Why Bass? Who Or What Inspired You?

[Astronomer]

I was pretty much brought up on Deep Purple, and I've always loved the sound and style of Ritchie Blackmore, but he never "inspired" me to try and play guitar.
However after Purple split, I went to see Gillan (one of the spin-off bands) and the Glasgow Apollo, and there I saw one John McCoy. I was about 17 at the time and thought he was utterly amazing. He looked huuuuuge, and the thumping, pumping, growling sound he had left me open-mouthed in awe before the end of the first song. I knew right there and then that I wanted to play bass guitar. I wanted to "be" John McCoy.
Of course I'm not, and never will be, but even now (and I'm 43!) when I play the bassline to Vengeance, and close my eyes, I still see him up there on stage and once again feel that tingle in my spine.

So, what's your story?

[Asa Samuel]

my story is the same as steve harris, wanted to play drums but didnt have anough money OR space.

so instead, we decided to play with the drums and play bass =D

[rob2966]

I had been a guitar player for a number of years, growing up on a steady diet of 80's hair metal and Yngwie. When I went to university I met a buddy named Len who introduced me to motown, Jaco, James Brown, and Parliament/Funkadelic (and others). He was also a bass player and really made the instrument seem cool. Shortly after, RHCP released Blood Sugar Sex Magic and then it was all over, I bought my first 5-string (a Squier, played quite nicely for a $400 bass). I still play both instruments (as well as keys and drums) but every band I have been in since university, I have always chosen to play bass, it is definately my main instrument. However, I still compose music primarily on guitar.

Later
Rob

[Deacon_Blues]

I started on guitar when I was about 14-15 years old and switched to bass when I was around 23-24. I just found myself playing funky bass lines on my guitar all the time. I was thinking about switching to bass for at least a year before I finally found an opportunity to do it when our bassist quit due to problems in his hands. As I also did the lead singing I had a really tough time in the beginning (we continued gigging like before despite my switch to bass). I felt much more "locked" as a singing bassist than as a singing guitarist. That's not a problem anymore though..

[SteveC]

My cousin played guitar in a rock band when I was in junior high. Of course, I started on guitar, but I found myself playing bass lines on the lower string instead.

Geddy Lee was the first bass player I knew by name and I started learning his lines.

[JugbandBlues]

I knew I wanted to play bass after I saw the song remains the same for the first time. I bought my first bass the day after I saw my friend play phantom of the opera.

[JeffC]

I tried guitar for a couple months when I was 12. Then fiddled with a buddies bass a few times in high school. This past year (I'm 24 now) a drummer friend of mine wanted to start a band, I volunteered to play bass. I just did it for the sake of learning an instrument, something i never had much of an attention span for, and I'm glad I did as I love it completely. The bass fits me well, I play/practice every day, not even just to get better but because I enjoy it.

[srxplayer]

I got into it because our bass player at church was leaving and the two guitarists did not want to play bass so I volunteered to do it. I was the drummer but I had played guitar before so they said to go for it. We had another drummer who could take my spot. I was also in a financial position to go buy a bass rig and the church wasn't. I went out and bought a bass and an amp and haven't looked back since. That was three and a half years ago. I fell in love with this instrument. Prior to that I never had any real desire to play bass.

[J.D.B.]

In '78 or '79 I stayed up with a good friend who took a hard hit on the head in a car crash (and broke an arm, too). I woke him up every hour to ask a couple questions and check his pupils. I sat there with his Rick most of the night. That was it, I was hooked.
Josh

[tplyons]

My personality is subdued but supportive, just like the instrument. Often underappreciated, but always there to help out.

That, and my buddy Tom at school and the way he grooved.

[StanFan]

I basically started playing bass because I knew enough guitar players already and while I thought it would be cool playing drums, owning a kit didn't seem practical at the time. No regrets. The weird thing is that I never listened to bass in a song (unless it was the main instrument to play the riff or melody) until I decided to play bass.

