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For the +50 guys, when did you start playing

#81
I was taken along to piano lessons when I was 5, and clarinet lessons from 12 - although dragged kicking and screaming was more like it.

I started playing bass of my own free will 40 years ago, when I was 14. Always wanted to play bass as long as I could remember, I was always, always drawn to it. Since I didn't own a bass, at that time, I started by playing along to records - picking out the 'bass' lines on the bottom four strings of a cheap nylon strung classical guitar that my dad bought home one day. A few months of paper rounds later and I'd saved enough for a short scale Hofner that I played through an old valve kit amp that my cousin had made.

A few pawn shop specials, a Japanese Jazz copy (can't even remember what it was, although Kimbara rings a bell) and a home built bass later I was ready for my first 'proper' bass. All the time I was in high school I used to take a 20 minute each way walk at lunchtime to drool at a brand new Rick 4001 (a Montezuma brown one) that was on display in a paper shop of all places. The owner of the paper shop was a local musician and bizarrely, after pushing through the racks of papers, magazines, greetings cards etc...there was a wall of high end guitars and basses for sale - all behind glass mind you in display cabinets. As I recall there were Fenders in there along with what must've been the first Gibson Rippers and Grabbers, a few Strats and Teles of course plus Rick 12 strings and a Les Paul studio (a Les Paul Triumph bass as well if I remember it straight and I'm almost certain that the crowning glory was a Rick 4080-12 - although I could be confusing that with another display case in a London store)

I saved enough to get myself a secondhand Rick 4001 (after being tempted by both a Fender P and a Guild B301 because I was so desperate for a quality bass and still £50 short of Rick territory) and finally bought a '73 JetGlo in 1976 when I was 21. I think it was the first note that I played on the Rick through a Hiwatt head at the first rehearsal after I got it, that seared into my soul and has left me totally addicted since.
 
#82
I'm about to turn 51. I started on guitar at 12 and switched to bass at 14. Played bass in the HS Jazz Ensemble junior and senior years. I quickly discovered that it was more fun playing Smoke on the Water for the cheerleaders in the pep band. :cool:

Went back and took lessons from 91 to 94 to correct a lot of "bad habits".

Remember, we have to age but "old" is a state of mind...:)
 
#83
Like many other on this thread I have fiddled around with music all my life. For my 60th Birthday I treated myself to a bass.

I keep asking myself - why why why did I wait soooo long?

What I do know is I might never be good - but it's good at making me happy!

Maybe its just that the time was right.

Z.
 
#84
Well my Dad picked a bit of Rockabilly,Gospel, Country and Bluegrass guitar, and banjo, so I lived in a house where my parents really loved music. My Old Man never pushed it on me, but I got the bug to start playing some kind of instrument around 14 years of age. Prior to that I'd messed around a bit with guitar, but nothing serious. At age 15, maybe it was a combination of Paul McCartney and Mel Schacher of Grand Funk fame that swept over me, that I decided I wanted to play bass. With some paper route money, and my Dad's help, I got a cheap Univox copy of a Mosrite Bass with a Traynor Bassmate combo amp, right before my 16th birthday, add a few Mel Bay instruction books, and learning what I could, where I could, I was on my way.


I'll be 54 this year, and yep, I still get to go out and do gigs on the local and regional level around where I live, and I love it. I encourage anyone, young or old to go ahead and learn how to play an instrument, just for the sheer joy and fun of learning how to play music.
 
#85
I started playing bass around the age of 13. I'll be 57 in a couple of months and STILL love playing. :bassist:

I learned to play guitar, mandolin and blues harp all AFTER the age of 50.

I'm currently playing in a Classic Rock band that pretty much plays stuff from the 60's right up to some of the more recent stuff (Foo Fighters, Jet to name a couple) and the youngest guy in the band just turned 50.

We're all past the "gonna' be a rockstar" mindset and we're just having LOTS of fun. We're gigging on a regular basis at our choosing. Generally, we're happy with gigging once a month. It works for us. :D
 
#86
I've always been exposed to music and my Dad had me taking accordion lessons as soon as I was big enough to hold one up.
Several years of that, and then that one magical night when I saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, took one look at Macca and I knew right then and there that's what I wanted to do forever.
Took another 3 years to convince my folks that getting me a bass wouldn't send me on the road to perdition. I was 12 and it was 1967.

I have played ever since. Through many twists and turns the current bottom line is I'm 55, and for the last 17 years I've been in a cover band averaging 100 gigs a year (while working my day job). The joy playing brings to me is irreplaceable - I need it like breathing. In this band I'm not only lucky enough to be playing with most of my closest friends - they're also some of the best players around. And when we don't gig, we get together and jam. What could be better? I will add that for me it's been like the Fountain of Youth - I look back at 40+ years of playing like the blink of an eye, and I'm ready to keep blinking as long as I'm able.

Plus, the gigs let me justify keeping way more basses than I need. The added benefit of extra bucks keeps wifey's grumbling very minimal. I am currently maintaining a limit(?) of 2 dozen with a rotating stock of 5 or six to keep the GAS at bay.

With that, I most heartily applaud all of you guys that took it up recently - to echo once again, it is never too late. Make a joyous noise! Get out there and rock or folk or country or worship or whatever - anything and everything is good. The only important thing is to do it like you mean it and love every minute.:D:D
 
#87
I'm 54 and started when I was 15. I started out playing in a rock garage band and in with a gospel quartet made up of guys 15-20 years older than me. I've gone full circle and now I'm playing in a rock band with guys 15-20 years younger than me (I used to date the guitar players mom!). In between I've played jazz, reggae, pop, you name it - mostly jazz. I took a break for a few years after Jaco died (I figured, "If that can be allowed to happen to the best, why do I want to do this?") but I'll never quit again.
 
