What made you start playing?

[mongo2]

Intro to "Jingle Bell Rock" - Bobby Helms - 1957. Not sure if I remember hearing it in '57 but it was way before the Bealtes.

[Illini10]

I've always liked music. I wanted to learn guitar in jr. high but money was tight and my mom came up with the cop-out excuse that some people weren't musically talented. I taught myself how to play harmonica (it was the only thing I had) to prove that I had musical talent.

One of my buddies loaned me an incredibly beat up imitation Hofner for a few months and I noodled around on that when I was 14. Nothing much came out of that.

I was a percussionist in band my senior year of high school but didn't start playing guitar until I was 19. I played guitar on-and-off until I was 33 and my buddy who loaned me the bass when I was 14 invited me over to jam on the condition that I play bass. I played a POS bass that didn't even have a brand-name on it the first few times. After a month or so I bought a Squier J-bass on Craigslist. I played that for a few months and upgraded to a Fender FSR Standard J-bass.

I think I've been playing the wrong instrument for the last 15 years. I'm glad I finally saw the light.

[CrewsControl]

I played low brass in high school. Hadn't picked up an instrument since then. I wanted to start playing again, but with a more "social" instrument. You can't sing along while playing trombone. People look at you funny. Bass guitar seemed like a natural choice for me, and it's worked out pretty good so far. I really enjoy my music school's Adult Rock Band 101 class.

[theduke1]

Originally Posted by LongHairFreak

For me it was hearing Mel Schacher on Grand Funk Railroad's 1971 'Live Album'. From my pov, that's a tone worth emulating, even to this day.

+1
I'm your captain is my favorite bass line to practice with

[4dog]

Couple of guys had a band they could play very well,, they asked if i could play bass cause of how i "looked" so i said yes ,, ya know 4 strings how hard could it be right,, well they figured out pretty quick i knew nuthin,, they taught me my first song,, Van Halen-runnin with the devil ,, i really should have paid attention,, they fired me ,, i survived,,34 yrs later i still play,, just in church only,, lol

[AuntieBeeb]

Well, there was a point while I was still at secondary school, when I was 13, at which a very sudden transition occurred: suddenly about half the boys in the school owned electric guitars.

"Now...hang on," I thought, "maybe if I also owned one of these, and could play it, I could join a band and play some of my favourite songs. And maybe, just maybe, girls might talk to me." I'll be honest, the latter was probably the greater motivation.

I'd already been learning keyboards for a year or two, so I had a rudimentary understanding of music, and a keen interest in most of my father's record collection. (At that time I was just discovering The Doors and Pink Floyd.) I had a go on a friend's guitar and found, to my dismay, that everything was quite small and fiddly - even then, my hands were quite large.

I think it may even have been his suggestion that I try a bass. It certainly made sense at the time; everything's bigger and further apart, and there are only four strings to worry about! So my parents, always keen to encourage their children musically, agreed that if I scoured the local music shops and found a cheap enough bass guitar, they'd buy it for my next birthday.

I knew bugger all about the bass. I just knew that most bands had some guy playing something on a bass guitar. It was only when I discovered The Who, amongst my father's records, that I heard John Enwistle's bass playing and realised that yes, I had definitely chosen the right instrument.

[Edward G.]

A natural aptitude for it that went far beyond what I could do any other instrument. It just made sense to me from the beginning.

[meatwad]

"Into The Void" - Black Sabbath

[Steve Dallman]

I started playing guitar at 14. I played in my first band 2 years, but kept hearing bass in my head and was drawn to the bass on records and radio. I quit that band, and started my second band, and switched to bass. Guitar is fun, but bass is so satisfying.

[tmdazed]

I started off playing trumpet, played in the grade school stage orchestra, jazz band and held first seat for a while (not bad for a guy who could only marginally sight read). Played about three months into the beginning of high school but quickly realized band kids were shoehorned into the band geek territory so I quit. Fast forward three months , went to a concert Featuring Rick Emmit and Triumph , loved his guitar acumen, but when he came out and played flight of the bumble bee solo, I saw all the girls around me getting moist quickly, I thought "yeah , this is what i want to do". I got a sears silvertone guitar that year saving up all the cash i could muster and a huge old 2x12 tube combo that was tough as nails but no pre amp in it , so no effects, i learned to play clean.

I became an at best mediocre guitar player and me along with our drummer , put a band together, me playing lead, buddy of ours playing rhythm, and another friend playing bass , we got tight over time and started playing gigs. we went through several line up changes over a couple years and me and the drummer stayed fast. we were at a Jam session in the drummers dads Garage and there were the obligatory girls from the neighborhood hanging about . we were warming up and the bass player wasnt there yet so I picked up the bass and not knowing what to do , started playing abridged guitar riffs I knew on it and thought , hey this sounds alright.

well the drummer started in on a quick shuffle and I startedto get a feel for the rhythm so I started to throw out funky simple basslines over top , and i could see the girls getting the same look i saw at that Triumph concert. thought "yeah , this is it , but I am a guitar player" bass player showed up and things were as normal.

