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How And Why Did You Pick Bass?

BayStateBass

BayStateBass

Jan 25, 2012
1,953
169
Central Massachusetts
#1
I'm sure this has been covered before at some point, but thought it might be fun.

Just wondering why you picked the bass guitar and how you got started playing.

Here's my (short, eh, maybe not) story. My father was a drummer, he worked in cover bands, bar bands, and worked, for a short time, as a union musician. My mother was a well schooled piano player. I always grew up around music. As a child and young adult I played the sax (alto, tenor, and baritone), played piano, and also the drums (but I sucked at the drums, really). When I was in my 20's I walked away from music for a while. I still have my alto sax, and play here and there, though. A few years ago I decided I was going to learn to play some kind of guitar. I wasn't sure if I wanted guitar or bass, but wound up buying some guitar equipment, and started taking lessons. As I progressed with the guitar, my instructor would have me write some progressions and rhythm parts. It was okay, but I would always find myself humming along to bass lines or reworking them in my head when I would listen to a song. Even my rhythm work strongly reflected an aptitude for basslines, or so I was told. One day, my guitar teacher asked if I thought I might like the bass because I showed an aptitude for it. So I borrowed a Peavey Zodiac and decided to learn to play it. Shortly after that, I realized that basslines and bass guitar fit me like a glove and it was what I really loved about music; the sound, the feel, and being part of the glue that held a song together. I've been playing bass ever since, and wished I had started years earlier. My guitar instructor still gives me bass lessons (he's a Berkley Grad and quite capable) and always comments that "that thing is you all the way". I love it.

How about you?
 
#3
September 1980, Senior year of HS - I had been playing guitar for 3 1/2 years and some friends had been recruited for a production of Jesus Christ Superstar and they asked if I wanted in. Sure! One problem; they already had two guitarists, so they needed a bass player. I borrowed a bass from the keyboard player and woodshedded that album (the good one, not the movie soundtrack). Alan Spenner ripped that record and I did my best to do him proud. 31 years later, I'm still going.
 
#5
Yeah.....there's no way my question would be a first.;)

I think it's interesting to see how many bass players converted from another instrument....usually a "backing" instrument of some type. Like you, Phang, I was a sax player too.

Never wanted to be the lead player. Never wanted to be in the spotlight. Was always happy with the idea of being "support staff". Rhythm guitar is fun, but bass is where I find my "happy zone".

BTW, DeathFromBelow......love that signature.....;)
 
#9
Wow, crazy. I'm the third sax player here. Started Alto sax in 6th grade, and started baritone sax and bass in 8th grade. I was just drawn to it. Oddly enough, I always thought that the bassists were the coolest ones in the group. How little I knew, eh?! Haha. But yea, it felt right from the first moment I picked it up to this day.
 
#10
Back in the 60's everyone played guitar - folk, rock, classical, etc. . At one point I was taking lessons and mentioned to my teacher that I wanted to play in a band. He told me that if I wanted to work regularly to learn bass. I rented a cheesy bass and amp, he gave me one lesson and got me a gig in another of his students' bands. 2 weeks of rehearsals with the rhythm guitarist and I was a working pro! I played a LOT back then - there was no shortage of work.
 
#11
One day out of the blue a buddy says "Hey,you need to get a bass. We're starting a band." I laughed and laughed,but he was serious. He had played guitar for about 7yrs,and said he'd teach me "..how to chug the roots,cuz that's all bass is..easy.." :eyebrow: I said "why not" and borrowed some gear to see if I had any latent ability..
About 4 months later I got with another buddy that was a car audio wholesaler,and in one of his catalogs was a bass starter package for $128 to my door..Enter the Rogue(probably the first one they ever sold!)