[owensea777]

I had always loved the sound of bass. Hip-hop, reggae, dub reggae, and jazz helped get me into the sound. One day I saw Daniel Lee perform cello with the USC (South Carolina) Orchestra. He absolutely killed it. He needed no music to read. He played amazingly and with such passion. He would take a deep breath before starting a difficult peice, and get a mad look on his face...eventually sweat started dripping on his cello as he was playing. He would look up every once in a while to see if the people were getting it. A slight head nod indicated a connection with me on one of these looks...it was amazing. At the second movement, which was slower and more emotional, he looked so sad, so expressive. The music flowed right from his body into his instument. All this while I was sitting on the front row...f*ckin awesome was all I could think. I told all my college buddies how this dude jsut murdered a cello and how tight it was.
After that I decided that one day I would like to play an instrument on stage with that kind of passion. The closest rock instument to the cello (IMO) is a fretless bass. That is the instrument I chose.

One day I will work up the balls to email Daniel Lee about how his performance inspired me and changed my life for the better.

[MysticMichael]

My story is similar to several others here...

I took up the guitar at age 17, teaching myself to play rudimentary songs, then started developing my ear by learning chord progressions from music on the radio.

But the more I began to experiment and improvise on my own, the more I began to realize that it sounded like bass lines - not guitar parts. Shortly, I was asked to join a band, and was offered the opportunity to play either guitar or learn bass guitar. Realizing that good bass players were usually in short supply - thus in high demand - and feeling that I had the necessary chops to make it happen, I went out and bought a pre-owned Fender Precision Bass, bought a starter amp - and never looked back...

Once I began playing regularly, I was amazed with how much I already knew about how to groove - yet had never realized it until then. From years of listening to classic rock, pop and R&B, I had apparently absorbed much from the likes of James Jamerson, Paul McCartney, Jack Bruce, etc. - such that I already had a good "feel" for the instrument, i.e. ability to consistently get a good tone, play with good time & syncopation...and the ability to improvise reasonably well and to create good basslines...

I now feel that I've found my main instrument for life. There's something about the electric bass that is almost instinctive for me. And it truly feels like my most natural instrumental voice...

MM

[mattq]

i was in junior high when i first wanted to start playing. there was this sprint phone commercial on the radio and the guy was talking about how he and a couple friends started a jazz trio and that he played the bass and it had a little sound clip of an upright. (the commercial went on to say how he always missed calls during rehearsal or something and how with *69 he could find out who called.) i loved how that thing sounded. my choice to play was later reaffirmed when i saw everyone my age playing guitar and i was not nearly coordinated enough to play drums. that was ten years ago and i've never looked back

[NamelessOne]

I got a spot in a band before I even knew how to play. That's certainly a good first impression of an instrument...

[MirageBass]

I screwed around a little bit with a classical spanish acoustic guitar while my brother was doing some fingerstyle, but I never got into it, and my brother was much better. Our teacher brought his five-string yamaha one day, and I picked it up, and was playing some RHCP lines right off the bat. I liked how tactile it was, and I loved the sound, and everyone and his uncle played guitar, so I bought it off him. The lessons stopped, and my bass sat in a gig bag for three years.

Fast forward to senior year of high school, in the video game club, playing the Guitar Hero 2 demo. My friend wanted to play, so we played a co-op game, and, of the four songs on that disc, I happened to like playing the guitar for a little song called YYZ by a band called Rush. Well, he wants to play the guitar part, so I play the bass section on expert, and I suddenly see that the bassline has nearly twice as many notes as the guitar part. I go home, yank out my bass, and start working feverishly on the song, borrow the discography, etc.

Within one month of picking up the bass again (and, arguably, for the "first time"), I'm playing YYZ. I pick up Geddy's signature bass. Two months later, Rush gets me into Primus, and I'm playing Tommy the Cat, and I join a band (and leave it four months later). Eight months later, I'm playing Portrait of tracy. I'm planning on picking up a Brice HXB 405 six string fretless from Rondo before college so I can accurately play Les/Jaco.

Yes, I owe it all to Guitar Hero.