well as most ppl know when you start middle school(6th grade in my case) you have to pick an instrament well i picked drums for school played about two years and the whole time my friend dakota(he played guitar and fantisized about being the next iron maiden) kept trying to get me to play bass for him well after two years of druming and losing my passion for banging stuff a took a year of from any instrament i was at a music store much to my dismay and saw this kid bout my age i figured just ripping on a stingray just like flea in all the old RHCP songs i listened to,soon as he lest and no one else was around i went over and grabbed a peavey cirrus screwed around for a little while till i could play a rough version of seven nation army and next christmas i had a new bass(peavey millenium bxp) and now love it and getting my second bass as soon as i finnish building it(les paul style body with a slightly modified fender style headstock"
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Bass by accident
- Thread starter techall
- Start date
Well mine is kinda a sad story...
6 years ago, I picked up an acoustic guitar... and failed miserably. Within a year, I was so bad, couldn't do it. I quit, and the next year took up drums. Didn't have the coordination to be able to do off rhythm stuff, and got bored. I can't sing and have never been able to. I couldn't play keyboard to save my life, and when all hopes of getting into a band seemed to just disappear, a friend of mine introduced me to Bass. An instrument I had forgotten about. 2 years later, and I believe I've grasped the instrument. I enjoy playing bass, even if I'm not all that good
-Jak
6 years ago, I picked up an acoustic guitar... and failed miserably. Within a year, I was so bad, couldn't do it. I quit, and the next year took up drums. Didn't have the coordination to be able to do off rhythm stuff, and got bored. I can't sing and have never been able to. I couldn't play keyboard to save my life, and when all hopes of getting into a band seemed to just disappear, a friend of mine introduced me to Bass. An instrument I had forgotten about. 2 years later, and I believe I've grasped the instrument. I enjoy playing bass, even if I'm not all that good
-Jak
Well, I can say that I picked up bass by accident. Some day I was on a bus and the guy was listening to a tropical radio station and all of a sudden I found myself nodding to the sound of a funny drum, or so I thought. This funny percutive sound was the slapping and popping of a merengue song, and I just loved it but I had no idea what instrument could make such "noise". A couple of years later, a friend of mine begged me to go to his place not to feel lonely since he had moved out of town to study and had no friends or family where he was. When I got there the first thing he did was hand me a big fat "guitar" and tell me to play "here, then there, then down here, and then back here again..." (F,Bb,Ab,Db) and in no time we were butchering (if possible) Come as you are by Nirvana. I liked the deep sound of the bass but I had never pictured myself playing an instrument until the epiphany came: I plucked a string harder than I should have and accidentally made the noise years before I had been wondering about. In that moment I knew that if I ever picked up a music instrument it would be a Bass.
About a year later I got my baby-bass and I've been butchering songs ever since
About a year later I got my baby-bass and I've been butchering songs ever since
I played fingerstyle acoustic and classical guitar for some 30 years. Sang a little. Felt like prisoner of what styles of music I could do by myself. Played some duets with singers - guitarists. And one day a guy I was practicing with suggested I try the bass. Oh boy!
I found my instrument. This is ME
I immediately got into an amateur jazz practice band. A couple of years later I joined a gigging blues - R&B 6 piece band. Very talented and experienced musicians. This is so much fun! I still have a beautiful Larivee acoustic guitar but I never touch it anymore.
I could be sad it took me so long to find my instrument, but I am having too much fun
I found my instrument. This is ME
I immediately got into an amateur jazz practice band. A couple of years later I joined a gigging blues - R&B 6 piece band. Very talented and experienced musicians. This is so much fun! I still have a beautiful Larivee acoustic guitar but I never touch it anymore.
I could be sad it took me so long to find my instrument, but I am having too much fun
I do!
I had always wanted to play guitar since I was about 10. I had this cheap old toy acoustic until my dad dropped it and broke the neck. When I was 15, I finally got the courage to ask my parents for an electric guitar for Christmas. I didnt know any chords, so I pretty much played the main riffs on the low E string. A buddy from school played drums and kept telling me his band needed a bass player, but I didnt have a bass. So when I finally got to meet the singer/guitarist I thought she was really cool and agreed to give it a try. He called me up about a week later and asked if Id come if they hooked me up with the bass. Her BF bought and sold parts...had a whole room with broken guitars waiting to be restored. He fixed me up a red Kay c. 1968, looks like a Gibson EB3, and gave it to me for $50. Glad I made the switch. I sucked at guitar, but took to the bass like a duck to water!