#89
My mom was a musician. She started me on piano lessons when I was 6 years old. I kept taking lessons until I was 16. I had great teachers and learned vast amounts of theory and also developed an appreciation for all types of music. The Beatles hit the States when I was 9, so I added guitar to my skill set. I heard McCartney play bass on Nowhere Man and added bass guitar. I also started playing in school band when I was 9, so I learned trombone, trumpet, baritone, and tuba. Along the way I also picked up banjo, mandolin and translated my electric bass playing into upright bass. Synthesizers became available to the general public when I was in college, so I learned how to program and sequence. I formed my first garage band when I was 14 and continued from there. I always played and sang in church, and over the past 49 years have also played in numerous bands of most genres including all varieties of rock, jazz (incl Dixieland), blues, country, polka, you name it. I have played with large concert bands, symphony orchestras, pit orchestras (for musical plays), and all manners of church music. I gave up all the "extracurricular" music when our kids were young and only played and sang in church for about 20 years. In 2000 - at the ripe old age of 45 - I started gigging with rock and blues bands again.

My goal is to retire to a nice senior community - like Sun City, AZ - where I live across the street from a Chinese buffet, next door to a liquor store, and around the corner from a neighborhood bar where I'm in the house band. (That way I won't have to transport my gear from gig to gig.)
 
#90
Picked up clarinet and guitar about age 12, just in time for the Beatles to shake things up. We had a small pick-up band that never gigged; I actually played bass because my friend wanted to play lead guitar... and he owned the instruments so he had first pick. Typically, I had to play lead on one song because he couldn't get the rhythm correct. :D

We kinda drifted apart and I didn't play anything till I got my own place after college. Tried to learn keys but didn't really have any motivation once I got past the basic scales and chords. Bought a Harmony strat copy about 1980 (still have it) but again, didn't have any motivation. Everything kinda sat still until my daughter wanted to play in a band, whereupon we bought a decent P-bass for her (now mine). I finally had some motivation, and learned well enough to sit in at a gig with her band once while she played guitar. That was fun, and convinced me that my future was really as a bass player.

Since then I've actually started practicing, took a weekend at Fur Peace with Jack Casady, and now am backing up a friend's acoustic duo on a regular basis. Altogether, it's been about 40 years since I first aspired to play music, and now finally I am. My friend first seriously started bass and guitar about 10 years ago, so while we're roughly the same age we have only about 20 years experience between the two of us. ;) It's great to actually be part of a band, with people mature enough to bypass all the drama and just get down to playing music. My ability has improved dramatically in the last year just because I'm playing with other musicians and learning new songs. Life is good for now!
 
#91
I started lessons last November. I am 60. I am hoping it will be good for the P.T.S.D. (short term memory lost).I sure like it. Wife wants me to stop buying basses LOL got 3 already. Its cool We were poor as a kid could not buy this nice stuff back then.Someone will have some nice stuff when I pass on. Maybe they can burn one with me. Now thats a thought F_ _ k !
 
#93
I just turned 54 in February. I started playing bass last June, needing to learn enough to join the local community college's Jazz Band by September. That's when I had to get up to speed quickly! I have played the piano all my life and learned clarinet in school which I still play in the local community concert band. Bass is the first instrument that I feel a passion for playing. I question it all the time, "Why do I enjoy this so much?" When I was in college in the 70's I rented an upright bass during the summer but didn't know how to tune it. I wonder now where that would have led me if I had figured it out back then. Monday night Jazz Band rehearsal is my favorite thing! We are playing fast music! Only a few months ago I was learning how to play from one string to another. Now, I want to learn other positions and have been searching the forums to get rid of fret buzz and clacks. I love this instrument!
 
#94
Yes, you got it right I started at 55 for two years, then got married to a pre-made family that caused me to drop it for a few years.

Now I'm 62 and been playing about a year - mostly for recreation between surfing and sportbike riding. My interest is to play solo Chill, Lo-Fi, Down Tempo, Ambient, coffeehouse type music. I like the sensual tone of the bass especially when used with ballads, etc.

Keep playing!
 
#97
I was 14 when the Beatles arrived on the scene and blew everyone away. It was the first time I "felt" the bass in my gut and it's been my one and only instrument ever since. We started a group that went on to play throughout New England and opened up for the likes of Chicago, The Cars, J Geils Band, BB King, and James Montgomery. Family life brought on other bass pastimes - home studio recording and collecting vintage basses.
 
#98
59 at the moment and started bass in 1972 at age 22 right after my first stint in the Army . Way before that I actually was a (bad) viola player for almost 5 years. :( Don't know why I stayed with it.
Still love viola but would never go back to it and struggle with the pieces our instructor forced upon me and my sis. My sister was way better than me, but she then moved on to piano which she still plays pretty darn well.
 
#99
I saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show when I was 5, I had no idea what they were doing just that I had to do it. I got my first bass was I was 11, a Klira. I still have that bass and love it ! I still play out, record and travel a bit. I love playing live! Pic of my first bass
Klirabases001.jpg
gigging at 16 the old High School dance
scottjade11.jpg
and a picture from October 2009
2326845380083345702KEjiTE_ph.jpg
I am thankful for each day I can continue to play !
 
#100
I'm 53 years old and I actually started drum lessons at age 10 and started guitar and bass at age 13. My first paying gig was 40 years ago in May 1970 and I have been playing ever since. 40 years of playing bass and I have never been out of work. My current band does about 80 to 85 gigs a year.
 

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