16yrs later,I'm still looking for that latent ability,but having a lot of fun in the search! :D
 
#12
Moved from Brass to a 6 sting guitar at 16, wanted to be cool rather than being the guy with a French Horn being asked 10 times a week if it was a trombone! Then went overseas to South Africa and met a guy there who needed a bass player, got an old Honer P Bass and have never looked back. So yes, moved to bass from other instruments, never regretted it for a second and still loving it over 25 years on
 
#14
Started playing guitar at 12 yrs old, so did all of my friends. Somewhere around 13-14 yrs I switched to Bass. I relapsed to the guitar a few times as the open spots in bands dictated. Since i first started playing bass it always felt more comfortable to me. The life of a mediocre guitar player seemed less exciting than being a kickass bass player. Here I am today at 37 still plucking away at bass and still happy to be doing so.
 
#15
I started guitar at 16, played for several years but never got very good. I'd toyed with bass a little bit and even owned one for a week before selling it. Had a couple of bands then stopped playing after high school. I stayed involved in music working with local bands doing sound/production stuff. A few years later I was dying to play but was burnt out on guitar.

A guy I worked with started talking with me about Tool and The Cure, two of my favorites and as it turned out he was a bass player, we would listen to music while we worked and he would analyze the bass lines and stuff. He started bringing CD's of his favorite bass players and reminiscing about his bass playing younger days and by then I was hanging on every word, he really changed the way I thought of bass. I started noticing the bass more and more. He told me if I wanted to start I should get a jazz bass. I would go home and tell my girlfriend all about it and for the short time I worked with him I loved going to work and swapping music and stories with him.

Fast forward a few months, I have a new job and haven't thought about bass in months, I find a used Fender Jazz Bass under the Christmas tree from my girlfriend. One of my friends also got me a Hartke A25. I still didn't get that into it though, the bass had some setup problems that I didn't recognize (I just figured I sucked at bass) and after the initial new factor wore off I didn't mess with it too much, eventually I got a general setup done and it was like a new instrument. I started working out of books but I still didn't have alot direction, until I took some lessons and worked with a couple of bassist friends. I'd slowly become obsessed with bass and rhythm in general in a way I never felt with guitar. My girlfriend pointed out that I'd always shared more personality traits with the bass players I knew than the guitar players. The more I learn how to make it my own the more addicted I get. I'm really glad now that guitar didn't work out for me.

I had a real moment a couple of months ago when a singer was telling me about how he hates tracking bass for his home demos. I explained to him why I loved playing bass because unlike guitar I can actually feel everything I play and how bass just reacts in such an organic way when you play it I must have gone on for 20 minutes. He looked at me like I was crazy, you can't tell a singer anything anyway.
 
#16
Everyone I know plays guitar or drums. I also played guitar for a long time, but we always had issues finding bass players. When my friends wanted to get a band together, they asked me if I wanted to play guitar with them...and I suggested to play bass instead. Been playing it ever since.
 
#17
Watched a Live Iron Maiden video that a friend of mine (a drummer) owned and was blown away by Steve Harris. Couldn't really pick out the bass notes with my untrained ear (and a very poor VHS video!) but he was clearly the coolest guy in the band wielding his massive guitar like a machine gun and leaping about the stage. The same friend showed me where I could find a bass guitar in our school's music department and I never looked back.
 
#18
I picked up the bass "by accident". In high school, I played guitar in a punk band. Our bass player sucked and didn't have a good ear, so whenever we wanted to learn a new song, I'd spend some time listening to NOFX and Rancid tapes (or whatever else we were playing) playing along with his bass to figure out the lines, then I'd teach him how to play them. After a while I realized I enjoyed playing bass a whole lot more than playing guitar: when the other guys were having a smoke break during practice, I'd sit in a corner playing my buddy's bass. Around the same time I was introduced to Mike Watt's thunderbroom work and I was definitely hooked. When I graduated, I left my hometown for college and traded all my guitar gear for a bass rig and never looked back. Last year I started playing the double bass, too.
 
#20
I got into Billy Sheehan in the Mid-Late 90's. During his 'Mr.Big' days. I checked out some of his solo,early projects with Talas, David Lee Roth and UFO stuff. I was hooked. I wanted to be like billy Sheehan, never happened. My personality and playing style developed into a Metal/Rock/Punk low end bassist. Never was one for the spotlight, so the whole tapping solos never developed for me. I hold down the low end, hold the song together and make women scream/sway with the pulsing bass.
 

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