I had always wanted to play guitar since I was about 10. I had this cheap old toy acoustic until my dad dropped it and broke the neck. When I was 15, I finally got the courage to ask my parents for an electric guitar for Christmas. I didnt know any chords, so I pretty much played the main riffs on the low E string. A buddy from school played drums and kept telling me his band needed a bass player, but I didnt have a bass. So when I finally got to meet the singer/guitarist I thought she was really cool and agreed to give it a try. He called me up about a week later and asked if Id come if they hooked me up with the bass. Her BF bought and sold parts...had a whole room with broken guitars waiting to be restored. He fixed me up a red Kay c. 1968, looks like a Gibson EB3, and gave it to me for $50. Glad I made the switch. I sucked at guitar, but took to the bass like a duck to water!
My friend wanted to start a power pop electronica-ish band. Like some sort of fall out boy panic at the disco mix. I was so excited about playing in front of people, I annoyed my mom into renting my first bass, a peavey p bass. I haven't been playing that long (2 years), but I have really enjoyed playing so far
Me and my brother were back from boarding school for summer vacation. I had just finished 6th grade and he had just finished 9th. My brother's grades were low so my parents decided to give him an incentive. If he got straight A's the next school year, they would buy him a canoe. Despite being a good student, I wanted to be treated equally so I asked them "What will you get me if I get straight A's?" Knowing that they were caught in a moral dilemma and knowing I didn't want a canoe, they asked me what I wanted. 
I bet you can guess what I told them. Well, Christmas my 8th grade year they bought me my very first bass, a jewel blue Ibanez TR series bass. I had a P/J configuration and all black hardware. I've loved black hardware ever since.
I bet you can guess what I told them. Well, Christmas my 8th grade year they bought me my very first bass, a jewel blue Ibanez TR series bass. I had a P/J configuration and all black hardware. I've loved black hardware ever since.I joined the military in 2003 and I had been playing guitar for about a year. Well let just say by the end of my contract three years later my brother who had played bass had picked up my guitar. He had surpassed my skill level and said why don't you just pick up the bass. He showed me what he new and gave me his old bass to practice on. I've had it in my handss or on my mind on the bass ever since.
last year I saw a Red and black Samick P-bass in the music store window, and was like "woah a 4 stringed guitar! that perfect for an idiot like me!" So i did some research on bass guitar, realized that what i liked in a lot of songs was not in fact a very loud deep guitar, but a bass. So then I went into my brothers room, and stole 50 bucks (he owed me) and used gathered up my $100, went down to the store and bought the bass. Then I realized i didn't have an amp, so i asked my mom to buy me one, and I acquired a 10 watt Kustom bass amp, that remains my main amp to this day 
The first song I ever learned was Rappers Delight by the sugarhill gang. That bassline is still my favorite lick, although i do like it used in "Good Times" by Chic, much better.
I am going to brag about one thing and one thing only. If there is one thing that this sub-par bassist can do, it is groove the hell out of that bassline.
The first song I ever learned was Rappers Delight by the sugarhill gang. That bassline is still my favorite lick, although i do like it used in "Good Times" by Chic, much better.
I am going to brag about one thing and one thing only. If there is one thing that this sub-par bassist can do, it is groove the hell out of that bassline.
At my old job my friend started a band with a guy who could play guitar, my friend could play drums but they needed a bass player, so I thought what the hell, I'll give it a shot, the band did'nt last long, but i stuck with the bass, that was nearlly two years ago 
Well, the way I got into bass, was a little after that I got into music...
Well, when I was like 9 or something like that, I used to hate music. I didn't even think it had any special reason of existence. But then when I got into middle school, we were choosing these things that we call here in Mexico "talleres", (they're like these things that you do some special activities like orchestra, or electronics, cooking, carpentry, etcetera, etcetera, but you to choose one o do all your time in middle school) I had to pick 3 different "talleres", and I couldn't pick the last one after choosing electronics and kitchen, so there were more options like gymnastics, some sport things and the "wind ensemble". I didn't want to choose that one, but I had no other option because the other ones were basically sports, and man, I suck at them...
So even if I hated music, I choose the wind ensemble because I wouldn't survive in the other ones. I was hoping and hoping to not get in there, and to get in at least kitchen, but after a week, I found out that I got in there, so then I was like ah, what the heck. So in the first class, the teacher was introducing the instruments to us (flute, clarinet, saxophone, trombone, trumpet, and drums. Since I was already there, I chose saxophone. So I started liking it after a while, but I came to the conclusion that, that instrument was for me. I don't know why, but it just wasn't. My brother played guitar, and so then he told me to play bass (because he wanted someone to play with). I didn't really know anything about it, so I was browsing on some videos on YouTube, and I saw a video from Victor Wooten. I thought the way that he managed it was so awesome, and then I thought that I had to play it. So yeah, on Christmas of last year (right now I'm only 13) I got a bass guitar. Then I realized that it was the closest instrument to me. Low sounds, groovy and was actually a pretty popular instrument (like in rock bands or something like that, I mean, you never see a metal band with a tuba!). A while after, when I was getting better and better, the teacher of the ensemble was looking for a bassist, and I said that I had one and that I could kind of play it. So I changed saxophone for bass, and since then, I've barely touched the saxophone ever again...
