unknown obscure bassist. He was the brother of famed clarinet player Benny Goodman. Growing up as the kid of two clarinet players, and playing clarinet myself, The Benny Goodman story was one of my favorite movies to watch. But I also completely loved the sound of the upright bass in his music also. I gained my desire to learn bass from that.

[iamthebassman]

The late Dee Murray of the Elton John Band.

[J. Crawford]

Somebody move this to bassists?

Anyways, I grew up listening to Incubus. I am about the most hardcore Incubus fan youll find. I always listened to Dirk, but when I received the Look Alive DVD Ben just settled it for me. I had been doodling before that, but he made me want to become a bassist. Him and Stefan.

[kenlacam]

in the early to mid 80's, an R & B group called Full Force inspired me to play bass, with all the slappin and poppin going on. never looked back (well, occasionally)

[spade2you]

It wasn't a bassist, but a lack of bassists locally. Actually, probably a toss up between Billy Sheehan and Tony Franklin. I was an old school metal head and nobody seemed to be able to hit the difficult parts...or regular parts...or show up, so I picked it up myself. LOL, now I'm sidelined by a complete lack of available drummers.

[Slax]

When I heard the song "Rejected" by Rancid when I was around 13. I remember thinking that there were two guitars playing. I was musically retarded at the time and didn't really know what a bass was... When I found out the one I liked in all my Rancid CD's was the bass, I decided to pick one up. I haven't looked back since. I can't believe it's been 10 years already!

[Lefty Geek]

Who? All the other guitar players looking to start a band. I decided to break from the pack and become a bass player. Since then I have always had the guitar-player-as-a-bass-player mentality ala Peter Hook.

[Grateful]

Geddy Lee on the Moving Pictures album. That was it for me. No visuals needed.

[jonno1707]

Every hot chick that came to see my bro's band before I knew how to play....

[bassdoubler]

I was playing guitar at 9 years old until I heard Stu Zender from Jamrioquai....I then switched to bass, but it was flea who really shaped my style at the time and I played GK for years because of him....then it was Paul Jackson of the headhunters who taught me how to groove and why P-basses are so awesome and now I learn from everyone I see and hear.

[Groverismybass]

growing up my mom made me listed to flea and my dad made me listen to marcus miller, what was i supposed to do???

[boamedt]

haha funny enough...
my freind had a reggae band that i would go watch whenever they gigged. i did this for like two years and broke my foot. too bad, but not really i decided i want to play not watch. i found out my had a squier pbass that he had never played. i picked it up and started playing, no amp. 3 months later i bought an amp(jan. 2008) and never put the guitar down. now im in two reggae bands that gig at least 3-5 times a month...never thought i would say it but thank goodness i broke my foot.