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For the +50 guys, when did you start playing

#42
Started guitar at 12 or so. Eventually got into a band and played for about 10 years. Got tired of no $$ so I went back to school. Stopped playing for 10 years. Started practicing again. I heard a guy playing fretless guitar. I decided I wanted one but was not going to defret any of my guitars. I discovered SX lined fretless basses and decided to try that out. I got hooked on fretless bass and just got an unlined one. Intonation went from ok to crappy but I am improving. Loving every minute of it.
 
#43
Picked up acoustic guitar at age 16, never got beyond "campfire skills". Picked up the bass in 1977 at age 26,took lessons for a couple years and put it down. In 81 or 92 a friend talked a local music school into starting a blues ensemble. I joined. The ensemble leader was a bass player. That was the spark that started it. Played in local blues bands for most of the 80's. Moved to a different state to get a relationship going and put the bass down. 16 years later moved back to the Boston area, started getting together with some friends, started hitting blues jams after my chops started coming back, been playing for the last 5 years and am currently in 3 projects, although 2 are the same personnel except for the harmonica player.
 
#47
I am 63 and I started playing bass in 1968 at 22. Actually a late start. Played on and off thru Viet Nam, College, career and kids. I guess that it is too late to stop now. On stage I feel young and full of energy but I am a bit tired when the gig is done. Besides, Ed Shaughnessy (drummer for the tonight show band for 30+ years) just turned 80 and he can't wait for the next gig. So I have nothing to complain about.

To the OP congrats and play on, brother!
 
#48
i was 63 i am 65 now. i spent my adult life as a jingle singer, 30+ yrs. i have always loved bass. i am retired and thought it would be a good idea to learn. i play in a blues band and a country band.
i am loving it
 
#49
Dad got me a bass(Topline, Fender clone) & an amp(Gregory Bass 60A) when I was 10 in 1965. Consider it a blessing as guitar players are many and bassists are few.

Congrats for picking up bass. It's only too late "tomorrow".
 
#51
JDHolmes said:
I'm 51 and just started playing and was curious when you other 50+ guys began playing and why, at 50+ are you still playing. I've not gotten any negative comments on beginning at 50+, though a few "why"s have come out.

I always wanted to play. Started guitar at 12 but never followed through with it and just love music in general, playing it would be fantastic. No dreams of a geriatric band or anything, just the love of the sound.

So why are you/did you start playing?
Click to expand...

Arthur C. Clarke began playing a musical instrument (piano) at age 60. Congrats on starting so young! :p

To answer your question: I'm almost 51. I started at age 16. My brother began learning guitar, and I picked bass because of Paul McCartney and John Entwistle. I lucked into a band the first day I had my bass, became semi-pro a few years later, and kept at it since. I've briefly tinkered with other instruments, but bass has always been my #1.

I'm mostly self-taught, never wanted to be pro, but recommend lessons of some kind to everyone, regardless of goals: music theory, how to apply scales/modes/chords to the bass fretboard, whatever else you're curious about. It'll help you get better faster.

Don't count out being in a band. Bassists are often difficult to find so it's very possible that you could find a group looking for a beginner bass player to jam with.

I continue to play because I love gigging: I play with three different bands and sub for a few more. The extra cash is nice, but if it's not *fun* then I refuse to do it. I would continue to play even if I didn't have a band: local jams, or just noodling along with tunes down in my man cave. Like you, I love the sound!
 
#53
just turned 54, started bass @ 22, gigged consistantly for 20, retired in 2000, started up again to teach my son about a year ago. i really enjoy playing again and have really improved and expanded since returning. have recently purchased 5 basses in the last 18 months and thanks to the kid, i'm inspired once again to jam and record with the ol' crew!!! gl and enjoy....
 
#54
50 friggin years old...just started playing again Jan 2010. Seems I forgot more and know less than if I never touched a guitar or bass before in my life. I played a bit way back when...mid 70's..whipper snapper style! I plan on being good enough to play at my funeral. It might take that long!
 
#55
I'm 57, started on guitar at 10 and by 14 was gigging regularly on bass. That continued for 20 years or so, then between having three kids and a day job I had to put it down (performing-wise) for 20+ years. Started up again a couple of years ago on both BG and upright and now have all the gigs I can handle. Have bass, will travel! :bassist:
 
#56
Fantastic thread! Great to see such passion and solidarity amongst us greybeards!

I just turned 56 recently. I started playing bass about three years ago to fill a need at our local Catholic Church, what with the Praise and Worship Group being in dire need of a bassist. A friend of my wife "volunteered" me, even though I never touched a bass in my life. But I have been playing guitar since 1972, played in a few bands and such "back in the day", so picking up the bass wasn't all that difficult. I just needed to lose the Lead Guitar Mentality and cultivate a proper Bass Mentality. I've been playing bass at church ever since, and I'm loving every second of it. Now I'm in the process of learning to read music - bass clef - and I've learned a lot about music theory. But I'm still learning every time I touch my bass, and it'll be that way until they pry my bass from my cold, dead fingers!
 
#57
After playing guitar in bands for 10 years, I yearned for a bass, and finally got one. I gigged regularly on bass until age 65 (band broke up) and I still sit in as part of the house rhythm section, and in jams and whatnot.

The older I get, the better the bass sounds to me. I now have a Fender AV '57 P and a Mesa/Boogie Walkabout Scout 1x15, so it's probably about time I learned to play the instrument.:D
 
#59
Started learning music as a lad of not-quite 5 years old, as man first walked on the moon in the summer of '69. My first instrument was the chord organ, followed quickly by the piano. I loathed it after a while, and tried my hand at violin and settled on clarinet. Played a full Catholic Mass on Thanksgiving Day of 1973, but was unaware of what Emerson and Wakeman were doing. I gave up keyboards the following year, and regret it now. Guitar came later, and bass even later still. I have just celebrated 27 years of bass-playing this past week; I began at age 18, on 2/15/83, after seeing Rush the night before, and my first gig was in May of 1983. Having musical ability made learning the instrument easy, but it took me quite a while before I developed an acceptable sense of groove. It took me even longer still to develop a sophisticated ear for tone.

Bass has more or less been my main instrument for the last 27 years, although I can still lay claim to some keyboard proficiency. The clarinet gets dusted off perhaps once a year. These are my gig instruments, and I am gigging at the most frenetic pace of my life these days. After slinging mostly P-basses for that first decade, I finally took the active electronics plunge in the mid-90's, when such basses became affordable. When a Warwick melted in my hands in '98, I started playing fretless, but did not stick with it. I horse-traded and ended up with my limited edition 'wick, which is reserved for special occasions and the studio (which is seldom visited anyway). I am now mostly a J-bass kinda guy, with my G&L JB2 being the "wife," and a Peavey Zodiac BXP being the "beater."
 
#60
Gentlemen, thanks so much for the inspiration you have expressed in these 3 pages of responses. The variety of perspectives is amazing as are your stories. As all of you know, we don't consider ourselves old or over the hill so playing music certainly isn't beyond us. I consider our age to be a benefit as our experience has allowed us to get beyond the "ego" and focus on the important...the inner and and music. I look forward to reading more of your responses as they make me want to run in and play...longer and longer.

THANKS! :)
 

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