Well, when I was like 9 or something like that, I used to hate music. I didn't even think it had any special reason of existence. But then when I got into middle school, we were choosing these things that we call here in Mexico "talleres", (they're like these things that you do some special activities like orchestra, or electronics, cooking, carpentry, etcetera, etcetera, but you to choose one o do all your time in middle school) I had to pick 3 different "talleres", and I couldn't pick the last one after choosing electronics and kitchen, so there were more options like gymnastics, some sport things and the "wind ensemble". I didn't want to choose that one, but I had no other option because the other ones were basically sports, and man, I suck at them...
So even if I hated music, I choose the wind ensemble because I wouldn't survive in the other ones. I was hoping and hoping to not get in there, and to get in at least kitchen, but after a week, I found out that I got in there, so then I was like ah, what the heck. So in the first class, the teacher was introducing the instruments to us (flute, clarinet, saxophone, trombone, trumpet, and drums. Since I was already there, I chose saxophone. So I started liking it after a while, but I came to the conclusion that, that instrument was for me. I don't know why, but it just wasn't. My brother played guitar, and so then he told me to play bass (because he wanted someone to play with). I didn't really know anything about it, so I was browsing on some videos on YouTube, and I saw a video from Victor Wooten. I thought the way that he managed it was so awesome, and then I thought that I had to play it. So yeah, on Christmas of last year (right now I'm only 13) I got a bass guitar. Then I realized that it was the closest instrument to me. Low sounds, groovy and was actually a pretty popular instrument (like in rock bands or something like that, I mean, you never see a metal band with a tuba!). A while after, when I was getting better and better, the teacher of the ensemble was looking for a bassist, and I said that I had one and that I could kind of play it. So I changed saxophone for bass, and since then, I've barely touched the saxophone ever again...
I've been playing guitar since I was 12, originally starting out because, well it was cool in '72 to play guitar, so I thought. All through high school and college I played guitar but always seemed to lean towards the bass lines. After college joined the first of a few church groups and still played guitar but kept eyeing our bass players set up. He let me borrow a fretless and I toyed around a bit - but one divorce and a 2 moves later still playing guitar. My daughters kept telling me to try the bass but I never got serious about it. Tried cello, banjo, mandolin, uke and lakota flutes along the way. Still like the flutes... Got remarried and went looking for another church to play in, thought they needed a guitar player since I saw a bass player that night I approached them about joining. They said I could join if I played bass? Well, sure, I had one somewhere . My new wife went in for back surgery and ended up spending 3 weeks in the hospital - I had all this time on my hands and learned the root notes and was able to keep up. It felt easy to me and like I'd been there my whole life. I'm now introduced as the bass player. Now that is cool and I feel like I've finally come home. The call was finally answered!!!! At 50 I'm playing in two bands while still learning and growing with the instrument - life is good!
. My new wife went in for back surgery and ended up spending 3 weeks in the hospital - I had all this time on my hands and learned the root notes and was able to keep up. It felt easy to me and like I'd been there my whole life. I'm now introduced as the bass player. Now that is cool and I feel like I've finally come home. The call was finally answered!!!! At 50 I'm playing in two bands while still learning and growing with the instrument - life is good!
At age 40 I walked into the break room at work to find two of my co-workers (my boss and my ex-boss) staring at me. I thought I was in trouble. It turns out that my boss played guitar, my ex-boss played drums, they were talking about starting a band, and they needed a bass player. Relieved I wasn't about to be fired, I told them that I had kept a cheap, crappy bass in my closet for the last 15 years though I had no idea how to play it (true), but I would be happy to donate it to them if they could find someone to play it. They told me that they had already decided that they were going to ask the first person to walk into the break room to be their bass player, and the fact that I actually owned a bass meant I was officially in. I figured that saying no to the boss might be a poor career move, so I reluctantly agreed. It turned out that they were messing with me... my boss had seen the bass at my house and they were going to ask me to play bass anyway (though I didn't know that until after we'd practiced a couple of times).
I figured I had a week before our first practice to learn how to play a bass, so I started searching the Internet and came across TB!
Three years later, we've added a second guitartist and a singer, I'm still in the band, and am still here at TB. I am, without a doubt the absolute WORST bassist on TB, but at least I have my own emoticon.
I figured I had a week before our first practice to learn how to play a bass, so I started searching the Internet and came across TB!
Three years later, we've added a second guitartist and a singer, I'm still in the band, and am still here at TB. I am, without a doubt the absolute WORST bassist on TB, but at least I have my own emoticon.
