At what point did you first start playing with others?

[iTzPrime]

I joined the high school band 2 days after I started playing bass. I only played drums before. Just stuck to the root note at first until I got more comfortable

 

[Charlzm]

So, I've been playing for about 17 months but progress has been slow with 2 young kids and studying part time on top of my job. I'm itching to play with others but not confident I know what I'm doing enough to jam. How did you get started jamming and joining a band? Is there a minimum set of knowledge you think you should have before you're ready?

Day one. I got recruited to play bass with some guys and had never even touched a bass until I showed up and one was put in my hands. I had been playing guitar a few months so I didn't totally embarrass myself. I hope...

 

[40Hz]

If you put in the time and practice the more advanced crew you are rocking with will be excited
For your progress.

Exactly this!

Nothing more enjoyable (to me at least) than watching a new player turning themselves into a real musician. I always do my best to encourage and help a musical newcomer any way I can.

 

[scuzzy]

the night i got my squier precision, i took it to my friends house who had recently started on guitar. we spent hours playing through ixnay on the hombre by the Offspring. good times. felt like rockstars. the band formed shortly after.

 

[JES]

You will progress much faster playing with other people.

 

[hrodbert696]

Pretty quick - I think it was three or four months. About 2009, IIRC, I got my first bass in the fall. I had had one that I fiddled with as a teen but never seriously and trailed off on. Got this bass via CL in October, played along to CDs. I think it was that January that I posted a CL ad looking for jam partners and settled in with a couple of guys about February or March.

I think one thing that does make a difference is how much prior experience you have in music. Some people here have posted how soon they started jamming after taking up bass, but it's apparent they had been playing for a while before that on other instruments. I was never in a band scene before taking up bass, but had played sax in school and plunked away on mandolin for years and such, so I wasn't learning music itself from scratch.

 

[DWBass]

I started to play with others after about a year of practicing and learning at home.

 

[davegt666]

About 2 months into my playing is when I started playing with my friends at school.

 

[buldog5151bass]

When you can get through a song without #_-##-ing up, you are ready. Relax - you might be surprised how untalented some "musicians" are. Be honest when you speak with the others, try some open jams.

 

[Teijo K.]

We started a band before I got my first bass. I had been singing, but hadn't really played anything before. At the beginning I also tested drums and keyboards before settling on bass. Ton of fun and we managed to make music and lot of gigs after couple of years.

 

[Liam Wald]

After about a year at age 14. I will admit that most everyone else who was 14 years old at the time was just about as bad as I was so there was really nothing to loose.

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Pretty quick. Was 1966 and I bought a cheap Japanese bass (before Japanese basses were any good) for $40. Using a 1965 to 2017 dollar converter, that would be $302.20 in today's money. Was about 2-weeks pay for me at the time working part-time at a drug store for $1.25 an hour. Take home was about $23 a week.

I didn't even have an amp yet and one of the kids in high school found out I had a bass and said he needed a bass player for a group he was putting together. I used an amp he had there at his house to start. Shortly after that I bought a Fender Bassman amp on time ($449 in 1966 - equivalent to $3,408.90 in 2017 $) and then a while later a 1965 Fender Jazz bass. Paid $175 for it. In today's $$ that would be equivalent to $1,322.15 (ahhh...the things an after-school job can help you afford). Shortly after buying that amp we played at a local theater's Battle of the Bands and we each got free tickets to the theater for a year for 2 people. We knew a total of 3 songs at the time and played 2 of them. We were "The Warlocks"! Not bad for just starting out.

 

[Jazz Ad]

I was in a band after one lesson and 2 weeks of playing. It's a pretty obvious thing to do for a bass player and the only way to ever make any progress.

 

[Kmonk]

I started playing with other people immediately. I was in high school and had a couple of friends who were in bands. I bought a guitar and started teaching myself to play by watching and jamming with them and then practicing at home.

 

[Deak]

After a 40 year absence, I went to a few Jam nights, watched the locals, then used that as a barometer. When I could match that I jumped in and jammed. It's a crap shoot for auditions but at least I knew I was in was in the neighborhood.

 

[brianrost]

How did you get started jamming and joining a band? Is there a minimum set of knowledge you think you should have before you're ready?

Like many people, it took me a long time to get going just because I didn't know anybody else who was playing music. Seriously.

I hacked a round a bit while I was in the Army (which was when I got my first bass) but it was sporadic and nothing lasted more than a few days due to the limited abilities of all involved.

Soon after I left the Army and came home to start college, I met a harmonica player at a blues show and started hanging out with him. He would get people to come jam in his garage, their incentive was alcohol and recreational drugs more than the music. It was still sporadic but it was a start playing with others, the typical experience of the guitarists showing me where to put my fingers and so on. Two years later, my college roommate was a banjo player so that started a period of intense bluegrass indoctrination along with another guy in the dorm who played guitar. A year later, I joined a bluegrass band comprised of other students leading to my first paid gig ($7.50 and free beer). Things progressed from there.

What was critical was making connections with other players...this is also the single biggest problem For any beginners out there, I would bet good money there is some group of people within a 10 mile radius of where you live that are so desperate for a bassist they would welcome you with open arms. How you find them is one of the biggest riddles of the universe Being pre-internet, for me that meant reading classified ads in the local papers or accidentally meeting someone who knew someone who knew someone, etc. Even today, most of my gig opportunities are still via word of mouth recommendations.

 

[bikeplate]

Pretty much right away. Fronting a band i put togther 6 months after i took up bass

 

[pcake]

my first experience playing bass was with people as a friend asked me to play bass to fill in when his friends came from new york and wanted to jam. to be fair, i had been playing guitar for decades, but my first bass experience was absolutely awesome.

if you're not comfortable playing with experienced players, why not place a CL listing that says you're an advanced beginner/intermediate player looking for more of the same to jam with? my husband and i once heard from an entry-level drummer and played with her. she needed to practice and we were happy to help out, so we jammed with her.

 

[lowplaces]

As a teen I learned a lot of songs on acoustic guitar. It didn't take long for me to start playing the alternating bass note rhythm.

One of my jamming buddies uncle came by and told me that I would probably be a good bass player because of my rhythm Style. He said my timing was very good.

If I recall correctly I rented my first bass. First night I got together with my buddies was on a Friday night and my buddies Uncle showed up again. I had been practicing with the Waylon and Willie album, actually an 8-track tape. I had almost every song on that album down pat. My buddies Uncle heard me and said that's it you need to keep playing bass.

Next thing I know I'm playing in country cover bands and blues and rock cover bands.

But I got married and for 26 years I didn't play bass I just kept an acoustic around the house.

The wife is gone now and I'm back to playing bass.

 

[theduke1]

When I was 7 I kissed the neighbor girl
Does that count?