FFwd to 20 year old me , I was driving by a yard sale and saw a guitar caseleaning up against a couch , looked like an SG case so I stopped. looked at it , it was an ancient hoyer EB0 4 string standard scale knock off. Gorgeous old bass , I had to have it. Asked the lady what she wanted for it , she said it was just an old guitar from the 60's she bought her son but he only played a few months and put it aside , give me ten dollars and you can have it. SOLD. went and bought a 30 watt Traynor bass combo from a second hand shop that afternoon and the rest was history , 25 years later i still play the bass , though the old Hoyer of mine split the neck vertically up the middle about 15 years later , after playing me through many years playing road shows with punk bands and metal cover bands. I still have the body and guts if I ever happen to find the right neck for it, but to date , have not. I always felt comfortable playing the bass even way back when I was a 6 stringer , liked the groove and feel , and always loved to lock in with a drummer and let a jam drift into some cool unusual places.

it was a roundabout trip to today but well worth it, even still play occasionally with my old drummer, he still says that if i had played bass instead of guitar , we may have actually done something other than play bar gigs over the years. I think he is dreaming , but i do not regret my choices!

[spufman]

Loved everything about the timbre, power and look right from the start... Elton John's songs really came alive with that bass articulation... Duane Allman spurred to those amazing heights by Berry's coaxing, Jackson Browne songs becoming beautiful with those bass counterparts... All was cemented when I went to a show as a kid with my Mom, my eyes and ears were fixed on that LPB Jazz...

[Johno Dunn]

All the Worlds a Stage and Geddy Lee! I heard the album, saw the pictures and suddenly needed a Ric and some scarves!
Got the Ric, skipped the scarves!

J!

[strikeslast]

I started with guitar because I wanted to be like my rock-star dad. My parents got me a little fender starter kit, which I hardly played. But for whatever reason, bass came to mind, and it clicked. I bought an Epiphone EB-0 a few years ago and love it to this day. It's easier to play (for me at least), powerful, and less mainstream than guitar. XD

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by delta7fred

Makes perfect sense to me Blue, but I am past 60!

With me it was when I saw The Beach Boys on TV. I made my first bass in woodwork class in 1967 and haven't stopped playing since.

Good reference, Carole Kay played bass on a lot if their recordings and Glen Campbell played the more advanced guitar riffs.

Blue

[bluewine]

Originally Posted by 4dog

Couple of guys had a band they could play very well,, they asked if i could play bass cause of how i "looked" so i said yes ,, ya know 4 strings how hard could it be right,, well they figured out pretty quick i knew nuthin,, they taught me my first song,, Van Halen-runnin with the devil ,, i really should have paid attention,, they fired me ,, i survived,,34 yrs later i still play,, just in church only,, lol

Are there are more non traditional bass players on TB than traditionalist out on the front lines in bars & clubs?

Blue

[bluesblaster]

I grew up in the 60's and 70's, there was so much good music that it just becomes part of you, to play an instrument and be part of that just seemed like the next logical step. I gravitated to the bass because the neighborhood band already had two decent guitar players that were more advanced than I was but they didnt have a bass player, so.... I became a bass player and never regretted it. Guitar players get the glory but the Rythmn section make the people dance.

[Metania]

I started because Im too impatient to watch paint dry! I needed a "voice" very much when I was 18, so the bass seemed ideal, because I could play drums and guitar at the same time - so I thought :-) Today I still "only" play bass, and have never felt like changing that. I've been through 50+ basses since 82, but always end up playing Yamaha, Musicman and Fender basses :-) So that's what play today. Musically Peter Hook convinced me that bass is not for pussies lurking in the back...ha ha ha. It's him who was/is my main inspirational source, and I loved to go to New Order gigs in the 80s and 90s. I now play for therapeutic reasons, since I'm seriously and chronically ill with a fatal disease. So I don't have the energy unfortunately to find a band. But if I come across a girl with a guitar - who knows? :-)

[Musiclogic]

My brother was the impetus. I started sneaking around playing his 69 Jazz when he was gone. I was classically trained aspiring cellist about to make the leap from jr. Symphony to a full city symphony, was offered a tryout for the DSO(Detroit Symphony Orchestra) but I was headed to college. I had no intent to play in college(was hell bent on a Law career) The bass, which by this time I had a Ric 4001, took up less space in the dorm, and I was already playing weekends in bars with a band, so that was the decision. I still play my cello on occassion, but I enjoy the bass much more as I got older.

[HaMMerHeD]

I didn't think you could get any older, JC.

[VitalSigns]

Well my uncle plays bass, so when I was about 8 my parents got me a bass and I learned a little bit and got bored of it as any kid would.

About 8th grade I picked it back up out of sheer boredom and started noodling around with it. Slowly started learning songs by ear. Now that I could do a little something it was about picking up chicks

But that's all changed and now I have a deep love for music because of it.

I still learn by ear and use it to pick up chicks though. Some things never change..