I just didn't want to be like every other moron at school who was starting to learn guitar at the time... Everyone recommended that I learn guitar first but I ignored them. I have now been learning bass for about a year and a half. Plus I love the low growl that basses have over the squeal of a guitar
Like most kids (12) I was playing guitar albeit classical (must of been the parents idea) and my best friend and his brothers got kitted out for Christmas. The oldest a Fender Rhodes Piano, middle a Gibson guitar and amp and the youngest (my buddy) a 5 piece black Pearl kit. Guess what was missing? I begged my folks and got a $99 National P-bass (sort of) POS and had to plug into the second input on the guitar players amp. Two weeks later we played out first gig and made $40 bucks. That was 1976 and I have loved bass ever since. But yeah it was an accident for sure...
I was originally a harmonica player (and was until my mouth kept getting me in trouble) and a friend of mine was starting a band. I was about 11 or 12 at the time.
"I'm starting a band. Wanna be in it?"
"Sure! Need a harmonica player?"
"Its a metal band, there are no harmonicas in metal."
"Oh..."
"Wanna play bass or drums?"
I was too lazy to haul a drum kit and thus started my lifelong passion of bass and my lifelong hatred of metal.
I borrowed my dad's bass briefly until I saved the $200 to buy a Fender Precision at a local pawn shop (my dad paid the other half and I had to pay him back) and I got an old Acoustic combo my mom threw out the window.
"I'm starting a band. Wanna be in it?"
"Sure! Need a harmonica player?"
"Its a metal band, there are no harmonicas in metal."
"Oh..."
"Wanna play bass or drums?"
I was too lazy to haul a drum kit and thus started my lifelong passion of bass and my lifelong hatred of metal.
I borrowed my dad's bass briefly until I saved the $200 to buy a Fender Precision at a local pawn shop (my dad paid the other half and I had to pay him back) and I got an old Acoustic combo my mom threw out the window.
Well for me, my best friend and I were increasingly interested with those 6 string things in the corner of his basement, so we finally asked his dad if we could play them. After a month or so of bugging my parents, my mom asks my 10 year old self "do you want to play guitar or bass?" Without hesitation I ask "what does Paul McCartney play?" I guess those early years of my life pretending to be Paul on my grandpa's violin molded me!
So almost 7 years later, me and my guitar slinging amigo are still in our first band, and are generally considered among the best musicians in the local punk scene!
So almost 7 years later, me and my guitar slinging amigo are still in our first band, and are generally considered among the best musicians in the local punk scene!
I was a drummer, but my "band" couldn't find a bass player. So I bought a Kay P bass knock-off, a HUGE Peavey rig, and started rattling the walls.
i played guitar for over 2 years and got a brand new ibanez jtk1 for my birthday, i also got a fender logo tshirt, only owning a squire i wanted a fender bad!
a trip to guitar center i saw a blue agave fretless jazz for 300. two weeks later i go with my mom to see what they had. it was still there and was only 270 now. 270 for a new fender?! i got rite on that. i later got ride of it because it was to hard to play at the time, but now i wish i still had it.
i still fiddle with my guitars but id call my self a bassist first. it started cuz i wanted to own a fender and now 2 years later im still playing bass. now on a fender pbass that i painted orange and looks horrible but i plan on redoing that this summer
a trip to guitar center i saw a blue agave fretless jazz for 300. two weeks later i go with my mom to see what they had. it was still there and was only 270 now. 270 for a new fender?! i got rite on that. i later got ride of it because it was to hard to play at the time, but now i wish i still had it.
i still fiddle with my guitars but id call my self a bassist first. it started cuz i wanted to own a fender and now 2 years later im still playing bass. now on a fender pbass that i painted orange and looks horrible but i plan on redoing that this summer
There was a music store opposite where I worked with this cool 'guitar' in the window. Price was 49.95 (this was when I lived in England). So I get lucky one day and win 50 (can't do the pound sign on this keyboard!) so I take it straight to the music store and buy my guitar.
Word got around the village where I lived and some local kids showed up wanting to see my baby. 'That's not a guitar, that's a bass' I was told. I had no idea. 'Where's your amp?'. Didn't know I needed one of those either, I have just spent time looking at it so far, nobody in my family had any musical talent and I had certainly not showed any up to this point.
So I ended up joining their band, bass players were scarce where I lived. The funny thing was they were all around 15 to 16 and I was 25 at this time! 28 years later I'm still playing and still glad of that bit of luck I had that day.
Word got around the village where I lived and some local kids showed up wanting to see my baby. 'That's not a guitar, that's a bass' I was told. I had no idea. 'Where's your amp?'. Didn't know I needed one of those either, I have just spent time looking at it so far, nobody in my family had any musical talent and I had certainly not showed any up to this point.
So I ended up joining their band, bass players were scarce where I lived. The funny thing was they were all around 15 to 16 and I was 25 at this time! 28 years later I'm still playing and still glad of that bit of luck I had that day.
