Has your taste changed over the years?

[Gervais Cote]

I started with a p bass and didn’t really like the honky sound. Then played a lot with a jazz that was soooooo musical and sweet. And then, switched back to my beaten dog precision because I joined a band that plays hard rock pretty loud and that’s what fits the best.

Today I’m 90% precision and 10% jazz. All the other styles of basses I tried didn’t fit with the music I play.

 

[J-Bass RMR]

With Basses? I would say more "expanded" than changed.
6 years ago I got (heavily) back into P-Basses.
I always loved the sound of a P - I just didn't like them when I played them....

What has really changed is my taste in tone, strings, and my overall playing.

 

[Poobini]

Ya know, my tastes change from day to day... Sometimes I'm just a sucker for a bog standard P, other times I want a multiscale active 5 string. It really goes all over the place. But I do always find myself eventually gravitating back to a J bass, regardless of what other weird accoutrements it may have.

 

[Jazzdogg]

"Has my taste changed over the years?"

Yes. I have become saltier.

Re: taste in basses, yes:

For my first three decades as a bassist, I played only a double bass and a P-bass.

During the present century, I have been playing active fivers, both fretted and fretless.

Time stands still for no one until they die.

 

[GwenOnBass]

I currently have no short scales iin my stable. The Cat bass has been on the radar. It's either that or what that Liverpudlian played

Feels like I have mad skills picking up the Cat bass after woodshedding on the 'Ray.

Another thing that hasn't changed in most of a lifetime is my preference for roundwounds.

 

[funkinbottom]

Used to own only one bass, a '60 Jazz, that I still have but doesn't get played often. Now I play only short scale 5 string active , (build my own) have a bunch.

 

[fjbass78]

Nah. Stingrays since 2000.

That's a nice collection. Which do you prefer more, the 3 or 2 band?

 

[M-Mittlesteadt]

I would say my taste in bass choices has changed somewhat. I spent a great deal of my 45+ years playing, almost always having a Precision (in a sunburst finish with rosewood fretboard). The later I got into more boutique, active, natural finished basses, almost always 5 string basses.

Lately while I still always want a Precision, I've been more open to the various colors/looks, and now also play a 6 string as well...

 

[shirojiro]

Started with Jazz bass/ 2 pickup basses in the early 80s (Peavey Foundation, Fender Heartfield DR5, Fender 75RI Jazz).

Around 2000, started playing Stingray style basses (Ibanez ATK, MM SR5)
Added P and PJ basses a couple of years later. (Fender Pbass, Ibanez RKB900)

I've ended up with a variety of other basses as well, but they're not my regular players. I would add that I seem to prefer Jazz basses for fretless.

Now I like them all, but I like the simplicity of single pickup basses and essentially have stuck with Stingrays.

I have found that I prefer bolt on necks and fairly traditional Leo Fender designs.

 

[shirojiro]

It shut down most venues that we were gigging at, and left me board and at home. So, I decided to try lots of different flatwounds, which lead me to trying the tried and true flats on a P combination. And, to truly try a bass or strings, I have to rehearse with it/them. So, when the band got together… I brought a P or a PJ (with the J turned down). I didn’t have to worry about getting anything dialed for a show, so I experimented. Worked out to my benefit.

I bought a lot of pedals when I was stuck at home.

 

[Jefenator]

When I started out, '60s Fenders could still be found for dirt cheap in pawn shops. But of course all I wanted something purple with a pointy headstock.

 

[Element Zero]

Happen on me even i think i am settle with P and PJ .... but no ....

View attachment 7304480

If you wanna send that red p to me, I wouldn’t be upset. That red, with the gold anodized pickguard AND maple fretboard? To. Die. For.

 

[Kaa]

I've gone through basses, both inexpensive and expensive, and the biggest change was I found out my "voice" on the bass just needs to be "sounds like a bass". So, I still look at basses, but a shortscale P-style, and a shortscale J-style (both passive) are good enough for me.

 

[Bass4ThePublic]

Well, as much as I’ve tried to branch out, I always come back to a 60’s P or J with dead Labellas. They just fill sonic space so well! I’ve tried Gibsons, Rickenbackers, Stingrays, yet Fenders have always felt like home to me. I have a bunch of basses like my Squier Rascal or my Squier PJ, but these 2 usually get the gigs and shows. Left is my Maple Cap Parts MJT P. I built it using lightweight parts, weighs only 7.5 lbs and it’s been getting a LOT of gig use recently especially with how hot and humid it is. On the right is my 65 Jazz. It gets the nicer gigs when it’s sub 85 degrees outside in nice parts of town.

 

[rojo412]

I almost feel like my tastes never STOP changing. That may be the fault of being the kind of guy who tries a lot of different basses because of repairing for people, buying and selling as a hobby, and then eventually building them from scratch (while still doing the first two things as well).

It's become a matter of me actually liking more of the stuff that I never knew I would, as well as finding out what really doesn't work for me at all.
And to echo what @Kaa mentioned, when you find your bass voice, you really can make almost anything become workable for yourself, as long as it isn't hampering your ability to comfortably play it like you would anything else.

 

[CletusMarley]

Definitely.

 

[Pet Sounds]

My tastes haven't changed too much. Ever since I started playing in the '90s, I've preferred P-Basses, but also like and own J-style basses, Rickenbackers, StingRays and Hofners. I consider them the basic food groups of bass! I like StingRays better than I used to since the advent of the Special, but that's not really a change of tastes. I still stick largely with a P-Bass because I've been in a Motown band for a quarter century, and that's the sound.

 

[Deleted member 394181]

Im kind of worried about picking up a Stingray again for fear i would like it so much i would have to trade something to get one. So im actively preventing my taste from changing. When i got a Jazz Bass in Jan 2022, after not having a Jazz since the early Nineties, i never dreamed i would love/play it more than my Rics, but...

 

[Mike Vee]

No - I always come back to vintage styled Fenders. My first interest in basses and my last. Nice to have a Stingray around as well.

 

[Nedmundo]

Yes. I still love old-school passive fours, which I played almost exclusively for years, but about three years ago I started playing fives almost all the time.

Also, to my immense surprise, my favorite bass is active--a G&L M-2500. I play my Sandberg TT-5 more often, largely because it's so light, but for maximum tone I prefer the power, sustain, and flexibility of the G&L.