At what age have you started playing bass?

[MrB64]

I was 19 when I got my first bass. I'm 57 now. What a long strange trip it's been.

 

[Williethump]

SSeEPTEtM5B

Hello mates!!

First vote, and then tell us specifically at what age ( if you remember ) started playing and studying bass as instrument.

Thanks!!

I'm a proud elderly 2.5 per center. Started five years ago in September, age 67. Using this Ibanez that I soldered with a hot nail and repaired using a found machine head. I still love it but my stress levels are lower now and I don't crave it or need bass so much lately.
Lost my textbook and I no longer YouTube for walking bass lines and blues turnarounds either. I just play the same three of my songs and noodle I-IV-V 12-bar riffs endlessly. It is stagnation but it still makes me smile.

 

[GeneralElectric]

I had a family band growing up with my dad, uncles, and cousins. My first instrument was harmonica.

When I was 12 I was asked to join a metal band on either bass or drums because there are, and I quote, "no harmonicas in metal"

I picked bass because it was less stuff to carry. Never looked back.

I'm going to be 33 this year and gigging more now than my teens and twenties.

 

[GeorgesEric]

13, 14 years old? I forget now.

I started to play bass about the same time that I discovered the benefits and ramifications of self-gratification. Busy year, lol!

Bourée was one of the first song that my bass teacher showed me. Cool song - been playing bass ever since. Bass has been the best instrument for me.

 

[Dave Leighton]

14. Now I'm 60. And I still suck. I strive for consistency

 

[Williethump]

Two years ago at almost exactly 70.5 years old.

OK, you beat me. Almost 5 years playing here, from age 67. Playing bass helped hold me together through my dad's death last year, my best therapy, of many.

 

[Mike Lock]

OK, you beat me. Almost 5 years playing here, from age 67. Playing bass helped hold me together through my dad's death last year, my best therapy, of many.

This is great therapy my friend..your dog and your bass will get u anything

 

[legalbass]

I started bass guitar at age 19, in the summer between sophomore year and junior year in college. Bass guitar was my fifth instrument and the only instrument I have ever been entirely self-taught on.

 

[Tommy Sparks]

1979 at 15, guitar in 72’

 

[Thebiggestjerk]

I started on piano so my bass playing started the same day as my treble playing.

 

[darthplagis]

Did you do the P bass pickup mod yourself?

Yeah... Well I had a local shop put it in, but I wanted it skewed and reversed and made a paper template for the tech even back then in 97 my pickup choices were the same, as I use a sandberg PM5 as one of my main basses and before that I used my modded yamaha BBN5 with MM and P too (modded in 2002).

 

[two fingers]

15. Band director called me into his office and asked me to play tuba in the jazz band. I replied with something like "No way man. That ain't cool!"

Couple weeks later he called me back into hos office and said "Jazz band starts in a few weeks, Tiger. Better be ready." He pointed in the corner and there sat a brand new P bass and Peavey TNT amp. The rest is history.

 

[NathOBX]

I started when I got my first bass for my 14th Birthday in 1992.

 

[And I]

Guitar at 13, bass at 30

 

[Mike Lock]

Started at 9
Started semi pro at 13
Making money on the pro level at 15

OMG my first real bass was a SD Curlee if anyone remembers those basses

 

[DaDo625]

This made me look up the day of my first lesson (16 JUN 2016) and that led to correcting my vote from 61 to 60, since the BD was three months away.
Bummed that I had to leave the smallest group...

Appreciate the reminder so that I can mark the day, the band I'm in is planning on making one of the local open mics on the 17th - I'm going to invite my bass instructor...

A long way from asking a guitar playing friend: "if I wanted to try this, (playing bass) how would I go about that?"

 

[Jim Kernan]

52

 

[sonojono]

13 from borrowing my sisters bass after she abandoned it. Didn’t buy my own bass till I was 17 and the rest is history

 

[mrjim123]

21. I started out by picking out bass notes on my best friend's electric 6-string, while he played acoustic guitar. My first song was Paint It Black, by the Stones.

My first instrument was the harmonica, which I learned to play when I was about 8 or 9. I was inspired by the old man who lived next door to me, who also played harmonica.

 

[Shindig]

Started in 1962 at age 13 with a used Harmony bass and an amp from Montgomery Wards.
Fast forward to now - I played a local gig last night, and playing another next Friday. Truly blessed that I can still play.