• 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.

First time you picked up a bass...

#41
Interesting, a couple of fairly common themes here as well:
I was 14, my friends wanted to form a band, and I thought " 'tis is a great way to meet girls" so I wanted in too, though they had already decided on two of them being guitar players, so I got the leftovers: bass.
Drums were cool too, but too expensive and too hard to learn, thought young me, and I was somewhat right about that. I still can't drum to save my life.

Walking by the local music store window I spotted something different from all the Strat and Les Paul look-alikes: a Peavey T-40, and I marvelled at how thick the strings were.
That Christmas, I was given a cheapy plywood short scale bass and started learning to play.

That bass has been through a lot, I sanded and painted it three times, pulled the frets, and attempted assorted other experiments, all of a very dubious nature. The body and neck is still kicking around my mom's garage attic, but I lost the hardware years ago, too bad 'cause the pups weren't actually too bad.

I've come a long way from there, and owe it all to chance, really.
Funny how things work out some times.
 
#42
Ironically, I just recently remembered this cuz I went through some old photo albums with my mom. My uncle is a pro bassist and let me and my bro play with one of his super nice cherry red with tort pick guard jazz basses, which would probly be a bad idea with normal kids our age(in the photo) but we we're already used to handling instruments, my bro played cello in orchestra, I was in band playing percussion. I cant say I fell in love since I didn't seriously pick up bass til sr year in high school about 10 years later but yeah, that was my first time(lol, the bass that popped my cherry was cherry!)
 
#43
my buddys all picked up guitars, didnt want to be yet another guitarist, and learned the bass. first bass, dean acoustic. learned how to slap on that, dont ever plan on slapping an acoustic bass again hahaha, but i really love playing electric and acoustic.
its funny, i dont enjoy playing guitar because its not deep enough, although not too long before i started playing i didnt even know what a bass guitar was haha... i was 15, ive learned much in one short year. played about 8 months now.
 
#44
1972, eighth grade, 13 years old. Hanging at a friends house playing table hockey in his bedroom that he shared with his older brother. The older brother was a singer in a band and was thinking about taking up the bass so he had a Hofner copy leaning against the wall in the corner of the room. I had already been playing guitar for a couple of years. So while I was waiting for my turn to play the winner of the hockey game, I picked up the bass and played "I'm Not Your Steppin' Stone" by the Monkees. I remember the feeling to this day how cool it felt to be thumpin' on a bass.

Flash forward to 1985. Started jamming with a guy from work with his brother-in law on drums and his friend on lead guitar. Since we didn't need three guitars and had no bass, I switched to bass. Got a gig this weekend with the same friend!
 
#45
When I was 17, a friend of mine at school had started playing the guitar and wanted to start a band. I said I'd sing for his new Zeppelin wannabe group, having had some training when I was younger. However, the guy he got in to play bass for us decided he was too lazy to learn and said that he'd be the singer. After a fairly long battle, I decided to play bass instead.
It was the best decision I have ever made in my life to date, and probably will ever make! My mother paid $300 she didn't really have to spare to get me my first bass, a used Yamaha that had a broken tone dial, and I haven't looked back since.
 
#46
My older brother gave me a Manne Les Paul copy guitar when I was 10 that i would basically just bang on for fun. My uncle came over one day, so I thought I would be cool and show off my rad guitar. The first thing he says to me is " You don't want to play guitar, everybody plays guitar. What you want to do is play Bass, you'll get more work if you play bass." Then he showed me how to play a 12 bar blues in E on the first 4 strings on the guitar. A week later my uncle shows up at my house with an old Hollow body Pan Bass guitar with red nylon coated strings. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world, and being a hollow body, it was much louder then my electric guitar. I didn't have an amp back then. I still have that bass, and still have the same excitement for playing.
 
#47
Don't remember how old I was but I remember I was at my cousins place and we were listening to Metallica's black album. "My friend of misery" came on and I was pretty impressed by the intro bass riff (off course I didn't actually know it was a bass part until he told me haha) then he said "I bet you I can play this on my bass" and I was all like "yeh right, as if".....well he did play it, flawlessly too and I was even more impressed by the cool things you could play on a bass so I tried it and messed around on it for a little while. A few weeks later he let me borrow one of his basses, a steinberger L2 which I played through one of my dads keyboard amps.
 
#48
About 2 years ago my mom took me to a local music shop which I just forgot the name of and whats on the stand when I walk in a natural Gibson Grabber blacked out headstock, paddle tuners picked it up and managed to play my first note 5th fret on the A string and after that it was magical I wanted to buy it but I looked at the price tag 500 bucks I ended up getting a Ibanez GSR190 and a CRATE amp and I'm still trying to hunt down a Grabber!
 
