How has you bassplaying affected your family and friends?

[Fassa Albrecht]

This is a question that has been bugging me for a while. Whilst bassplaying does change us personally I was wondering whether our bass playing has an effect on loved ones, such as wives/husbands or parents.


So, can any TBers think of any ways their family has been affected by their bass playing.

Some personal examples.

-My family are much more interested in my CD and music listening choices, which are partially related to my bassplaying , especially Jaco, and seem to see it as a sign of refinement and culture to be interested in jazz and other 'traditional' music forms.

[rap138]

my 22 month old daughter hates when I'm playing my acoustic and always demands me to put it away and asks for me to play my electric (unplugged) so I assume is her way of saying that I stink.....not like I don't

[Thor]

My spouse mentioned that bass was 'my religion'. I'm pretty
sure she meant at least 66.6 percent of that as not exactly
a compliment.

I'm actually on of them Scandahoovian Lutherans, but I rarely go
anymore.

[Passinwind]

Originally Posted by Fassa Albrecht

So, can any TBers think of any ways their family has been affected by their bass playing.

At least once a year my wife asks me to pick a concert by someone she's not familiar with, but who I really like. She kind of expects and wants me to pick bass players, so I do so when I can. We've seen Bootsy Collins, Dave Holland, Vic Wooten, Kenny Gradney, Steve Rodby, and Benny Rietveld, among others. If Marcus Miller would come around she'd be all over that, he's her favorite.

She pretty much hates my current band and has been encouraging me to go back to doing original music (which I greatly prefer). That means a bit of a financial hit, but that's fine with both of us.

[MoD_Scotty]

When I met my wife, she was into rock, country, and some boy band crap. I slowly introduced her to some of the rock I was listening to at the time, like Incubus, Primus, Rush, etc. Lots of bass-heavy stuff, and made an effort to point out some of the bass parts I really liked. So by the time she saw my play with a band, she was all about watching me play. Since then, I've carefully introduced a lot of metal to her. She loves coming to our shows, and is 100% supportive of my musical endeavors. She even wears metal tshirts now (Lamb of God, Unearth, Psyopus, and of course my band).

My parents took a lot longer to warm up to my bass playing. I think for the first 8-10 years, they considered it nothing more than a waste of time. Then they came up to Georgia and saw me play with my old band a couple years ago. Ever since then, they seem to take it a little more seriously. Oddly enough, my mom works at the House of Blues in Orlando, and has probably been to more metal shows than I have!

[Billw97]

I was playing before I met my Wife, she's been with me through the days when I played out. It been 20 wonderful years and she has been and still is a driving force in my life and my playing.
She'll point out Great bass lines and she'll point out great songs for the band to play. When I find a Bass I like, she'll say,"If you really want it, get it!" I'm a lucky guy!
She has admitted that her only fear is if I leave her, the other woman will have two wheels and an engine or four strings and a long neck......

Bill

[Johnny Crab]

Met wife at a gig(late 1980's).
Wife was pregnant with daughter and we attended a Rush concert. Daughter was jamming before birth(NOT close to big decibels).
Our two children at home have basses.
Oldest at home marches at halftime with a Steinberger 5'er.
The know Dad's gone once per week to gig and get some extra $.
The know two days before or the day before a gig, Dad will practice 3~12 hours...for fun(GOOD example for them to see when it comes to KNOWING they need to practice whatever they do).
They hear bass better.
It's made the children a stickler for rhythm sections/timing.
They all understand the bass-centric, weird music collection.