#49
I really didn't want to learn the instrument. Just wanted to play 'Money' (Pink Floyd). Got a bass, a Mel Bay method 1 book, Pink Floyd sheet music. Didn't even know what a time signature was and I picked a song with 3 of them. After that I got the bug and haven't stopped for 25 years. I did eventually stop playing Money.
 
#51
Hi, I'm Ali and I'm a Guitard.
But 2 years ago on the 22nd of december a band I had seen playing a couple of cover gigs at parties and stuff come over to me in a big panic "Our bassist has dropped out and it's battle of the bands in 2 days!! Do you know any bassists?" (They didn't even know my name) I had the ever confident reply "I can play guitar, I could play bass too yeah?".
2 days solid of learning to play bass and original songs later, we come 4th in the county, despite being 12, 12, 14 and 16...
I'm now 16, just got my first modulus and have barely played guitar since.

thank you.
 
#53
I was about 17 or 18 (can't remember) and it was a no-brand kit-built bass painted powder blue with housepaint, from what I could tell. There were no screws holding the scratchplate in place - it was taped down with scotch tape. And the internal electronics were held together with blu-tac. And I didn't have a plectrum and had to use a small coin. But I fell for the instrument immediately. Tried out a few other basses before I bought a Hohner Arbor series Precision copy (my folks bought me a 20W Marshall practice amp) and have never looked back.

From time to time I try to persuade the guy who owns the crappy kit bass to sell it to me, out of sentimentality. He always refuses, lol :).
 
#54
This is a sad story for me. I was 15, I think, and played guitar. Started a band with some friends and the bass player left his bass in the house. I was excited to get my hands on it and as soon as he left I ran to open up the case. Played it. The strings were about an inch off the neck. I thought that this was just the way a bass was supposed to be. Interesting world when ya can't jump to the internet to ask questions. Played and played and played it till I gave up thinking this is way too tough an instrument. Played guitar for 10 more years. Not sure why. Bass was always in my blood.
 
#55
Flyingaero said:
I was 13 and my friend wanted to start a band but needed a bassist. The next week I found out someone had donated a rogue to my church. I eventually brought my own because I could never get my hinting through.
Click to expand...

I also started playing bass because I wanted to form band with my friends. To my understanding, there are enough guitarists around so I saw as something kinda cliche and I decided on a bass. I was in 9th grade at the time and my dad told me that if I actually got good grades he would get me a bass. Turns out, I flunked, but my aunt still bough me one and I'm still playing to this day, loving it every day.
 
#57
Started when I was 11 years old, I played drums already and thought that electric guitar would be a cool thing to know how to play.. I tried the electric guitar and thought that this thing will rip my finger tips. So then I tried the electric bass and got hooked. Later the bass ousted the drums and now I'm a full-time bassist.
 
#58
I was 13 and had been a trying guitar but sucked. So I grabbed my bros bass from his room while he was sleeping, and learned to play White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane. I liked bass more, and I already played upright bass in school, so I got a Squire J bass and now a year and a half later, with a Fender P-Bass instead, I'm still playing and loving it. :bassist::p
 
#59
I was 22 years old when I first threw the bass strap over my shoulder.

You see, I used to be a keyboard player.

My brother, he was the bass player. He'd always wanted to play bass as far as I remember, since he was a child. He was always miming playing upright, or grooving to basslines.
I don't think I ever saw him happier than when my parents bought him his bass, an Ibanez Soundgear SR800.
He started a band. It became pretty big in our town.
Two years later he died in a car accident. I'm sure he would have been happy to know that the local newspaper showed a pic of him with his bass, playing with the band.

I took his bass. Couldn't stand seeing it on the rack, getting dusty. Didn't feel right.
Started playing it and loved it.

Now I consider myself primarily a bass player, and own quite a few basses. But everytime I play the Ibanez, I remember my brother, and hope he's smiling at me.
 
#60
Well i was 11 ... decided to play in the jr high orchestra ... i started trying the violin ... but i saw these huge ones on stands on the back wall ... i asked if i could "try THAT thing over there" ... the teacher picked it up and played a very non-classical groove and i was hooked ... i had to stop playing when we moved from that school district... so i ended up playing drums ...

i really think that that first lick i heard the teacher play hooked me... im so glad he didn't pick it up and play a classical bass line cause it took a few months to get an appreciation for classical music...

when i was 14i my dad got me a red rogue on my birthday ... that was my first encounter with an electric bass... unfortunately i didn't get serious about it till Jan 2010 ...
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back